Prevail Inc. announced Brooke Lawson, Mental Health Coordinator at Hamilton Southeastern Schools, has been selected as Prevail’s Hero of the Month.
In early 2018, Lawson reached out to Prevail about starting to offer psycho-educational support groups for sexual assault survivors at Hamilton Southeastern High School and Fishers High School. Over the past two years, she has been instrumental in growing, maintaining and partnering to offer survivor specific services in their schools whether through support groups or acute settings.
After running the first cycle of sexual assault programming, Lawson championed adding Healthy Relationship support groups in both high schools as well. She has also coordinated to ensure that students at Hamilton Southeastern Fishers Academy have been able to receive the assistance of a victim advocate when necessary and appropriate.
Lawson has been dedicated to creating safe spaces in school for young people to receive assistance that facilitates their unique healing journey.
The Hamilton County Courthouse, Judicial Center and other county offices will be open for business Monday. County Commissioner Steve Dillinger, meeting with other officials Friday afternoon, reported normal hours will continue to be observed unless the current pandemic situation changes.
Commissioners had earlier established certain protocols for dealing with the problem and believe the county government is prepared to adequately handle the emergency.
Certain events have been postponed or canceled, including the annual Lincoln Day Dinner which was to be held on March 19. It is now scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on April 26 at Carmel’s 502 East Event Center.
A forum for Democratic Congressional candidates set for March 26 at the Fishers Library has been canceled.
The Carmel Clay GOP annual chili supper planned for March 19 has been postponed to a yet to be determined date in April.
With the closure of HSE Schools at least through the end of of spring break, one issue is how students depending on their meals at school will continue to receive that assistance.
HSE Schools posted, on their Web site, information on what families need to do. That guidance is provided below:
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Will there be meal assistance for students while schools are closed?
To ensure students continue to receive healthy meals during this closing, on Monday, March 16, HSE Food and Nutrition Services team will distribute three weeks of food that will include breakfast and lunch items from the parking lot of three HSE schools. Families will not need to get out of the car, a drive-thru will be set up for easy access at the following locations:
Fishers High School, 13000 Promise Road (CCA Entrance Awning, Door #19)
Hamilton Southeastern High School, 13910 E 126th St (CCA Entrance, Door #18)
Durbin Elementary School, 18000 E Durbin Rd, Noblesville (Main Entrance)
Food will be distributed between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday, March 16. If you need further assistance, email Andria Ray at aray@hse.k12.in.us.
The Hamilton Southeastern School Board debated what to with the computer device used at the high school level Wednesday night, and finally settled on a $150 annual rental fee for 13-inch Macbook Air devices. High school freshmen at both buildings will begin using this device at this price beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, starting in August.
The school corporation will subsidize the rental cost to families. Jeff Harrison, Director of Educational Technology for the HSE Schools, told board members the annual fee would need to be $186 per year for the school district to cover the full cost. Board members voted to subsidize the difference by dipping into the 10-year bond aimed at maintaining and renovating school buildings.
Harrison says the cost of each Macbook Air device to the school corporation is $699, plus $45 each for a protective case. The $150 per year fee will cover the cost of the protective case.
After a lengthy discussion on how to move forward on the proposal, the original motion called for a $125 per year fee to families for the device, but that motion was amended to change the annual device fee to $150. The final vote on the fee was 6-1.
Harrison told the board HSE administrators recommended the Macbook Air because a majority of teachers self selected the Macbook and he listed several technical reasons it would work best compared to other options.
The school corporation has been using iPads, charging a fee of $90 per year. Because high school freshmen will begin using the Macbook Air next school year, the Macbook will be slowly replacing the iPad devices at the high school level.
SAT tests scheduled for both HSE and Fishers High Schools Saturday, March 14th, have been cancelled. Students from throughout Central Indiana had planned on taking the test at those Fishers locations.
HSE Schools Spokesperson Emily Abbotts says It will be up to the College Board to decide when a makeup test will be scheduled and the Board will handle any refund issues.
Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools will be closing, following Governor Eric Holcomb’s request to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In a message to the families of HSE students and district staff, Superintendent Allen Bourff wrote the school corporation will use a combination of eLearning and waiver days granted by Governor Holcomb.
The closing will be from Monday, March 16 through Thursday, April 2. Spring break is scheduled to begin Friday, April 3.
According to the message from Dr. Bourff, students will be in school Friday, March 13 for a regular school day in which the teachers will prepare them for an extended time away. All buildings will close no later than 6 p.m.
“We recognize how challenging this situation is for some of our families, students and staff,” Bourff said in his message. “This decision was made after consultation with Hamilton County health officials and other Hamilton County schools.”
