The HSE High School DECA Club was honored at Wednesday night’s Hamilton Southeastern School Board meeting.  Eric Bedrosian, Alex Jurkovich and Ajay Singh were named International Champions at this year’s International Career Development Conference.

DECA stands for Distributive Education Clubs of America and is described as a non-profit student organization, preparing emerging student leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

In other items from the board session:

–The district has a new contract to provide most custodial services for school buildings.  It is a $4.2 million pact with a SSC.  The bid accepted is what was described as a “base bid’ providing custodial services.  The new contract takes effect July 1.

–Administrator Matt Kegley provided a presentation on Work Based learning, helping students not headed for college go to a certification program.  For more on Dr. Kegley’s presentation, use this link.

–The board approved matching funds for Fall Creek Intermediate and Sand Creek Intermediate playgrounds.

–The board voted to adopt new Spanish language program resources, botht print and digital.

–Bus leases were approved for 9 new buses at a total purchase price of $1,252,525.00.

–Board members voted to replace the chiller at HSE High School and hired a construction manager, Pepper Construction, for the renovation of Lantern Road Elementary at a cost of roughly $911,000.

–New lighting for Fishers Elementary School was approved.

–There will be a “Back to School” party at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater July 30th, 4pm-7pm.

The video of the board meeting is online at available at this link.

Any festival needs volunteers to be successful and the City of Fishers is still seeking local volunteers for the Spark Fishers Festival.  The city says there are a variety of volunteer opportunities available.

There are plenty of possibilities for all ages, including ice delivery drivers to parade marshals and vendor support leaders.  There are some perks for volunteers, including complimentary tickets to a Fishers Parks ticketed concert, drinks, snacks, a meal, as well as a swag bag filled with lots of fun branded gifts.

The festival begin Tuesday, June 21 with a free concert and wraps-up Saturday, June 25, with a street fair and parade.  For more, use this link.

It is very easy to raise your hand and become a Spark volunteer.  Just use this link.

Chad Hiner, a 19-year veteran of the Fishers Fire Department, has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant.  The promotion was effective June 7th, when Hiner was presented his Lt. shield and helmet by Fire Chief Steve Orusa.

Hiner has been an “acting officer” for fill-ins since 2012, and is a paramedic, special rescue team member, hazmat tech, and is part of the community paramedicine team on his days off shift.

Lt. Hiner is also the director of the “Firefighters Fathead Challenge,” a trivia night sponsored by the Hamilton County Firefighters Local #4416 union that raises money for firefighter families with special medical needs.  That program is anticipated to be back by March of 2023.

The new lieutenant’s initial assignment is Engine 391, located at Station 91 in the Nickel Plate Amphitheater.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board will be facing decisions on how to handle the expiring operating referendum vote to be held in 2023.  School officials tell LarryInFishers board discussions on where to go on that issue should begin later this summer.

Local voters approved the last operating referendum in 2016, with more than 70% of the electorate voting in favor.  That vote set a property tax referendum rate of 22.75 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The extra funds were utilized to increase staff salaries, reduce class sizes in the lower grades and support a mental health program.

Under Indiana law in 2016, operating referenda lasted seven years.  State lawmakers have changed the rules since, with a referendum vote now continuing for eight years.

The board must make a number of decisions on how to approach the 2023 referendum vote.  One issue is whether the board will authorize the hiring of a private consultant to handle the referendum.

School board President Julie Chambers says three potential consultants have been interviewed by school officials, but the process was delayed due to an illness on the part of one of the consultants.  If the board decides to hire a consultant, no decision has been made on how to pay the consulting fees.

It is expected that a Political Action Committee (PAC) will be formed to advocate for the referendum.  In 2016, the school district formed a PAC but did not hire a consultant.

Whether or not a consultant is hired, the board has some important decisions to make on the referendum.  The most important is how much to ask of the voters.  The board could ask the public to keep the referendum rate where it is, at 22.75 cents.  But board members could also choose to lower or raise the rate it is requesting.

The board must also agree on the exact wording to be used on the referendum ballot, although state law dictates much of that language.

Another important decision is whether to place the measure on the ballot in the May primary or the November general election.  2023 will see a local city election in Fishers, with the offices of mayor, city clerk, city judge and 9 council seats on the ballot.  The referendum would also be on that ballot, either in the May primary or November general election.

Bottom line, local residents should know more about the 2023 HSE Schools referendum in the coming months.

