FAQ's for our Charter School in Muncie, Indiana
A charter school is an independently run public school granted greater flexibility in its operations, in return for greater accountability for performance. The “charter” that establishes each school is a performance contract detailing the school’s mission, program, students served, performance goals, and methods of assessment. In the state of Indiana, several different entities approve charter schools. Inspire Academy’s charter is granted by Ball State University.
Charter schools are public schools of choice, meaning that families specifically choose them because they want something different (or better) for their children. Charter schools operate with more freedom from some of the regulations that are imposed upon district schools. This means that charters can modify curriculum, instructional style or their calendar to better serve their own student population. However, charter schools are still held to the same standards of other public schools including Indiana’s A-F model and all federal guidelines. In addition to adhereing to these guidelines, charter schools also must meet the requirements of their authorizer. Charter schools are reviewed by their authorizer every 5 years. If a charter school does not meet those performance goals, it may be closed.
Inspire Academy is a public school meaning that there is no cost for any student to attend. Additionally, because Inspire is its own Local Education agency (LEA), any student who wants to attend Inspire can regardless of where they live. Inspire Academy draws student from throughout Muncie as well as from many neighboring, county school districts.
*Inspire Academy’s Pre-Kindergarten class is not yet part of our charter and a monthly fee applies for Pre-K enrollment. We are greatly looking forward to the day when our Pre-K program will also be no-cost.
Inspire Academy is a public school and has an open enrollment policy. Any and every student is welcome to attend Inspire Academy.
Inspire Academy uses EL Education as our core curriculum. EL Education was born out of a collaboration between The Harvard Graduate School of Education and Outward Bound USA. The concept of EL Education or Expeditionary Learning is that children learn best when their sense of natural curiosity is engaged in projects that transcend the classroom. Inspire Academy is the only school in Muncie that uses this type of curriculum. We are also very proud of our Bridges in Mathematics curriculum. Bridges blends direct instruction, structured investigation, and open exploration in helping students learn and embrace mathematics.
Inspire Academy uses a more balanced calendar than the traditional school calendar, which means we have a two week fall break, three week winter break, and two week spring break. We are still in school 180, so we just start a little earlier and end a little later than traditional schools to be able to take some longer breaks throughout the year.
Inspire Academy will be offering all-day preschool for the 2022-2023 school year. Inspire Pre-K costs $190 per week, but it is very rare for families to pay full tuition, thanks to On My Way Pre-K.
If the household income is below 127% of the federal poverty level AND parents/guardians in the household are going to school, employed, OR actively looking for a job, tuition drops to $40 per week!
Inspire Academy offers matching grants to make Pre-K even more affordable.
With our On My Way Pre-K matching grant, Inspire Academy offers scholarships equivalent to $40 per week on a first come/first served basis.
Inspire Academy offers a number of sports and arts programs for our students. In the fall, we offer co-ed cross country and girls’ volleyball. In the winter, we offer boys’ and girls’ basketball. In the spring, we offer co-ed track and musical theatre.
Inspire Academy is introducing the I ASK tutoring program to address pandemic-related learning loss. The after school program will run daily from 3:00pm-5:00pm, supervised by a licensed teacher and a staff of tutors.
We have also partnered with four different organizaitons that pick up students at dismissal every day. The Unity Center, The Boys and Girls Club of Muncie, Kidz Korner and Motivate our Minds. To participate in any of these programs, parents need to sign a 3rd Party Pickup Release of Liability form which is available at the front office.
Inspire Academy will offer free transportation starting on the first day of the 2021-2022 school year. The tentative boundaries for pickup are McGalliard to the north, SR 35 to the east, 29th St. to the east, and Morrison to the west—though this may be subject to change. Students outside these boundaries may be picked up at central stops along the boundary lines.
As a public school, Inspire Academy accepts all students regardless of disability and will provide the necessary supports to students with special education needs to ensure that they are successful at Inspire.
All the teachers at Inspire Academy are licensed by the state of Indiana. Many of our teachers are graduates of Ball State University’s Teacher’s College which often ranks nationally as one of the best teacher’s college in the country.
