The blockage of east-west traffic on 146th Street at State Road 37 will continue over the weekend and should reopen Monday.  On State Road 37, watch for possible backups north of 146th Street as vehicles will be limited to one lane both north and southbound for the next 2-3 weeks.

Here is this week’s full road construction listing as provided by the City of Fishers:

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High school graduation ceremonies for Fishers and HSE High Schools will be held at the Indiana Fairgrounds Coliseum Saturday, June 5th, but each high school will have two sessions in order to lower the number of people at each event.

Superintendent Allen Bourff told Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board members Wednesday night Fishers High School will hold graduation ceremonies at 9:00am and 11:30am, then HSE will have their events at 2:00pm & 4:30pm.

There will be no orchestra or choir, but recorded music may be used.  There will be no handshakes as graduates accept their diplomas.  There will be no procession to begin and end each event.  Each graduate will receive four tickets to the ceremony.

The speeches will be reduced to a brief address by the principal and remarks from valedictorian.

Last year’s graduation was delayed due to the pandemic and held outside.

In other updates from Dr. Bourff at the HSE Board meeting:

–The Fishers Health Department is working with school officials to provide COVID vaccinations to students, now that the age of those eligible for the vaccine has drawn lower.  No details have been worked out on how that may work.

–The first three days of school after spring break have resulted in 34 positive COVID tests at HSE Schools, which exceeds the last full week before spring break at 23 cases.  However, Dr. Bourff says that this week’s number is lower than had been projected.

Finally, the consent agenda is normally a list of routine items approved by the board at each regular meeting.  Wednesday night, board member Brad Boyer voted no on the consent agenda, a rare event.  When asked after the meeting why he voted no, Boyer responded that he had asked questions on some items contained in the consent agenda and did not receive “satisfactory answers” to those questions.  The consent agenda consists of board minutes from the previous meeting, financial claims and personnel actions.  When asked what specifically on that agenda caused him to vote no, Mr. Boyer declined to answer.

A school calendar and school start times had been set for the coming school year, but the pandemic and budget issues may bring changes.  The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board heard proposals from administrators on both issues Wednesday night.

First, on class start times, high school would change from 8:20am to 8:30am.  The intermediate and junior high school stat time would move from 9am to 9:15am.  Elementary start times would remain the same.

The new times will help in the three-tier bus scheduling system and reduce the need for bus drivers.  Bus drivers have been in short supply.

Assistant Superintendent Matt Kegley told the board block scheduling for the higher grades can help keep the amount of class time well within state requirements.

Kegley told board members the calendar adjustments deal with fewer flex days and more e-learning days.  Kegley pointed out the differences in e-learning and virtual.  E-Learning is doing assignments while not under the teacher’s guidance, while virtual learning is a class setting held virtually via Zoom.

The revised 2021-2022 school year calendar is available at this link.

The proposed 2022-2023 school calendar is available at this link.

The start time changes and calendars will be up for board approval at the April 28 meeting

by

Richie Hall

Sports Editor

Hamilton County Reporter

The Hamilton Southeastern athletic department announced on Wednesday that Brian Satterfield has been approved as the Royals’ new girls basketball head coach.

Satterfield succeeds Chris Huppenthal, who retired this past season after 16 seasons as head coach of the Southeastern girls. While Satterfield will be a new coach for the girls, he is a longtime Royal: Satterfield coached the HSE boys basketball team for the past 20 seasons, where he had tremendous success over the years, with a 322-151 record, three sectional championships and nine Hoosier Crossroads Conference titles.

Satterfield is looking forward to this new opportunity, as he told the Reporter Wednesday night.

“It’s a great opportunity,” said Satterfield. “The biggest thing is Coach Huppenthal has done a tremendous job with the girls program. Going to be moving into a situation where they’ve got a great foundation. They’ve got four starters coming back, so from that standpoint it’s exciting.”

Just as important, if not more so, Satterfield said that moving to the girls program was a family decision. He said that he “was about 50/50 whether I wanted to do it or not,” but then his daughter made a comment to him about “how she loved when I was coaching her, the interaction we had and that type of stuff,” and that was a big factor in his decision.

