Experiencing our strongest academic year to-date, KIPP Indy is poised to reach new heights thanks to sustained investments in our schools and community over the past five years. Increased investments towards Martindale-Brightwood resulted in tremendous positive impacts during the implementation of our 2025 Strategic Plan. With a new Quality of Life Plan guiding community investment priorities, KIPP Indy is poised to carry current success into a new chapter for our schools and community.
Fueled by the dedication and resilience of our students and families, we celebrate excellence made possible through community investments outlined in the 2025 Strategic Plan. 100% of Legacy High’s seniors graduated over the past two school years, with 96% of graduates pursuing bachelor’s degrees persisting in their chosen post-secondary pathway. Prioritized investments in Average Daily Attendance (ADA) were a critical lever for academic success, with K-12 experiencing a 6% ADA increase over the past two school years. Sustained investments ensured that students are attending class, maximizing their time in the classroom, and finding joyful opportunities for extracurricular participation outside the classroom.
With KIPP Indy’s 2025 Strategic Plan sunsetting after the current school year, Executive Director, Andy Seibert, and incoming Executive Director, David Spencer, describe what the next chapter of strategic planning and leadership looks like in their own words as we enter this next chapter for compounded excellence in and out of the classroom.
What most energizes you both about the future of KIPP Indy?
Andy: Everything. I think the passion and purpose that we’ve clarified as a network of schools over the last 20 years is about our commitment to Martindale-Brightwood. And as we get ready to enter a new chapter and a new phase, the future has never been brighter. We have a new Quality of Life Plan from Martindale-Brightwood’s standpoint, and KIPP Indy’s updated strategic plan will be lockstep with that and in alignment with residents and community leaders. And we’ve got the wind at our back in so many ways organizationally, thanks to the hard work of our team, our teachers, and most importantly the resilience of our students and families. The future is limitless. It’s so bright and I couldn’t be more excited to see this new chapter unfold.
David: Similar to what Andy shared, we have a strong partnership with our community. We have amazing families that we’ve shown dedication to, and they have shown dedication to us. And collectively we believe in what’s possible for our students. So I see us moving to this next chapter with the wind at our backs, with an organization and a community that is behind us 110%, that believe in what’s possible for our students; and with the resources to ensure we’re equipping our students with the knowledge, the skills, and the services necessary to live the life of choice that we all believe can be true and that can become a reality as we go into this next chapter.
KIPP Indy prioritizes stability in the neighborhood. What long term planning goes on behind the scenes to ensure a successful transition?
Andy: One of the things that we’ve clarified, as our commitment to Martindale-Brightwood has grown deeper over time, is how important the notion of our long-term commitment to the community is. We set out really over a decade ago with our partners at the Edna Martin Christian Center and our team, students, and families to build our organization in a way that’s reflective of that long-term commitment. That’s about building a culture of commitment with people, whether that’s partners, staff, or kids and families.
Whenever we’re making a decision about our strategy, we care deeply about sustainability. So when it comes to planning a leadership transition, for me and our board, it was really important from the outset that whenever the time came for the next leadership chapter for KIPP Indy, planning and succession would happen in a way that was reflective of our values and reflective of our long-term commitment to the community. The goal was to ensure that we do not miss a beat and that the transition is seamless, and I couldn’t be prouder of how that’s gone. I’m excited about sustaining this awesome momentum and David leading us into the future to reach new heights organizationally and to sustain that long-term commitment to Martindale-Brightwood.
Andy, why is it the right time for KIPP Indy to make this leadership transition? What makes David the “right” leader?
Andy: 2025 marks my 14th year at KIPP Indy. It also marks the end of our current five-year strategic plan. I am a deep believer that each organization, whether you’re talking about a K-12 network of schools or other nonprofits or other companies, need different leaders with different perspectives and different voices to maximize potential during different seasons. As we prepare to enter a new season with a new community Quality of Life Plan and a new strategic plan for KIPP Indy, this is the right time for us to have a new leader with fresh perspective, but also a new leader that already has deep roots and deep commitment to our team and our neighborhood.
