This is a story changing by the minute, but here is what we know now…

The Fishers Police Department is closing its headquarters lobby.  Call 317-595-3300 to speak to Records Staff and 317-773-1282 to speak with a Fishers Police Officer.

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board regularly scheduled meeting on March 25th has been canceled.

I will provide any more updates as information is available.

Governor Holcomb has ordered Restaurants & bars closed through the end of March, but carry-out and delivery service will continue.  For more details, use this link.

It was only a matter of time and we knew it would happen soon with Hamilton County’s population size – the county health department reports its first confirmed case of what the department describes as a case of “novel coronavirus.”

Sometimes local authorities will disclose some information about those with positive coronavirus test results, but in this case, local health officials say they “will not be providing any further information on this case out of respect for the person’s privacy.”

My news gathering partner, The Hamilton County Reporter, and Tom Britt’s Fishers Magazine reported the first HAMCO coronavirus case Sunday morning.

In a statement released Sunday, Dr. Charles Harris, Hamilton County Health Officer, wrote the following –  “We have known COVID-19 would arrive in Hamilton County eventually, we were fortunate to have additional time to prepare for our first case. We will continue to work with our federal, state, and local partners to mitigate, and respond to COVID-19.”

I have seen a great deal of social media chatter lately about the coverage of the pandemic and I want to point out just a few important facts.  First, local news organizations are doing the very best they can.  The state’s largest newspaper, the Indianapolis Star, is a hollowed-out version of what it once was in terms of employing journalists, but the Star is doing some good reporting and doing a pretty good job considering the massive staff cuts in recent years.  The journalists there are working as hard as they can and doing good work, as are reporters in other local news outlets.

Second, I have been sounding the alarm about what happens to local communities when independent news organizations are massively reduced or go out of business altogether.  There are fewer reporters and editors out in the field talking to the people in the know.  That’s how the public is informed at a time like this.  Allow me to repeat my mantra on this – subscribe to your local media outlets!  If you don’t, you will be crying out for the best information and it just won’t be there.

America’s number one expert in infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, made the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows and had a stark message for all Americans.  His message was – we need what can only be described as a national lock-down to prevent the spread of this virus.  Even with all the steps that have already been taken, such as closing down virtually all sports, Fauci said he wants all restaurants and bars closed down.  He told CNN he would “like to see a dramatic diminution of the personal interaction that we see” in those places.

Fauci is basically saying whatever we have to do as a nation, we need to do it and we need to do it now.  If Dr. Fauci is correct, and he is the leading national expert on this, we will be at home for a while.

Another important aspect of this has been covered by local and national media, in that we have not had much of any testing available.  Until tests are there for the medical personnel to use, no one knows the extent of the infections.  It could be worse than we think, or not as bad as we now envision – we just do not know.

There is much more to say about this, but as a local volunteer journalist working on my own, let’s find a way to support local business owners.  If you feel going to a restaurant or bar is not a good idea now, buy a gift certificate and enjoy the place when it is safe to do so.  That is just one example, you may think of others, but find a way to support these local establishments as best you can.

I have tried to keep up with the closures locally, but one I just found out about lately is what’s happening at the Hamilton East Library system, which runs the Noblesville and Fishers Libraries.  They are closing their meeting rooms and the Ignite space in the lower level of the Fishers building.  When I first posted this story, the Hamilton East Libraries had planned to keep the main libraries open, but Sunday afternoon, the Noblesville and Fishers Libraries announced they will close through April 13.

Let’s support our school administrators, teachers, local elected officials and others in a position of authority locally as they all cope with a situation not seen in modern times.  And, I will be watching and reporting as best I can from here.

By

Richie Hall

Sports Editor

Hamilton County Reporter

Remember the good old days?

I remember being up at The Mill at Noblesville High School, standing up
on the second level at one of the two overlooks on the east side of the gym, directly above the entrance. The radio and television people set up shop there whenever they come to cover a game. I wound up sitting next to a group of Carmel High School students who were there from the school’s radio station, WHJE.

It was the second boys basketball sectional semi-final game of the night between Noblesville and Carmel. During the game, my old friend Joe Burgess came up to say hello. He wound up taking a selfie with me and posted it on Twitter – it’s the same photo you see on the page today.

The game was your typical Millers-Greyhounds battle to the end. Carmel won on a last-second shot after being down with about a minute to go. It was thrilling, although I have to admit that covering games between two county schools is never easy. I’m happy for the winning team, and simultaneously feel bad for the other team.

Overall, it was a sectional game to remember. The good old days. Now you might be thinking “Wait a minute, what do you mean the ‘good old days?’” After all, that sectional game took place nine days ago – last Friday, March 6.

Because after the events of this past week, nine days ago seems like forever.

