Classes will continue to be offered at a southeast side charter school building after all. They just won’t be offered by Bethel Park Elementary School or for elementary school students.
Victory College Prep, a K-12 charter school, closed on a $2.8 million deal last month to purchase the building currently leased by Bethel Park Elementary school.
Bethel Park, also a charter school, learned this year that its authorizer plans to revoke the school’s charter, effective June 30. Several weeks later, the authorizer told families in a letter that the school will close this summer.
Victory College Prep leaders are now recruiting students from the pre-K-6 elementary school to attend VCP’s Sloan Avenue campus in the fall. They also plan to renovate the Bethel Park building this summer and reopen it as a high school as early as next school year.
Victory College Prep has long wanted to take on another building. Its leaders tried to move into an IPS school that was flagged for closure in 2023. But IPS changed course, deciding instead to lease part of the building to Goodwill’s Excel Center for an adult education program.
Now, with the Bethel Park building secured, Victory College Prep is embarking on an expansive plan to increase its enrollment, staffing and services.
The building purchase comes as the latest development in an at times contentious transition during which a past Bethel Park principal said she felt conclusions about her school’s fate had already been decided.
Victory College Prep leaders, however, say communication between the two schools is improving, and Victory College Prep is looking ahead to the future.
“The last thing we want at VCP is for any students to not have access to a quality education,” Victory College Prep board President Joseph Myers told Mirror Indy. “We want to do everything we can to make that possible.”
Transition coming into view
Victory College Prep completed its purchase of the Bethel Park building on Feb. 13. It bought the building from Charter Schools Development Corp., an organization that finances property purchases for charter schools.
Victory College Prep first made an offer on the building in late October — before Bethel Park leaders learned their authorizer might end its support for the school.
Both schools share the same authorizer, the Mayor’s Office of Education Innovation. The authorizer previously confirmed to Chalkbeat that it had reached out to Victory College Prep to gauge its interest in supporting another school.
The authorizer expressed longstanding concerns about Bethel Park’s finances before deciding to pull its charter.
Charter revocation doesn’t mean immediate closure for a school. Charter operators can seek out another authorizer to keep running. But this doesn’t appear to be the case for Bethel Park.
Bethel Park’s principal and school board didn’t respond to a Mirror Indy request for an interview March 12.
Bethel Park building to become a high school
Victory College Prep’s board is now considering a $3 million, multiphase renovation plan that would prioritize plumbing and security upgrades to get the building ready for the start of the 2025-26 school year.
Other steps, like new paint and Victory College Prep signage, could come later.
Ninth through 12th grades would move to the Bethel Park location, opening up space for Victory College Prep’s already cramped lower grades. The change would also help Victory College Prep add students from Bethel Park.
Those students won’t automatically transition into Victory College Prep. Families will have the ability to choose from several southeast side options — including multiple nearby IPS and charter schools.
But with their free transportation and proximity to Bethel Park, Victory College Prep leaders say they’re confident some families will come over to the Sloan Avenue campus. They’re projecting a 24% increase in enrollment in the coming year.
“The closure of Bethel gives us a close community neighbor that provides a larger recruiting base than we’ve ever had before,” Executive Director Ryan Gall said during a March 11 board meeting.
Victory College Prep plans for expansion
The Bethel Park acquisition comes alongside another recent purchase. Just weeks ago, Victory College Prep moved quickly to buy a single acre parcel across the street from the school for $140,000 to use as a possible expansion of parking.
Victory College Prep leaders say they’re looking into the property’s current zoning and there’s a home on the property that would need to be demolished before any paving projects could begin.
They’re also considering multiple phases of upgrades inside the Sloan Avenue campus. Some teachers share classrooms, small groups meet in hallways and only one set of bathrooms serves students on the school’s second and third floors.
New classroom, office and bathroom spaces could cost up to $12 million, leaders say.
The school board is considering taking on additional debt. It’s also applying for several one-time grants that, if secured, would bring the school millions of dollars.
“We’ve always budgeted conservatively and overestimated, making sure that we can sustain it,” Gall said during the March 11 meeting.
The board is expected to decide the school’s 2026 budget and further discuss its capital improvement plans in its May 13 meeting. The board may call an earlier meeting in April to discuss summer renovation plans, Gall said. That date has yet to be scheduled.
Recruitment key to Victory College Prep’s growth
Together, the projects signal a rapid period of expansion for the charter school that serves about 1,000 K-12 students. School leaders say they hope to eventually add 500 students — serving 1,000 at the Sloan Avenue campus and 500 at Bethel Park.
That goal carries weight. For every 10 students the district overprojects in its enrollment budgeting, Victory College Prep leaders calculate the school would lose out on $100,000.
In addition to building improvements, the school also is making a plan to add bus routes and increase its staffing. The leaders say they’ve interviewed multiple Bethel Park staff members and have more scheduled.
To keep up, the school is changing its recruitment strategy to target daycares and apartment complexes. Victory College Prep also attended a student enrollment fair at Bethel Park last week and are making plans to canvas the surrounding neighborhoods during spring break to attract new families to the school.
“We’re here for the southeast community,” Chief Development Officer Andrew Hayenga told Mirror Indy. “We certainly serve all of Indianapolis, but our footprint’s here. Our heart’s here. So we’ll be out in the community. We want to have a conversation with our neighbors.”
Victory College Prep leaders say they plan to communicate changes with families via email, phone calls and social media and will be posting an FAQ page to the school’s website by March 14.
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.
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