Launch Fishers has been one of the great local economic success stories.  A co-working space operation with the backing of Mayor Scott Fadness and the leadership of founder John Wechsler, Launch has seen many of the small business hatched at the incubator.

On Tuesday, the City of Fishers announced three firms, currently members of Launch, are growing.  Those businesses are Vendor Jump, Ultimate Automation and Sales Tuners.

Vendor Jump specializes in world-wide e-commerce retailing, and has plans to expand its work force by 26 full-time positions.

Ultimate Automation is adding 31 new full-time jobs and plans a capital investment of over $1 million as of 2021.  The firm sells commercial audio-visual services, automation and information technology services.

Sales Tuners is a weekly podcast with a focus on tech and sales.  Look for 25 new jobs there by 2021.

Mayor Fadness  says Launch has always been all about entrepreneurship and support for companies as they grow.   “As we’ve started to see successes such as these today, it’s not only a testament to the ecosystem here in Fishers, but more so to the dedication of these entrepreneurs who continue to grow and prosper,” said Fadness in a city news release.

Fishers officials say these announcements, added to other job commitments since 2015, totals-up to  over 4,100 job commitments by Fishers-based businesses.

March 20th is the United Nations sanctioned Day of Happiness, and some Hamilton Southeastern Schools are jumping-in on the happiness bandwagon.  #HappyActs are small actions with a big impact that can make someone’s day a little brighter. It can be an act of kindness as simple as a hug, a kind word, or helping a neighbor.

“Live Happy” is offering to donate $1 to Big Brothers Big Sisters* for each #HappyActs shared at a Happiness Wall and has a variety of other resources for participants to continue their celebration of happiness.

Three schools in the Hamilton Southeastern School District are celebrating the Day of Happiness.

Below are just a few examples I found on the Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate/Junior High Happiness Wall.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness is asking the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board to pass a resolution agreeing on the financial impact of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) deals used by the city in economic development.  The mayor was clear that he is not asking school board members to endorse the city’s economic development activities, but to agree on the numbers and how TIF does and does not make a difference in the amount of money available to the local schools.

The mayor’s presentation was limited to how Fishers TIF developments impact the HSE Schools.  The HSE District also includes Wayne Township and some areas in the City of Noblesville.

The mayor emphasized the TIF Districts do pay property taxes to schools approved by voters in a referendum.  Fadness said TIF Districts in Fishers pay $829,000 a year in property taxes for local schools.

Mayor Fadness presented to the school board a financial report prepared by Policy Analytics on the impact of TIFs in Fishers.  You can read that report at this link.

Fadness and City Councilman Eric Moeller attended the Tuesday morning school board work session.  It will now be up to the HSE School Board to decide whether to vote on the mayor’s resolution suggestion.  The Fishers City Council has already passed such a resolution.

Board members voiced no indication during the work session as to whether they would or would not support the mayor’s resolution proposal.

The Fishers City Council unanimously approved an exemption from Uniform Development Ordinances Wednesday night, clearing the way for a gravel parking lot with access to a natural area park planned in Fall Creek Township.  Township Trustee Doug Allman explained plans for the park for council members.  The exemption will allow access to the gravel parking area from Southeastern Parkway, with the details of exactly where that will be located yet to be worked out.

Councilwoman Cecilia Coble asked about Americans with Disability Act (ADA) access and she was told in this situation, there is no legal requirement to provide such access, but the township will investigate what can be done under the circumstances.

The Fishers City Council approved a text amendment to The Yard development near IKEA allowing about 225 residential units to be a part of the project.  The vote was 6-2, with one abstention.  Council members David George and Selina Stoller voted no and Rich Block abstained from voting on the measure.

George voiced concerns that the the developer’s plans are not now cohesive as a restaurant destination with the added component of residential.  Councilmen Pete Peterson and John Weingardt both voiced support for the residential Yard plans, saying it enhances the development.  Mayor Scott Fadness responded that the residential units will be placed above the planned restaurant locations and will not reduce any retail space.

