Thorpe Creek Elementary School has lost a staff member to COVID-19.

Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Allen Bourff posted the following Twitter message Wednesday morning:

“Our thoughts and prayers go out today to the family of Pam Podany, a Thorpe Creek staff member who died last night from Covid. Condolences also to her school family.”

The Fishers Health Department has announced the opening of a second COVID-19 testing site in the city, at 8933 Technology Drive.  This is in addition to the drive-up testing facility near City Hall.  Testing for HSE Schools and private institutions of learning will receive priority at the Technology Drive location.

HSE Schools will have all grades on virtual learning beginning November 19 at least through December 4th.  Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness released a statement shortly after the school  board decision critical of the board vote, then deleted the statement from his social media accounts.

Below is the full news release announcing the new testing site”

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In the City’s ongoing effort to support its schools, the Fishers Health Department announced today a second COVID-19 testing site dedicated to prioritizing testing for school-related exposures for Hamilton Southeastern Schools and private schools in Fishers. The site will open Monday, November 23 for testing Monday through Saturday. Alternative hours will be in place for Thanksgiving week.

As COVID-19 cases have increased over the last several weeks, the Health Department has been working with its suppliers to dedicate additional testing for schools. Students, teachers, and staff of all Fishers-based schools (including Noblesville-based Durbin Elementary) will receive priority testing at this location. This includes testing for any same-household individuals of those with a positive case or confirmed close contact.

Residents may make an appointment by visiting fishers.in.us/testing and selecting Testing for Fishers Residents.

The Fishers Health Department secondary testing site is located at 8933 Technology Dr. Fishers Indiana. Appointments can be scheduled beginning Monday, November 23.

Hours of operation for the secondary site:

Thanksgiving week hours of operation:

The Fishers Health Department continues to identify ways to increase its testing capacity and resources to better serve its residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Delaware Township at-large Hamilton Southeastern School Board election was close, very close.  Sarah Donsbach was certified as the winner on December 13 by 20 votes, less than one-half of one-per-cent of the votes cast.

The loser, incumbent board member Amanda Shera, filed for a recount Monday with Hamilton County Superior Court Judge Jonathon Brown.  Hamilton County Clerk Kathy Williams says Ms. Shera is asking for a recount of all precincts in Delaware, Fall Creek and Wayne Townships.  In an at-large election, all voters in all three townships vote on all three board seats.

Judge Brown will appoint a recount commission to conduct the vote count.  Clerk Kathy Williams says once the commission is appointed and the legal orders are signed, the recount should be complete in a matter of days.  The legal deadline to complete any recount is December 20.

The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board voted Tuesday morning to have all grade levels go to virtual classes beginning Thursday, November 19, continuing at least through December 4th.  Administrators told the board staffing classrooms is becoming impossible with the number of absences among staff members.

The vote was 6-1 with Amanda Shera voting no.

The board also voted to continue paying support staff members, such as food service workers and school bus drivers, during virtual classes.

The board intends to meet again, possibly December 2nd, to decide how to handle the classes after December 4th, based on whatever data administrators are able to provide at that time.

Grades up to the 4th have been in the classroom full-time, with grades 5 & 6 on a hybrid system, 50% in the classroom and 50% virtual.  On November 19th, all these grades will go virtual.  Grades 7-12 have just started an all-virtual schedule.

Below is the audio portion of the video livestream of the entire November 17th school board work session.

After previously rejecting a similar plan on a 5-4 vote, the Fishers City Council has sent a revised Planned Unit Development proposal at the corner of 113th Street and Southeastern Parkway to the Plan Commission.  Platinum Properties is asking that over 118 acres be rezoned allowing 210-220 homes to be constructed in that area.

Only one council vote is required to move forward at first reading and Councilman John Weingardt provided that vote.  A public hearing will be conducted at the December Fishers Plan Commission meeting and the commission is expected to vote on its recommendation to the City Council for further action.

The proposed development lies within the council district of Brad DeReamer and he voiced his opposition to the plan at Monday night’s Fishers City Council meeting.

Once the Plan Commission holds a public hearing and a vote, the proposal will come back to the City Council for consideration.

The Fishers City Council was scheduled to vote on an amendment to the city health ordinance Monday night, calling for fines of up to $500 for code violations, but the council removed that item from the council agenda at the last minute.  To enact that ordinance Monday night, it would have taken a unanimous vote of all 9 council members to suspend the rules and waive the normal three readings required at three separate council meetings.

Monica Heltz from the Fishers Health Department told the council over the last 2 weeks, positive COVID-19 cases averaged 50 per day, with the number of cases in the city “rising extremely rapidly.”  A total of 692 cases have been reported in Fishers the last 14 days, accounting for 22% of all COVID-19 cases in the city since the pandemic began.