David’s the right person for every reason. The three reasons that stand out most me: first, the culture of long-term commitment that we’ve worked hard to forge over many years. Second, his passion for this work is always grounded in our students; that was true when he was a teacher, when he was an administrator, and when he was our founding principal at Legacy. Third is his work leading our Operations Team. For every single reason, David is the right person at the right time, and this is the right time for that transition to lead KIPP Indy towards reaching new heights.
David, how has your experience as an educator and founding school leader for Legacy High School prepared you to lead in this next chapter at KIPP Indy?
David: When I came to KIPP Indy for my first visit, I was most impressed by the true partnership that exists between KIPP Indy and our community. I saw we had partners who were in and outside of our schools supporting our students, supporting our families, and supporting our community. As we built Legacy High, we had our community members come out and support us and encourage us. Throughout that process, I grew those relationships with key partners, with our families, and with our leadership team; many of whom have been here like Andy for over a decade and shown commitment to this work. I have learned alongside them. We’ve had successes together, and we’ve had opportunities where we need to grow where we sat down, identified what we needed to do to move forward, and we adjusted course.
In my experience, building those relationships, seeing the work we’ve done, and growing along with the team has given me the insights and necessary relationships to enter this next chapter. We’ve had so many successes and have the opportunity to sustain them and propel us forward. Additional opportunities for growth will be key areas for us to build on and for us to rally around. Ultimately, these key systems and relationships will ensure we compound our past success.
As KIPP Indy finalizes its updated three-year strategic plan, how will we continue to build our previous successes?
Andy: To David’s point, we have such a strong foundation of organizational excellence and deep authentic partnerships. The assets in place have us poised to reach new heights together. And for us, the height that we’re always trying to reach is an absolute level of excellence for our students. We want each one of our students that walks through the doors of our four schools to have access to limitless opportunities in life, which means reaching absolute levels of attainment in the classroom, having access to awesome offerings- whether you’re talking about sports or extracurricular activities-, and having opportunities to volunteer in the community and grow both academically but also as a person. Because of the strong foundation that’s in place, we’re poised to take those next steps; but our North Star will always be academic excellence.
David: Academic excellence will always be our North Star, and we have seen excellent growth in our student academics over this last strategic plan. That will always be what’s most important for us. And that continues to be our focus as we enter this next season. We’ve learned a lot over these last five years and we’ll continue to build on the systems we’ve established. At the end of the day, that academic bar will only be achievable by leaning into our strengths from these last five years.
How does KIPP Indy’s long-term planning align with community priorities outlined in Martindale Brightwood’s quality of life plan?
Andy: Martindale-Brightwood is at the heart of who we are as a network of schools. Everything about our long-term plan is aligned to what families, residents, stakeholders, and leaders that have committed their lives here say is most important. We care deeply about Quality-of-Life Plan priorities like academic excellence, high-quality post-secondary opportunity, enriching in-day access to best-in-class post-secondary counseling, best-in-class extracurricular activities and sports, and having the very best educators.
Now more than ever, we are proud of our progress and know that this next chapter represents a unique opportunity for an exceptional leader with fresh perspective to take KIPP Indy to new heights. We thank Andy for his 14 years of service to our students and families at KIPP Indy. KIPP Indy’s imprint in Martindale-Brightwood, characterized by authentic community partnerships and relationships, simply would not be possible without Andy’s 8 years of leadership as Executive Director.
Entering this next chapter, David is poised to continue our deep belief in the power of community partnerships and love for Martindale-Brightwood. KIPP Indy is positioned to strengthen existing relationships and establish new ones to ensure excellent and joyful outcomes for our students and families.
If you have any questions about the leadership transition or strategic planning process, please reach out to Andy (aseibert@kippindy.org) and David (dspencer@kippindy.org).