Month: January 2019

Transparency Versus HSE Schools Video Retention Policy

Bradley Jones

The HSE School Board has been discussing their video retention policy for months now. The previous school board overwhelmingly voted for videos to only be retained for 45 days before being removed. One board member indicated that for transparency the videos should be left online indefinitely. Because it wouldn’t be until later that videos would start to be posted, the old board decided the incoming board could review the policy and decide on changes.

The new board is now in place and the video retention policy has been discussed a couple of times. If the policy is going to be changed, it is expected to happen next month.

Why should the policy change?

First, why not retain the video indefinitely? Other school districts and organizations leave their videos online. Storage is cheap, and storing them provides the ability to go back and find what was discussed. There have already been examples referenced by the new board to the interest in looking at old videos, something they can’t do because they don’t exist.

The primary argument for removing the videos has been that the written board minutes are the official record of the meetings. While this is the case, the official minutes in the current written form are lackluster at best. This is best illustrated with an example. At the November 14th meeting, there was an agenda item related to the HSEA (the teachers’ association). The official minutes documents this as follows:

6. HSEA Relationship with Board
Information, Discussion: 6.01 HSEA Relationship with Board of School Trustees

Janet Chandler gave a brief presentation to the board.

Parent, Cathy Goldman addressed the board, calling into question board reaction to social media postings.

That is the official tracking of this board item as recorded in the minutes and approved on November 30th. From these official minutes, you’d never know that this item caused the school board room to be packed. The room was filled primarily with teachers who were concerned with a public posting by an existing school board member. The parent comments reflected the same. Had there been a video of the event you’d have gotten the details that were like what is in the following poorly recorded video:

As you can see in the video, a lot was said that isn’t reflected in the minutes. More importantly, with a 45 day retention policy, an official video of this meeting would now be gone, expunged, lost in history. While a few board members might like to see it go, it could be argued that there were important points being made that would also be lost.

This is just one example. As someone who has attended a lot of school board meetings, I could list other examples of where discussions in the board meetings were not reflected in the minutes. Such a list could be an entire article on its own. I won’t do that at this time.

Will the policy change?

I believe there are currently three school board members that will vote for transparency and the posting of videos for the long term. I believe that there are two school board members that could vote against posting the minutes for the long term, just as they voted to keep the current policy no longer than 45 days. That leaves two board members that I would be hard-pressed to predict, which means a vote could go either way. THe first of these two, Brad Boyer, is an unknown to me on this topic. In the discussion from this last school board meeting, his contribution was about reviewing policies and not really about this specific policy. It was unclear if he had a point regarding the specific video policy, which left his potion questionable. The other unknown to me is Sylvia Shepler, who had sided with the old board on limiting the video to 45 days; however, the November 30th meeting she seemed to support the idea of leaving the video live “for at least four years.” From her past votes on topics, however, I won’t speculate on how Sylvia will vote. Of course, nobody’s vote is certain until it happens.

In Conclusion….

In short, right now it is unclear how the vote for retaining the videos will go. I would strongly suggest people write the board members and push for them to support transparency and make a policy that leaves the videos live forever. Being able to go back and review discussions on topics that have happened within school board meetings is a valuable resource. Let’s hope that a majority of the board members see the value in leaving this information available. After all, if there is nothing to hide, then what’s the harm in leaving them public other than it making a number of people more accountable….

And yes, here is my rough video of the video retention discussion from the January 30th board meeting:

The White River and Fishers

Bradley Jones

When it comes to the discussions of what is happening with the White River, there are lots of plans being created that stretch from the top of Hamilton County all the way to the bottom of Marion County. With Fishers being in the middle, you’d expect it to be included in the plans.

Fishers is included in the plan, with a lot of changes proposed that include a boat launch, two pedestrian bridges that cross the river, walking trails, and a lot of planned activity ideas. The issue, however, is that this would all be a part of Conner Prairie, and not likely public access. Conner Prairie has a map of their future plans that includes many features that tap into using the river. Once they have made their official public announcement, then I’ll be able to share a diagram showing many of their updates and the expected locations.

