Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern had a great first game on both sides of the ball, and that led the Royals to a 24-0 victory at Lawrence Central on Friday.

It was the first time Southeastern had shut out a team since 2017. First-year coach Michael Kelly praised his defensive linemen and his defensive backs, with the linemen doing “a tremendous job” with the defensive pressure and the backs getting into the zones.

Giovanni Ragland had five tackles, while Jake Karwowski and Louden Sundling both made
four stops.

“I thought overall our defense played outstanding,” said Kelly.

The offense did pretty well, too. The Royals scored their first two touchdowns with one-yard punches into the end zone.

Jace Alexander got the ball in during the first quarter, then Blaine Wertz made his score in the second quarter.

Southeastern got one more touchdown in the third period, when John McCall found Will Gerig for a six-yard scoring pass. Alex Geroulis kicked the extra point on all three TDs, then added a 23-yard field goal in the third period as well.

“Our offensive line did a nice job,” said Kelly. He also was pleased with the running and passing during the game.

“Jace and Blaine both did a great job,” said Kelly. “John did a nice job delivering
the football when his number was called.”

Southeastern will play its first home game of the season next Friday, welcoming North Central for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

In a rare Friday session, the Hamilton Southeastern School Board approved a plan to have a 50-50 mix of virtual and in-person students, up to fourth grade, September 8 through at lease October 2.  The vote on the general resolution moving forward on the re-opening was 6-1, with the lone no vote cast by Amanda Shera.  The specific action allowing the 50-50 plan up to 4th grade as of September 8 passed the board unanimously.

In a Skylert message and video posted Friday, HSE Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff said parents should already have information on the details of when their children will be in-person at the school building and when there will be virtual classes.

Dr. Bourff cited guidance provided by the Fishers Health Department in making this decision.  The idea is to have no more than 50% of students in the buildings at one time.    You can view the video at this link.

Grades 5-12 will continue to have virtual classes, but Dr. Bourff said that policy is under review at all times.

Below is the language contained in the Skylert issued by the school district Friday:

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This morning in a specially scheduled meeting, the School Board approved a recommendation to shift PreK-4 students from virtual instruction to a hybrid or 50/50 model, effective Tuesday, September 8. Students in grades 5-12 will remain in virtual instruction for the time being, and a reassessment will be made weekly.

This recommendation was based on guidance from the Fishers Health Department, which earlier this week, re-categorized the Community Risk Rating to orange, or significant level. At that level, elementary schools are advised to operate on a hybrid model, with an attendance level of no more than 50%. Middle schools and high schools are advised to operate virtually.

Students will be selected alphabetically at the elementary-level based on their family’s last name and/or household in which they reside. Families with PreK-4 students should expect further communication from their principals. Elementary families should also expect, after this message, to receive another Skylert with your child’s group assignment and directions for completing the in-school/virtual and transportation questionnaire.

In the next couple of weeks, teachers will be refining their instructional skills for students who will continue to be with them either in-person or virtually. We had considerable discussion today at the board meeting about this instructional approach, stressing that this approach minimizes the reassignment of students to teachers as the students transition in and out of virtual instruction.

A solid relationship between a student and teacher is foundational to a positive learning experience. Based on observations of other schools in session, we anticipate student absences, and we want our elementary students to know that whether they are virtual or in-person, their teacher is constant and that they can count on that teacher to be there for them.

Now this requires a more complex instructional plan for the teacher, and parents should not expect the same type of virtual instruction to occur that their children are now experiencing. In some ways, it may be richer, but it most likely will not be the same. This virtual choice is explained a bit further in the Skylert communication this afternoon.

This phase using the 50/50 model is expected to run from September 8 to October 2. If all goes well, we hope to transition to 100% on October 5, with the virtual option for the rest of the semester.

We have been asked if the virtual option will be offered in the second semester, and my answer is that the option remains under consideration.

As I said earlier in this message, students in grades 5-12 will remain in virtual instruction, but that status will be reassessed on a weekly basis. We all want our students back in the buildings, and we will make that transition as soon as it is safely possible. Again, I emphasize that we will be relying on guidance from our local health department to make that decision.

I thank all who have contacted us with suggestions and observations. So many, in fact, that personal responses have not been possible for each of you. For that I apologize, but I can assure you that the messages are being read and considered in our planning sessions.

I encourage all in our community to observe safety protocols so that we can drive COVID cases down, minimize unsafe conditions, and get all students back into our classrooms.

Sylvia Shepler, the longest-serving member of the Hamilton Southeastern School Board, has chosen not to seek re-election.  At the noon filing deadline on August 21st, Shepler was not on the list of candidates.  She has been the at-large board member from Wayne Township.  She began serving on the board in January of 2000.

