Students in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District will continue virtual learning at all grade levels through January 15, 2021, following a Tuesday morning vote by the HSE School Board.  The vote was 6-1, with Amanda Shera casting the lone no vote.

There are a handful of students with special challenges spending some time in school based on their specific development plans, but most students will remain all-virtual through at least January 15, 2021.

Superintendent Allen Bourff told the board the current COVID positivity rate, based on numbers provided by the Fishers Health Department, is 16.5%.  As the pandemic started, schools were to be closed at a 5% positivity rate, later revised at 10%.  Dr. Bourff described the local health department data as “startling numbers.”

Administrators told the board that 130 teachers were absent on Tuesday, December 2nd (the day of this board meeting).  The normal teacher absentee rate is 4%-5% – 130 absent is a rate of about 10%.

There was a long board member discussion about a motion made by Janet Pritchett, seconded by Julie Chambers, to go along with the superintendent’s recommendation to have virtual classes through January 15.  The board will then reevaluate the situation at the January 13 meeting, which just happens to be the first meeting for the new board members.  There will be at least 2 new members of the board, Suzanne Thomas and Sarah Parks-Reece.  Sarah Donsbach won her Delaware Township race by 20 votes, but incumbent Amanda Shera has requested a recount.

The main reason in-person classes cannot be held, particularly at the lower grades. is the lack of substitute teachers.  Dr. Bourff told the board there are 166 people in the process of applying as subs in the HSE District.

Comments by Amanda Shera resulted in a sharp discussion among some board members at this session.  The audio link to that discussion can be accessed below.

The Fishers boys basketball team had its best offensive performance in years on Tuesday, overwhelming Muncie Central 95-52 at the Tiger Den.

The 95 points that Fishers scored is the second-highest total since the school re-opened in 2006. The only game higher was the 102 points the Tigers scored when they beat Kankakee Valley on Jan. 2, 2010.

Fishers was in control from the beginning, leading 26-6 after the first quarter and 55-24 at halftime. Sean Millsaps had 12 points in the first half, including two 3-pointers. John Entezari and Lucas Prewitt also drained two first-half triples.

The Tigers led 73-39 after three quarters, outscoring the Bearcats in all four periods. Five different Fishers players reached double figures: Charlie Smith led with 18 points, followed by Millsaps with 17, Jeffrey Simmons and Matt Brewer with 11 each and Lucas Prewitt with 10.

Millsaps and Entezari both hit one more 3-pointer in the second half, giving them three each for the game. Bryce Williams and Prewitt both threw in two 3s.

Fishers is 2-0 and goes on the road for the first time this season on Friday. The Tigers play at Noblesville in the Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener for both teams.

There were a number of emotional Twitter messages among the Indianapolis Star reporting staff today, December 1st, 2020.  The corporate ownership had offered incentives for those involved in the newspaper’s journalism (reporters, editors & a few others) to leave their employment.

When a large corporation makes such an offer, there is an obvious reason – for every employee taking the offer, that is one less layoff that is likely to come later.  Many journalists at the Star didn’t want to get the pink slip later, so opted to take the management offer and change the direction of their careers.

This brings back some bad memories for me.  I lost my job as a radio news anchor and reporter in 1982 through no fault of my own.   In fact, I could see the pain in the general manager’s eyes when he broke the news to me.  The recession had hurt ad sales and my job was being eliminated, even though he also called me an exemplary employee.

Sometimes in your working life, those are the breaks.  I picked up some part-time reporting work in Indianapolis and had some nice radio news offers from outside Indiana.  After much reflection, I decided to stay in Indy and completely change my career path at age 31.

So, I know how these IndyStar people feel.  It is hitting the Star’s remaining reporting staff the hardest.  Those journalists know there will continue to be a lot of news to cover in the state’s largest city, and the state’s largest newspaper just got even smaller.  Those staying will have a lot more work to do.

So, in the middle of a once-in-a-hundred-year pandemic, which is also causing massive economic pain, a major local news operation is cutting its reporting and editing staff once again.  So it goes with the changing economics of the news business.

Never before have we needed local news content more, but we have fewer employees in the news side of the Star than at any point in time anyone can remember.  I realize the economics of newspapers are changing, but the reduction in news staffing numbers appears to be happening at the papers owned by large corporate entities.  The days of the locally-owned daily newspaper, while still in existence in a few places (like Fort Wayne) is the exception, not the rule.  No longer is the owner of the local newspaper a member of the local community.