As a member of Conner Prairie, I find the bridge, trail, and other ideas to be great improvements; however, it would have been nice to see ideas for White River improvements applied throughout the other areas of Fishers. The Public level of access to the White River from Fishers is minimal, with primary access at 116th Street and South. Ironically, most of the Conner Prairie plans are in Carmel – the West side of the river.

The Fishers City Council is focused on the rail trail and the new park on Geist, but it would be nice to see additional focus put on the White River and the opportunities it offers. Right now, the primary access from Fishers is a boat launch at 116th Street, Heritage Park, and behind the Riverside schools. Adding access to the river at 146th Street would allow a person to canoe, float, or kayak down to 116th or even 96th Street. Additionally, adding easier access to the river at Heritage Park would make it easier to get in and out of the river. It would also open up tubing from 116th Street to Heritage Park.

Outside of Fishers, there are a lot of popular destinations on the river. I mentioned many of the parks in a previous post. The following image from the White River planning committee list many of the popular destinations. It would be great to see more added that are located in Fishers!


A Vision for the White River : Live Events Happening

Bradley Jones

The White River flows along the entire West side of Fishers. This is a fantastic asset that has a lot more to offer than a strip of old railroad tracks.

A group has been working to build a plan for the improved usage of the White River through Hamilton and Marion counties. I’ve posted a little bit about what they’ve been doing and will be posting more in the future. Of immediately importance, however, are a number of planning engagements over the next few days that will allow anyone to come and provide input to their plans. At these events you will gain insights into what has been happening on and around the river as well as the plans that are forming. The following image includes the dates happening this week:

UPDATE: Due to the weather, the meetings for 1/30 at MIBOR and Sun King Brewery have been postponed to 2/13 at a location to be determined.

When I’ve attended one of these events in the past, there was not a formal meeting, but rather a chance to see some of the plan and provide direct input to the group. This has included home owners asking that the plans leave their land alone to adventurers asking for more activities to be created. There are also those simply looking to understand more about what is available in the area.

These meetings are this week (the week I’m writing this), but the planning will be ongoing. You can always get more information or find the latest gathers on the MyWhiteRiver.com site. As mentioned, the planning covers the area shown in the following image:

High School Choice HSE School Board Discussion

Bradley Jones

Hamilton Southeastern Schools has two high schools, Fishers High School (FHS) and HSE High School (HSE). While recent redistricting impacted many kids in kindergarten through eight grade, the district left the high schools alone – for the most part.

The reality is, the high schools are not balanced. To offset this, Fishers has allowed parents to choose to send their kid to the high school outside of their area within the district. The result of this is that about 8 kids have chosen to go to HSE instead of FHS, and almost 200 have chosen to go to FHS instead of HSE. This doesn’t include the additional kids going to FHS for the IB program.

The net results of this for 2019-20 can be seen in the following chart pulled from the HSE School Board BoardDocs page:

You an see that in the end, HSE is currently expecting 3342 students next year with FHS having almost 7% more at 3572. While Fishers High School is higher, the district expects growth to be on the HSE side of town, thus the lower number could change.

Where the Noise is

The issue with high school choice, however, centers on transportation. The HSE district has offered transportation for many of the high school students even if they were not in the current district lines. This was not something guaranteed, so going forward transportation will not be offered. This has caused a number of people to complain. One of the biggest issues is that many people going to HSE have to drive by FHS to get there. Another issue centers on the neighborhoods near the dividing line. In those neighborhoods, there are a number of kids that have chosen to flip schools. This puts pressure on the remaining kids that are friends to do the same so they can stick together. For those families that can’t afford or have the means to drive their child to school, this adds undo pressure. Additionally, because neighborhoods are on the line, in some cases, busses from both high schools enter the neighborhood, yet kids can only use the one for the school they are allocated.

