If you are reading this before 7pm on April 30, 2022, I would recommend you listen to this review of the play Provenance, written by HSE High School teacher Ethan Mathias and performed by HSE students.

The Fifty Club of Fishers has a very simple goal – to financially support police and fire personnel, and their families, when injured in the line of duty.  There are benefits available when something like this happens, but it doesn’t always pay all the bills or support the families involved.

That’s where the Fifty Club comes in.  In the nonprofit group’s mission statement, it “is fully committed to supporting the men and women of service in our community. Fifty Club of Fishers was founded so that our local heroes and their families can worry less about financial concerns should something unfortunate happen to them while serving our community.”

The Fifty Club receives financial support through memberships and donations.  The club had a fund-raising event Thursday evening at Launch Fishers on Technology Drive.

If you would like to donate, use this link.

Indiana State Police are investigating a crash on I-69 Thursday afternoon.  It happened just after 2:30pm in the northbound lanes, roughly 2 miles north of 116th Street.  The victim,  described only as an adult male, was pronounced dead at the scene.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found a heavily damaged vehicle located in the ditch along the right side of the highway. Troopers say their investigation shows the driver of the vehicle apparently drove off the roadway to the right for unknown reasons, the vehicle then struck the end of a guardrail and overturned. It does not appear the driver was wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from the vehicle.   The right two lanes of I-69 were closed until 5:45 p.m., resulting in significant traffic delays. No one else was in the vehicle.

Fishers is planning to form an “Allisonville Road Committee” to study development of the roadway between 106th Street and 126th Street.  Planning and Zoning Director Megan Vukusich says this study is aimed at establishing an identity for the corridor.  The Board of Public Works & Safety approved a contract with HWC Engineering to conduct the study.

“This study will provide us some insights on the best way to redevelop, identify strategic investments to support the corridor redevelopment and then improve walkability between this district and the surrounding neighborhoods, Nickel Plate Trail and the White River,” Vukusich told the board.

The committee meetings and community engagement that the study requires are expected to take about 6 months to complete.

In another item Thursday morning, the board voted for an amendment to a contract with Urban Planners.  The firm recently completed a housing study for the city and the amendment calls for a report on accessible housing, in conjunction with the the city’s committee on disabilities.  Mayor Fadness indicated that there may be at least on more amendment coming to this contract.

The Board of Public Works and Safety consists of Mayor Scott Fadness and his two appointees, Jeff Lantz and Jason Meyer.  Meyer was unable to attend Thursday’s session.

After heading-up Launch Fishers for nearly ten years, local entrepreneur John Wechsler is preparing to move away from that role and start-up a brand new enterprise.  Wechsler, who was also instrumental in creating the state IOT Lab in Fishers, worked closely with Mayor Scott Fadness on those and other projects aimed at economically developing the city.

I spoke with John Wechsler and Scott Fadness on their collaboration which spans many years in this podcast.

After much discussion, and plenty of e-mails filling up the inboxes of school officials, the Hamilton Southeastern School Board voted unanimously to approve calendars for the next three school years.

Board member talked about the two options for school year 2023-2024 and opted for students to report for the first day of school on Wednesday, August 9th.  The school year would end after Memorial Day in 2024, with the last day of classes Wednesday, May 29th.  The only way to end the school year prior to Memorial Day would be to start classes a week earlier, August 3rd.  The board looked at removing two flex days in the calendar, but without flex days, snow days would require class days after Memorial Day anyway.

Here are links to the three calendars approved by the board Wednesday night:

—2022-2023

–2023-2024

–2024-2025

In other school board meeting news:

–The board approved a general obligation bond for building maintenance on several facilities totalling about $26 million.  HSE CFO Katy Downing told the board no tax rate increase will be required to fund this work.

–A three year building lease was approved for the high school academy.

–School bus driver trainees will now be paid $19.50 per hour.

–Director of Educational Technology Jeff Harrison briefed the board on plans to switch from Skylert to a new system already utilized by several school districts in our area, ParentSquare.

–Juneteenth is now a paid holiday for HSE workers.  Even though school is not in session on the date of Juneteenth, it will be a holiday for school district employees, including custodians, maintenance, mechanics, building techs, high school treasurers, and full-time central office staff.  As of today, this would include 147 HSE Schools staff members.

–There was some discussion about when to approve textbook and resource changes, giving parents an opportunity to review the resources.  The board is looking at having a vote in May, at a special meeting or part of already scheduled work sessions, providing time for ordering the resources for the coming school year.

–A school choral group , Fishers Sound,  has won every competition it has entered in 2022.  The choir is led by Therese Tazioli, and was honored by the board as part of the Snapshots of Success series.

