Neil Armstrong was the first human to walk the moon’s surface and will be forever remembered for that feat.  But Armstrong was largely a quiet, private man.  A book written by James R. Hansen tells us much more about the man Neil Armstrong.  That book has been made into a film, First Man.  Here is my podcast review.

WTHR “13 Investigates” reporter Bob Segal says the television station has filed a lawsuit against HSE Schools because school officials have refused to provide a factual basis for why Fishers Football Coach Rick Wimmer was suspended.  Segal’s report says WTHR is asking a judge to force local school officials to disclose the factual basis for Wimmer’s suspension, which 13 Investigates argues is required by state law.

The lawsuit was mentioned in a story posted Thursday by Segal about a lawsuit filed by Jayden Bond and his mother Joniece Brooks alleging Wimmer and the HSE Schools did not handle a classroom situation in 2016 properly.

You can read the story at this link.

Emma Kate Fittes of the Indianapolis Star has written a story about a lawsuit filed in Indianapolis Federal District Court about an incident between Fishers Football Coach (and classroom teacher) Rick Wimmer, and a student in his class, Jayden Bond, in 2016.  The suit alleges that Bond was subjected to racial discrimination, denying Bond his civil right.

For more details, read the story posted on the IndyStar Web site at this link.

An idea raised at the September City Council Finance Committee may need to be postponed for consideration to next year.  Deputy Mayor Elliott Hultgren told the committee Wednesday that there is an issue with at least one current member of the Board of Works and Public Safety already holding what state law defines as a “lucrative position.”

The council panel mulled over the idea of paying members of the Board of Works at the last meeting.  Hultgren said he has discussed the issue with City Attorney Chris Greisl, and that could be a problem for one currently serving member of the Board of Works.

Jason Meyer is an elected member of the Fall Creek Township Board.  If Mayor Fadness wants Meyer to continue in his current role as a Board of Works member, and he would be eligible for a salary for his work on the city board, Meyer would need to choose between his elected position with Fall Creek Township and the appointed position with the city.

Currently, the City of Fishers does not pay members of the Board of Works.

In other matters before the committee….the city has received written objections to funding the Nickel Plate Trail as part of the 2019 budget.  City officials say 10-13 objections were filed from 6-7 different addresses in Fishers.  The city will issue written responses to these objections through the budget process.

On another issue, Hultgren told members of the Finance Committee that both the Fire Department headquarters building near City Hall and the fire station along Allisonville Road, near Metropolitan Airport, will both need to be demolished and rebuilt.  The issue was raised during discussion of bonds to be issued in order to pay for the fire stations to be rebuilt.

City Controller Lisa Bradford told the committee her operation is moving to the building that once housed the police department.  Her operation is also quickly adapting to new accounting software.

Fishers Police Officer Binh Dennis remains in critical condition following an off-duty motorcycle accident in Brown County.

The officers’s medical team has performed multiple surgeries to save his life and provide him the highest possible quality of life in the future. Officer Dennis has proven to be a fighter and local police officials say there are many reasons to believe that someday he will be able to turn this tragedy into triumph.

Binh’s road to recovery is going to be very long with many ups and downs. This life-changing incident has and will continue to take a financial toll on the Dennis family. Binh’s family has established a fundraising link allowing people to make monetary donations which will help ease the financial burden during Binh’s recovery.

You may make a donation at this link.

Police officials warn that there are scam artists taking advantage of this situation, therefore they recommend using the link above to make any donation to the Dennis family.

There has been much speculation that the mid-term elections this November will see a much larger turnout compared to four years ago.  A Twitter message from the Hamilton County Election Office Thursday morning shows that may be true.

In the Tweet, election officials say that four years ago, in the first day to file absentee ballots, 61 voters filed absentee ballots the first day…..this year 584 absentee ballots were filed in Noblesville.

For more details on filing an absentee ballot, use this link

When a group of volunteers gathered last spring to plan a summer lunch program for students in need, they had no idea how many families would request assistance.  The number turned out to be much larger than anyone anticipated.

Lynda Carlino, retired Executive Director HSE S.P.O.R.T.S., was part of that volunteer group and told the HSE School Board that roughly 6,000 meals were week this past summer were passed out to local families in need.  More than 300 volunteers helped make that happen.

Also, the board Wednesday night recognized the HSE High School Key Club as Fishers YMCA Center Advisory Board Youth Volunteer(s) of the Year for 2018.    Members of the Key Club have been volunteering with the Fishers Y for many years. They volunteer for several of the special events, such as the Halloween Extravaganza, Wishbone 5K, Dad/Daughter Dance, Give Hope Ride and more.

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board took the first step in allowing video of board  meetings to be available to the public, but one board member dissented on the length of time meeting videos will be available online.

On a 6-1 vote, the board Wednesday night approved, on first reading, a proposal to live stream video of board meetings and allow public access to those video recordings for 45 days only.

Board member Michelle Fullhart objected to the 45 day limit, citing nearby school districts that have video recordings of their meetings going as far back as 2013. Board member Mike Bottorff replied that this was vetted by the contractor charged with handling the recordings and the school district’s legal counsel.

Fullhart was the lone no vote on first reading.  The item must be approved again to become board policy.

Superintendent Allen Bourff said board meetings will move back to the expanded and renovated Administration Building on Cumberland Road next month, but the video recording will not yet be in place for that first session in November.  Board meetings have been held at Riverside on Eller Road during the construction period.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board held a public hearing on its 2019 $242.8 million budget in September, and no one chose to speak.  Wednesday night, board members unanimously approved the 2019 budget blueprint.

HSE Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter told the board rules are changing on how school boards choose to spend their money.  For example, what was once called the General Fund is now known at the Education Fund.

School boards across the state will have much more flexibility on how they spend money within those funds, according to Reuter.  Boards may move money between these various funds more easily under revised state statutes.

All the numbers are not yet in from the county, but Reuter says his projections show the HSE school tax rate will likely go down by about one cent per $100 of assessed value in 2019.

The State of Indiana released ISTEP data to local school corporations recently, and Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools Assistant Superintendent Jan Combs reviewed highlights of those numbers with the school board Wednesday night.

When breaking down the math, Combs said there are six examples where HSE Schools as a whole saw an increase in test performance, but the entire state’s scores went down.  Examples were English Language Arts among fourth-graders, grade four math, English Language Arts in grade six, Math in grade six and English Language Arts in grade seven as well as Math in grade seven.

There was one example were state scores increased and HSE as a school district went down, and that was in Math for eighth-graders.

Combs cited one area of concern in the ISTEP results for tenth grade students in both Math and English Language Arts – state scores were down, HSE district scores also were down, but the HSE students dropped more than the state.  Administrators are looking at what changes, if any, need to be be made in analyzing these test scores.

Dr. Combs did a deep dive into test performance gaps by analyzing data into racial groups, including white, black, asian, hispanic and multi-racial.  The data shows there continues to be academic gaps among some of the groups, but some are shrinking.  She emphasized that there are still gaps, and there is still work to do in order to further reduce these gaps.

School Superintendent Allen Board performed a demonstration for board members on how new data mining programs can be used to find specific numbers.

Combs reminded board members this will be the final time schools will receive ISTEP test scores.  The next set of results will come from the new ILEARN test.

You can review the ISTEP data shared with the board at this link.