The issue has been contentious. At the last school board meeting, there was a great deal of discussion on the topic by the new school board. Additionally, one parent spoke on the topic to the board. The following is the rough video of that meeting:

Redistricting the High Schools

Based on the comments made in the last HSE School Board meeting, redistricting at the high school level is not currently planned. The choice program, while not at the percentage the superintendent would like, is close enough to let things continue as they currently stand. The plan is to continue the experiment of choice for the next year or two.

The school district is currently working on student numbers for next year now. These numbers need to be nailed down because it determines the number of classrooms and teachers needed. If there is a need to shift teachers or hire new teachers, that needs to be done sooner rather than later. As such, any changes to district school lines need to be finalized now.

Some of the Q&A:

Question: Could buses be offered for those neighborhoods that have a busload of kids that are choosing to go to a different school?

Answer: This would cause issues. There could be others that then want to switch schools who hadn’t done choice due to the lack of transportation. Additionally, other kids could say it is unfair to bus some kids but not all.

Question: Could we extend the bussing done this year for another year?

Answer: The reasoning for adding bussing this year no longer exists next year. Additionally, bussing was never guaranteed. Kids were allowed on busses if there was space.

Question: If IB kids are being transferred between schools on the shuttles, why couldn’t we expand this to allow any kids to use the transfer buses? This might take 2 or 3 more buses

Answer: If a kid can afford to drive, they are likely to drive rather than bus to one school and then take another bus to school.

Question: Why is Fishers High School more desired?

Answer: Because kids at Riverside Junior High want to stick together as do those at some of the other High Schools. Additionally, Fishers High School is closer to where a lot of kids live.

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Sledding in Fishers, Indiana

Bradley Jones

Indiana is known for being flat. While this isn’t totally true, in most locations it is true enough. When it comes to sledding, flat isn’t a good feature. While you can jaunt up to Noblesville and pay to sled on hills, if you live in Fishers, there is no reason to leave town. In fact, there are at least two great places to sled – one on the far West side and one on the far East side.

Of course, my kids and I use the location on the East side, so while there is a desire to keep it a secret, I’ll open up and share! On the East side of Fishers is Heritage Park at White River. To get there, simply take 106th Street West until you can go no further. Once you cross Eller Road, you drive into the park. This is a relatively small park in Fishers but offers unique opportunities. In the summer it is one of the few places in Fishers where you can get to the White River. In a future article, I’ll talk in more details about this park, however, for this article, my focus is on the most notable winter feature of this park, which is a large hill. Better yet, it’s next to a parking lot, so it is easy to get to!

Heritage Park in Fishers

Heritage Park has one of the better sledding hills in town since it has a little bit of distance, but not so much that it is brutal to walk back to the top. The main part of the hill offers a longer run on a sled. Going off the right part of the hill offer a small slope that flattens out then a secondary smaller slope. This is great for the littler kids learning to sled as well as for those that try using snow boards instead of sled.

The other sledding part in Fishers is Flat Fork Creek Park, which is on the far East side of Fishers. This park claims the tallest hill in Hamilton County. It is located at 101st Street and Cyntheanne Road.

Flat Fork Creek Park in Fishers

While I’ve not used the sledding hill at Flat Fork Creek, many have. The City of Fishers highlighted it this past week-end with the advent of the first good snow of the winter. One nice thing about this 60-foot sledding hill is that it is ADA compliant.

Of course, as more people learn about these two great locations, they will get more crowded. As such, care should be used, and the city rules should be followed. These rules include no metal sleds or kayaks. Also included in the rules are that you should not sled on designated walking paths. Granted, at Heritage Park you will be going over one of the snow-covered paths! The most important rule is that you should look uphill and yield to others coming down. “Bowling for People” is not an allowed activity!

Of course, the most important rule is to have fun. It is critical to note, however, that this rule applies to grown-ups as much as kids. While I might look silly, I find sledding to be as much fun as my kids. While parents are free to stand around at the top of the hills and chat, they really can have a lot of fun hopping on a sled as well! With more snow coming this week-end, I expect I might see a few of you at the hills!

Stay warm! Stay safe!

Sledding at Flat Fork Creek Park