INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Public Schools is working to strengthen its teacher pipeline by investing in teachers connected to the school and community they serve.
Three first-year teachers at Theodore Potter School 74 are part of that effort. Nanci Monroy, Elizabeth Rojas, and Cindy Ibanez are all in their first year of teaching and are coincidentally best friends.
“We were always thinking, ‘Let’s teach at the same school,’” Rojas said.
Monroy, Rojas and Ibanez all graduated together from Indiana University- Indianapolis. They were part of the university’s Urban Teacher Education Program. They did all of their student teaching inside IPS classrooms including at Theodore Potter.
“I love that this is a dual-language school where we get to speak both languages, Spanish and English,” Monroy said. “It’s not very common in Indiana where you can teach in both languages, and I feel like students feel more welcome here because they are able to express their thoughts and learn both languages.”
For Cindy, returning to Theodore Potter as a teacher carries personal meaning. She once attended the school as a student.
“When I came here, I didn’t know Spanish,” she said. “It was hard for me to communicate with my parents. I think it’s important to have that sense of identity with them.”
That sense of connection is something Principal Arturo Rodriguez says helps schools build stronger communities.
“You can recruit more students; this is a community,” Rodriguez said. “It’s nice for the community to know one of their own is in the building serving them.”
During the ongoing teacher shortage, Rodriguez said it also helps fill vacancies from within.
“That’s where we can watch teachers develop here,” he said. “If they do well, sometimes they’re offered an opportunity to work.”
For years, finding teachers for the dual-language program meant looking far beyond Indiana.
“Many years ago, we were outsourcing to find candidates from places like Spain,” Rodriguez said.
Now, many of those candidates are coming from much closer to home. For Monroy and her friends, starting their careers together has made the transition easier.
“It makes the process much easier since I have someone that understands me and someone I can lean on,” Monroy said.
“We just bounce ideas off each other,” said Rojas. “At the end of the day, we leave together, come in together."
"We basically do everything together,” Ibanez chimed in.
