Public hearing set for April 10 as Valor Classical Academy eyes building in northwest Indianapolis 

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Valor Classical Academy, which had been aiming for two years to open a charter school in Hamilton County this fall, is now considering a site in northwest Indianapolis in Marion County.

A public hearing on the school is set from 6 to 8 p.m. April 10 at Embassy Suites by Hilton Indianapolis North, 3912 Vincennes Rd. in Indianapolis, for officials from Grace Schools Charter Authority, which voted in October 2022 to become Valor’s authorizer, to gather feedback.

GSCA held a similar public hearing in September 2022 in Carmel, but state law requires a public hearing to be held in the county where the school is proposed to operate. At the time, Valor expected to open in Hamilton County.

Those who are unable to attend the public hearing but wish to provide feedback may do so through the end of the business day April 12 at grace.edu/about/charter-schools/application-process/application-submissions/valor-academy-public-comment-submission-form.

Valor sued Carmel Clay Schools in April 2022 for the right to open in the former Orchard Park Elementary building, which closed to students after the 2020-21 school year. Valor officials believed CCS did not follow state law that requires vacated school buildings to be made available to charter schools for $1, but in January a judge ruled in favor of CCS.

The charter school filed a motion in February asking a judge to reconsider the ruling, stating that a plan unveiled by CCS in December 2022 to demolish part of OPE and lease the rest should trigger the dollar law and that the district’s changing plans for the building show it doesn’t need the space for storage and other current uses. A judge denied the motion on March 17.

Valor officials declined to state which building it is eyeing in Marion County until a lease is signed, but an email to supporters of the school stated it is “just across the Hamilton County line near I-465 and Michigan Road.”

Valor, which has been accepted into Hillsdale College’s Barney Charter School Initiative, recently announced that David Wright will serve as its first head of school. Wright has taught at public and private schools and has worked to develop upper school classical curricula as the literature curriculum developer for Memoria Press. He has a masters degree in English literature from DePaul University and is working on a PhD in humanities and English literature from the University of Louisville. In the summer, he operates his own commercial salmon fishing boat in the Bering Sea in Bristol Bay, Alaska.


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