There is so much news to cover and fewer people to chase down all the stories.

My little volunteer blog merely makes a dent in the news content hole we see around here.  I am just one person and try to cover Fishers as best as an old, retired guy can. I make no money doing LarryInFishers.com, I am just trying to serve the community in which I have lived since 1991.

There are some locally-owned news sources around.  The Indianapolis Business Journal is locally owned and employs excellent journalists.  I have a news-gathering partnership agreement with the Hamilton County Reporter, owned by Hamilton County resident Jeff Jellison.  The Noblesville Times is owned by a chain headquartered in Indiana.

However, many of the Hamilton County newspapers do not employ that many journalists.  They all do the best they can, but the economics of the news business is what it is.

In late March, I was ready to change the direction of LarryInFishers.com.  Gathering and writing news is hard work, particularly as a volunteer.  I was planning on writing commentaries, and focusing the blog & podcasts more on local arts activities.

Then came the lockdowns with the COVID-19 pandemic.  That cancelled most of the arts activities in the area.

So, despite my announcement that I would end the news blog, I saw a responsibility to cover the pandemic news in Fishers, since other news organizations were just too busy to focus on Fishers.

Then, in late October, I contracted the novel coronavirus.  To this day, I have no idea how I caught it…I was as careful as possible, following all the guidelines, and still ended up with it.

The symptoms were not pleasant, but have no room to complain…..it appears I have made a full recovery.  But as I sat in my chair, with the virus having sucked all the energy out of my body, there was plenty of time for contemplation.

At that time, I decided that if I recover, I will go back to blogging and producing podcasts.  I continue to believe it is an important public service to the people of Fishers.

My point here is that I am an exception.  There are places like Fishers, there are entire neighborhoods in Indianapolis, that do not get the commercial news coverage they deserve.

The recent exodus of staff from the Star, among them many very experienced and talented journalists, will be a blow for all of us as news consumers.  Local news has never been more important, yet the economics of the business has created a situation where we have far fewer people covering local news.

I would hope the number of workers at the Star accepting the incentives to leave will mean there will not be another round of layoffs, but there are no guarantees.

Our local institutions and community leaders need to think about what it means to lose honest, independent news coverage.  We all need to think about solutions to the lack of local news.

In the meantime, the remaining journalists in all of its forms (print, TV & radio) will feel the need to cover more news with fewer people.  This will not be easy.

One comforting thought is this – we are fortunate to have a number of outstanding reporters still working locally.  That is all that gives me hope at this point in time

Dr. Allen Bourff announced Monday, November 30, that he plans to retire as Hamilton Southeastern Superintendent of  Schools, effective July 1, 2021.  I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Bourff as his retirement was announced.  We talked about his retirement and many other issues in this podcast, recorded Monday, November 30.

It was about 5 years ago that Dr. Allen Bourff took over as superintendent of schools for the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) District.  Coming to HSE from Richmond, Indiana, Dr. Bourff has led the local school staff and provided support for the school board since January of 2015.  Now, Dr. Bourff has made an important personal decision.  He will be retiring from his post.

The superintendent’s retirement has been rumored throughout the community for many months, but the word is finally official as of Monday.  His retirement will be effective July 1st, 2021.

I have dealt with Dr. Bourff as a volunteer journalist in Fishers.  I can say that he and his staff have been very responsive when I ask for information or request a podcast interview with a school staff member.  I have tried not to wear out my welcome, but every time I have requested a podcast interview with Superintendent Bourff, he has made an appearance on the podcast.

A few years ago, the school board was unhappy with some of the stories I had written.  The board members themselves never talked to me about it, but they had Dr. Bourff ask for that meeting with me.  We had a very good and open discussion.  I made it clear I was here to serve this community and the board has the same responsibility.  I explained clearly why I felt the need to write the commentaries about board actions (and inactions) at that time.  After that discussion, I am certain Dr. Bourff reported back to the board on the essence of our discussion and I never heard anything more about that issue.  Dr. Bourff showed me in that instance what a top-notch professional he is.

Dr. Bourff has always been straight with me in our discussions and I have tried to do the same.  When I informed School Board President Michelle Fullhart & Dr. Bourff of my intention to end the news blog last March, they were very kind and complimentary about my volunteer work.

As we all now know, the pandemic wrecked my plans to change to focus of the news blog.  When I had plenty of time to think and reflect while recovering from by bout with COVID-19, I made the decision to continue blogging about local news as best one can, while being careful not to expose myself to COVID once again.