School officials say they will continue to finalize plans for support of families in the school district and will reveal those plans “in the coming days.”
With cancellations, suspensions and postponements of a wide variety of events nation wide, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has issued what he describes as a “community plan” to deal with the virus.
“While there are no currently confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Fishers, the City’s goal is to manage precautions ahead of any confirmed cases and encourage the community to take personal responsibility and reduce the impact on high-risk populations,” according to the Internet posting by the city.
The plan includes guidance for individuals, schools, workplaces, assisted living facilities, community & faith-based organizations and Fishers city policies.
Review a 2-page PDF document with the details of the plan at this link.
The dispute between Carmel and Fishers over the state formula distributing County Option Income Tax (COIT) funds appears to be settled. House Speaker Todd Huston tells LarryInFishers.com that a conference committee report with the language agreed-to by officials of both cities has now passed both the House and the Senate and is headed to the desk of Governor Eric Holcomb. The governor is expected to sign the measure.
Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness has said that despite the fact that Fishers and Carmel have roughly the same population numbers, Carmel has been receiving significantly more COIT funds the past several years, and the gap has been widening.
Mayor Fadness recently told LarryInFishers.com the deal reached with Carmel calls for a revised COIT distribution formula that will add $15 million-$18 million in additional COIT funds to Fishers over three years, but that increase is tied to a rise in COIT tax collections of 2.5% each year. In other words, presuming a strong economy continues locally, Fishers will receive the extra funds. According to Fadness, after that initial three-year period, Fishers would receive $4 million-$6 million in additional money per year from COIT, but that would once again rely on continued COIT tax collection growth in the coming years.
According to Speaker Huston, all the provisions described to me by the mayor are included in the final version of the legislation.
HSE High School varsity football coach Adam Morris is leaving after 2 seasons heading up the Royals program. School Superintendent Allen Bourff told school board members Wednesday night that Morris’ resignation was submitted late Wednesday, shortly before the board voted on the coach’s departure.
Bourrf said Morris will be headed to join the football coaching staff at DePauw University. The opening will be posted and the earliest a new Royals coach could be hired is late April.
Ryan Taylor reviews COVID-19 contingency plans for local schools
Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) school board members voted unanimously to allow Superintendent Allen Bourff the authority to handle compensation issues for district employees if school would need to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 virus. At this time, there are no plans to cancel classes in HSE Schools
The resolution enacted Wednesday night allows administrators to “review the impact of any school closing and/or if the Superintendent deems any other measures necessary to assist employees as a result of other circumstances related to COVID-19.”
Many school employees are hourly workers, such as bus drivers, food service staff and instructional assistants. The resolution empowers the superintendent to act quickly in the event of a school closure to take care of those workers.
Ryan Taylor, Director of Staff and Student Support Services for HSE Schools, told the board students who provide written documentation from their healthcare provider advising them to refrain from attending school due to COVID-19 will receive an excused absence. For all other students, the normal attendance policy remains the same.
Here is what Taylor presented to board members about school-sponsored events & travel:
–Any school-sponsored or district-sponsored travel to locations with travel advisories for the Coronavirus, as identified by the CDC or the US Department of State, will be cancelled.
–Currently, planned school-sponsored or district-sponsored in-county, instate and out-of-state events are continuing as planned. However, each trip will be reviewed as concerns arise.
–Currently, school officials are carefully considering events that may involve 1000 or more participants. Stay tuned…for now, events will continue as planned.
–Students who are exhibiting flu-like symptoms will not be permitted to participate in field trips.
–Parents and guardians should verify that their phone numbers and email addresses are correct in Skyward and ensure that notification permissions are set to receive messages.
What about students returning from spring break? Here’s what Taylor presented to the board:
“Any person traveling for any reason from a Level 2 or Level 3 country for COVID-19 must self-quarantine for 14 days upon return to the U.S. As this situation is rapidly evolving,
health authorities may also impose domestic and/or regional US travel restrictions prior to spring break. We encourage you to reconsider any unnecessary travel and to rigorously follow CDC guidance. Persons who return from ANY spring break travel with COVID-19 symptoms may be required to self-quarantine.”
If HSE Schools would need to close, e-learning would be implemented. The YMCA programs before and after school wwould be cancelled. School facilities that are rented, including to religious organizations, would be closed to all events. Plans are being developed by school officials to provide breakfast and lunch for students during any closure.
On the compensation issue, Superintendent Bourff told the board the school corporation would have no authority to force contractors to take care of their employees working in HSE Schools, because contract workers are not employees of the school corporation. However, the school system can encourage contractors to take care of their workers during any school closure situation.
