Believe Schools pivots from second location in Pike to serve credit-deficient, non-traditional students

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Indiana’s free daily newsletter to keep up with Indianapolis Public Schools, Marion County’s township districts, and statewide education news. Believe Schools is changing its plan to open a second Indianapolis high school in Pike Township to instead launch a small school for students who school leaders say are underserved. The Believe Accelerator school, which plans to launch in the fall, would begin with a target of 35 students and three staff members and serve three types of learners: multilingual students aged 16 to 19 who may be credit-deficient; other credit-deficient students aged 16 to 19 who don’t thrive in a traditional school model; and motivated, independent 15- to-16-year-olds who want to graduate high school early. The model comes in part from the experience of leaders at Believe Circle City, which launched in 2020. The school’s graduation rate dropped from 90% in 2024 to roughly 82% in 2025. Staff have been examining why students have been dropping out. One major reason, they found: Students need to work to support their families. Believe Accelerator’s goal is to serve students who are not interested in traditional school. “A lot of things have changed post-COVID, as we all know. Education does not look the same as it did pre-2020,” Believe founder Kimberly Neal-Brannum told Chalkbeat. “The three profiles come from our lived experience and what I not only see locally as trends with kids, but also nationally.” The plan is a shift from the charter operator’s pitch to open a location in Pike Township — a proposal that faced vocal opposition from charter critics there when the Indianapolis Charter School Board approved Believe’s second school in 2022 . The charter board approved the school before the creation of the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation , which will determine which charter and traditional schools have access to school buildings while creating a transportation plan for both school types. The model, based off of a similar Believe school in St. Louis, is an attempt to fill a need rather than fight to stay in a community opposed to a new charter school, Neal-Brannum said. “We are not interested in just opening schools for the sake of opening schools,” she told the charter school board earlier this month. “We want to make sure that what we’re doing is in lockstep with what the community of Marion County needs.” Believe Accelerator plans to serve about 100 students on the second floor of the Believe Circle City High School building located just off Fall Creek Parkway near the Crown Hill neighborhood. The size is smaller than the intended Believe Pike Academy, initially proposed to open in 2024 or 2025 and grow to 270 students. The change in plan does not require any additional action from the Indianapolis Charter School Board, according to the mayor’s Office of Education Innovation that houses the charter board. Charter schools with substantive changes to their original application instead return to the board to convey those changes. OEI will still determine if it would evaluate the school based on alternate academic metrics, said OEI director Shaina Cavazos. The Accelerator is also modeled off of Believe’s Middle College school in St. Louis for students who previously dropped out or were at risk of not graduating. The school there also launched with a small cohort. “We only started with 12 kids — we’re up to 50 now, in one year,” Neal-Brannum said of the St. Louis school. “That showed us that the demand for that type of model was high, and we’ve had great success with the students — high attendance rates, kids invested. And with that particular population, getting kids to just come in the building is half the battle.” Believe Circle City, which opened in 2020 with 54 students, has since grown to 307 students and emphasizes earning free dual college credits or various certifications in high school. More than 90% of the school population is Black or Hispanic, and roughly 73% of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, according to the latest state enrollment data. Believe Circle City became the most recent charter to join the Innovation Network of autonomous schools within Indianapolis Public Schools , giving the school access to IPS transportation . School leaders say they are still working on a transportation plan for Accelerator students. IPEC will ultimately assume responsibility for transportation and buildings for district schools and for charter schools, although schools can opt out of giving up control of their buildings . Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at apak-harvey@chalkbeat.org .

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