It’s time to work together for HSE

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Dear Editor:

I’m writing this having just left HSE’s June 26, 2024, Board of Trustees work session – a work session where Mr. Pat Mapes, our new school Superintendent, gave his “vision” for this district.

I watched as slides were presented with cherry-picked data points, the previous administration was blamed for questionable financial decisions that may not be factual, credit was taken by the current administration for things already in place before Mapes’ hiring, and teachers were told their “satisfaction should come from student achievement” rather district leadership committing to a healthy work culture or entertaining pay increases.

How did we get here?

I’m a moderate. I think if you talk with most people in Fishers and Noblesville, they’d say the same. Our schools are not meant to be political – and yet we seem to have made them that way.

Mayor Fadness, along with many Hamilton County Republican leaders, have helped fund and fuel Fishers One, whose stated purpose is: “We are dedicated to keeping people informed, while restoring academic excellence in our schools, holding elected officials accountable, maintaining Fishers as a great place to live, and cultivating the next generation of leaders.”

This purpose is honorable and could truly make our community better. The trouble is that’s not what they’re actually doing. They’ve created a reality in our community where school board elections are won because a conservative candidate can raise $25,000 or more through Republican channels. They’re not looking for the most qualified people – they’re looking for conservative people.

Why did they do this? Well … our school board had become dominated by Democrats and district decisions around during the pandemic and hiring of the previous Superintendent became left-leaning – and that’s not right either. HSEqual, whose purpose is “a non-partisan political action committee dedicated to supporting Hamilton Southeastern Schools” (another great reason to start an organization!) has swayed from its original, non-partisan vision to closely align with the Democratic Party.

And now, on both sides, we have politicized our schools.

We need to do better for our kids. I have two young sons in HSE schools, one in elementary and one about to start intermediate school. We LOVE our schools. We campaigned hard to get the referendum passed and I could tell you 1,000 reasons why HSE is amazing. But what I witnessed tonight was the culmination of several years of partisanship in one meeting – and it was heartbreaking.

I’m calling on our Republican and Democrat leaders, the Fishers One and HSEqual leaders, HSE Administration and HSE Teachers Association leaders, to put a stop to this. Come together. I know some have tried – but it’s going to take everyone. Figure out where we agree and then move forward for our kids. None of us wants to see our teachers unhappy and we all want our schools to thrive.

Cool it with the high-dollar funding for school board candidates. Let’s create a community where well-qualified candidates with the best interest of our kids, community and teachers as their north star can win an election.

Here’s the thing: most of those people don’t want to get into the fray that’s been created.

The vitriol and division need to stop. For our kids. For our teachers. For our community.

Laura Cole
HSE Parent
Fishers