Only hours before a Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) school board meeting that had been expected to be contentious, school officials have modified the proposed language in the school corporation’s nondiscrimination policy.  The group HSEqual, organized to press for more specific language in the school district’s policy, is supporting the new language.

The policy is to be voted-on tonight.

The revised policy changes the phrase “gender nonconformity”to “gender identity” in listing student and employee groups covered by the policy.  

Another change removes the word “unlawful” in two parts of the policy.

“The parents, students, residents, and allies in HSEqual are proud that the Board was able to write an inclusive policy that does not leave out transgender students,” according to a statement released by HSEqual.  “We believe this is a huge step in the right direction for the board and administration and are ready and willing to work with the school corporation to make sure all of our students are treated equally and feel safe in their schools.”

Here is the latest version of the policy to be considered by the board:

=====

Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation will not discriminate or tolerate any form of
discrimination in its educational or employment activities for any reason or on any basis
prohibited by applicable federal and state laws, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, national origin, age or disability. This includes but is not limited to a characteristic, trait, belief, practice, association or other attribute. Hamilton Southeastern Schools will foster a culture and environment that does not marginalize, treat unfairly or disrespect any member of our school community and will recognize the uniqueness and individuality of all students, educators, staff and administrators so they have an opportunity to succeed.

This commitment applies to all School Corporation operations, programs, and activities. All students, administrators, teachers, staff, and all other school personnel share responsibility for avoiding, discouraging, and reporting any form of harassment or discrimination. This policy applies to conduct occurring on school grounds immediately before, during, or immediately after school hours; in any school program or activity taking place in school facilities, on school transportation, or at other off‐campus locations, such as at school‐sponsored field trips or a training program; or using property or equipment provided by the school, including school‐owned computers and the school’s computer network.

The immediate remedy for any act of discrimination shall be to end it, treat the individuals
involved equitably, and, as much as practically possible, eradicate any effects of discrimination.  The school corporation may impose discipline as appropriate.

======================

It should be noted that this proposed language will be the starting point for the board’s consideration of a nondiscrimination policy.  The board could choose to vote this language up or down, or amendments could be proposed and voted upon at tonight’s session.

The board meeting set for tonight (Wednesday) starts at 7pm.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

They’re already calling him Mr. Mayor.

That’s Noblesville’s Chris Jensen, who won the Republican municipal primary yesterday. With no Democrat in sight, he appears certain to become the city executive on Jan. 1 after defeating three opponents in a very clean, mostly controversy-free campaign.

Jensen garnered 48 percent of the vote. Coming in second was Mike Corbett with 31 percent, followed by Julia Kozicki with 19 percent, and Vincent Baker with 3 percent. About 6,400 city voters participated.

Primaries were held in all Hamilton County municipalities yesterday with a disappointing 17 percent of voters participating.

Noblesville’s next city council should find familiar faces as incumbents Brian Ayer, Mark Boice, Darren Peterson, Wil Hampton, Greg O’Connor and Megan Wiles will be joined by newcomers Pete Schwartz, Mike Davis and Aaron Smith, who ousted incumbent Rick Taylor.

City Clerk Evelyn Lees and City Judge Matt Cook were re-nominated without opposition.

Meanwhile in Carmel’s often bitter campaign, voters did not seem overly concerned about city debt as they nominated Mayor Jim Brainard to November’s Republican ticket. His single primary opponent, Fred Glynn, who made Carmel’s $1.3 billion debt the big issue, received 6,485 votes to the incumbent’s 8,194.

The biggest surprise in the Carmel primary was the loss of incumbent City Councilor Ronald Carter, one of Brainard’s most dependable allies. Carter lost to political newcomer Dr. Tim Hannon by about 500 votes in an unexpected upset. City Council incumbents Kevin Woody Rider, Jeff Worrell, Bruce Kimball, Sue Finkam, Laura Campbell and Tony Green expect to greet newcomers Adam Aasen, Debra Minott and Dr. Hannon when the new council meets in January.

City Clerk candidate Sue Wolfgang was unopposed and City Judge Brian Poindexter defeated Angela Swenson by just over 1,000 votes.

Fishers voters gave overwhelming endorsement to Mayor Scott Fadness in his bid for re-nomination. He received 67 percent of the vote against challenger Logan Day in a very low-key campaign that saw only 9,000 voters.

