The Hagerman Group has been selected to be the “Construction Manager as Constructor” for the new, as yet unnamed, elementary school to be built on Cyntheanne Road and Southeastern Parkway.  The Hamilton Southeastern School Board approved Hagerman in a unanimous vote.  It is hoped site preparation can begin on the new school as soon as November of this year.

In other school board items from the Wednesday evening meeting:

–The proceeds of the land sale at 131st Street and Cumberland Road will be set aside in what is called a “Donation Account” aimed at matching money raised by local Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) for projects such as building and upgrading playgrounds.

–A cell tower contract with Central States was OK’d by the board.  The tower will be constructed near Sand Creek Elementary School and will generate $10,000 per year in income to the school corporation, plus, the school system will receive 50% of any income gleaned from another carrier signing on to utilize that tower.

–Final approval was given to the new suicide awareness program, conforming with changes in state statutes.

–Superintendent Allen Bourff told the board attorney David Day is working with county officials to study changes in population that could require redistricting of the 4 school board member districts.  There is not enough data yet available to determine whether redistricting is needed.  The last redistricting was done in 2014.

–Board members honored teachers receiving Launching INquiry grants.  They were:

Sprouting STEM to Inspire Writing

Angel Myers – New Britton Elementary – Grade 1

Authors write about what they know. This project will foster writing through inquiry in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Grant funds will provide STEM materials for student exposure to the design process. As students describe their design experience in writing, connections will be drawn between the recursive, iterative nature of both the design and writing processes. This cross-curricular endeavor fosters critical and visual thinking, problem solving, and creativity, as well as both oral and written communication.

Programming Experiences for Young Children

Debbie Harn – Lantern Road Elementary – Grade 1

This project’s purpose is to give students blended physical and virtual programming experiences through developmentally appropriate activities and games. Student activities will be modeled after those introduced in Purdue’s summer 2017 INSPIRE Academy, where engineers and teachers worked together to incorporate the engineering design process into primary grade learning experiences. This grant provides funds for games and activities to promote computational and design thinking, which will culminate in a Hamster Habitats design unit in November. Students will have the opportunity to share their habitats with an authentic audience from Purdue.

DASH into Coding

John Hochstetler – Sand Creek Intermediate – Media Specialist

Many students are ready to take the Hour of Code to new and deeper levels; the goal of this project is to provide challenge for students who have already mastered the basics of computer coding. Dash is a codable robot; it will give student coders the opportunity to actually program a robot and have it instantly respond to their written code. Student teams will engage in trial and error to make certain code is written properly to gain Dash’s desired outcome. Dash projects will foster student-ownership, teamwork, and creative problem-solving.

Beyond the Beep: Integrated Robotics for All Learners

Leslie Hopper – Thorpe Creek Elementary – Media Specialist

Robots are highly-engaging and fun, but how does robotics apply to learning? Robotics not only exposes learners to coding, but presents opportunities for cross-curricular connections, problem-solving, and collaboration. The goal of this project to expand robotics to all of our grade levels and provide authentic opportunities to apply robotic technology to real-world learning. K-4 learners will experience hands-on, inquiry-based opportunities with robots blended with content-area connections from reading, math, social studies, and science.

–Fishers High School Principal Jason Urban presented the board with an award from Riley Children’s Hospital naming the local schools as a “Riley Corporation.”  HSE Schools raised nearly $122,000, equally approximately $5.70 per corporation student.