INDIANAPOLIS — The long vacant PR Mallory building on East Washington Street on the near eastside will be redeveloped as the Purdue Polytechnic High School. The 125,000 square foot building, built by General Electric in 1921 on the site of the former Wonderland Amusement Park, is owned by Southeast Neighborhood Development Inc., which has been looking for redevelopment opportunities for the historic asset.
Purdue University on Oct. 3 announced an agreement with Indianapolis Public Schools and opened applications for Purdue Polytechnic High School Indianapolis, a new STEM-focused charter school scheduled to open in fall 2017. The renovations are expected to be complete before the start of the 2018-19 academic year, but the school will be temporarily located at 201 S. Rural.
The high school curriculum will mirror the Purdue Polytechnic Institute on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus and serve as a pipeline to the college. Scott Bess, who was named head of school in April, and Shatoya Jordan, who will serve as principal for the school, will work with Purdue faculty on curriculum development. The process is under way to hire teachers for the school.
Applications opened Monday for the school’s first students, those who will be ninth-graders in fall 2017. Space will be available for 150 students in the first year, and a new freshman class will be added each year, working toward a total enrollment of 600 in grades 9-12. Applications are available at the high school’s website at https://pphsi.purdue.edu/. Students who live within IPS boundaries will have first preference for spaces.