Two incumbents will be on the November ballot – Amanda Shera in Delaware Township and Clint Wilson in Fall Creek Township.  Shera was elected to the board four years ago and Wilson was appointed by the board to complete the term of Mike Bottorff, who resigned his seat in late May of 2019.

The at-large election works for HSE School Board this way – there are three seats up for election, one in each of the three townships comprising the school district.  Candidates must reside within the township where they are running.  The entire school district votes on all three township seats.

I have been asked by several people locally whether I will continue the tradition of recording podcasts with all the school board candidates.  Since there are 11 total candidates running, it would be a monumental task to produce so many podcasts.  I am also trying to reduce my work load.  As a result, I am sorry to say there will be no candidate podcasts by me in this election cycle.

Below is the full listing of candidates for the at-large Hamilton Southeastern School Board election:

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Hamilton Southeastern School Board, Fall Creek Township (1 seat)

Clint Wilson

Chauna Leigh Holder

Suzanne Thomas

Matt Stolle

Jason Arnold

Hamilton Southeastern School Board, Delaware Township (1 seat)

Amanda J. Shera

Tony Bagato

Sarah Donsbach

Hamilton Southeastern School Board, Wayne Township (1 seat)

Sarah E Parks-Reese

Tiffany Pascoe

Ron Thieme

The process of formulating the Fishers 2021 city budget is running behind schedule this year due to uncertain revenue numbers.  In particular, the Local Income Tax revenue numbers will not be available until September 30th, based on what City Controller Lisa Bradford told the Fishers City Council Monday night.

Mayor Scott Fadness told the council there will be two budget proposals before the council and the public during the the September public hearing on next year’s city spending plan.  One budget will contain the numbers currently projected and the second will be a worst case scenario, requiring cuts to the 2021 budget to balance income and spending, if the income tax revenue is projected lower than current forecasts show.

According to the mayor, COVID-19 is throwing a big wrench into budget projections and state officials say the amount of income tax money expected for Fishers next year will not be known until the end of September.

The city is required to enact the 2021 budget by November 1st.  The September public hearing is also pursuant to state law.

The City of Fishers has released its weekly road construction listing for next week.  126th Street is closed at Ford Road and the Nickel Plate Trail until October.  Also, another closure is set for 131st Street August 24th at the Nickel Plate Crossing.

There is a long list of projects the list.  Below is the plan, as provided by the City of Fishers.

• While this list encompasses numerous closures in Fishers, it does not list all DPW projects throughout the city.
• All construction activities are weather permitting and could change.
• Plan for extra travel time in construction zones and drive distraction free.

Eileen White resigned as an epidemiologist at the Fishers Health Department after a little more then two months on the job.  After resigning, she posted a video on Facebook, which you can view at this link.  Her bottom line message was this – the health experts are sometimes being overshadowed by politics and the health of the public is being harmed.

She then provided an interview with a local newspaper reporter where the story was framed in a way that made it appear she was blaming Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness for the political interference in local health matters and said she has never seen a health department run like a business, and insinuated that is what is happening in Fishers.

“This is absolutely NOT about Mayor Fadness being somehow ‘bad’,” Ms. White wrote in a Facebook post Thursday night.  “I actually think he’s a reasonable man. I also think the leadership of the health department is not ‘bad’.  I think they lack awareness of how the mayor being involved in meetings regularly and introducing a school board meeting and interjecting over and over isn’t exactly normal.  He did not interfere in developing metrics. He did not tell us explicitly what to say. His presence and his level of involvement in health Dept stuff isn’t normal.”

Eileen White did explain what led to her resignation.

“(Mayor Fadness’) presence and involvement in a school board meeting interferes with independent messaging of the health department.” she wrote in the Thursday night Facebook post. “It doesn’t allow public health to be trusted and this is the National Issue I wanted to address.”

Ms. White adds she will be doing no more interviews.  She only consented to the newspaper interview because the reporter told her there would be a story with or without her comments.

Her Facebook page – “Public Health Is Your Job, Too” – will be her way of communicating her views in the future.

The Fishers Police Department is investigating a Thursday night homicide at the Best Fieldhouse.

Shortly before 10:00pm, officers responded to a report of a shooting in the parking lot of the Best Choice Fieldhouse . During the overnight hours, a 17-year-old victim died.  The other victim, also 17, is hospitalized in stable condition.  Police searched the area but did not locate two suspects in the shooting.

Police say this was not a random act and believe there is no threat to the local community.

This investigation remains active. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective LaShawn Tyler at 317-595-3313.

