The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board received the 2016 ISTEP scores at the November 21st meeting.  Some scores were down, others were up from the previous testing year.  Indiana used a new vendor to conduct the test this year and state officials have recognized that this would cause some reduction in scores.  All in all, even though some scores were down, the ISTEP results were still high, with only a few scores dipping below the 80% range.

You can review the entire report at the link below.

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It was a bipartisan night at Geist Elementary School as Democrat Senator Joe Donnelly and Republican Congresswoman Susan Brooks joined students, parents, staff, administrators and Hamilton Southeastern School Board members in celebrating Geist’s designation as a Blue Ribbon School.  This is a high honor bestowed on a few qualifying schools by the United States Department of Education.

“This is the heart of Indiana, the heart of our country’s future are these young people,” Senator Donnelly told those assembled.  “We are very, very proud of you, we are especially proud of the children who are the future members of congress, future doctors, the future scientists to find a cure for cancer. You are our hopes and dreams for the future.”

“If you Google ‘Geist Elementary, National Blue Ribbon,’ you kids and this school are now in our nation’s history books,” Congresswoman Brooks said.  “This is memorialized in our country’s history, that you have received this very special honor.  It’s not just in the House, but it’s also in the United States Senate.”  The congresswoman then recorded a Snapchat video of the students yelling “Geist Elmenatary Rocks!”

Below are some pictures of the event.

The long agony of motorists in the area of 106th Street and I-69 will soon come to an end.  It appears the interchange construction at that location will soon be completed.

Fishers City Spokesperson Autumn Gasior tells LarryInFishers that construction crews are working under the assumption of a Friday, December 9th, completion date.  Of course, that could be moved back if weather does not cooperate between now and then.

Once completed, drivers will utilize a roundabout to enter and exit I-69 at 106th Street.

You can view the map of the project at this link.

The holiday season should be a joyous once, where family and friends gather and can enjoy this special time of year.  The last thing you would want is to ruin the season be becoming a victim

The Fishers Police Department has released a number of tips to local residents to increase the chances the holidays will be fun for you and your family.

The police news release is below:

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The holiday season is always a special time of year.  It is also a time when busy people can become distracted and vulnerable to theft and other acts of crime.  We encourage residents and visitors to be careful, prepared, and aware of their surroundings.  If you see something that does not look or feel right please call 911 immediately. Please share this information with family, friends and neighbors.  Chief Mitch Thompson and all of us at The Fishers Police Department wish you a safe, happy, and peaceful holiday season.

Driving

·         Avoid driving alone or at night.

·         Keep all car doors locked and windows closed while in or out of your car.  Set your alarm or use an anti-theft device.

·         If you must shop at night, park in a well-lighted area.

·         Avoid parking next to vans, trucks with camper shells, or cars with tinted windows.

·         Park as close as you can to your destination and take notice of where you parked.

·         Never leave your car unoccupied with the motor running or with children inside.

·         Do not leave packages or valuables on the seat of your car.  This creates a temptation for thieves.  If you must leave something in the car, lock it in the trunk or put it out of sight.

·         Be sure to locate your keys prior to going to your car.

·         Keep a secure hold on your purse, handbag and parcels. Do not put them down or on top of the car in order to open the door.

·         When approaching and leaving your vehicle be aware of your surroundings.

·         Do not approach your car alone if there are suspicious people in the area.

·         Ask mall or store security for an escort before leaving your shopping location.

Automated Teller Machine (ATM)

·         If you must use an ATM, choose one that is located near a police station, mall, or well-lighted location.  Withdraw only the amount of cash you need.

·         Protect your PIN by shielding the ATM keypad from anyone who is standing near you.

·         Do not throw your ATM receipt away at the ATM location.

Shopping

·         Shop during daylight hours whenever possible.  If you must shop at night, go with a friend or family member.

·         Dress casually and comfortably.

·         Avoid wearing expensive jewelry.

·         Do not carry a purse or wallet, if possible.

·         Only carry necessary cash, checks and/or a credit card you expect to use.

·         Even though you are rushed and thinking about a thousand things, stay alert to your surroundings.

·         Avoid carrying large amounts of cash.

·         Pay for purchases with a check or credit card when possible.

·         Keep cash in your front pocket.

·         Notify the credit card issuer immediately if your credit card is lost, stolen or misused.

·         Keep a record of all your credit card numbers in a safe place at home.

·         Be extra careful if you do carry a wallet or purse.  They are the prime targets of criminals in crowded shopping areas and public transportation locations.

·         Avoid overloading yourself with packages.  It is important to have clear visibility and freedom of motion to avoid mishaps.

·         Beware of strangers approaching you for any reason.  At this time of year, “con-artists” may try various methods of distracting you with the intention of taking your money or belongings.

Children

·         If possible, leave small children at home with a trusted babysitter.

·         Teach your child to go to a store clerk and ask for help in case your child is separated from you.

·         Teach children to stay close to you at all times while shopping.

·         Never allow children to make unaccompanied trips to the bathroom.

·         Children should never be allowed to go to the car alone and they should never be left alone in the car.

