A leader in the Indiana General Assembly representing Fishers has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.  Speaker of the Indiana House, Todd Huston, is in quarantine in his home with mild symptoms, according to a story published on ibj.com by reporter Lindsey Erdody.

You can read the story at this link.

The recount in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School board at-large election in Delaware Township has been completed and Sarah Donsbach appears to still be the winner.

Hamilton County Clerk Kathy Williams says the recount resulted in 3 additional votes for incumbent Amanda Shera, 2 more votes for Donsbach and 5 fewer votes for Tony Bagato, who finished third in the balloting.  In the original certified count, Donsbach was shown as the winner in Delaware Township with 20 more votes than Shera.

Attorneys representing the candidates will be working on an agreement to be submitted to the Recount Commission, then the document with the recounted results goes to Superior Court Judge Jonathon Brown.  The court will then approve the final recount report.

When Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools made the decision to have all-virtual classes as of November 19, the reason for that board vote centered on the lack of substitute teachers.  Administrators told the board there were simply not enough adults to handle classrooms when teachers were ill or on quarantine due to exposure to one or more individuals testing positive for COVID-19.

The virtual classes will continue at least through January 15.  New board members will be sworn-in at the January 13 meeting and a decision is expected on whether to remain all-virtual after January 15.

That decision will be heavily influenced by how many substitute teachers are available.  School officials were using every available person to cover classrooms needing a sub, including principals, assistant principals, counselors and central office administrators.  Many teachers offered to give up their preparation periods to oversee classrooms without the regular teacher available.

But even with all that, HSE Schools were coming up short on providing enough substitutes. Superintendent Allen Bourff told the board his staff has been processing applicants as quickly as possible.  Background checks are required, with the fee and amount of time needed to complete the check dependent on how many states must be checked in the process.

Some substitute teachers are retirees and many are hesitant to cover classrooms during the pandemic.  Dr. Bourff told the board 54% of available substitute teachers have not been in a classroom during the pandemic.  However, 46% of the subs have substitute taught at least once during the pandemic, many of them subbing more than once.

Dr. Bourff encouraged people in the local HSE community to apply for a substitute teaching position, saying that would be a big help in bringing students at the lower grade levels back to in-person learning.

Board President Michelle Fullhart asked Dr. Bourff to comment on local social media posts asserting that the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association, the local teachers union, is responsible for the district going to all-virtual classes.  The association has input into district decisions per state law, but Dr. Bourff made clear the teachers’ union never forced the school corporation into any decision.

When HSE Schools begin construction on the new Wayne Township elementary school, it will have a name.  The school Board voted to name the new building Deer Creek Elementary.

The name is a tip-of-the-hat to the original name for the nearby music center, originally named Deer Creek but in recent years has been named after a commercial sponsor.

There was a discussion of having a virtual ground-breaking ceremony.  There was a board discussion and many, with the pandemic in mind, would be willing to forgo the traditional ground-breaking event.  There was no board vote on that issue.

With HSE school buildings not in use due to all-virtual classes, the school board voted to pay the support staff, such as bus drivers and food service workers.  The board voted Wednesday night to continue paying those workers at least through January 15.  The board is expected to decide January 13 whether to continue virtual learning or return some students to the classrooms.

The vote to continue paying the school district’s support staff was 5-2, with Brad Boyer and Amanda Shera voting no.  Boyer expressed concern for paying these employees into 2021 with the board facing budget cuts of $5 million in the next school year.

The recount in the Delaware Township HSE School Board election could be completed Thursday.  Hamilton County Clerk Kathy Williams tells LarryInFishers.com that as of late Wednesday afternoon, the recount process was about two-thirds completed.

“It has gone really well in my opinion,” Williams said.  The Hamilton County Election office had 3 teams of 2 doing the counting Wednesday.  As of late Wednesday afternoon, there were no changes to the vote totals, according to Clerk Williams.

Williams expects the count will be done Thursday morning, then attorneys representing the candidates will discuss any disputes they may have before the recount commission.

The final election results show Sarah Donsbach as the winner of the at-large HSE School Board election in Delaware Township by 20 votes.  Incumbent Amanda Shera finished second and filed for the recount.

Our two local high schools finished first and second in the state finals competition of We The People.  HSE High School finished first in the state with Fishers High School placing second.  HSE will be competing in the national finals, which will be held virtually this school year, April 23-26, 2021.

HSE has 24 students as team members competing.  “Our team is grateful to assistant coach Alana Kane as well as all of the unit mentors,” said HSE We The People coach Janet Chandler.

We The People is a competition based on civic knowledge.  A team of students present a paper to a panel of judges on an issue of American government issues and history, then defend the paper by fielding questions from the panel.

I try to watch the weekly video updates from the Fishers Health Department, hoping for some glimmer of hope on the status of COVID-19 in our city.  Sadly, the December 8 numbers are grim.

“I would not be surprised if (Hamilton) County went to red in the next one to two weeks based on the state’s metrics,” said Fishers Public Health Director Monica Heltz in a video posting.  Red is the highest risk category for coronavirus.

Ms. Heltz listed plenty of numbers in the December 8th update.  Here is one – November shows 2,100 COVID cases in Fishers (more case reports for November are coming-in).  That is triple the number of cases compared to October.

Another statistic of concern centers on hospital capacity, which continues to decline, according to Heltz.  Intensive Care Units were at 23% availability last week….that number is 20% this week.

In the past week, Fishers has recorded 565 COVID cases and one death.

There are many more numbers.  To hear about them all, you can watch the nearly 6-minute video by Ms. Heltz at this link.

The recount in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board 2020 election begins in earnest Wednesday morning.  The Delaware Township election results show Sarah Donsbach winning that school board seat by 20 votes, about one-half of one-per-cent (.05%) of all votes cast.

This was an at-large election, with all voters in Delaware, Fall Creek and Wayne Townships casting ballots in the race.  That means the recount will encompass all precincts in all three townships.

Hamilton County Clerk Kathy Williams says the recount will begin Wednesday at 8am.  Absentee ballots will be tallied first.

The Recount Commission met Tuesday afternoon, setting the procedures for the vote recount.

It is expected the recount should be completed in a matter of days.

It is possible the great gravel pit controversy in Noblesville may be over.  Here is the latest from my news gathering partner, the Hamilton County Reporter...

==========