Attorney Steve Hardin, representing Yard developer Thompson Thrift, told council members construction should begin in June and is expected to take about 18 months.  Hardin also said leasing for The Yard is going “very well.”

There were also concerns raised by city planners and a nearby developer about road access, and the action by the council granting the text amendment requires those issues to be resolved by the parties and to the satisfaction of the city planning staff.

The Fishers City Council recognized several local organizations at the Wednesday night session.  Below are some of those groups.

My March mini-podcast series continues in recognition of Disability Awareness Month.  Here is the 16th Episode in that series.

What began as a fairly dry, routine item on the school board agenda became a heated discussion that included charges of data manipulation and discrepancies, and strong denials from the school superintendent.

Matt Lange of KSM Consulting presented a report to the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board Wednesday night about how data is stored, retrieved and disseminated, with the goal of providing school principals and teachers real-time data to respond when subgroups of students are not performing well.

On page 7 of the KSM report (found at this link),  Board member Michelle Fullhart objected to two sentences in the report:

“In the past, the School Board has noted discrepancies between reports provided by Central Office and reports provided by the State of Indiana. They have a concern that some data may have been manipulated by the Central Office, and they would like a higher level of transparency and accountability in their relationship with the Central Office.”

Lange responded that Board Member Mike Bottorff wanted the language included.  Amanda Shera and Bottorff were the two board representatives in the “discovery sessions” held by KSM.

“There’s an understanding, belief that some of the information that the school board is getting is couched in a certain way, before it gets to the school board,” Lange told the board.  “As a result, the school board is going around to the state of Indiana, through some relationships there, to access some of that data.”

Fullhart argued the language in the report should not reflect the entire board, since only two board members were involved in this process.  “It kind of sounds like there’s some fraud happening in our district the way this is working and I do not believe that,” said Fullhart.

Bottorff was out of town and did not attend the Wednesday board meeting.

Board President Matt Burke said “Manipulation is a pretty strong word.” He added that he wants good data as a board member, but it’s much more important that good and timely data be in the hands of school principals and teachers.

“I know that is strong wording, but from my conversations with Mike (Bottorff), I actually thought that this deserves some strong wording,” Lange told the board.  “And, it is around the example that you were talking about, with some of the demographic groups in terms of reporting for some standardized tests.  From the conversation I had with Mike, he did feel what I have written.  I fully understand where all of you are coming from – I’ve lumped you together.  I am more than happy to change how I referred to the school board, but that is how (Mike) thought and that is how I took it.”

“I know the report (Mike Bottorff)) is talking about and the report was correct,” said HSE superintendent Allen Bourff.  “It wasn’t manipulated but it changed.  Many times if you go to the state report, it will not be what we’ve reported because we’ve reported based on the first numbers that come through or based on state numbers as opposed to federal numbers or vice-versa.  So, it’s not uncommon for some of those numbers to be changed as they come through and they might appear to be manipulated, but they are actually some of the latest we have or the best we can do.”

Amanda Shera, who was the other HSE Board member participating in putting this report together, maintains there was manipulation of data.  “The numbers were put in wrong in the report that (the school board) had and some things were updated if they were favorable and some things were not,” said Shera.

“That’s not the way I remember it,” responded Bourff. “And there was no attempt to make anything look different.”  Bourff also cited changes in the formula and metrics used by the Indiana State Board of Education.

The board took no action on the report Wednesday night, but Bourff told the board he will have an administration recommendation at the next regular board meeting.

Adam Aasen is away this week, but our weekly podcast Hamilton County Goes To the Movies continues our every-Saturday schedule of new episodes.  This week, Dan Domsic joins Larry to review the Netflix 8-part documentary series “Flint Town.”  Our guests this week are those at 12 Stars Media in Fishers involved in producing a new feature-length documentary film “Finding Hygge.”