The HSE School District has grown to become the 4th-largest in the state.  It has been led by Allen Bourff for the past five years.  Superintendents must often make hard decisions so I would suspect not everyone in the community is sorry to see him go.  Looking at the big picture, Allen Bourff, in my view, has been a good superintendent for local schools here in the Fishers area.

HSE schools will have a new superintendent in the coming months.  She/he will have some big shoes to fill.

School Board President Michelle Fullhart says the board has hired a consulting firm to begin the search for Dr. Bourff’s successor.  The new superintendent is expected to be named in the spring of 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought us more than a medical crisis, and that is quite enough in itself.  It has also spawned a serious economic crisis for local people.

Some of us are doing just fine, many working from home, continuing to earn a paycheck.  But there are a number of people in our area hurting badly.  We need to remember them on Giving Tuesday, December 1st.

For those of us fortunate enough to be weathering both the health and economic troubles, let’s not forget those among us not as fortunate.

Where does one go to find local nonprofit groups?  There are many possibilities, but one I would recommend is the coalition of nonprofits serving Fishers.

They have their own Web site.  All the member charities that are part of the coalition are listed on a section of the coalition’s Web page.  You can find links to all the organizations here.

In this holiday season, consider giving to those in need.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

(NOTE: This is a commentary written by Fred Swift of the Hamilton County Reporter. The views expressed are those of Fred Swift and do not necessarily reflect the views of LarryInFishers.com.  This opinion piece is posted here as part of a partnership between the Reporter and LarryInFishers.com)

State legislators are beginning to reveal matters they intend to address in the upcoming session of the General Assembly.

I have a few matters that deserve addressing if the legislators would care to listen. Of course, these suggestions make too much sense, so they will likely not be considered.

Number 1: Our lawmakers should put an end to “pay to play” which is a disgrace just short of bribery. It involves some companies or individuals giving money to an elected official’s campaign committee with the expectation that it may help get a lucrative contract for goods or services.

Why should the public care? Because it costs the taxpayers money. Most public officials do not participate in the pay to play game, but those who do take these contributions and give business to their contributors and not to non-players.

This potentially can cheat the public out of having ethical businesses do public work. But, worse yet is the fact that when a company plays this game, the costs of candidate contributions are likely passed on to the consumer – in other words, the public.

This practice could be stopped or at least be made unmistakably illegal by legislation if there was a will to do it.

Number 2: Gerrymandering directly affects Hamilton County. In the upcoming legislative session, maps of Congressional and state legislative districts will be redrawn, adjusting for shifts in population.

Hamilton County is very popular. It seems every Republican legislator wants a part of it. Democrats seem to want no part of it. The result is the county is incredibly split up among parts of eleven state legislative districts.

What’s wrong with that? Well, when for example, a Marion County district gets a group of Hamilton County precincts included within it, but the elected legislator is a Marion County resident, we could easily get the short stick.

If Indianapolis politicians should want a new state or regional tax but Hamilton County voters do not want it, how do you think that legislator is going to go? Probably not with his Hamilton County constituents.

Districts are supposed to be ‘compact in area’ and represent a ‘community of interest.’ Our local legislators can make that happen if they have the will to do so.

Number 3: Put an end to the closed political caucus when a public official is being elected. Political parties are permitted to hold closed caucuses to develop strategy, elect their officers, etc. That’s OK.

But, through another law, they are given the responsibility of filling a vacancy when a local elected official resigns or dies during his or her term of office. When a caucus is called for that purpose, the meeting should be open and publicized in advance. But, the local party chairman can either open or close such a caucus.

Under current law, it is possible for a vacancy to be filled without members of the public having an opportunity to run for the office or even know of the caucus.

State law should be, and easily could be, amended to remedy this injustice.

(The following correction was posted in the November 28 edition of the Hamilton County Reporter)  

The “Noblesville city officials explain new bypass route” story published in Thursday’s edition of The Reporter incorrectly quoted the statement by city officials about the “B” alignment bypass plan, which would have cut through the Plum Prairie Historic District.

The incorrect quote stated that the plan was designated “B-1,” which in fact is the designation of the plan which cuts through a portion of the property occupied by IDI. The corrected portion of the story is below:

“As we have explained to IDI and others, it is our understanding following extensive consultations with State and Federal government representatives that
the B alignment, which cut through the middle of the Plum Prairie Historic District, would disqualify Noblesville from not just state and federal funding for all three phases of this project, but could also disqualify Noblesville from state and federal funding for all future projects, a risk we do not believe is appropriate or in the best interests of our residents.”

