Revise Early Release Dismissal Policy at Carmel High School Indiana
Revise Early Release Dismissal Policy at Carmel High School Indiana
The Issue
Purpose of This Petition
This petition respectfully requests that the Carmel Clay School Board revise the current policy governing early dismissal of Carmel High School students on half days, including ACE Week, to prevent large numbers of students from being unsupervised in the community for extended periods of time.
This is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical request focused solely on student safety, community impact, and operational logistics, not curriculum, test performance, or instructional quality.
What Is ACE Week?
ACE Week at Carmel High School (CHS) stands for Assessments and Culminating Experiences and occurs twice yearly in December and May near the end of each semester. During this week, students complete mandatory final exams and major projects on abbreviated schedules and are released once their assessments conclude.
The concern is not the academic purpose of ACE Week, but that early release combined with unchanged bus schedules results in extended periods up to four hours of unsupervised students released in the community.
Why This Matters
Carmel High School has grown significantly and now enrolls approximately 5,300 students. On ACE Week half days:
- All Carmel High School students—not only seniors—are released up to four hours early
- Regular bus schedules remain unchanged
- As a result, approximately 2,500 students are left unsupervised in public spaces during the middle of the day
This scale of unsupervised student release is not comparable to prior decades and creates foreseeable safety and community concerns.
Current Default Creates an Unsupervised Outcome
While the district offers an optional supervised setting during the dismissal gap, the default outcome is unsupervised release, unless families take additional steps to opt in.
Concerns include:
- Supervision information is often embedded in dense or easily missed communications
- Families may be unaware that inaction results in public release
- The burden is placed on parents to discover and act, rather than on the system to ensure safety by default
Best practice would reverse this model: supervised at school by default, with a clear and accessible opt-out for dismissal to public option.
Community Impact and Documented Incidents
ACE Week has coincided with significant public disturbances requiring emergency response, underscoring the real-world community impact of the current early-dismissal policy.
Referenced incidents include:
- “Fight closes Carmel library after massive influx of students during finals week”
You Are Current — December 17, 2025
- “Carmel firefighters battling building fire on Range Line Road”
You Are Current — May 20, 2025
In response to similar conditions in a nearby school district, the Pike Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library implemented significant access restrictions beginning January 5, limiting the number of unchaperoned high school students permitted in the library during school-day afternoon hours. This policy was developed after consultation with Pike High School, which had already adopted comparable measures to manage large numbers of students during early release and after-school periods.
- Article: “Influx of teens at central Indiana libraries causing problems, prompting new policies”
MSN — January 2026 - Video: “Influx of teens at central Indiana libraries causing problems, prompting new policies”
FOX59 — January 2026
Together, these examples illustrate the predictable strain placed on libraries, retail spaces, emergency services, and public safety personnel when thousands of minors are released simultaneously into the community without supervision during the school day. This petition does not advocate for changes to library access policies; rather, it seeks to address the upstream school dismissal practices that contribute to these downstream impacts.
What This Petition Is Not
- This is not a critique of academic rigor, test scores, or instructional time
- This does not allege misuse of educational hours
- This does not question staff professionalism or student intent
- This does not advocate for political or ideological positions
- This does not advocate for changes to library access policies
The concern is logistical and operational, not educational.
Proposed Solutions for Consideration
This petition asks the School Board to evaluate and implement one or more of the following reasonable, practical options:
- Late-start ACE Week exam days
Allow students to remain at home before exams rather than being released en masse midday. - Adjusted bus transportation during half days including ACE Week
Align bus schedules with exam dismissal times to eliminate extended unsupervised gaps. - Supervised-by-default model
Keep students supervised on campus unless parents explicitly opt out. - Clear opt-out of supervision with early release process
Provide a simple, prominently communicated Google Form allowing families to approve early public release if desired. - Improved communication standards
Ensure dismissal policies and defaults are clearly stated, accessible, and repeated across easily accessible platforms including public school websites.
Closing Statement
The safety of students and the well-being of the Carmel community depend on policies that reflect current enrollment realities, not past conditions.
We respectfully urge the Carmel Clay School Board to revisit and revise its half-day dismissal procedures for Carmel High School to ensure supervision, reduce community disruption, and protect students during ACE Week and similar half-day schedules.
Please sign this petition to support a safer, clearer, and more responsible approach.