·         Teach children their full name, address and telephone number to give to police officers or mall security.  Teach children to immediately inform you if a stranger is bothering them.

At Home

·         Be extra cautious about locking doors and windows when you leave the house, even for a few minutes.

·         When leaving home for an extended time, have a neighbor or family member watch your house and pick up your newspapers and mail.

·         Indoor and outdoor lights should be on an automatic timer.

·         Leave a radio or television on so the house looks and sounds occupied.

·         Contact the Fishers Police at (317) 595-3300 and/or fill out a Vacation Watch Form to notify us of your vacant home.

·         Large displays of holiday gifts should not be visible through the windows and doors of your home.

·         When setting up a Christmas tree or other holiday display, make sure doors and passageways are clear inside your home.

·         Be sure your Christmas tree is mounted on a sturdy base so children, elderly persons or family pets cannot pull it over on themselves.

·         If you use lights on your Christmas tree ensure the wiring is not damaged or frayed.  Frayed or damaged wiring can cause a fire.

·         Place your Christmas tree in water or wet sand to keep it green.

·         Never place wrapping paper in your fireplace.

Strangers at Your Door

·         Residents should NEVER open the door to a stranger.

·         Residents should announce that they are in the house and call 911 immediately.

·         Be aware that criminals sometimes pose as couriers delivering gifts.

·         It is not uncommon for criminals to take advantage of the generosity of people during the holiday season by soliciting donations door-to-door for charitable causes although no charity is involved.

·         Donate to a recognized charitable organization.

Immediately call 911 to report suspicious activity

Winter may be in the wind, but road construction has not abated in and around Fishers.

Below is the listing of projects, provided by the city, under construction for the work week of Thanksgiving:

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CUMBERLAND ROAD

• There will be periodic lane restrictions the week of November 21st on southbound Cumberland Road at the entrance of Bradford Knoll for utility work.

• There will be periodic lane restrictions on northbound Cumberland Road at the entrance of Spyglass Hill for utility work.

EXIT FIVE PARKWAY

Exit Five Parkway closed on Tuesday, September 6 to reconstruct the road as part of the 116th Street widening project. The road remains closed to all traffic. Trucks needing to deliver to businesses will need to go up to Cumberland Road to Exit Five Parkway and come in from the north. The road will be closed for approximately two months, and a detour map is available online.

I-69 AND CAMPUS PARKWAY

Milestone Contractors has begun mobilizing cranes and other equipment and setting a temporary concrete barrier wall along I-69 at Campus Parkway Exit 210. Work will require alternating lane closures on northbound and southbound I-69 between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Lane closures may recur each night through the end of the week depending on weather and progress. Questions about this project should be directed to INDOT at eastcentralin@indot.in.gov or 1-855-463-6848.

I-69 TRAFFIC RESTRICTIONS

INDOT is overseeing an overnight closure on multiple traffic lanes on I-69 overnight this week. Weather permitting, lane closures, traffic changes and rolling slowdowns of traffic will begin after 9 p.m. and are expected to end before 6 a.m. the next day. Construction schedules and traffic restrictions are subject to change, and questions should be directed to INDOT at indot.carsprogram.org, 1-800-261-ROAD (7623) or 511 from a mobile phone. Please drive with caution as a new traffic pattern is in place.

OAK DRIVE

Oak Drive south of 116th Street has closed for 50 days while the new road is being constructed. Through traffic will need to use USA Parkway.

106TH STREET & CUMBERLAND ROAD ROUNDABOUT

The new roundabout at 106th Street and Cumberland Road is now open to traffic. Motorists are encouraged to drive with caution, this site is still an active construction zone.

106TH STREET INTERCHANGE

INDOT has begun work on the 106th Street interchange. A lane shift is currently in place on I-69 and 106th Street is closed as construction continues. Additional details about this project will be released through INDOT and shared on the weekly construction update. Please be advised the speed limit from 82nd Street to 116th Street has been reduced to 55 mph and there are lane shifts on I-69. Please travel with caution and pay close attention to signage in the area.

116TH STREET

• There will be temporary lane restrictions on eastbound 116th Street just west of Olio Road for utility work.

• There will be temporary lane restrictions on westbound 116th Street east of Cumberland Road for utility work.

• There will be daytime and nighttime lane restrictions on 116th Street between Commercial Drive and Exit Five Parkway while road work is being completed.

126TH STREET

There may be temporary lane restrictions on 126th Street between Allisonville Road and Lantern Road while shoulder work is being completed.

Fishers is preparing to construct a new police headquarters, which will require the demolition of the building that once housed the local state auto license branch, and now is home to the Fishers City Court.  The city has announced that the court has now been moved to City Hall.  Below are details in the announcement:

As construction commences on the new Fishers Police Department headquarters, Fishers City Court has been relocated inside of City Hall. Effective immediately, court will be held in the City Hall auditorium. All correspondence to the court, or in-person payments will take place at 1 Municipal Drive, Fishers, IN 46038. There will not be public computer access for online payments within City Hall.
 
Due to a pre-existing scheduling conflict with the City Hall auditorium, all cases set for December 9^th will be moved to December 30^th instead. Anyone who received a ticket for December 9^th does not need to appear on that date, but must appear December 30^th instead.