DOMINO EFFECT
Nine days ago, we all had been hearing about the coronavirus, or COVID-19, for the past
few weeks. While it was something to be aware of, it didn’t seem like something that would
disrupt everyday life.

Then it started getting serious. Avon Community School Corporation had a student test
positive, and quickly announced all schools would close. On Monday, Kent Graham and I
were talking about what that would mean for an indoor track and field meet scheduled for
Friday that was to be hosted by Avon High School. And would Avon’s closure cause a domino effect across other schools?

Indeed, the dominoes started dropping from there. College basketball conference tournaments would no longer allow fans at the games. Soon they would be canceled altogether. Then came Wednesday, when an NBA player tested positive for the coronavirus. Within hours, the NBA season was suspended.

Other major sport leagues quickly followed suit. Kent and I were preparing to head to Logansport on Saturday to cover Carmel in the boys basketball regional. The IHSAA
said on Thursday that it would conduct games with limited fans, but that soon became unfeasible as school districts across the state, including all of Hamilton County’s districts, announced they were shutting down and moving to e-learning. On Friday, the basketball tournament was postponed.

The only high school sporting event to take place Saturday was the IHSAA gymnastics state
finals at Ball State University. Those girls participated at state in front of an empty Worthen
Arena, as no spectators were allowed. Chesterton won the meet, its third straight state championship in gymnastics and sixth overall.

Spring sports are delayed here in Hamilton County with the closure of the schools, most
of which are scheduled to be closed until the week of April 13. (Guerin Catholic is set to
re-open the week of April 6, according to the calendar on the school’s website.) It will be, at
the very least, early to mid April before practices can begin, and several days after that before actual games and meets can be scheduled.

THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW
I do agree with the need to close schools. School systems are not just expected to educate our children, they also are expected to protect them and look out for their best interests,
even if that means shutting the schools down.

To some people all the shutdowns – not just of schools, but of sports, museums, other public places – may seem like an overreaction. Possibly. But Allison Carter of the Indianapolis Star said it best in a tweet: “We will never know if we overreacted to
the coronavirus. We will only know if we underreacted.”

You can still think everyone is overreacting if you want. But here’s the bottom line: Things
are different now, much different from nine days ago, whether you like it or not. Terms like
“social distancing” and “flattening the curve” were word salad on March 6, but they are in our lexicon as of March 15. Now we must decide how we’re going to react to this situation and weather it with as little damage as possible, because we don’t have much of a choice.

As a sports journalist, it’s my job to report on sports, and that means to sometimes view situations like this through the lens of athletics. It does seem a little frivolous to be talking about sports at a time like this. It’s awful to watch what’s happening across the country and around the world as well, especially in Italy, as the coronavirus takes its toll.

Those of us in the sports world, especially high school sports, have been confronted
with quite a bit of disruption over the past week, as is the case with much of everyday life
around the world. During the school year, everything is pretty much planned out. Conference meets on this day, sectionals on that day, and if our teams advance, regionals are here on this day. Now, that’s all out the window for the foreseeable future.

STORIES TO TELL
People have asked me, “What are you going to write about?” Well, there are always feature
stories. Fortunately, there are many stories to tell in an athletics-crazy county such as Hamilton. Don’t be surprised if you’re an athlete who graduated from a local school, is competing in college sports, and you get an email from me during the next several days. You might have a good story to tell, and I’d be happy to tell it.

Also, if anyone out there has a good idea for a feature story, my email is always open. You
can always reach me by email: rhall1977@gmail.com. Let me know your ideas. It can be anything sports-related. I’ve written stories on everything from baton twirling to synchronized swimming.

Of course, I’ll make sure to keep you updated with spring schedule adjustments. And when
we finally do get going with the spring sports season – and we will – I will be there to cover
all the events again. I’m just as ready as everyone else to get outside and enjoy the spring.

But for now, we’ll have to be patient. The best we can do is stay safe, use common sense
when it comes to going out, wash our hands, have faith and work together. A year from now, we can all look back and wonder if we overreacted to the coronavirus, but something tells me that if we do our part to keep it as much under control as possible,
we will be glad we overreacted like we did.

Prevail Inc. announced Brooke Lawson, Mental Health Coordinator at Hamilton Southeastern Schools, has been selected as Prevail’s Hero of the Month.

In early 2018, Lawson reached out to Prevail about starting to offer psycho-educational support groups for sexual assault survivors at Hamilton Southeastern High School and Fishers High School. Over the past two years, she has been instrumental in growing, maintaining and partnering to offer survivor specific services in their schools whether through support groups or acute settings.