I had my first opportunity to have a one-on-one podcast discussion with Dr. Yvonne Stokes, Hamilton Southeastern Schools Superintendent Wednesday morning, April 27th.  We covered a wide variety of issues, including the upcoming operating referendum, the options available in deciding the future of Fishers Elementary School and much more.

Here is the podcast, at the link below.

For members of the Fishers High School Marching Band, Tuesday started out as a normal school day.  Little did they know a big announcement awaited them.

Wesley Whatley, creative director of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade^® and head of the Parade’s Band selection committee, was there to make the special announcement inviting Fishers High School Marching Tiger Band to the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Macy’s Parade staff, working secretly with school officials, including band director Chad Kohler, surprised members of the marching band with the news Tuesday morning that they have been selected out of hundreds of nationwide applicants to be one of nine selected marching bands in the 97^th edition of the annual holiday tradition.

Members of the Fishers Creative Council appear to agree plans for the new Arts & Municipal Complex are a good thing for Fishers, but many have questions and concerns about local arts involvement, or lack thereof, in putting together the details for the building and its programs.

Tom Rich, past president of the Fishers Arts Council and currently a board member, pointed to a survey done on a local Fishers arts facility, two task forces, providing information to the city.

“Then, all of a sudden, on April 12th, we don’t get feedback opportunities, we get the opportunity to say, it’s all done,” Rich said.  He does not believe the “feedback loop” was ever completed.

“I support the city, and the (arts) center, but there are a lot of questions that I have,” said Rich.

Early presentations provided by Fishers officials say programs from the Indianapolis Arts Center (IAC) at the new complex will generate funds to support programming in Fishers, according to Creative Commission Chair Aili McGill.

McGill, also Executive Director of Nickel Plate Arts, said IAC Director Mark Williams indicates that more details of the programs to be offered in the new Fishers Arts complex should be known in about a year from now.

Jocelyn Vare, a member of the Fishers City Council and also serving on the Fishers Arts and Culture Commission, said Tom Rich’s concerns are also her concerns.  “The devil is in the details here,” Vare told the Creative Council.  “This (Arts Center) is an amazing opportunity that we all have been clamoring for years.”  She added there is time to work out the details with the local arts community.

There was a lengthy discussion among council members about what access local groups will have in the new theater.  For example, Fishers Music Works pointed out that after the first year of the outdoor Amphitheater, they were not given a chance to perform on that stage, and will return to the AMP this summer for the first time in many years.

McGill has heard from others that arts groups were consulted about the Arts & Municipal Complex, but “we did not necessarily feel consulted.”

Doug Whisman of Ji-Eun Lee Adademy  pointed out that Fishers describes itself as an entrepreneurial city, but he does not see the process here as entrepreneurial.  Whisman argues the city should have opened up the process to run the arts part of the new center to bidders.

The Creative Council was established by the Fishers Arts & Culture Commission and is made up of several local nonprofit arts groups.  The Creative Council meets and later provides its views at each Fishers Arts & Culture Commission meeting.

The next meeting of the Fishers Arts & Culture Commission is May 10th, 6pm, at Fishers City Hall.

The spring season brings a call for the Fishers Police Department (FPD) Teen Academy for 2022.    This year’s academy, the 20th, will be held at Riverside Intermediate School, July 11-15.  The Academy is one week of law enforcement-type training that police officials say will allow teens to better understand how law enforcement works.

Local Officers plan an overview of the roles and responsibilities of FPD Officers and insight into some of the specialized units and skills within FPD.  Topics will include how to make a traffic stop, how the K-9 Unit works within the agency, the role of the Fishers Dive Team, how Crime Scene Investigators process scenes, and how to safely navigate social media and the internet. Students will have some classroom instruction and practical role play training each day.

The academy will begin with physical fitness at 9:00 each morning.  Participants will then attend informational sessions followed by practical hands-on training to reinforce the lesson(s) of the day.  Each day will end with a social activity between officers and students, dismissal each day at 3:30 p.m.

The Academy is open to youth in junior high who have completed the seventh grade through students entering their senior year in high school.  Applicants must be enrolled in or planning to attend a junior high or high school in Fishers in the fall of 2022.  FPD Officers will complete a background check on each applicant.  There is no fee for the Teen Academy, but advanced registration is required.  Walk-ins will not be permitted.

There are a total of 40 spots available for this year’s academy.  Begin the registration process by submitting interest at this link, Fishers Police Teen Academy   Registration is a two-step process.  Step one is a pre-registration application and background check; once pre-registration and the background screening have been completed and an applicant has been approved for participation, applicants will receive an email from FISHERS, IN with final registration information and camp details.

            Registration will be open April 25, 2022, until May 20, 2022 (or until the camp reaches capacity).