Every other incumbent officer holder in Fishers won their primary elections. Clerk-Treasurer Jennifer Kehl earned 66 percent of the vote against challenger Jackie Bowen. City Councilor Pete Peterson brought in 71 percent of the vote against Paula Hughel and City Councilor Brad DeReamer expects to remain in office after receiving 75 percent. Gurinder Singh was unable to get more than 20 percent of the vote in his effort to unseat one of the At-Large City Councilors: Rich Block, Cecilia Coble and Todd Zimmerman. A total of five City of Fishers officer holders ran unopposed in the Republican primary: City Court Judge Daniel Henke and City Councilors Selina Stoller, Eric Moeller, John Weingardt and David George.

Westfield’s mayor, incumbent Andy Cook, was unopposed in the GOP primary, as were City Councilors Scott Willis and Joe Edwards.

As much as the incumbents held on to office in Fishers, the opposite was true in Westfield. At-Large City Councilor Cindy Spoljaric was the only challenged incumbent up for re-election this year to keep her seat on the Council. She expects to be joined by newcomer Troy Patton as he was able to unseat City Councilor Jim Ake. Voters also awarded City Councilor Bob Beaudry’s spot to challenger Jake Gilbert by a 20-point margin, and Scott Frei expects to be the new City Councilor from District 4, receiving 68 percent of the vote to incumbent Charles Lehman’s 32 percent. In District 5, both challengers outperformed City Councilor Bob Horkay, with Jeff Boller racking up 36 percent of the vote and Mike Johns claiming victory with nearly 40 percent.

In Arcadia, two out of three Town Councilman will not return in January, with incumbent Randy Hill losing by 17 points to challenger Rich Versprille and incumbent Maurice St. Louis ousted with only 20 percent of the vote to challenger Doug Grinshaw’s 80 percent. Councilman Mitch Russell and Clerk-Treasurer Jennifer Pickett ran unopposed.

In Cicero, only one of four races was contested. Jerry G. Cook won the GOP bid for Town Council District 1, beating Rick Smith by nearly 60 points. Town Councilmen Jack Russell and Chris Lutz ran unopposed, as did Rhonda Gary, who is seeking the office of Clerk-Treasurer.

Sheridan Town Councilman David Kinkead is expected to return next year after besting challenger Daniel Bragg by a mere 5 votes. However, incumbent Town Councilman Glen Bougher was overcome by challenger Silas DeVaney III, with DeVaney earning 59 percent of the vote. Clerk Treasurer Liz Walden and Town Councilman Darryl Waters ran unopposed.

In three cities across 10 offices, 11 Democrats ran in Tuesday’s primary. In Carmel, Cleaster Davis, Ti’Gre McNear, William Howard II and Miles Nelson all ran unopposed for four city council district seats. Fishers saw three Democrats run unopposed for city council seats: Jocelyn Vare, Lane Skeeters and Adam Kaps. Noblesville voters will also have the opportunity to elect up to three Democrats to their common council: Paula Jo Gilliam, Jeremy Hawk and Jason Myers. Myers came out ahead against Gary Bartunek in the only race in the county between two Democrats.

The election went smoothly with results coming in record time. All votes were counted by 8 p.m.

After losing the race for Fishers Mayor by a margin of more than 3,000 votes, you would think Logan Day would be a little down or discouraged after reviewing the vote tallies.  In the two-man race for mayor, Day received just under 33% of the votes cast.

His voice was positive and upbeat as he spoke with LarryInFishers on Election night.

“While technically this was a loss, we all count this as a win,” Day said, “because there’s a lot of people who say, we’re just normal citizens and we’ve had the opportunity to participate in the process of government, and now we know how to look to the future and refine our process and learn how to do this again and again and again if necessary to make sure that we believe our voices are being heard.”

Day says he is glad he and Mayor Fadness ran a “clean campaign.”

He feels his campaign allowed “inclusion” of residents to the political process, allowing “average, everyday citizens” to become involved in the political process.

Now that Logan Day has been through his first experience as a political candidate, is he ready to try his hand at politics again?

“There was a lot of discussion tonight (Tuesday) about what’s next,” said Day.  “I don’t know.  I’ll have to talk with my wife and think about what the needs and objectives are for our family.”

It was one of those election nights for all Fishers incumbent candidates – they all won their spots on the Republican ticket.  Since only a few face Democratic challengers in the fall, many were essentially re-elected in the primary election (Democratic officials can appoint candidates later this summer if the party so chooses).

Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness solidly won another four-year term in the mayor’s second-floor corner office inside City Hall, if no Democrat is appointed to oppose him in the general election. Fadness ended up with more than 67% of the vote, compared to his opponent Logan Day’s 32.69% of the votes cast.

“It was very humbling and re-affirming to have so many residents come out and say that the work that my team’s been doing over the last 5 years, and the vision that we have is the right vision for our community,” said Fadness at his election night celebration.

