The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School District is looking into the future of two elementary buildings – Durbin Elementary and Fishers Elementary. Superintendent Allen Bourff told the school board Tuesday morning that the first priority is to determine the size of the new building planned to replace Durbin, then turn attention to Fishers Elementary on Lantern Road, just south of downtown Fishers.
Bourff laid out numbers that show overcrowding at some elementary buildings, and pointed out that redistricting, if the board even considered that as an option, would not be the answer. The new elementary building replacing Durbin is expected to be constructed on 40 acres of land recently purchased by HSE Schools at 156th Street and Boden Road. Bourff says the new building is proposed to have 300 more seats for students than the normal elementary student count.
Durbin Elementary cannot be expanded at the current site due to a lack of water and sewer service at that location. The school corporation says it will keep the Durbin building for other purposes.
Portable classrooms will be required at six elementary buildings in the 2020-2021 school year due to overcrowding. Superintendent Bourff says the elementary schools expected to utilize portables include Southeastern, Thorpe Creek, Sand Creek, Brooke School Road, Hoosier Road and New Britton.
After expressing the need to have a Durbin replacement building of additional size, Bourff turned his attention to Fishers Elementary, which is a building showing its age, located in a small portion of land. Although not as urgent as the Durbin situation, Dr. Bourff says the board will be grappling with the future of that building, at the current site or another location.
HSE Schools Chief Financial Officer Mike Reuter says the school system will adhere to a commitment made in 2013, when voters passed a referendum authorizing construction of the College & Career Academies at both high schools, to keep the tax rate steady. No tax rate increase is expected to finance the new elementary to replace Durbin or any action needed for Fishers Elementary.
The board held a public hearing Tuesday and no one chose to speak. Another public hearing will be held at the next regular board meeting on Dec. 11 and the board will vote on creating the option of dealing with the Durbin and Fishers Elementary situations.
In other news from the Tuesday morning work session:
Executive Director of Secondary Education Teaching and Learning for HSE Schools, Matt Kegley, presented the board with new high school course offerings for the 2020-2021 school year. Kegley talked about a few of the new classes, including Agribusiness Management, Analytical Algebra for students not planning a four-year college career, and a Medical Assisting class conducted with J. Everett Light Career Center. The Medical Assisting class will be taught at a local high school, so no student will be required to drive to North Central High School. For a full list of the new classes, use this link. The board unanimously approved the new courses.
The board approved salary structures for administrative and non-certified staff, now that the contract with the Hamilton Southeastern Education Association (representing the teaching staff) has been ratified.
Finally, the board passed a plan distributing roughly $802,000 from the state in teacher appreciation grant money. Teachers evaluated as effective or highly effective receive a share of the funds.