The City of Fishers continues its campaign to improve mental health and Mayor Scott Fadness took his message to the Hamilton Southeastern School Board. The mayor, along with Fire Chief Steve Orusa and city Public Relations Director Autumn Gasior, reviewed the 8 action items being implemented, with Chief Orusa leading the way. The school corporation is a major player in the mayor’s efforts to improve mental health.
Board members asked Fadness about drug abuse and the connection with mental Health. The mayor said his task force tried to remain focused on the mental health component, but admitted the two are often intertwined. “In a suburban community, we have to stay vigilant on this issue,” Fadness told the board. “There are kids that are living in quiet despair and we need to concern ourselves with the fact that someday they could very well act out in a very violent and random way to demonstrate to the world just how badly they feel.”
School Superintendent Allen Bourff said the mayor is making a difference. A poll taken months ago by the schools indicated taxpayers would likely not favor a referendum tax increase to fund mental health programs. But as Dr. Bourff began engaging groups of people in his listening tour, he began to note more and more support for mental health programs among the people he encountered. “Many times, when we had the conversation, the supportive comments were tied back to the efforts at the city level to address the issue of mental health,” Bourff said. “When you rolled out your initiative back in November, it really helped our conversation.”
In other school board items from the February 10th session..
–The board gave preliminary approval to changes in school policy on home-schooled and non-public school students participation in HSE School programs. The board asked the staff to make some small changes to the proposed policy before final approval is given. You can read the proposed policy changes using this link. (The passages in red type are proposed changes)
–The Geist Half-Marathon organization was honored by the board. The group has become the largest percentage donor to the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation, giving back over $366,000 to education.