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Indiana State Board of Education Elects Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner as Board Chair

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  • Current: Indiana State Board of Education Elects Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner as Board Chair

Passes Flexibility Waivers for Counting Instructional Time & Reporting Due to COVID-19

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Holly Lawson
Deputy Director of Communications
(317) 232-0536
hlawson2@doe.in.gov

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indiana State Board of Education (Board) today unanimously elected Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner to serve as the chair of the Board.

"I have observed the important work of the State Board of Education over the years and am honored to serve as chair of the Board," said Secretary Jenner. "I look forward to helping guide the critical efforts to ultimately serve students and educators to the best of our ability every day."

Secretary Jenner assumed her role as Indiana’s first secretary of education on Monday, January 11. She began her career as a career and technical education teacher and later held various administrative roles at Madison Consolidated Schools. She also served as the vice president of K-12 initiatives and statewide partnerships for Ivy Tech Community College and most recently served as the senior education advisor for Governor Eric J. Holcomb. Secretary Jenner’s full biography is available here.

Members of the Board unanimously elected Kathleen Mote as vice chair and Pete Miller as the Board secretary.

In addition to electing leadership, the Board also unanimously passed flexibility waivers for three school corporations, allowing them to count their instructional time in minutes instead of by day. This change will allow these districts to maximize instructional time during periods when schools are able to safely provide in-person learning. They also passed a waiver of annual performance reporting for two schools, which eases their administrative burden by minimizing duplicative reporting.

The waiver requests can be reviewed here.

The Board will hold its next meeting on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.