Summits for Success Muncie Community School’s Academic Innovation Summit brings national education leaders to Muncie.

Grayson Joslin

Opinion Editor

Chuck Reynolds grew up in Muncie, but he didn’t go to Muncie Central High School.

He went to Muncie Southside when it was still a high school. A graduate of the class of 1993, he was the assistant superintendent of Richmond Community Schools when he got an offer to become the associate superintendent of Muncie Community Schools (MCS) in March 2019.

Before becoming the assistant superintendent in Richmond, Indiana, Reynolds was the band director at Muncie Southside and ascended to assistant principal, then principal of the school.

“Muncie changed my life,” Reynolds said. “I wanted to give back to Muncie to help kids like me and to help provide a good education, so they could make better choices for themselves.”

Another person who wanted to help kids in MCS was Lee Ann Kwiatkowski. When the proposal for Ball State University to take over MCS was approved, Kwiatkowski was working for the governor’s office as a senior education advisor.

In July 2019, Kwiatkowski, nicknamed “Dr. K” by those in the community, was appointed to be the director of public education and chief executive officer of MCS. Since her ascension to the position, she has worked with Ball State to form a partnership.

Kwiatkowski said it had been years since staff members had opportunities for professional growth and development.

“So we thought, let’s create a conference that is equal to any at national scale,” she said. “Let’s just bring that right here to Muncie.” available to educators at the conference.

Kwiatkowski noted some of the presenters at the summit are Ball State faculty; a request for proposals are sent to faculty, which are then considered by the executive team that helps run the summit.

“We make sure everything’s aligned to our strategic plan,” Kwiatkowski said. “We just don’t want random topics. We want it to be connected to the work that we’re doing.”

Reynolds said the summit is a “unique” concept, compared to how other school systems do professional development. Other schools will set days aside in their schedule to have professional development days or will let out school early for professional development.

One facet of this partnership is the Academic Innovation Summit, a day-long conference where speakers from across Ball State and the country come to speak to MCS educators to help promote student success. The idea came from the Academic Innovation Council, formed at the onset of the partnership between Ball State and MCS.

MCS then partnered with the Ball Brothers Foundation and the George and Frances Ball Foundation to organize the Academic Innovation Summit. Reynolds said the conference is organized like a national conference, with breakout sessions and nationally-renowned speakers giving presentations. On average, around 75 to 110 breakout sessions are

The MCS Strategic Plan consists of “pillars” that guide MCS and its direction: high quality prekindergarten education, recruitment, development and retention of educational leaders, student-centered teaching and learning, and social and emotional learning with family and community engagement. Reynolds notes most of the presentations are focused on the last two pillars.