As to what happens next, the mayor promised more of the same.  “I think out past actions will predict future performance,” Fadness said.  “You can expect our team to put our heads down tomorrow, go back to work, and will continue to try to serve the residents and create a vision that’s very compelling for current residents and, hopefully, future residents.”

His campaign’s decision to run television advertising in the Indianapolis market has fueled speculation that the mayor has higher political aspirations, but Fadness maintains it was all tied to this election and supporting his city council allies.

“There were a lot of people in Fishers really not paying attention to this (election), so we thought that by going on TV, not only would it help myself, but the team I was running with, to remind people there was an election,” said the mayor.  “People can speculate, as they always do, about political life and political aspirations, but in all honesty, there was a strategy to remind people that there was an election coming up.”

Challenger Gurinder Singh was not shy about spending money on his campaign for City Council At-Large, but the three incumbent council members all won renomination.  Cecilia Coble and Todd Zimmerman led the way in the at-large vote count.  Rich Block had roughly 25% of the vote compared to Singh’s 19.35% of votes tallied, gaining Block a spot on the fall ballot.  There were four candidates and the top three appear on the November ballot.  Democrat Jocelyn Vare will be a candidate in the fall for city council at-large.

Incumbent City Councilman Pete Peterson easily defeated opponent Paula Hughel.  Peterson received more than 71% of the vote in the Southeast Council District.

Another incumbent, Northeast District Councilman Brad DeReamer, easily defeated challenger Tom Grinslade.

In the race for Fishers City Clerk, Jennifer Kehl received nearly 66% of the votes cast in defeating challenger Jackie Bowen

Pete Peterson was at the Fadness election night party, after he won another primary election forFishers City Council

200 of 200 precincts reporting (all of Hamilton County)

Mayor

Logan Day                                                   2941                   32.69%

Scott Fadness                                              6057                    67.31%

City Council At Large

Rich Block                                                   5852                   25.28%

Cecilia Coble                                               6438                   27.81%

Gurinder Singh                                          4480                   19.35%

Todd Zimmerman                                     6383                    27.57%

City Council Northeast District

Brad DeReamer                                         1610                      74.78%

Tom Grinslade                                           542                         25.22%

City Council Southeast District

Paula Hughel                                            440                         29.59%

Pete Peterson                                           1099                        71.41%

City Clerk

Jackie Bowen                                          2772                               34.05%

Jennifer Kehl                                           5368                               65.95%

When you read the phrase “We The People,” what comes to mind?  For most, they are the first three words contained in the preamble to the United States Constitution.

For a number of HSE Schools students, that phrase is the name for a highly-competitive program that pits schools from around Indiana, and the nation, in a contest of knowledge about American civic understanding, particularly related to American history and our constitution.

For many years, our two high schools have had a We The People class that students take for credit.  Part of the class is competing against other schools.  The idea is to write and read for judges a four-minute paper on a specific issue.  The students then take questions from judges about that paper.  That panel of judges then rates the team.

Teachers Janet Chandler at HSE High School and Liz Paternoster at Fishers have had teams score highly enough in state competition to qualify for the national finals in past years.  In 2019, both teams qualified to attend the national competition in the Washington DC area.  HSE High School finished 7th and Fishers 8th nationally.

A few years ago, Mike Fassold, a teacher at Fishers Junior High School, started a “We the People” program at his school.  Fassold coached teams to two national titles, then his 2019 team finished second in the nation.

Recent surveys and polls have found the American population in general has very little knowledge and understanding about the American Constitution and our political history.  Frankly, our education system has emphasized technical subjects more than social studies in recent times.

However, there are groups of students at HSE Schools with an in-depth understanding of our government because some hard-working, dedicated teachers have worked with them to become national leaders in the We The People program.

We should all be proud.

You may have seen an old school house along Cyntheanne Road near Southeastern Parkway, across from Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate & Junior High School.  It was originally constructed as a one-room school house for what was then a rural farming community.  In more recent times, it has been used as a home.

Curt Tappendorf is in the middle of a massive remodeling project to convert the old school house to a coffee house.  The plans include a second story for customers and a 25-car parking lot adjacent to the building.  Tappendorf says his goal is to open the building for coffee by July 7th of this year.

Monday, Tappendorf had two men that spent their time in that one-room school house visit the construction site.  George Underwood and Charles Whelchel are the only living graduates of the 1946 class.

Whelchel has fond memories of his days at the old school house, saying “we were like one big family.”  There were three teachers, and it was common for studenst to listen to what the other teachers were saying, with the lower grades trying to hear what the upper grades were doing.

