Fewer than 3.5% of students have opted-out of taking the Panorama Survey conducted by Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools.  That’s according to Brooke Lawson, Mental Health Coordinator for HSE Schools.  The deadline for parents to opt-out of their children taking the survey was October 15.

Ms. Lawson talks about the Panorama Survey in this podcast.

Fishers is showing encouraging data in the latest COVID community update provided by the Fishers Health Department released Tuesday afternoon.

In a video message, Epidemiologist Josh Robinson says all measures are improving.  The Hamilton County unique positivity rate, Fishers testing site positivity rate and 14-day average case incidence rate are all headed downward, which is very good news.

“Overall, we are seeing the lowest number of weekly cases at our lookback period that we’ve seen in the last couple of months, which is a really positive sign,” Robinson said. “It looks like we may be on a downward trajectory in terms of new cases and we anticipate that our case incidence rate will steadily and slowly start to decline.”

Contact tracing and testing availability in Fishers both look good.  Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed availability is up to 29.1%, the best rate since early August.  Hospitalization occupancy rates are also continue a downward trend in our area.

“Overall, the Fishers community is looking like the cases are going down,” according to Robinson.  “Our vaccination rates continue to go up.  We continue to see uptake in new vaccinations.  We also continue to see an uptake in boosters.”

The Pfizer booster shot is available to those eligible.  The J&J and Moderna boosters are awaiting final approval.

Robinson expects a federal government decision in early November on a possible Pfizer vaccine for 5-11 year old children under an emergency authorization.

View the entire Josh Robinson video at the link below.

As Fishers has grown as a city, the local arts community is becoming more active.  That has also seen growth for a major local nonprofit group, The Fishers Arts Council.

The council has been heavily involved in planning for a new arts center, part of a new City Hall complex.  The organization continues to provide Fishers City Hall new art work each month to adorn the walls.

I talked about that, and much more, with Les Reinhardt, Executive Director for the Fishers Arts Council, in this podcast.

Fishers has boasted about its AAA debt rating from Standard & Poor’s (S&P) for the past several years.  Now, Hamilton County says it is the only county in Indiana to reach the AAA debt rating.

Here is how it is described in a county news release issued Monday:

“S&P Global Ratings raised its long-term rating to ‘AAA’ from ‘AA+’ on Hamilton County’s existing general obligation bonds (GO) and its lease debt not subject to annual appropriation. At the same time, S&P Global Ratings assigned its ‘AAA’ long-term rating to the county’s 2021 general obligation refunding and project bonds, with a preliminary par amount of $38.61 million. The outlook is stable.”

Taxpayers benefit because it allows local governments to borrow money at a lower interest rate.

“This rating saves our residents money, by providing a lower cost of borrowing to finance capital projects. This also makes the county more attractive to businesses and signals a sound and stable economic climate,” says Mark Heirbrandt, president of the Hamilton County Commissioners. “It certainly speaks to the hard work and teamwork of our county commissioners, county council, and finance team over the past three months.”

S&P noted that the county is seeing increased population and commercial growth, contributing to the AAA designation.

Earlier this month, administrators for the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) Schools outlined plans for renovations needed in the next few years at various school buildings, but discussion of one particular structure is key – what will happen to Fishers Elementary School?

There is a lot happening on the elementary school scene.  Students at Durbin Elementary will move over to the new Deer Creek Elementary, under construction in Wayne Township at 156th Street and Bolden Road and due to open in August of 2022.  Southeastern Elementary is already bursting at the seams and will have some of those students head to Deer Creek.

Elementary boundary lines in that area of the school district will need to be adjusted for this to work.  A meeting has been set about those plans for Tuesday, October 26, 6pm, at the HSE High School main cafeteria.

As the local school district looks ahead, Fishers Elementary is on the minds of school officials.  The school structure sets on 8 acres of land, at a time when other HSE District elementary campuses have 20 acres.  Fishers is the oldest school building in the HSE inventory.  Located on Lantern Road, just south of downtown Fishers.  There is plenty of commercial and residential development all around that area.

A few years ago, there were talks between the school corporation and city officials to close Fishers Elementary and construct a new building at Ritchey Woods, land owned by the city.  Nothing after came of that proposal.

In that school board work session earlier in October, it became clear that the board may be coming to a decision – either sink renovation money for Fishers Elementary School or find a way to construct an elementary school somewhere in that general area.

Demographic changes are also part of this.  The last demographic study completed for HSE Schools showed a leveling-off of the school population over the next few years, but it will be uneven, with some areas of the district seeing fewer students and other seeing an increase.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also had an impact on future student count projections.

But all of that adds up to this – a decision is looming on what to do about Fishers Elementary School.  Whatever decision is made will have an impact on the HSE Schools, particularly on the west end of the school district.

The closure of South Street near the Nickel Plate Trail downtown is scheduled to continue through October 22nd.  That’s one of many updates included in the weekly update on area road construction.

Also watch for the closure of 141st Street at the Nickel Plate Trail in the coming week.  There are also resurfacing projects that will limit traffic flow in the area of City Hall and 126th & Lantern Road.

Here is the full road construction update, as provided by the City of Fishers:

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Our film podcast has been on hiatus for a few weeks, but Adam Aasen, Alec Toombs & Larry Lannan are back for another episode of the Grade A Movies Podcast.

Hear reviews of several films, including No Time To Die, Lamb, The Many Saints of Newark, French Dispatch, Last Duel and many more.

As I sat watching the gathering at a local Fishers restaurant, I began to understand.  After 19 years as a member of the Fishers Town & City Council, David George attended his final council meeting this week.

I was surprised that there was no mention of this during the meeting.  But in checking later, this was done at Councilor George’s request.  He did not want any farewell ceremony.  The longest-serving council member wanted to go away quietly, at least in public.

But David George could not decline when his fellow council members insisted that there be a goodbye gathering after the October 11 meeting.

Watching this event was interesting for me.  Members of the council, many that have disagreed on many issues, came together in a bipartisan way to pay their farewell to David George.

It was good to see the council gathering in a social setting, just enjoying each other’s company.  They all took turns saying what an effective council member he had been and how much he will be missed.

I have written before that David George was a special council member that often approached a council vote from a different perspective and I always appreciated that angle, as someone that covered him for nearly 10 years.

David George decided it was time to leave the council now and pursue other interests.  I fully understand and wish him well.

There is a lot of activity going on at HSE Schools.  Two top administrators took time to speak with me on a podcast about many of those activities.  Katy Dowling is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the school district –  Kim Lippe is in charge of student services and Human Resources.

They talked about the new Deer Creek Elementary, the 2022 budget, school polices and much more in this podcast.

The United States Department of Education only designates 325 schools every year with the Blue Ribbon designation.  Thorpe Creek Elementary School, part of the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District, has received this honor in 2021.

At the Wednesday night school board meeting, a resolution was read to recognize the students and staff of Thorpe Creek.  The resolution points to a long history of HSE schools bestowed with the Blue Ribbon award.  They include:

Hamilton Southeastern Junior High School, 2004

Hamilton Southeastern High School, 2005

Sand Creek Intermediate School, 2007

Fishers Elementary, 2011

Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate Junior High, 2014

Geist Elementary, 2016

and,

Thorpe Creek Elementary, 2021.

Thorpe Creek Principal Sara Curran led the presentation before the school board, which included other staff members and some very articulate 4th-grade students.