The Fishers Board of Health voted to approve a number of measures going beyond Governor Eric Holcomb’s executive order.  That Fishers public health order is being issued this week.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the east-west lanes of 126th Street at State Road 37 will be held later this week, based on comments made Monday at a Fishers City Council work session by Mayor Scott Fadness.  126th Street at State Road 37 has been closed several months during construction of a roundabout on 126th and underpass for State Road 37.

City Engineering Department Director Jason Taylor told the council his staff, along with Hamilton County and Indiana State Highway officials, have been working together to close a $41 million budget gap.  The project was budgeted for $124 million total but a list of factors have ballooned the price tag.  Taylor detailed several measures aimed at budget cutting.

Mayor Scott Fadness expects the budget gap to go down to $36 million, with the city and county splitting the cost at $18 million each.  Fadness says he expects a 25 year bond on a previous road project to expire in 2024, allowing the city to borrow the money required to complete the State Road 37 project without any need for a tax rate increase.

The head of the Hamilton County High Department, Brad Davis, told the city council in the virtual meeting that the County Council tabled the State Road 37 budget issue previously, but Davis expects county councilors to bring the issue up again and approve the county’s share of the budget shortfall.

The work at 131st Street and State Road 37 will go out for bids later this year, with an award expected in early 2021.  The design for the 141st Street interchange is nearing completion, with that bid opening set for about one year from now.  Work has already begun at 146th Street and State Road 37, with that work expected to extend into mid 2022.

The teachers in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District are receiving plaudits and offers of help and support due to the extreme stress they are under.  When teachers are asked what they want as a “thank you” for working under stressful and difficult conditions this school year, most say the same thing – wear a mask, social distance and wash your hands regularly.

Health care professionals are saying the same thing…..if you respect the work they have been doing, wear the mask, stay 6 feet apart from others and keep your hands clean.

The City of Fishers is preparing a Public Health Order that goes beyond the executive order issued by Governor Eric Holcomb.  The details are here.

HSE Schools will be on virtual learning only for grades 7-12 beginning Monday and extending at least until Christmas Break.

The Fishers Board of Health chose not to follow the Health Department recommendation cancelling all school extra-curricular activities, much to the relief at the local schools.  However, those in attendance will be reduced to a very small number.

Just so you know, to the north in the state of Michigan, their state high school athletic association has issued an emergency order suspending fall tournaments and all winter sports.

The fact is this – in states around us and in most of the Midwest, the novel coronavirus is on fire.  Not only are positive tests and deaths at very high levels, local hospitals are filling up with those sick with COVID-19.  This impacts not just those testing positive, but everyone needing to be admitted to a hospital for any medical emergency.

I realize COVID-19 fatigue has set in.  We are weary of the all the guidance from the public health experts.  The problem is this – the virus doesn’t care whether we are fatigued, it will continue to spread based on our behavior.

Fishers is considering fines for those not following the Public Health Order expected to take effect Wednesday.  That is a statement by the city that our elected officials are serious about containing this virus.

I believe that with or without penalties for noncompliance, the essence of beating the spread of coronavirus lies within each of us.  We need to support the health professionals working long hours and dealing with the horrific health impact this virus has on the patients they are treating and their families.  We need to support the teachers working under stressful conditions to educate our young people as best they can under these trying circumstances.  We need to support the families that have lost a loved one or dealing with the long-term health impacts of the virus.

As I have written here before, I tested positive.  It was a tough virus to fight.  I was very lucky and, with the help of God, was able to completely recover, despite the fact that I am in a very high-risk category among coronavirus patients.

So, in support of all the people I have mentioned in this piece you need to support, count me as one.  For me, follow the public health guidance.  If we want to have our children back in the classrooms and have our hospitals at normal patient loads, fines or no fines, it is essentially up to us.

Please think about that.  We hold the condition of our community in our own hands.

Adam Aasen, Alec Toombs & Larry Lannan are once again together and talking about the latest in films, including several reviews.  Here is the November 14 edition.

The HSE School Board election is over and we know two winners and have a certified winner in the third as we wait to see whether a recount will be requested.

The unofficial results from the Hamilton County Election Office showed Sarah Donsbach as the winner for the at-large Delaware Township HSE School Board seat by 22 votes.  The certified results released November 13 show that margin to be 20 votes.

The second place winner in the Delaware Township race, incumbent Amanda Shera, has said she plans to request a recount.

So, we know Sarah Parks-Reese and Suzanne Thomas will assume their school board seats in January.  As of now, Sarah Donsbach is the certified winner of the third at-large seat, pending a possible recount.