Whelchel is excited that the old school house building is still here and being put to good use.  He stopped farming two years ago on his 90th birthday.  “I said I was gonna farm until I was 90 years old and I made it,” Whelchel said.

Walking around that old school house building brought back memories of my father telling me about the one-room school house where he was educated in rural Martin County, Indiana.  Curt Tappendorf is working to preserve history and create a new coffee shop on that location.  Watch for the opening of School House 7 Cafe in July.

The Hamilton Southeastern School Board will have new proposed language to begin the discussion of a nondiscrimination policy, but the group HSEqual says it will likely not support the new wording.

The language released Monday uses the term “gender nonconformity” under its listing of those protected by this policy proposal.  Jaime Cairn, one of HSEqual’s founders, posted a message on Facebook saying the organization will not support this language.

“While the policy is an update from a 19 year old policy and progress in some respects, the policy does not unequivocally provide that the board will not discriminate against the listed classes; the phrase “gender nonconforming” does not include transgender people; and the use of the word “unlawful” throughout the latter half of the policy contradicts the list of protected classes,” wrote Cairns

“This policy is not the inclusive language that HSEqual has been advocating for since day one,” added Cairns.  “Hamilton Southeastern schools should seek to create an environment where all students are welcome, valued, respected, and protected.” 

Below is the language board members will have before them as a proposal to begin the discussion:

===============

Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation will not discriminate or tolerate any form of discrimination in its educational or employment activities for any reason or on any basis prohibited by applicable federal and state laws, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender nonconformity, national origin, age or disability. This includes but is not limited to a characteristic, trait, belief, practice, association or other attribute. Hamilton Southeastern Schools will foster a culture and environment that does not marginalize, treat unfairly or disrespect any member of our school community and will
recognize the uniqueness and individuality of all students, educators, staff and administrators so they have an opportunity to succeed.

This commitment applies to all School Corporation operations, programs, and activities. All students, administrators, teachers, staff, and all other school personnel share responsibility for avoiding, discouraging, and reporting any form of unlawful harassment or discrimination. This policy applies to unlawful conduct occurring on school grounds immediately before, during, or immediately after school hours; in any school program or activity taking place in school facilities, on school transportation, or at other off‐campus locations, such as at school‐sponsored field trips or a training program; or using property or equipment provided by the school, including school‐owned computers and the school’s computer network.

The immediate remedy for any act of discrimination shall be to end it, treat the individuals involved equitably, and, as much as practically possible, eradicate any effects of discrimination. The school corporation may impose discipline as appropriate.

===================

The Board passed, on first reading, the following policy wording April 24th – “The school corporation will not discriminate in its educational and employment activities on any basis prohibited by applicable federal or state laws.”

The board meeting is scheduled to begin at 7pm, Wednesday, May 8th, at the school administration building on Cumberland Road.  A large crowd is expected.  Overflow rooms with a video feed are expected to be available for those not able to fit into the board meeting room.

I must commend Jeff Jellison, publisher of the Hamilton County Reporter newspaper.  He is willing to be creative and try news things.  The Reporter is also my news-gathering partner.

His latest experiment is asking his readers to respond to a 2019 local primary election poll.  In a special edition of his publication posted online the day before the election, Jellison revealed the results of that poll.  Of his 10,000 subscribers, Jellison says 7,900 of his readers responded to an online poll about how they plan to cast their votes election day.

Although I am not an expert in polling, I did study this concept as a political science major in college.  I must note that we need to consider many flaws in this poll.  It is very unscientific.

First, of those 7,900 people responding, we don’t know how many are registered voters or likely voters.  We also do not know where the respondents live.  For example, for those responding to the Fishers election, there is no way of knowing how many of those taking the poll actually live in Fishers.

Scientific polls are geeky exercises in statistical analysis, or, to put it another way, just really complicated math problems.  You must quantify the margin of error for the poll to be scientific.  There is no way to measure the margin of error in the Reporter’s poll.

So, just be aware that this poll is in no way scientific, but it is all we have.  It is possible at least one candidate has done some internal scientific polling, but those poll results are for the campaign, not for public consumption.

News organizations sometimes pay for scientific polling, but that is very expensive.  It is rare anymore for a news organization in Indiana to commission a poll that meets the industry standards.

So, with all those caveats, I am passing along Jeff Jellison’s reader survey.  The results for the Fishers election are shown below.

One other message to all Fishers voters.  The HSE Schools, as part of a movement by all Hamilton County School Systems, has decided not to host any polling sites this election cycle due to security concerns.  If you have been voting at a Hamilton Southeastern school location, you should have received a little yellow card from Hamilton County informing you of the new polling place.  If you want to check your polling location just to be sure, and to verify you are a registered voter, use this link and access “Check Voting Status – Check Your Registration Record.”

