Dr. Yvonne Stokes took the reins as the superintendent of schools for the Hamilton Southeastern School District July 1st.  She is now preparing to experience her first day of classes Wednesday as superintendent.

Dr. Stokes has released a “welcome to the school year” video Monday.  She addresses masks this school year (recommended, not required, but required on school buses), possible changes if the local health situation changes, and talks about her emphasis on academics for the 2021-2022 school year.

You can view Dr. Stokes’ video at the link below.

I have been out of town the past few days with only short stints to post on this blog.  I want everyone to know I have been reading the comments sent to me about the July 28th Hamilton Southeastern School Board meeting.

Let me once again set the stage for you.  The school board was taking comments.  The board has a rule – public comment is allowed, with a time limit for each speaker – but the speaker must address an item on the board’s agenda for that meeting.

The agenda item dealt with an upcoming appointment to the Hamilton East Library Board.  The library board deals with the Noblesville and Fishers libraries.  The HSE School Board has one appointee to the library board.

Brian Myer has served as the HSE School Board appointee for the past 12 years and would be willing to serve another 4 years.  He spoke before the school board July 28th.

Then School Board President Janet Pritchett called the names of those that had signed-up to speak on that item.  One of the speakers began reading from a book, apparently from the Fishers Hamilton East Library branch, and was told by Board President Pritchett that the speaker was not addressing the agenda item.  When the speaker refused to stop, the microphone for the public address in the room and the live stream video broadcast (which is also saved for future viewing) was cutoff.

The crowd was becoming quite angry and Pritchett called for a recess of the meeting.  The board members then left the room.

At that time, the audience began chanting.  I reported in the story posted July 28th about the meeting that the chant I heard was “We ban you.”  Many audience members have messaged me saying the chant was actually “We pay you.”  I have listened to my audio recording, which continued after the school board’s video was not on, and I hear “We ban you.”

However, you could interpret the chant to be “We pay you” just the same.  After all, I’m not as young as I used to be and perhaps my hearing isn’t as sharp as it once was.

So, I have provided my audio recording, which starts as the board is leaving the room and continues until the chant dies down.

You can be the judge of what was chanted by the audience at the board meeting.  Listen at the link below.

Also, the HSE School Board is taking applications for anyone wishing to apply to be the school board appointee to the Hamilton East Library Board.

Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board regular meetings normally begin at 7:00pm, but the August 11th session will have a 4:00pm start time.

School officials say this change is to allow board members with children in the school corporation to attend functions scheduled at their respective schools.  The same change was made in 2019 when the board meeting calendar conflicted with these school activities.

Administrators are already working to ensure this conflict does not occur in future years.

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness insists the city’s Fishers Race Initiative has not ended, but two outside contractors are no longer doing business with the city.

In a brief City Hall conversation with LarryInFishers last week, Mayor Fadness says the Soul Focused Group will no longer be a contractor for the city following public statements attributed to the group and brought to the attention of the mayor and his staff.

Also, another outside group, a consulting firm named “Favorite Part Of My Day,” has chosen to pull out of the contract with the City of Fishers to be diversity and inclusion consultants.  According to Fadness, this was entirely the contractor’s decision, not the city’s.

Fadness says he remains committed to diversity and inclusion in the city and will continue to explore avenues for Fishers to move forward.  The mayor says he wants to see how programs from the Parks and Recreation Department can look into diversity and inclusion, for example.

The Interrupting Racism training program sponsored by the city, and offered free to Fishers residents, was completed by between 300 and 400 people.  Fadness says that number may have been even higher had the entire program not been all-virtual once the pandemic hit the Fishers area.

This continues to be another busy summer season for road construction in and around Fishers.

Here is the latest update, as provided by the City of Fishers.

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Many months ago, in the darkest days of the COVID pandemic, the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board passed a resolution saying the board had jurisdiction over handling pandemic related issues, such as remote vs. in-person learning and mask requirements.  Wednesday night, the board unanimously gave that authority back to the school superintendent.

Board member Suzanne Thomas said this resolution is about who makes decisions, and she has confidence that the new superintendent, Dr. Yvonne Stokes, will make the right decisions.

Board member Sarah Donsbach reminded everyone that this resolution simply returns the process to where it was before.

“Thank you for the vote, and the trust,” Dr. Stokes said following the action.  “I want the public to know I do believe in collaboration, we are a team.”

Board President Janet Pritchett said at the end of the meeting that on COVID protocols, “we will hear more from that.”

Dr. Stokes reminded the public that anyone planning to enroll their student in HSE Schools for the first time should go through the enrollment process.  The first day of school for students in August 4th.

After covering the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board for more than 9-and-a-half years, I have never witnessed anything like what transpired at the meeting Wednesday night.

It began as an agenda item over one appointment the HSE Board is allowed to the Hamilton East Library Board.  The current appointee, Brian Meyer, has been the board appointee for 12 years and is willing to serve another four years.  Mr. Meyer gave a presentation to the board and answered questions.

Then, there was public comment.  Board President Janet Pritchett cautioned the audience that any comments must be related to the appointment, not other issues.  Some speakers tried to comment on the books in the library, and board president Pritchett insisted the comments be limited to the appointment only.

Then one member of the public began reading from a book, it was unclear whether it came from the Hamilton East Library Fishers branch, about a transgender child’s story.  The speaker was objecting to the content.  Pritchett once again insisted the speaker not veer from the agenda item of the appointment, but the speaker began raising her voice, even after her microphone was cutoff.

Pritchett than called a recess and board members left the meeting room, as the crowd recited in unison, “we ban you.”  The audience continued their loud response after the board left.

Board members Brad Boyer and Suzanne Thomas tried to explain to those in attendance that this is not the time for this issue to be discussed but Boyer said he would meet with a group of people to hear their concerns.  Ryan Taylor, Director of Staff and Student Support Services for HSE Schools, then explained to the audience the board will only return to the board room with assurances the meeting would not be disrupted.

The board returned, and board president Pritchett announced public comment would be suspended for the remainder of the Wednesday session.  There were no more meeting disruptions after that announcement, although some audience members left the meeting room at that time.

Pritchett said anyone interested in being appointed to the Hamilton East Library Board should notify the school district.  The appointment is scheduled to be made at the August 11th board meeting.  Pritchett says the state statute says the school board president is empowered to make this library board appointment.

The City of Fishers and HSE Schools have partnered in many ways for the years, but a new cooperative effort was announced Wednesday, for second-grade students.  The city’s AgriPark.

Motorists in Fishers received some good news from the city Wednesday…all four lanes of 116th Street are now open downtown at the Nickel Plate Trail tunnel.

The construction crew beat the projected opening date of August 1.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness and Meyer Najem Construction senior project manager Matt Shultz complimented the crews and engineers for completing the work ahead of schedule.

However, construction in that area is not totally done.  Here are more details from the city news release:

Construction in the area related to the downtown development projects will impact the roadway at various times in August and September. Beginning the week of August 9, lane restrictions will be in effect on 116th Street for final asphalt surface placement at the Nickel Plate Trail. Access to Fishers Center Drive from 116th Street will be closed for gas line relocation from 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and tie-in work the weeks of August 9 and September 6. Access to Municipal Drive from Lantern Road will be closed the week of August 30 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for additional gas line relocation. Detour routes will be publicized ahead of those closures. 

Adam, Alec & Larry talk about the much-anticipated film from Disney, Jungle Cruise, along with three other new films.