The Reporter regrets the error. Read the full version of the corrected story at this link

Our neighbor to the north, the city of Noblesville, is in the middle of a major controversy.

In one corner is the Mayor of Noblesville Chris Jensen.  He is proposing what has been labeled the “B-1” plan to relieve the stress of traffic in the downtown area.  Jensen says the original plan could not receive state and federal funds due to an historic neighborhood being impacted.  So, the B-1 plan was unveiled.

In the other corner is Industrial Dielectrics, Inc. (IDI), a long-time Noblesville business that is not happy the B-1 plan cuts through their property.  The firm is leaving open the possibility of exiting Noblesville if the B-1 plan is enacted.

There are accusations and assertions flying on this issue.

I have been watching all this through my newsgathering partner, The Hamilton County Reporter.

If you would like to learn more about what both sides are saying about the downtown Noblesville bypass, I have links below to three stories in the Wednesday edition of the Reporter where both sides presented their case.

First, here is what Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen says.

Second, here is the view from the Noblesville Bypass Coalition, led by IDI.

Finally, here is a letter to Mayor Jensen from IDI President & CEO Tom Jensen, published in  the Reporter and undersigned by a number of local officials.

The day was Monday, November 2nd.  I sat in a chair and thought about what would come next for me.

I thought back to the previous Monday when I noticed flu-like symptoms.  When those symptoms persisted for several days, my primary care physician recommended a COVID test the following Thursday.  I received the results the same day.  I was positive for the novel coronavirus.

As the flu-like symptoms began to ebb, something else happened.  All the energy in my body was drained.  I felt like doing nothing.  I just ate, slept and drank plenty of fluids (including a heavy intake of water).

I had read a great deal about COVID.  I knew I was (and am) in a high-risk group, due to my age and the chronic health conditions that go with aging.  Although I was better than most, I knew my condition could head south at any time.

My physician was wonderful throughout the ordeal.  She reminded me that most COVID patients have mild symptoms and recover, including people in my condition and age group.

So I journeyed on with the best attitude one could muster under the circumstances.  Slowly, but surely, my condition improved to the point where I now feel fully recovered.  A lot is unknown about the long-term implications of a bout with COVID, but as of now I am good.

Being thankful entails a long list for me.  I am so thankful my wife never tested positive and has had no symptoms, even after being with me in our home throughout all this.  We followed CDC guidelines, using separate bedrooms and bathrooms and that worked for us.

I had been around my daughter and son-in-law just days before the symptoms, but both tested negative and have had no symptoms.

When you are not sure how your coronavirus infection will end, a lot goes through one’s mind.  I did a lot of thinking while on that chair with no energy to do anything.

That experience and contemplation brings a new awareness.  There is a better understanding of what is important and not important in life.  It allows you to value the most important parts of everyday living.

That experience let me know just how important my family, friends and even acquaintances are in life.  I did not disclose my illness until I was well enough, and had the energy, to write.

The response was heartening.  The messages I received from so many people in and around the Fishers community meant so much to me.

That’s why every day for me is Thanksgiving Day.  I wake up and know God has given me another day on this earth to do my best and be a positive influence on my world and the community in which I live.

Of all the messages I received after disclosing my positive test, this one from a lady that regularly reads my blog and listens to my podcasts stood out for me.  She wanted to let me know that even though we have never met, she feels that she knows me from my writing and podcasts.  That is a high compliment for anyone doing communications.  I really do not always know how many people are absorbing all my content.

So, on this Thanksgiving Day, I celebrate in a special way pursuant to American traditions dating back to the days of the pilgrims.  I am the oldest of 6 children.  Normally, my sister and brother-in-law host a large family gathering Thanksgiving Day.

That is not happening this year.  I will be enjoying Thanksgiving Day with a much smaller group.

I hope you all find a wonderful and safe way to make Thanksgiving Day special in this not-so-special year of 2020.  I am thankful for everyone in my circle of relatives and friends, including those reading this blog.

Although 2020 has not been a special year for most of us, there has been much joy for my family.  My first grandchild was born in August.  I look forward to seeing him, his parents and seeing that special smile only he has.

That’s why every day is Thanksgiving Day for me.  So, please, be kind and be safe.