You can view the entire special pre-election edition of the Hamilton County Reporter at this link.

As most Fishers-area residents know by now, the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board is set to vote on a nondiscrimination policy Wednesday night.  As I was thinking about that vote, my mind went back to an opinion piece published in today’s (Sunday’s) Indianapolis Star.  It is written by two juniors and two seniors at the University of Notre Dame.

The four students are thinking ahead to the start of their work life.  But in that article, all four made one thing clear – they have no plans to stay in Indiana after graduation.

The reason why is the biggest concern.  Here is what they jointly wrote:

“Indiana has a perception, deserved or not, as a state stuck in the past. Many young, talented, college students do not even consider remaining in Indiana after graduating.”

A major reason Indiana has this reputation is the General Assembly’s inability to enact a strong bias crimes law.  A measure was passed in the legislative session this year, but it was a half-way measure that does not include protections for gender identity and gender.  Without those groups being a part of the law, Indiana will continue to be on a list of only five states nation-wide without a strong bias crimes law.

Not all business leaders and organizations are in agreement on this issue, but the tech firms are still saying the law, as it stands in Indiana, is not good enough.  This is a major setback in the highly-competitive industry of luring the best young tech talent.  Most of that group refuses to locate to a state not seen as having a strong bias crimes (sometimes described as hate crimes) law.

As I have written before, this failure by our state lawmakers has the danger of leading Indiana into becoming an economic backwater if this is not fixed soon.  Just as people involved locally in the high-tech industry here in Fishers will tell you, this lack of a strong bias crimes bill will make their recruitment efforts for talent in the future much more difficult, if not impossible.  Those tech industry leaders in Fishers include John McDonald of Cloud One and John Wechsler, founder of Launch Fishers and the Indiana Internet of Things (IoT) Lab

That brings me to the HSE School Board.  On April 24th, the board rejected an amendment to the board nondiscrimination policy that includes a list of student and employee groups covered by the policy.  That amendment failed to pass by a 4-3 vote.

The measure that did pass 4-3 basically says the school district will follow state and federal law in its nondiscrimination policy.

There is now a major public debate underway.  The day after the vote, April 25th, a Facebook group was organized named HSEqual advocating for the strong language voted down by the board April 24th.  At last count, HSEqual had about 3,300 people following the Facebook page.

Emma Kate Fittes, a reporter for the Indianapolis Star, posted a story April 26th laying-out all the school districts around HSE Schools with nondiscrimination policies containing much stronger language than was approved at the April 24th session of the HSE board.  In other words, people living close to the Fishers area have other choices of school systems.

Ask any Fishers-area real estate agent this question – what is the biggest draw to Fishers for most families?  The answer you will almost always get is the school system is a big reason families choose to live in the boundaries of HSE Schools.  Our school corporation is the goose that laid the golden egg for Fishers.  I am fearful this issue has the potential of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.

I wrote a week ago on this blog that this controversy, which has attracted some national news coverage, has the danger of tearing this community apart.  I’ve seen that happen in other communities and I still fear it could happen here.

I also urged everyone to be respectful and listen to each other.  I am seeing signs of that since April 24th and that is good news.

However, compromise may be a difficult path on an issue like nondiscrimination policy.  I spoke with Jaime Cairns and Michael Vance, co-founders of HSEqual, on a podcast recorded and posted last Thursday.  I asked Mr. Vance, who has a daughter that is transgender, whether a compromise is possible on an issue such as this.

He paused for a moment, then said, “I do not think there is, certainly not long-term.”

This will not be an easy vote for our school board members.  But I would hope all seven will take into consideration what is at stake here.  Nothing less than our reputation as a welcoming place for all is on the line.  We cannot just say we are welcoming to all, we need to put it into policy specifically.

Governor Eric Holcomb was the first sitting Indiana governor to deliver the commencement address at Ball State University Saturday.  He found the situation with college graduates serious enough that he felt compelled to urge the graduates to stay in Indiana.

The four Notre Dame students that penned the Op-Ed column in the IndyStar were all clear – they are all leaving the Hoosier state at their graduation.  Sadly, there are far too many graduates of our outstanding Indiana colleges and universities planning to leave this state.

The HSE School Board will be making a decision that will define what our school corporation’s district will be, not just in the Indy metro area or the state of Indiana, but around the nation.  What will that definition be?  Will HSE Schools continue to be a magnet for families moving to Fishers?  We will likely know Wednesday night, May 8th.