67
The Issue
Purpose of This Petition
This petition respectfully requests that the Carmel Clay School Board revise the current policy governing early dismissal of Carmel High School students on half days, including ACE Week, to prevent large numbers of students from being unsupervised in the community for extended periods of time.
This is a nonpartisan, nonpolitical request focused solely on student safety, community impact, and operational logistics, not curriculum, test performance, or instructional quality.
What Is ACE Week?
ACE Week at Carmel High School (CHS) stands for Assessments and Culminating Experiences and occurs twice yearly in December and May near the end of each semester. During this week, students complete mandatory final exams and major projects on abbreviated schedules and are released once their assessments conclude.
The concern is not the academic purpose of ACE Week, but that early release combined with unchanged bus schedules results in extended periods up to four hours of unsupervised students released in the community.
Why This Matters
Carmel High School has grown significantly and now enrolls approximately 5,300 students. On ACE Week half days:
- All Carmel High School students—not only seniors—are released up to four hours early
- Regular bus schedules remain unchanged
- As a result, approximately 2,500 students are left unsupervised in public spaces during the middle of the day
This scale of unsupervised student release is not comparable to prior decades and creates foreseeable safety and community concerns.
Current Default Creates an Unsupervised Outcome
While the district offers an optional supervised setting during the dismissal gap, the default outcome is unsupervised release, unless families take additional steps to opt in.
Concerns include:
- Supervision information is often embedded in dense or easily missed communications
- Families may be unaware that inaction results in public release
- The burden is placed on parents to discover and act, rather than on the system to ensure safety by default
Best practice would reverse this model: supervised at school by default, with a clear and accessible opt-out for dismissal to public option.
Community Impact and Documented Incidents
ACE Week has coincided with significant public disturbances requiring emergency response, underscoring the real-world community impact of the current early-dismissal policy.
Referenced incidents include:
- “Fight closes Carmel library after massive influx of students during finals week”
You Are Current — December 17, 2025
- “Carmel firefighters battling building fire on Range Line Road”
You Are Current — May 20, 2025
In response to similar conditions in a nearby school district, the Pike Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library implemented significant access restrictions beginning January 5, limiting the number of unchaperoned high school students permitted in the library during school-day afternoon hours. This policy was developed after consultation with Pike High School, which had already adopted comparable measures to manage large numbers of students during early release and after-school periods.
- Article: “Influx of teens at central Indiana libraries causing problems, prompting new policies”
MSN — January 2026 - Video: “Influx of teens at central Indiana libraries causing problems, prompting new policies”
FOX59 — January 2026
Together, these examples illustrate the predictable strain placed on libraries, retail spaces, emergency services, and public safety personnel when thousands of minors are released simultaneously into the community without supervision during the school day. This petition does not advocate for changes to library access policies; rather, it seeks to address the upstream school dismissal practices that contribute to these downstream impacts.
What This Petition Is Not
- This is not a critique of academic rigor, test scores, or instructional time
- This does not allege misuse of educational hours
- This does not question staff professionalism or student intent
- This does not advocate for political or ideological positions
- This does not advocate for changes to library access policies
The concern is logistical and operational, not educational.
Proposed Solutions for Consideration
This petition asks the School Board to evaluate and implement one or more of the following reasonable, practical options:
- Late-start ACE Week exam days
Allow students to remain at home before exams rather than being released en masse midday. - Adjusted bus transportation during half days including ACE Week
Align bus schedules with exam dismissal times to eliminate extended unsupervised gaps. - Supervised-by-default model
Keep students supervised on campus unless parents explicitly opt out. - Clear opt-out of supervision with early release process
Provide a simple, prominently communicated Google Form allowing families to approve early public release if desired. - Improved communication standards
Ensure dismissal policies and defaults are clearly stated, accessible, and repeated across easily accessible platforms including public school websites.
Closing Statement
The safety of students and the well-being of the Carmel community depend on policies that reflect current enrollment realities, not past conditions.
We respectfully urge the Carmel Clay School Board to revisit and revise its half-day dismissal procedures for Carmel High School to ensure supervision, reduce community disruption, and protect students during ACE Week and similar half-day schedules.
Please sign this petition to support a safer, clearer, and more responsible approach.
67
The Decision Makers
Supporter Voices
Petition created on December 17, 2025