Administrators for the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools briefed school board members on the state of academics in the district at a Tuesday morning work session.  Although there are areas ripe for improvement, the news overall was very good on the academic front.

The briefing, led by Assistant Superintendent Matt Kegley, did not include the most recent IREAD scores because those results are embargoed by the state for now.  But one number that stands out is the SAT score.

This is just the second year all high school juniors in Indiana have taken the SAT test and HSE ranks 5th in percentage of juniors at benchmark on both sections of the SAT.

Detailed comparisons were made of other school districts similar in size or located nearby HSE.  Those districts include Brownsburg, Carmel, Zionsville, Valparaiso, Pen Harris, Westfield, Center Grove, Warrick and Noblesville.

In ILEARN math scores, the data shows 10 of 12 demographic groups demonstrating increases over last year.

You can review the entire report shared with the board at this link.

The Geist Half Marathon is back and is better than ever.  The city of Fishers is taking over the event this year.  Jake Reardon McSoley talks about the city’s involvement and Tom Britt talks about the event’s history.  For more information, and registration, use this link.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness may have no appointments to the Hamilton East Library Board, but he is weighing-in on the library board policy of reviewing books in the teen section for possible placement in the adult collection based on content.  The mayor is asking for cooler heads to prevail and wants the library board to bring in everyone in the community to find a solution to the current dispute between the board and segments of the public.

The mayor talks about that, the 2024 budget and more in this podcast:

Below is a release from Fishers Police on who is eligible for the cadet program, and how to register.

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Registration for the Fishers Cadet Program is currently open for all Fishers area teens between the ages of 14 (or currently enrolled in the eighth grade) through 19 (or currently enrolled as a senior in high school).  Registration is done electronically and is a two-step process.  The first step collects basic information for the background check.  After the background portion is complete, a link will be sent to complete the second step.  Registration is open through September 1, 2023.

Register at this link.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I was the morning news anchor for radio station WCSI in Columbus, Indiana.  The radio station had a long history of service to the local public and was owned by a family enterprise that also owned the newspaper in Findlay, Ohio.

I also covered the local schools and county government during my four-year stint in Columbus.  It was a very competitive market with the other radio station in town, which had a very good journalist as its news director.

But both radio stations were constantly competing with a journalistic juggernaut, The Columbus Republic.  Owned by the local Brown family, The Republic had a staff of hard working and savvy journalists that were often very aggressive in their news-gathering operation.  In the rare event when I scooped The Republic, the reporter on that beat was called on the carpet.

I had the chance to befriend many reporters at The Republic and admired their work.  When you make your living as a reporter and have competition, it keeps you on your toes and motivates you to work even harder.

I have been saddened by what has happened at The Republic in recent years.  New ownership has a different view on news coverage, and the realities of newspaper economics these days haven’t helped either.  I know some good journalists that have left The Republic in recent years because it is not anywhere near the operation it once was.

So it was not good news when the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) recently posted a story on a major cutback in the print editions of The Republic.  Starting in September, The Republic will publish a print edition only two days a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The IBJ quotes the publisher as saying this should have been done 10-15 years ago, with more people using online sources of news as opposed to print.  The company, AIM Indiana, is also cutting back print editions for its Seymour and Greenfield operations.  The Franklin Daily Journal will have the most print editions, because that newspaper is in the best financial shape of all the company’s locations, according to the publisher.

It is sad to see a once mighty and respected operation like The Republic relegated to two-days-a-week in print.  But it is a growing trend.

In a collaborative effort among law enforcement agencies, including Fishers Police, detectives from the Bowling Green Police Department (BGPD) have successfully apprehended a murder suspect in Fishers, Indiana. The suspect, identified as David Profitt of Bowling Green, Kentucky, was the subject of an investigation following the discovery of a deceased victim in the Bowling Green jurisdiction on August 12, 2023.

Upon uncovering evidence and leads, BGPD detectives identified Profitt as a suspect and subsequently issued an arrest warrant for his apprehension. Realizing the possibility that Profitt had fled to the Indianapolis area, BGPD Detectives reached out to the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force, operating out of the Indianapolis Field Office, to aid in their pursuit.

The Fishers Police Department had a dedicated detective already assigned to this specialized task force, further enhancing the agencies’ approach. Task Force Officers from the FBI VCTF initiated their search for Profitt, leading them to a breakthrough at Top Golf in Fishers.

Fishers’ specialized SWAT unit was called in to assist in the operation, resulting in a safe apprehension. Profitt was taken into custody without incident, successfully concluding the cross-jurisdictional effort to locate and apprehend the murder suspect.

The investigation remains ongoing as detectives work to gather additional evidence and details surrounding the murder.

There are perils in writing a news blog all by yourself.  Not complaining, just saying when family comes first, I can be out of pocket for many hours at a time and try to update when there is an opportunity.

Let me be clear, my grandson’s third birthday is my first priority and wouldn’t miss that for anything.

But that does put me behind on a local news story that has had rapid developments the past few days – the Hamilton East Library, with buildings in Fishers & Noblesville.

The library board ordered a review of books in the teen section, using orders from the board on what books are not to be shelved in the teen section.

Famous author, and Indianapolis area resident John Green discovered one of his books, “The Fault In Our Stars,” had been removed from the teen collection as part of that board-ordered review.

Now, the board president says it was all a mistake.

Hamilton East Library Board President Laura Alerding issued the following statement:

“Upon reviewing the page(s) of ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ book that were the basis of the Director’s and review staff’s reason to move the book out of the Teen section,  I believe there was an error in implementing the Collection Development Policy and that this book should be moved back to the Teen section immediately.  The Board of Trustees will discuss further what went wrong with the review process at the next public board meeting.”

The next regularly scheduled public meeting of the Hamilton East Library Board is Thursday, August 24, 6:15pm, at the Noblesville Library.

With the start of school locally last Wednesday, it caused me to think about something we rarely consider – the many things we take for granted.

For example, we take for granted that staff will be at the buildings as classes start.  We take for granted the food services workers that handle lunch and other important duties.

In the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools, we have a big bus transportation system.  As the fourth-largest school district in Indiana (by student count), the  transportation operation takes students to and from home and school safely and efficiently.  Geographically, HSE is also large, taking-in all of Wayne, Fall Creek and Delaware Townships.  Not that its perfect, but the system generally runs smoothly under the direction of Zach McKinney.

The Jefferson County Schools in Louisville, Kentucky do not take their student bus transportation for granted.  That school district had a major meltdown in its transportation system on the first day of classes.

According to a story posted to the PBS Newshour Web site, a new bus routing system created a “logistical meltdown” and led to the cancellation of classes for two days.

Here is part of the PBS story:

It took just one disastrous day for Jefferson County Public Schools leaders to completely reexamine the transportation plan for Kentucky’s largest district, which serves 96,000 students. Some kids arrived home hours late on Wednesday, and classes were canceled Thursday and Friday.

“We are reviewing what happened Wednesday to determine where the issues were created, why they happened and how to prevent them from happening again,” district spokesperson Mark Hebert said Friday.

So, we take so much for granted we often do not appreciate the long list of teachers, support staff, bus drivers and other civil servants that allow school to run smoothly most of the time.  Think about that.  We do take a lot for granted.