“When she just said that to me out of the blue, that to me was a little sign,” said Satterfield. He also thought back to his high school days, when he and his brother played at Plainfield. Satterfield’s father was the principal at Tri-West, which made for situations where he didn’t always get to see his sons play – “he has to go up to Lebanon to watch sectionals,” Satterfield said.

“We are excited to have Coach Satterfield as our next head girls’ basketball coach,” said Southeastern athletic director Jim Self in a statement on the HSE Royals Athletic website. “Brian is a Royal, in the process of hiring a new coach it was clear his passion for Hamilton Southeastern and for coaching basketball. We spend a great deal of time in the athletic department talking about Family First. I believe Brian has made a decision that focused on what is best for his family. Brian is excited for the new challenge and we are excited for our program.”

Also on the website, HSE principal Jamie Ulmer said, “A great coach is organized, prepared, knowledgeable, self-aware, and committed to the development of individual players and the success of the overall team. Starting with the 21-22 season, our girls basketball program will be led by a coach who has a proven history of exhibiting all of these qualities and more, and that coach is Brian Satterfield. We are excited for our players, our families, and our community as we begin the next chapter in HSE Girls Basketball. We have a winning tradition with the Program, both on the court and off, with a State Championship in 2019 and countless success stories involving the young women who have come through the Program. With his demonstrated success with the HSE Boys’ Basketball Program since 2001, we feel confident that Coach Brian Satterfield is the right person to continue the tradition of excellence in Royals’ Girls’ Basketball. We look forward to watching Coach Satterfield bring his many talents to the Girls’ Program as he builds on the foundation of success established by Coach Chris Huppenthal and his predecessors.”

The hiring of Satterfield as the girls basketball coach became official at the Hamilton Southeastern school board meeting Wednesday evening. Satterfield said that today will be the first time he will “really touch base” with the girls on the team, as they have an open gym.

Prior to coming to Southeastern, Satterfield was an assistant at Madison, Triton Central and Avon, then assisted former Royals coach Larry Bullington for two seasons before becoming the head coach. Satterfield has twice been named IBCA District Coach of the Year, and coached back-to-back Mr. Basketballs: Gary Harris, who was recently traded to the Orlando Magic after seven successful seasons with the Denver Nuggets, and Zak Irvin, who is currently playing in the Super Basketball League with the Bank of Taiwan.

Satterfield also coached two NFL players: Retired Indianapolis Colts player Joe Reitz and current Dallas Cowboys defensive end Randy Gregory.

Diane Eaton served on the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board for many years, and sat in the president’s chair for some time during that tenure.  She addressed the board Wednesday night, asking that the contract for the new superintendent not be approved.  No vote was scheduled Wednesday, but a public hearing was held and the contract was discussed with attorney David Day.

The former board member argued an interim superintendent should be named and the search for a new leader of HSE Schools delayed because, according to Eaton, the board is not being transparent with the community by holding a public hearing on the contract when the new superintendent’s identity has not been revealed.  Eaton added that state law does allow this.

Eaton also expressed concerns the pool of superintendent candidates is smaller due to the COVID pandemic.

Eaton urged the board to continue the search for a new superintendent.  She said after the meeting that her comments represent the views of “hundreds” of families that have contacted her with the same issues.

The board is holding a special meeting April 22 at 6:30pm to announce the new superintendent and approve her contract (it appears the new superintendent is a woman based on the contract language and other interactions with school officials).

The student count for HSE Schools was down 660 students on February 1st, 2021, lowering the total count to 21,339.  The state funds school districts based on the number of students enrolled, so HSE Schools has lost $3.3 million in financial support from the state of Indiana with fewer students.  That requires the local schools to cut spending.

An internal committee has been meeting since December and provided a list of recommendations to the school board Wednesday night.

The total revenue loss is set at roughly $5 million because HSE lost revenue to lower interest rates and a large reduction in rental fees due to COVID.

HSE Chief Financial Officer Cecillie Nunn and Human Resource Director Kim Lippe told the board they are “optimistic” no Reduction in Force (RIF) of staff will be necessary.  But some staff may need to be moved and transferred to accomplish that goal.

