Shortridge Renaissance in the Works - UPDATED

Watch for an announcement Wednesday about yet another overhaul for Shortridge.

Once the premier college prep high school in the IPS system (counting Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Lugar among its alums), it's weathered many academic fads in the last couple of decades.

Now, rumor has it, Butler University will partner with IPS to turn Shortridge back into a high school, one with a law and public policy focus, and lean on Shortridge alums to fund some of its projected programs (such as college scholarships not only for grads, but for kids who want to take college courses while finishing up their diploma requirements for high school).

This Indianapolis Observer says it's about time to have a magnet high school that privileges academic performance over the feel-good "every kid is a winner" mentality pervading recent pedagogy.

UPDATE:

It's Wednesday, the news is out, and it's wimpier than this Indianapolis Observer had hoped.

Here's what it says in The Indianapolis Star 7 February 2007:

"Butler University will offer free classes to Indianapolis Public Schools students through a partnership at the district's new law and public policy magnet at Shortridge High School.
"The program would start in 2009, and Shortridge students would be eligible to take the courses for college credit beginning in 2011.
"Key details remain to be worked out, including how Butler and IPS would raise the money to pay for the courses and how much the entire program would cost."