After running the first cycle of sexual assault programming, Lawson championed adding Healthy Relationship support groups in both high schools as well. She has also coordinated to ensure that students at Hamilton Southeastern Fishers Academy have been able to receive the assistance of a victim advocate when necessary and appropriate.

Lawson has been dedicated to creating safe spaces in school for young people to receive assistance that facilitates their unique healing journey.

Hamilton County Reporter

The Hamilton County Courthouse, Judicial Center and other county offices will be open for business Monday. County Commissioner Steve Dillinger, meeting with other officials Friday afternoon, reported normal hours will continue to be observed unless the current pandemic situation changes.

Commissioners had earlier established certain protocols for dealing with the problem and believe the county government is prepared to adequately handle the emergency.

Certain events have been postponed or canceled, including the annual Lincoln Day Dinner which was to be held on March 19. It is now scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on April 26 at Carmel’s 502 East Event Center.

A forum for Democratic Congressional candidates set for March 26 at the Fishers Library has been canceled.

The Carmel Clay GOP annual chili supper planned for March 19 has been postponed to a yet to be determined date in April.

With the closure of HSE Schools at least through the end of of spring break, one issue is how students depending on their meals at school will continue to receive that assistance.

HSE Schools posted, on their Web site, information on what families need to do.  That guidance is provided below:

==============

Will there be meal assistance for students while schools are closed?
To ensure students continue to receive healthy meals during this closing, on Monday, March 16, HSE Food and Nutrition Services team will distribute three weeks of food that will include breakfast and lunch items from the parking lot of three HSE schools. Families will not need to get out of the car, a drive-thru will be set up for easy access at the following locations:

• Fishers High School, 13000 Promise Road (CCA Entrance Awning, Door #19)
• Hamilton Southeastern High School, 13910 E 126th St (CCA Entrance, Door #18)
• Durbin Elementary School, 18000 E Durbin Rd, Noblesville (Main Entrance)

Food will be distributed between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday, March 16. If you need further assistance, email Andria Ray at aray@hse.k12.in.us.

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board debated what to with the computer device used at the high school level Wednesday night, and finally settled on a $150 annual rental fee for 13-inch Macbook Air devices.  High school freshmen at both buildings will begin using this device at this price beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, starting in August.

The school corporation will subsidize the rental cost to families.  Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology for the HSE Schools, told board members the annual fee would need to be $186 per year for the school district to cover the full cost.  Board members voted to subsidize the difference by dipping into the 10-year bond aimed at maintaining and renovating school buildings.

Harrison says the cost of each Macbook Air device to the school corporation is $699, plus $45 each for a protective case.  The $150 per year fee will cover the cost of the  protective case.

After a lengthy discussion on how to move forward on the proposal, the original motion called for a $125 per year fee to families for the device, but that motion was amended to change the annual device fee to $150.  The final vote on the fee was 6-1.

Harrison told the board HSE administrators recommended the Macbook Air because a majority of teachers self selected the Macbook and he listed several technical reasons it would work best compared to other options.

The school corporation has been using iPads, charging a fee of $90 per year.  Because high school freshmen will begin using the Macbook Air next school year, the Macbook will be slowly replacing the iPad devices at the high school  level.

SAT tests scheduled for both HSE and Fishers High Schools Saturday, March 14th, have been cancelled.  Students from throughout Central Indiana had planned on taking the test at those Fishers locations.

HSE Schools Spokesperson Emily Abbotts says It will be up to the College Board to decide when a makeup test will be scheduled and the Board will handle any refund issues.

Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools will be closing, following Governor Eric Holcomb’s request to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  In a message to the families of HSE students and district staff, Superintendent Allen Bourff wrote the school corporation will use a combination of eLearning and waiver days granted by Governor Holcomb.

The closing will be from Monday, March 16 through Thursday, April 2.  Spring break is scheduled to begin Friday, April 3.

According to the message from Dr. Bourff, students will be in school Friday, March 13 for a regular school day in which the teachers will prepare them for an extended time away. All buildings will close no later than 6 p.m.

“We recognize how challenging this situation is for some of our families, students and staff,” Bourff said in his message. “This decision was made after consultation with Hamilton County health officials and other Hamilton County schools.”

School officials say they will continue to finalize plans for support of families in the school district and will reveal those plans “in the coming days.”

With cancellations, suspensions and postponements of a wide variety of events nation wide, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has issued what he describes as a “community plan” to deal with the virus.

“While there are no currently confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fishers, the City’s goal is to manage precautions ahead of any confirmed cases and encourage the community to take personal responsibility and reduce the impact on high-risk populations,” according to the Internet posting by the city.

The plan includes guidance for individuals, schools, workplaces, assisted living facilities, community & faith-based organizations and Fishers city policies.

Review a 2-page PDF document with the details of the plan at this link.