The court will eventually move to the old police headquarters, once law enforcement moves into new digs.

You can find more information at this link.

This is the time of year I travel around Indiana and spent a good deal of the past week in South Bend, Indiana.  The biggest surprise was the weather, with temperatures in the 60s & 70s during my stay there.  There was a lot of excitement about Notre Dame’s last home game of the year (the loss to Virginia Tech will be a tough one for the Irish fans to stomach).

Back here in Fishers, our local community was officially recognized by the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce for being their Community of the Year.  The announcement was made several weeks ago, but the official recognition was part of the chamber’s annual awards dinner this past week.

There was another sad railroad announcement this past week.  After the state fair train was cancelled this year for the first time in many years, The Indiana Transportation Museum announced the cancellation of the popular Polar Bear Express.  The Transportation Museum, a nonprofit organization, hopes to have train safety improvements completed by spring of 2017, allowing train service along the line to resume.

Deloitte Technology has named local Fishers high-tech firm Cloud One as number 190 in its listing of the Fast 500 technology firms in America.  The listing by Deloitte measures the fastest-growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and energy tech companies in North America.

When posting a story on this news blog, I never know which stories will strike the fancy of my readers.  The most recent surprise came when I wrote the piece on Harley-Davidson of Indianapolis coming to Fishers with a new dealership building near 126th & State Road 37. I immediately began to see plenty of comments and a large number of people reading the story.  If this interest is any measure, this motorcycle store will have plenty of customers.

As most of my regular readers know, this blog and my podcasts are purely a volunteer activity for me.  So, when I invited all 9 Hamilton Southeastern School Board candidates to appear on podcasts, I had no idea how many would agree.  They all said yes.  That is good news in the sense that they all wanted to appear.  The tough side was scheduling the recording sessions, preparing for each and doing all the post-production work needed to get those podcasts posted.  So, thanks to the candidates for appearing.  Also, thanks to the audience for listening.  The number of people listening to one or more of those podcasts is nearly 800, which is a large number for a locally-focused set of podcasts.

Finally, I invite you to listen as I posted a podcast interview with Fishers City Councilman Eric Moeller November 19th.  You can listen by using this link.

Eric Moeller is a member of the Fishers City Council and chairs the council’s Finance Committee.  Larry talked to Eric about his work on the council.

Copy editors are very important.  All you have to do is ask a blogger such as myself.  Blogs are normally solo endeavors, including this one.  That means I have one editor – myself.  Sadly, I make mistakes that would not happen if I had a good copy editor.

When you have a talented copy editor, familiar with your own community and the news operation, the finished product is high quality.  Sadly, with income falling for most newspapers, copy editors have been cut or done in geographic places far from the city where the paper is published.

This is a troubling trend for the news business.  Less good, quality copy editing means a product that is not as good.

I have heard many readers of the Indianapolis Star tell me they have detected a serious reduction in the quality of the copy produced by the newspaper.  Reducing the number of copy editors and placing them in other cities has contributed to the lowering of the quality.

Now, the Indianapolis Newspaper Guild, the union representing those on the editorial side of the Indianapolis Star, is sounding the alarm that the Star’s parent company, Gannett, is aggressively pursuing a change that would transform the copy editors at the Star from being company employees to independent contractors.

The Gannett management is threatening layoffs of five more journalists from the Star staff (the previous layoffs have dwindled down the number of journalists so much, Gannett is running out of reporters to layoff) if the Guild does not agree to changing the copy editors to contract status, the layoffs could begin next month.

On this issue, I side squarely with the Guild.  Switching the copy editors to independent contractors will make them less a part of the editorial team.  It’s just a bad idea.  And threatening to layoff more reporters is a bully tactic.

If you agree, spread the word.  You can read more about this on the Guild Web site at this link.

A new planned elementary school near HSE Intermediate/Junior High School on Cyntheane Road could be welcoming students at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.  That’s what administrators told the Hamilton Southeastern School Board in a Tuesday morning work session.

Timelines put the start of construction in late 2017 or early 2018.  It is expected to take about 18 months to construct the building.

Major renovations at Cumberland Road Elementary will likely begin during the summer of 2017, with the project to be completed by the end of 2018 at the latest.

The administration building is slated for major remodeling, starting in the summer of 2017, with all work to be done in the last quarter of 2018.

Board member Sylvia Shepler asked about the status of improvements at Durbin Elementary, and administrators say Hamilton Southeastern Utilities plans to extend lines to the area in 3-4 years, unless the school corporation is able to work out another arrangement with the local utility before that time.  Water and sewer hookups will be needed to expand Durbin.

All work session discussions about facilities were preliminary.  Superintendent Allen Bourff says his staff will prepare a recommendation for board action to move forward with these building projects.

The board also heard a presentation from Community Health Network on its proposal to provide mental health services to students in the school system.  Assistant Superintendent Mike Beresford told board members there were three proposals submitted and Community’s bid is the administration’s recommendation for board approval .

Community plans to have a mental health professional in each school 2.5 days per week, with each high school assigned one full time.

The contract is not finalized so the board has taken no action on this proposal.