The future of Fishers Elementary School was the issue in a Tuesday evening work session with the Hamilton Southeastern School Board and the board will be narrowing down the options as action is expected in the coming weeks.

Superintendent Yvonne Stokes told board members the decision on Fishers Elementary impacts other decisions to come for the school corporation.  The board was presented with three options, each with a price tag of roughly $160 million. Stokes reminded the board it had instructed administrators to fashion  options that would keep the Fishers Elementary staff together either at the current location on Lantern Road or another location in the area.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Katy Dowling reviewed all three options.  One would call for a land exchange and the remaining two would call for the purchase of land for a new site.

Along with keeping the Fishers Elementary staff together, school staff  incorporated efforts at equity in program locations, building a new intermediate school for relief at Hamilton Southeaster Intermediate & Junior High.  The options also consider a reexamination of the feeder system, minimizing the need for future redistricting, providing families some predictability in their students educational paths.

Another consideration is providing a permanent home for the Focus Day program. (For more on the FOCUS program, use this link)

Board member Brad Boyer said his support of keeping the Fishers Elementary staff together was based on the current number of students, but administrators and other board members voiced safety and efficiency concerns, along with the ability to offer programs to the students at Fishers Elementary.

Board President Julie Chambers ended the work session saying she and Dr. Stokes would confer and the board will take up the issue at a regular board meeting in the coming weeks.