IPL board member Stephen Lane resigns from his position before IPS board removes him
Indianapolis Public Library board member Stephen Lane, who served as the representative of the Indianapolis School Board, announced his resignation from the board Thursday afternoon, ahead of a scheduled Indianapolis Public Schools board action to rescind his appointment.
Lane has served on the library board for a little over a year. The IPS school board picked Lane as their appointee early last year after the library board faced controversy over their search for a new library CEO.
IPS school board president Angelia Moore told IndyStar Friday afternoon that she didn’t think it was “appropriate” to share why the board proposed removing Lane.
“All seven of us have had conversations around this and we’ve had conversations with Mr. Lane previously, but as a collective, it was not a match to the expectations we had so members of the board called for a conversation," Moore said.
Since Lane resigned before the board could vote on the proposal, it is not clear which IPS commissioners support his removal.
IPS commissioner Will Pritchard told IndyStar on Friday that he supported Lane’s removal, saying he “wasn’t as effective as I hoped he would be.”
Moore went on to say that she appeciates Lane's service on the library board over the last year.
“We boldly appointed him and we have no regrets around appointing him but the shift needed to happen and that was called for by commissioners and as chair that is the recommendation that we give and we wish him all the best,” Moore said.
A librarian, Lane told IndyStar Thursday afternoon that no one from the school board had contacted him about the intent to remove him from the library board; he heard about it the day before from a friend who saw the proposal on the school board agenda for Thursday night.
“I was really shocked and surprised,” Lane said.
Lane said that instead of focusing on his service on the library board, the IPS board should focus on the district's low literacy proficiency rates.
“Why are they so keen on removing people who act in the community’s interest instead of the fact that only 60% of IPS students can read at grade level?” Lane said before the board meeting Thursday. “That should tell you where their priorities lie.”
And right before the board meeting started Stephen Lane delivered his resignation letter to the school board. pic.twitter.com/7ovZqkYu61
— Caroline Beck (@CarolineB_Indy) April 25, 2024
IPS board president Angelia Moore accepted his resignation and did not give any further explanation during Thursday’s meeting.
The IPS school board is one of three appointing bodies for the library board members.
When Lane was initially appointed to the library board, the IPS school board noted that he might be controversial but hoped that his appointment would move the library board towards its goal of equity and providing a safe space for minority communities.
Lane was an outspoken activist during the controversy over picking the library’s CEO and argued that interim head Nichelle Hayes should be the next CEO. After Hayes was passed over for an outside candidate, she left the library in January.
Lane told IndyStar that his time on the library board for the past year has been “very contentious” and that he has met with resistance from some of the board members in his work to improve working conditions for library staff.
More from IPS: School 87 parents share their hurt and anger with IPS over recent teacher abuse scandal
Before Thursday night’s board meeting, some supporting Lane spoke about their disappointment in seeing him resign and their frustration with the IPS school board and the IPL board.
“The community has had a representative that was not afraid to ask the questions,” said Michael Torres, an IPL employee, on Thursday. “He took his responsibility as a steward of our money seriously as he should. Indy PL is losing a trustee who I know in spite of resigning will continue to be involved in shaping our community libraries.”
As he handed in his resignation, Lane focused, however, not on the library's challenges but on those that the school board faces. Referencing the recent video that surfaced of a IPS School 87 teacher appearing to encourage one student to beat up another, Lane marched up to the board before the formal meeting began.
“I don’t want to be a part of your fight club, I resign,” Lane said.
Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy.
Caroline’s reporting is made possible by Report for America and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy Library board member Stephen Lane resigns publicly