It is always a challenge to facilitate a session involving 15-20 people in one room with a time limit. But that was the challenge for an employee of KSM Consulting Thursday morning as the assembled group of officials from HSE Schools and the City of Fishers exchanged ideas on how to work together moving forward.
Mayor Scott Fadness opened the session by saying he wanted this meeting to emphasize that the city-school relationship in Fishers is strong and should never by taken for granted.
Fadness talked about one of the most important contributions from the city to the schools is providing School Resources Officers (SROs), sworn, uniformed officers to be present in school buildings. But another major city involvement in the HSE Schools happened at the time of the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, when the state had to cut back support of local public schools due to shrinking tax collections. The funding formula at that time also was not benefiting HSE Schools.
That’s when the Town of Fishers (Fishers was a town at that time) stepped in to handle grounds-keeping and snow removal for the schools. That saved money for local schools when it was needed the most.
The school corporation’s involvement in Mayor Fadness’ Mental Health initiative is another important example of city-school cooperative efforts.
“The City of Fishers will not succeed if our school systems are not great,” Fadness said. “I think we (the city) can play a supportive role.”
School Superintendent Allen Bourff pointed to the Nature First project, a joint effort of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department and school system.
“Nature First is unlike anything you will find in most communities,” Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff said. “Not only do we have students going out almost daily into a city natural resource, but we have that coming into the schools as well.”
Bourff also lauded the digital portal the school corporation is putting together with the city.
The group each spent time introducing themselves, which took up the biggest chunk of time, but a number of issues and comments were made in the time remaining.
There was an intense discussion of state-mandated test scores, with many in the room critical of the importance placed on those tests. But HSE School Board President Mike Bottorff reminded everyone that HSE has very high test scores compared to most other Indiana school systems and that is part of why the local schools are so highly regarded.
The mayor did make two other comments worth noting at this event. First, he told the crowd there is a need for more indoor sports facilities in Fishers. A private group has tried to finance such an indoor project in the Saxony area, but the mayor said that fell through. He also reminded everyone that Fishers is largely built-out, with only 5% of the land in the city available for residential development left to be built.