“The Police Department would like to express our deepest sympathy to the victims in this case,” according to the news release from the Fishers Police Department. “There are no words for such an unimaginable loss, and our thoughts are with you during this difficult time.”

Victim #1-      Deceased Juvenile

                        17 years of age

                        Indianapolis resident

Victim #2-      Stable condition at hospital

                        17 years of age

                        Indianapolis resident

A fourth candidate has filed for the Fall Creek Township at-large seat on the Hamilton Southeastern School Board.  Matt Stolle, an unsuccessful candidate for the school board in a 2014 district race, is making another run at it.  Stolle joins incumbent Clint Wilson, Suzanne Thomas and Chauna Leigh Holder as Fall Creek Township school board candidates.

It is not often that Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board meetings exceed three hours in length, but that is what happened Wednesday night.  If you want to review the entire video of the meeting (it is mostly audio) prepare to spend three-and-a-half hours on the project.  You can access the meeting video at this link.

The board was briefed on a switch from a 4-phase plan to move from virtual to in-person classes to a 3-phase plan.  You can review the details at this link.

The hope is that HSE Schools will move from the current Phase 1 to Phase 2 after Labor Day.  School officials say families will have at least 2-weeks notice before Phase 2 would be effective.

Phase 2 would call for a 50-50 schedule, meaning students would spend half of their time in the school building and half in virtual learning.  The current idea would have a student spend 3 days in class one week and 2 days in class the other week.

Superintendent Allen Bourff said he must discuss the new plan with the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association (HSEA) for the teachers perspective, which is a requirement under state law.  That meeting was scheduled for Thursday, August 13th.

The public is allowed to speak on an agenda item, and discussion of the COVID-19 plans was on the Wednesday agenda.  Ten speakers voiced their view that in-person classes should start as soon as possible in HSE Schools.

HSEA President Janet Chandler also spoke before the board, and said teachers are working hard under difficult conditions, but are doing the best they can under the circumstances.

Although Dr. Bourff voiced hope that the school district could move to Phase 2 instruction after Labor Day, the community COVID-19 data will also impact that decision.  As of Thursday afternoon, the Fishers Health Department Risk Rating was at a Level 2 (Moderate) but was moving in the direction of Level 3 (Significant).  Bourff indicated the movement of the city health department’s measure needs to be moving in the other direction for Phase 2 to begin.

The board was also told that only immediate family, with few if any exceptions, would be allowed into school events, such as football games.  IHSAA rules limit spectators up to 250 with a number of other rules.

The pressure on school board members began to boil over at Wednesday’s meeting.  Board President Michelle Fullhart asked board members to take turns reading e-mails from the public on the COVID-19 issue.

When it was Amanda Shera’s turn, she said, “…”I am very uncomfortable that we have hand-picked letters that opposed opening (schools)…”

Fullhart cut Ms. Shera off and said, “I’m going to stop you. Because everybody that e-mailed me as of Monday – I e-mailed every one of them and asked – do you want these comments read? So, I’m not going to put up with this talk right now because that is not true.”

“I’m not one of your second graders,” said Shera. “The parents that were here were limited to two minutes but your letters went on-and-on. I have about a six-sentence e-mail…”

That received cheers from the audience at the meeting, which led to Fullhart warning the crowd not to do that and doing so would lead to removal from the meeting room.

Shera then voiced an objection to using the names of those writing the e-mails being read at the meeting, claiming it was a violation of FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

Fullhart responded that each e-mail writer consented to using their names, because comments read into the record of a school board meeting must have a name attached to it.

Bottom line, it is still uncertain when HSE Schools will move to Phase 2 under the new plan.

In a personnel matter, it was announced that Assistant Superintendent Jan Combs will be retiring at the end of calendar year 2020 and Matt Kegley has been promoted to Assistant Superintendent and will replace Dr. Combs once her retirement is effective at the end of 2020.

In another note from the board meeting, Fishers Health Department Director Monica Heltz told the board that the testing labs used by the city for COVID-19 testing are caught up and those awaiting test results should have them soon.

Another name was added to the list of candidates for the Hamilton Southeastern School Board.  Sarah Donsbach filed her paperwork Wednesday to run for the board in Delaware Township.  She joins two other Delaware Township hopefuls, incumbent Amanda Shera and Tony Bagato.

In the HSE School Board at-large election, all voters living within the boundaries of the school district vote on the candidates from each of the three townships (Fall Creek, Delaware & Wayne).  The candidates must reside within their respective townships.

There is still plenty of time for candidates to throw their hats in the ring.  The deadline to file as a candidate for the HSE School Board at-large election is August 21st at noon.