Nunn said the largest chunk of savings comes from adjusting class sizes to levels called for in the most recent operating referendum, kindergarten through grade 6 .  Those grade levels are currently overstaffed by 33 teaching positions.  Resignations and retirements will reduce that number.  Plus, the American Recovery Fund recently passed by the congress and signed by the president will fund programs dealing with pandemic-related learning loss by students.  The savings from adjusting class sizes, plus the federal funds, amount to more than $3.3 million.

Savings of over $1.3 million will come from freezing incremental pay increases for support staff and school administrators, plus not filling several currently open positions.  Several other line items will create savings that total $5.045 million in the coming school year.

Janet Chandler, President of the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association, expressed concern that any RIF of teachers could come down to evaluation numbers separated by no more than decimal points determining which teachers are laid-off and which teachers remain, in tie-breaker situations.  She equated that system as no better than throwing darts at a dart board.

The board is scheduled to vote on the list of cost-saving recommendations at the April 28 session.

For more details on the proposed budget cuts, use this link.

Plans are moving forward for the development of Geist Waterfront Park, as the Board of Public Works and Safety awarded a build, operate and transfer (BOT) agreement with local contractor Meyer-Najem during its Tuesday meeting.

The city says it issued a request for proposals in early March.  After negotiations with the firm, Meyer-Najem was selected to not only enter into the BOT agreement, but also enter into a contract substantially similar to the Public-Private Agreement for the construction, operation, and transfer Of Phase 1 Of Geist Waterfront Park, primarily consisting of earthwork.

A public hearing was held, as required by law, but no one chose to speak.

The  BOT contract is set at $3.1 million, financed through the bonds issued for the park.

The entire BOT agreement can be accessed at this link.

Fishers has plans for plenty of road projects, many not scheduled for 2-3 years, but the Board of Public Works and Safety approved a long list of contracts with INDOT that call for federal funding for 80%-90% of the cost.

The list of projects include:

–116th Street & Allisonville Road

–Olio Road & Southeastern Parkway

–126th Street & Southeastern Parkway

–136th Street from Southeastern Pkwy to Prairie Baptist Road

–136th St. from Prairie Baptist Rd. to Cyntheanne Rd.

Construction on this projects is not expected to start until 2023 or 2024.

Be on the lookout for lane restrictions along Allisonville Road, south of 146th Street, through May 14.

This work is preliminary for a roundabout intersection planned by the Hamilton County Highway Department at 146th Street & Allisonville Road.  Director of the Fishers Department of Engineering, Jason Taylor, told the Board of Works and Public Safety Tuesday the roundabout should be constructed in the next two years.  This work will be preliminary to the planned roundabout.

The board approved right-of-way permits for county highway crews to start the pavement core work.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

Final figures on the official 2020 U.S. Census have not been released yet, but are expected in the next couple of months, a year and a half after the nationwide count began. Hamilton County has an estimated population of 338,011, up from the 2010 total of 274,560. With the increase, the county should be entitled to 10 state representatives and five state senators.

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Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s periodic soil borings continue to downtown Noblesville. The latest was last week in the 800 block of Logan Street. The testing has been ongoing in an attempt to learn whether there is groundwater contamination which had been suspected two years ago. A report should be made public soon.

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An official state historical marker will be erected April 20 in Noblesville memorializing Norman Norell, a nationally known fashion designer. Norell was born Norman Levinson in 1900 in a house along South 8th Street near the site where the marker will be located, according to County Historian David Heighway. Operating professionally as Norell, Levinson was a leading designer in New York for half a century.

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U.S. Senator Todd Young will address the Indiana High School Republicans at the organization’s Presidents’ Day Dinner on May 21 in Carmel. The Carmel High School Republicans club will host at the 502 East Event Center with activities beginning at 5:30 p.m.

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Applications are still being accepted by the Hamilton County Emergency Rental Assistance Program. The program offers help with rent and utility costs for residents unable to pay bills due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program runs through Dec. 31. Information on requirements is available by calling (317) 618-3125.