Christina Smith and her Indianapolis Education Justice Coalition (IEJC) are branded as champions of Indianapolis Public Schools, railing against charter schools and the “privatization of education.” Smith’s failed IPS board campaign leaned heavily on her claim that her kids attended IPS, using it to bolster her credibility as a public education advocate.

But here’s the truth: It was recently revealed that Smith pulled her kids out of IPS and enrolled them in “highly rated charter schools.” Meanwhile, her campaign Facebook page still conveniently suggests her kids are IPS students. Misleading? Absolutely.

Unable to secure a seat on the IPS board herself, Smith found another way to stay in the game: by funding and propping up Gayle Cosby’s 2024 campaign through her special interest group IEJC. Two anti-charter hypocritical peas in the pod Smith and Cosby make, what with them both vocally opposing charters while sending their own kids to top-rated charter schools.

Lest we not forget—Cosby also sent her children to charter schools.

Together, Smith and Cosby have built an echo chamber of hypocrisy, publicly denouncing charter schools while their own choices reveal that they know charters provide opportunities IPS can’t.

Newly elected IPS school board member Gayle Cosby was recently quoted saying, “I think it means a lot to have the voice of someone who is not backed by special interest groups,” claiming to be free from such influence.

Yet, Cosby accepted a $25,000 donation from the Indiana PAC for Education, a special interest group affiliated with the Indiana teachers union.

Ironically, she posted another blog in September, that includes the Cambridge definition of special interest groups—defined as “a group of people who have particular demands and who try to influence political decisions involving them.”

We’re not sure if Gayle thinks the teachers union gave her $25,000 out of the goodness of their heart, but we’re pretty sure they will have some very specific demands of the incoming school board.

We don’t know about you, but we’re looking forward to four years of lectures from Gayle Cosby about how virtuous and righteous her ideas and leadership are.

After all, she’s never railed against the very type of schools that she sent her own son to…

While we are withholding her name, we can report that an administrator in Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) has taken her child out of Broad Ripple Middle School and moved the middle schooler out of IPS entirely, choosing instead to send the student to a middle school in Washington Township.

What is going on in IPS Superintendent Aleesia Johnson’s administration when her own staff are sending their kids to other school districts?

Parent anger has been rising with growing safety issues across IPS, including at the recently re-opened Broad Ripple Middle School, where fights continue to breakout regularly, leaving students fearful for their basic safety at school.

One student even told the IPS school board recently that if they had kids they wouldn’t be sending them to Broad Ripple Middle.

While IPS admins pluck their kids out of IPS schools, we have to wonder – what message does Superintendent Johnson have for the parents that aren’t able to easily relocate their kids to other districts?

And what does Superintendent Johnson think it says about her leadership in IPS if her own staff won’t keep their kids in IPS?