Carmel Clay Schools — Policy Analysis 2026
Grand Total
72 / 106
67.9%
Base Score
62 / 96
Extra Credit
10 / 10
Score by Section
| Section | Score | Max | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culturally Responsive Training | 3 | 8 | Notes |
| Clear & Consistent Policies | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Restorative Justice Practices | 3 | 8 | Notes |
| Bias Awareness & Mitigation | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Culturally Relevant Curriculum | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Community Engagement & Collaboration | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion | 3 | 8 | Notes |
| Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Data Collection & Analysis | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Student Voice & Leadership | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Equitable Access to Support Services | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Continuous Evaluation & Improvement | 7 | 8 | Notes |
| Extra Credit | 10 | 10 | Notes |
Suggestions to Improve the Score
Every item below its maximum, worst gap first, with the reviewer's own notes as the rationale.
Show suggestions (29)
- 1.2 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mentorship programs for culturally diverse staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found of a formal mentorship program specifically for culturally diverse staff at Carmel Clay Schools.
- 3.4 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Peer mediation program — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found of a formal peer mediation program at Carmel Clay Schools.
- 4.3 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Cultural competence checks in hiring — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found of cultural-competence checks incorporated into CCS hiring processes; postings reference being an "Equal Opportunity Employer" but not specific competency screening.
- 7.4 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Participation in equity-focused conferences — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found confirming staff participation in equity-focused external conferences.
- 10.3 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Students facilitate restorative processes — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found of students facilitating restorative processes at Carmel Clay Schools.
- 1.1 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mandatory cultural competency training for all staff — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Carmel HS's school improvement plan describes an "Equity & Inclusion Alliance" leading "Implicit Bias and culturally responsive teaching training for all staff." The district's DEI Coordinator also held multiple staff trainings including an "Excellence in Equity" series on ally-ship, intersectionality and microaggressions, but the DEI Coordinator position was vacated in Jan. 2025 and i…
- 1.3 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Culturally relevant PD resources in staff learning — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The Carmel HS improvement plan lists specific culturally-relevant PD resources (Teaching Tolerance, Edutopia, IUPUI Equity Institute) used for implicit bias/culturally responsive teaching, but this is documented at one school rather than confirmed as a uniform district-wide resource library.
- 1.4 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Regular feedback/measurement on training effectiveness — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The CHS improvement plan lists "Teacher feedback at the end of the year" as an evaluation method tied to equity/implicit bias PD, indicating some feedback loop exists, though not confirmed as a formal district-wide measurement system.
- 2.3 [Clear & Consistent Policies]: Staff training on consistent application — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CCS trains administrators, coaches, counselors and psychologists through an 8-day Cognitive Coaching Seminar to build consistent communication/coaching practices, but no specific evidence confirms mandatory training on consistent discipline application district-wide.
- 2.4 [Clear & Consistent Policies]: Centralized documentation of incidents/outcomes — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Discipline incidents (suspensions, expulsions, bullying) are centrally reported by the district to Indiana DOE and displayed with race/ethnicity breakdowns on the state's INview dashboard, but this is primarily a state-mandated reporting requirement rather than a confirmed internal CCS case-management system.
- 3.1 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Restorative circles/conferences to repair harm — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CCS elementary schools implement "Conscious Discipline," an approach that moves "away from rewards and punishments towards natural and logical consequences," which shares philosophy with restorative approaches, but explicit restorative circles/conferences to repair harm were not documented.
- 3.2 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Staff training in restorative practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Staff (e.g., at Woodbrook Elementary) are trained in Conscious Discipline, a related approach, and administrators/coaches complete the Cognitive Coaching Seminar, but dedicated "restorative practices" staff training was not specifically confirmed.
- 3.3 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Curriculum integrates conflict-resolution skills — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CCS has offered parent/staff sessions touching on "emotional intelligence and conflict resolution" as part of SEL programming tied to its mental-health partnership, suggesting some curricular integration, but a confirmed, uniform conflict-resolution curriculum was not found.
- 4.1 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Implicit bias training for staff — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CHS's improvement plan names implicit bias PD for staff, and the district's former DEI Officer held implicit-bias-related "Excellence in Equity" trainings, but mandatory, district-wide, ongoing status is unclear following the DEI coordinator's 2025 departure and new state restrictions on such trainings.
- 4.2 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Processes to review discipline data for disparities — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CHS's plan calls for a "comprehensive review of equity data school wide," and in a 2025 survey-results meeting, administration said disaggregated data would be provided to the board upon request, indicating some disparity-review process exists but not confirmed as systematic or district-wide.