If you wanted to watch a full discussion of microaggression and policies on when students can be taken away from athletics and other extra-curricular activities, then the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board meeting Wednesday night was for you.  The board had a lengthy discussion and seven members of the public chose to speak on the student handbook language.

In the end, the board voted 4-3, approving the handbook with the microaggression language and the process for handling students accused of wrongdoing outside the school realm in being prevented from participating in athletic programs and other extra-curriculars.

The board “no” votes came from Brad Boyer, Sarah Donsbach and Suzanne Thomas.  It was clear during the board discussion that Boyer had an issue with the microaggression language and how that would be defined.  Thomas had the same issue with microaggression but also voiced concerns about students charged with felonies and misdemeanors, but not convicted, and how the process would work on deciding eligibility for athletics and other extra-curricular activities.

LarryInFishers asked Sarah Donsbach why she voted “no” on the student handbook and she replied there is a long list of concerns about the language in the documents, but did mention one of those concerns on the list being how the athletic eligibility process was worded.

Below is the handbook language on microaggression:

Microaggressions can be defined as everyday, subtle, intentional
or unintentional interactions or behaviors that communicate some
sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups. While
Hamilton Southeastern High School understands those
individuals communicating a microaggression might not intend
to express bias, the school recognizes the responsibility to educate
students on the reality of bias perceptions. Issues regarding
microaggressions may be addressed through restorative
conversations led by school administration, teachers, and/or
guidance counselors rather than punitive measures. Habitual
occurrences could lead to consequences applicable to
inappropriate conduct as defined in Section 28.

(Section 28 refers to a part of the discipline handbook)

Of the seven members of the public commenting on the student handbook, four were against the microaggression student policy language, two were in favor of it and one person was critical of the Athletic Council system of deciding on eligibility for playing school sports.

Here is the new student handbook language on handling athletic eligibility for students with felony or misdemeanor charges:

When a student is charged with a felony or misdemeanor, or when a student receives
an out of school suspension, there will be a three-step process for determining
athletic penalties.

Step 1: The AD will conduct a preliminary meeting with the student
(parents/guardians may attend, as well), where the student will have a chance to
offer their input on the situation in question. In this meeting, the athletic director will
explain the process for determining discipline.

Step 2: Within 7 days of that initial meeting, the athletic director will convene a
disciplinary committee to determine an appropriate athletic penalty for the student.
The committee shall consist of the following members: (1) the Principal; (2) an
Athletic Director; (3) a School Counselor, who is not the student’s primary counselor;
(4) a building-level equity coach; (5) a head coach from a program not directly
affiliated with the athlete.

* Cases will be evaluated by the committee on an individual basis; the committee will consider what makes each case unique and how it relates to or differs from similar historical offenses.

Potential suspension from the team may range anywhere from 5-100 percent of the season.

Step 3: Within 48 hours of the disciplinary committee’s meeting, the athletic director
will send written notice (hard copy or email) of the student’s athletic penalty to the
student, their parent/guardian, and the athletic program’s head coach. 

Administrators agreed to change the percent of suspension to 0%-100% and clarified that the same essential procedure would be used for similar situations for other extra-curricular activities.

Administrators said the Step 2 process would include advocates for the student, including a counselor (not the student’s regular guidance counselor), equity coach and coach from another sport

On microaggression, Boyer and Thomas argued that they generally agree with the goal of the language aimed at treating students properly and respectfully, but object to what they describe as “subjective” interpretations of the word microaggression.

Board President Julie Chambers said students were involved in the language contained in the student handbook about microaggression and those students want the language included in the document.

You can read the new student handbooks at the following links:

Elementary    

Intermediate

Junior High

High School

A Korean firm, List, has broken ground Tuesday on a new $125 million, 110,000 square foot contract manufacturing facility in the Fishers Life Science & Innovation Park.  The Park is located south of 126th Street, west of Cumberland Road.  The 15 -acre site is expected to open by the end of 2023.

“Breaking ground on yet another headquarters at the Life Science & Innovation Park is a humbling moment,” said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness in a city news release. “Our vision to create a hub for biopharma and biotech is becoming a reality and we’re grateful that the teams at Genome and List Bio have entrusted Fishers to be their home, where they will impact lives all around the world.”

List plans to hire 210 employees in Fishers in the areas of biologics manufacturing and quality and regulatory compliance.  The City of Fishers says it has gained $750 million in investment from biotech and biopharma companies since 2020.

