Debi Allee went to as many meetings as she could when she first heard a few years ago T.C. Howe High School might close.

The historic school near Irvington was no stranger to change. IPS had closed the building once before in 1995 due to low enrollment. It reopened as a middle school in 2000 and regained its high school grades two years later.

But then IPS lost control of Howe in 2012 during a state takeover and the school was run by a charter operator until 2020 when state officials returned it to IPS, sealing the building’s fate for another closure as the district with shrinking enrollment reconsidered its size.

That decision was a blow to Allee, a 1975 graduate of the school and now an active member of the Irvington Community Council. Howe was her neighborhood school, the place where she cheered for the wrestling team and took business classes that eventually led to her career as an administrative assistant. Alumni always volunteered in the school, she said, and the neighborhood came to life for football games on Friday nights.

“It was very, very hard,” Allee said of Howe’s closure. “It’s a school that you don’t forget easily. It’s in your heart. Once you’ve been there, it’s in your heart forever.”

But now, IPS leaders are reopening Allee’s alma mater at the corner of Washington Street and Emerson Avenue as a middle school.

It comes as a part of the district’s Rebuilding Stronger plan, which establishes new school enrollment zones, seeks to replicate popular academic programs and reorganizes the middle school experience in 6-8 grade buildings. Broad Ripple High School, across town, also reopened this year as a middle school.

Howe’s new principal, Frances Rivera, spent the summer recruiting students to her new school, which opened for its first day Aug. 1. The principal said she mentally prepared to take about 800 kids at the new school and had about 560 enrolled two weeks before the start of school with more still signing up every day.

“There’s a lot of movement in town,” Rivera said. “Driving down the street, you see all of these housing complexes coming up and subdivisions, so people are definitely moving in and their kids have to go to school somewhere.”

Bringing back T.C. Howe

Now the district’s sweeping Rebuilding Stronger plan is pumping new life into the Howe building and the nearby Irvington community.

Under the plan, Howe is offering a specialty International Baccalaureate education to middle schoolers. The program is centered on inquiry-based teaching that encourages students to explore multiple subjects at a time from a global perspective and is a part of a continuum of IB studies offered across several elementary, middle and high schools in IPS.

Howe’s reopening also comes as a part of a districtwide reorganization of grades that sees IPS return to sixth through eighth grade middle schools after previously entertaining a variety of K-6, K-8, 7-8 and even K-12 school options.

Some schools, such as Irvington’s beloved George Julian School 57, are changing configurations from K-8 to K-5 to feed into the new 6-8 middle schools. George Julian is also picking up IPS’ popular Center for Inquiry programming, which was previously available only to a limited number of students in four schools that ended up serving predominantly wealthy neighborhoods.

[Excitement grows for Broad Ripple school’s reopening]

The Rebuilding Stronger plan also ensures all middle schoolers have access to a variety of performing arts and language classes. Only 34% did before this school year, according to district estimates.

At first, the plan was a difficult sell to some IPS parents who were skeptical of disruption to popular K-8 programs and wary of change in the city’s long contracting public school system. However, in an era of expanding school choice, parents like Hillary Brown see opportunity in the district’s redesign.

“We did not have band and orchestra and choir,” said Brown, whose sixth grader went to George Julian before changes rolled out this year. “We did not have languages or clubs or a handful of other things. And at the elementary school level, that was not a concern of mine, but as we were getting up there, I was like ‘These kids really need more. They need to be exposed to more because going from that to high school cannot be easy.’”

At Howe, sixth through eighth graders can now take Mandarin, Spanish, choir, band and orchestra. And, the school’s athletic fields are being renovated with support from the district’s recent $410 million tax referendum to prepare for team sports like football, basketball, tennis, golf and volleyball.

The move appealed to PTA president Tara Elder, whose son previously attended a K-8 school. Elder said she likes the new separation of grades and believes the middle school model better suits older kids who are “just in different places in life.”

“My incoming sixth grader is just over the moon and wants to join every single club,” Elder said. “I’m thankful that we’re just like two blocks away from the school because he’s like, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to see me this year, mom!’”

More than middle school

Rivera has been planning for the middle school transition since 2023 when she got the offer to become principal of a new school. She was an assistant principal at Ernie Pyle School 90 at the time and thought she might like to lead Harshman Middle School someday because of its dual language program.

But with a little encouragement from her husband and her School 90 boss, Rivera took the leap into something new. Plus, it didn’t hurt that the old Howe building looks a little bit like Hogwarts. Its grand front stairwell, encased in limestone, is a constant reminder of the school’s history, dating back to its first opening in 1938. Its yellow painted lockers call back to years of Hornets spirit.

Rivera said it’s also a chance to return to working with the age of kids she loves most.

“Most of my career has been teaching middle school,” Rivera said. “Those are my people. I love them. They are sarcastic enough that they get me and I get them. The lingo, I have to relearn, but I love them.”

Rivera, guided by a districtwide implementation plan, started recruiting teachers shortly after she was brought on as a principal. She’s been aided by the district’s decision to section off part of the 300,000-square-foot building for a Day Early Learning Center, which opened last August, and a new health clinic available to IPS employees and their families.

The center, run in partnership with Ascension St. Vincent, will provide wellness exams, sports physicals, immunizations and mental health counseling for free.

The former high school also houses offices for the district’s blind and low vision services and is the new home for IPS’ Step Ahead Academy, an alternative education program for fifth through seventh graders.

Rivera also dedicated a room at Howe for PTA and alumni association meetings, and she plans to create space for programs like Girls Inc. to meet with students during their lunch time.

‘An infusion’ to the community

The extra amenities come as welcome news to IPS families but also to Deb Kent.

Kent’s children have long finished school but, as an Irvington real estate agent, Kent routinely deals in neighborhood value.

She loves Irvington for its quirky art scene and engaged community, and says she often hears parents rave about nearby George Julian. But Kent also often grapples with perceptions of IPS as a whole, which has led some young clients to look at neighborhoods in other school districts

After years of hearing her neighbors pine for growth on the east side — ‘why can’t we have a Kroger like on the north side?’ is frequent — Kent says she’s excited about IPS’ investment in her community. She said Howe’s reopening fills a need in the neighborhood.

“It’s just a good thing to bring a new school here,” Kent said. “It’s like an adrenaline boost or an infusion of fresh blood.”

Allee, the Howe alumna, says she’s excited to welcome the school back and thinks its return means good things for middle schoolers in Irvington.

“We don’t want people to forget that, originally, Howe was the Irvington school,” Allee said. “Howe is still a very important part of this community.”

Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.

Republish This Story

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Local news delivered straight to your inbox

Mirror Indy's free newsletters are your daily dose of community-focused news stories.

• In the Mirror Daily: News you can use
• Play List Weekly: Arts and culture

Sign up

By clicking Sign Up, you’re confirming that you agree with our Terms of Use.

Related Articles