- 5.2 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Teacher PD on integrating diverse perspectives — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CHS's improvement plan describes reviewing "materials and texts through an equity and inclusion lens" and providing culturally responsive teaching PD for staff, but this is documented at the high-school level rather than confirmed as district-wide policy.
- 5.3 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Community collaboration for supplemental resources — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The Carmel Education Foundation funds classroom grants and partners with 80+ community businesses/organizations to support teachers and programs, which can supplement curriculum resources, though not confirmed as specifically targeting culturally relevant materials.
- 6.1 [Community Engagement & Collaboration]: Regular meetings with parents & community leaders — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The superintendent hosted "30+ listening sessions" and gathered community survey feedback while developing the 2025-28 strategic plan, and the district holds regular board meetings with public comment, but a standing recurring structure for parent/community-leader meetings beyond planning cycles was not confirmed.
- 6.3 [Community Engagement & Collaboration]: Advisory committees with community representation — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CCS announced plans for a district equity and inclusion advisory committee in 2021, and reporting confirmed functioning DEI/SEL committees with dozens of members, but transparency concerns were raised about membership disclosure, and the committees' current status/composition after 2025 restructuring is unclear.
- 7.1 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Ongoing anti-bias/equity training — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Ongoing implicit-bias/equity-related PD was documented for Carmel High School staff and through the former DEI Officer's training series, but continuity and district-wide mandate are uncertain following 2025 leadership and state-law changes.
- 7.2 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Workshops on culturally responsive teaching — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The CHS plan explicitly lists "culturally responsive teaching for staff" workshops led by an Equity & Inclusion Alliance, but confirmed only at the high-school level rather than district-wide.
- 7.3 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Equity topics in staff meetings/PD — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CHS's plan states staff will "gather, share, and analyze data related to equity and inclusion with the entire staff," indicating equity topics are incorporated into staff PD at that school, but district-wide consistency was not confirmed.
- 8.2 [Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices]: Safe, supportive spaces (mindfulness/sensory) — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The Extended School Enrichment (ESE) before/after-school program serving CCS elementary sites trains staff in "positive discipline approaches to modify behavior including redirection, personal reflection time, mindfulness exercises," but this is a parks-and-recreation partnership program rather than a confirmed core-school sensory/mindfulness space initiative.
- 8.3 [Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices]: Trauma-informed staff training — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CCS has trained teachers, social workers and counselors in QPR (Question, Persuade, Respond) suicide-prevention gatekeeper training, which builds crisis-response skills, though a comprehensive trauma-informed-care staff training program was not separately confirmed.
- 9.2 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Regular audits of discipline practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Discipline data undergoes mandated external review through the biennial federal Civil Rights Data Collection and state INview reporting, functioning as an external audit mechanism, though a confirmed internal district audit process for discipline practices was not found.
- 9.3 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Data-informed interventions/adjustments — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The CHS improvement plan calls for comprehensive equity-data review to guide actions, and a 2026 board update reported "over 16,000 interventions" tracked through student-services data, suggesting data-informed intervention practices exist, though not confirmed as a formal, uniform district-wide process.
- 10.1 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student advisory councils/leadership groups — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Individual CCS schools maintain student leadership groups such as Forest Dale's Student Advisory Council and elementary Student Councils, but no unified, district-wide superintendent-level student advisory council was confirmed for Carmel Clay Schools (distinct from a similarly-named council in Florida's Clay County schools).
- 10.2 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Student feedback informs policy/procedures — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Middle and high school students were given the opportunity to complete the district's 2024 community survey during the school day to inform the strategic plan, showing some student input mechanism, though not confirmed as a regular, formal policy-feedback loop.
- 12.1 [Continuous Evaluation & Improvement]: Standing committee/task force for discipline equity — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). CCS established DEI/SEL-related committees (reported to include 23-26 members) intended to address equity holistically, but their current structure, discipline-specific mandate, and status after 2025 leadership changes are unclear.
Source Documents Used
Show source documents (3)
| Document | Date | Local Copy | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learn More about Effective Communication & Community Engagement | 2026 | Open file | https://www.ccs.k12.in.us/about/strategicplan/strategic-plan-default-post-page/~board/strategic-plan-25-28/post/effective-communication-community-engagement |
| Behavioral Health | 2026 | Open file | https://www.ccs.k12.in.us/services/human-resources/ccs-health-wellness/wellness-center/~board/wellness-center-services/post/behavioral-health |
| Carmel Clay Schools Scoring Sheet | 2026 | Open file | file:///C:/_CSSD/CSSDWebsite/cssdisc.org_htdocs/DistrictPolicies/Carmel_Clay_Schools/2026/Carmel_Clay_Schools_Scoring_Sheet.xlsx |