I started writing news stories for radio in 1974.  One of the most difficult decisions any journalist makes is how to determine which stories are most important and which are not.

How do I make that decision today?  I do not argue that my decisions are always correct, but I do my best.  Basic journalism, plus my experience of living in Fishers for more than 30 years all is factored-into any decision about what to include and leave out.

Sometimes I think I know what most readers of this blog want to know.  But every now and then, I get it wrong.  A story I think is important doesn’t get much traffic while another story I may not think is as important will draw plenty of eyes.

So, there is no magic formula.  But I learned an important lesson as the morning news anchor and reporter for WCSI Radio in Columbus, Indiana.  I started there in late 1977 and left in late 1982.

I covered plenty of controversial subjects, like school board elections and school closing decisions.  Again, I thought I had a feel for what our listeners wanted to know.

That was until a story came to my attention about White Castle.  Yes, White Castle.  Columbus up until that time had never had a White Castle restaurant.  I caught wind of the fact that White Castle planned to locate in Columbus.  I interviewed a company  spokesman  for confirmation and put the story on the air in the afternoon.  I thought a few people in town would be interested.

Let’s just say I was very wrong.  We had no direct phone line into our newsroom so you had to go through the secretaries in the front office to reach the newsroom during office hours.  The secretaries came back to the newsroom telling me that they had been inundated with phone calls from the public about White Castle’s plans to open a restaurant there.

I was told at least five people visited the station in person to verify the White Castle story.  We were on the second floor of a bank building and there was no elevator at that time.  People walked up several flights of stairs just to be certain White Castle was, in fact, coming to Columbus.

So, I do try to make news judgements about what the public wants and needs to know.  I do not always get it right, but do my best.

Every time I make a decision on what to cover, I think about White Castle in Columbus.

With the number of tragic mass shootings America has seen in the recent weeks, there is a media spotlight on gun violence at the moment.  Lots of opinions are being written and posted on social media everywhere.

It is obvious that we have a problem that every developed nation in the world does not have in the area of gun violence.  If you are expecting me to come up with a specific solution here, let me clue you in – I will not be doing that.  What I will do is point out some very important facts and items we should all consider when deciding for ourselves what should, and should not, be done in the whole issue of firearms in America.

Lots of people refer to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution when making any argument about guns in America.  So, just what does the Second Amendment mean today, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court?

A recent opinion piece in the New York Times sheds some light on this.  It is written by two former SCOTUS law clerks, Kate Shaw and John Bash.  According to the Times, Ms. Shaw is a professor of law at Cardozo Law School and Mr. Bash is an attorney in private practice in Austin, Texas.

They jointly discuss the meaning of the most recent important gun rights case to be decided by the high court, District of Columbia v. Heller.  When that decision was published, Bash was a law clerk for Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion, and Shaw was a law clerk for justice John Paul Stevens, the author of the dissent in that case.

In this jointly-signed piece, both are clear they have differing views on what the interpretation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution should be.  But both agree that many in America are wrong about what the Heller case actually held.

Here is part of the commentary:

Heller does not totally disable government from passing laws that seek to prevent the kind of atrocities we saw in Uvalde, Texas. And we believe that politicians on both sides of the aisle have (intentionally or not) misconstrued Heller. Some progressives, for example, have blamed the Second Amendment, Heller or the Supreme Court for mass shootings. And some conservatives have justified contested policy positions merely by pointing to Heller, as if the opinion resolved the issues.

Neither is fair. Rather, we think it’s clear that every member of the court on which we clerked joined an opinion, either majority or dissent, that agreed that the Constitution leaves elected officials an array of policy options when it comes to gun regulation.

You are welcome to read the rest of the opinion piece for more details, but it is striking that two former clerks on the Supreme Court, with varying views on gun rights, agree completely on what the court has said about gun rights in Heller (at least, until there is another Supreme Court edict on this issue).

Next, I read a very interesting piece in Axios written by reporter Lachlan Markay.  It highlights a growing divide among gun rights groups.  The NRA, Gun Owners of America and the American Firearms Association are on one side, and the gun industry is taking a different approach.  The gun manufacturers appear to be open to some action by the United States Senate, fearing more restrictive laws could come later cutting into their gun sales.

