The state-appointed head for the Gary Community School Corp. will seek a new state loan for the struggling district next week, the district said Friday.
Emergency Manager Peggy Hinckley will ask the Distressed Unit Appeals Board for a loan during a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, according to a release. It would be the first common school loan fund request of her tenure.
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The school district had previously appealed to the board in the spring, getting loans to get through the end of the school year.
The size of the loan request is not yet known. Paul Pastorek, her chief of staff, was not immediately available for comment late Friday afternoon.
Pastorek told the Post-Tribune last month he updates the Distressed Unit Appeal Board members three days a week on finances and progress.
“We’ve tried to be creative in using the money we have. … If we have to ask for more money, then we will ask,” he said.
DUAB selected Hinckley and Tallahassee, Fla.-based firm MGT Consulting as the district’s new emergency manager in July.
The Gary district has faced years of declining enrollment and is at least $110 million in debt, officials said.
Since July, Hinckley’s team has prioritized extensive repairs to the district’s buildings.
Hinckley’s staff has been focusing on repairing roofing and plumbing problems. Each school now has toilet paper and at least one working boiler, according to her staff.
A routine inspection by the Gary Fire Department last month found all 12 schools had fire code violations, which Hinckley’s team has pledged to fix.
The DUAB meeting begins at 1 p.m. CST at the Indiana Government Center South Building in Room C at 402 W. Washington St. in Indianapolis.
It will be broadcast online at http://in.gov/dlgf/7175.htm.
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