Finally, I covered a Fishers event sponsored by Moms Demand Action.  It was their Wear Orange annual event that is aimed at remembering victims of gun violence.  What I found interesting is that this group does not utter the phrase “gun control.”  Instead, they talk about “gun safety.”  I have conversed with a number of people expert in the business of messaging and they have always said to me the term “gun control” has a negative connotation and is not good messaging.  The Moms group have apparently received that message.

Those are three specific developments related to the debate about guns in America.  I will not offer any solutions or advocate for any specific steps forward.  All I would ask you to do is listen to all sides in this discussion and make up your own mind.

Thanks for reading.

The Fishers Arts Council has sponsored monthly displays of artwork for a very long time at Fishers City Hall.  With City Hall months away from the wrecking ball, making way for a new Arts Center and Municipal Complex, the local arts group is moving its monthly arts displays to a new location on Technology Drive.

Below is a news release issued by the Fishers Arts Council.  Also, I have included two works of art as provided by the Arts Council.

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Fishers Arts Council (FAC) announces its partnership with Hamilton County Community Foundation (HCCF) to provide a new art experience at the Collaboration Hub (Hub), 11810 Technology Drive, Fishers, IN when the Art Gallery at the Hub offers its first exhibit of the season.

“We chose two amazing artists to open the gallery with our inaugural Second Friday free public reception from 6-8pm at the Hub on Friday, June 10th,” according to FAC Vice President, Tom Rich. The artists are Critt Hunter and Ali (Koral) Mutlu. This public reception will also feature live music by Crossing Bridges, adult beverages sponsored by SunKing Brewing, and refreshments.

Tom Kilian, HCCF President, says, “We are thrilled to work alongside FAC as we promote the arts in Hamilton County. We know art brings people together and it is important for our community to have that opportunity.” The exhibit will be open from June 6 through June 29th. Jeena Siela, Community Leadership Officer adds, “Each month, the FAC Cultural Alliance Committee will offer a new exhibit that features the local talent of the region while growing the impact we share.” Les Reinhardt, FAC Executive Director adds that, “With the upcoming demolition of the Art Gallery at City Hall, we looked for a partner that had a great space as well as a vision of inclusion and opportunity. We found all of that and more with HCCF. I could not be more excited for the future of our partnership.”

Critt Hunter is a relatively new artist as he shares, “My life until the age 50 focused on my family, my education career, and my community. That half century was spent in my hometown of Hartford, Kentucky. Graduating from

the local high school, I moved to Lexington, KY to begin my college studies. Marrying at 19, we moved closer to home, transferring to Western Kentucky University. My college degrees span a few years and include a BS in Art Education, a Master’s Degree in Art Education, and an EdS, Specialist in School administration.”

It wasn’t until five years after he moved to Indianapolis and retired from employment with Nora Elementary that he began to focus on his art. “Forty-three years was enough,” says Critt. “This was a first for me. Painting subjects that I found interesting, entering exhibits, being accepted into art fairs, and selling my art presented a validation that I never dreamt possible. Who knew old age could be so much fun?” he added.

Critt’s exhibited works consist of oil, acrylic, and mixed media art. He likes to show the variances between colors and often will exaggerate expected colors and draw attention to complementary colors.

Ali (Koral) Mutlu is new to the art scene here in the county. A native of Turkey, Koral moved to the United States in 2016. He is a graphic designer and illustrator with an amazing eye for detail. He works with ink and pencil, as well as watercolors. His piece entitled, “Rabia,” is a black and white illustration of his grandmother. It is very detailed. With “Balerina,” a watercolor piece, the dancer seems to be floating in mid-air. In all, this exhibit has 30 pieces of art, most of which are for sale. We hope you will join us on June 10th at the Collaboration Hub from 6-8 pm to see these amazing works of art and talk to the artists.

Moms Demand Action is a national organization that argues for gun safety.  June 3rd is the normal time of year for their gatherings, but recent mass shootings have put an emphasis on their work.

At Fishers City Hall, the group gathered Friday night for one of the events happening throughout the state and nation.  It is always tricky to estimate, but I would guess there were 50-60 supporters of Moms Demand Action on hand to support the orange shirts.

During the speeches, it was noted that Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard and Westfield Mayor Andy Cook both issued proclamations in support of Wear Orange.  Although Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness did not issue a proclamation or similar statement, the speakers noted that the city allowed the Wear Orange group to gather at Fishers City Hall.

I recorded a brief video with Wear Orange spokesperson Patricia Rettig, and she explained why the color orange has so much meaning for Moms Demand Action.  View the video at the link below.