The Indiana Publisher

Page 2 February 2020 HSPA scholarships. We want to make it clear that what the students are majoring in is no longer a factor," said Miller who serves as vice-president and opinion page editor of the News-Banner (Bluffton). These new Legacy Scholarships debuted in 2018. Since then, the recipients have pursued a range of interests. In 2018, Kathryn R. Gertin and Parker Marshall received the award. Gertin was accepted to Oakland City University where she planed to study environ- mental biology. Marshall headed to the University of Cincinnati to major in mechanical engineering. Last year's recipients were Emily Hoffman and Benjamin Lynk. Lynk was a four-year var- sity letterman in football and a member of the National Honor Society in high school. He was accepted at DePauw University and was interested in studying computer science. Hoffman, a graduate of Columbus North High School, was named Student of the Year for her graduating high school class. She headed to Indiana University in the fall as a pre- nursing major. As part of the application, students are asked to write an essay talking about themselves, their interests, background and "dream job." In his essay, Lynk talked about his grandparents: "My family has always lived a news- paper life, and I feel that earning this scholarship would be a trib- ute to my grandfather and my grandmother," Lynk wrote. Lynk is the grandson of Mary Jo Harney who has been the owner and publisher of the Parke County Sentinel, moving into that position after the death of her husband Richard in 1999. See pages 12-14 for this year's application. Page 2 January 2020 Deb Patterson named editor of The Papers Incorporated Staff reports The Papers Incorporated A native of the Milford- New Paris area, Deb Patter- son, has accepted the position of editor-in-chief of The Papers Incorporated, accord- ing to an announcement by Publisher Ron Baumgartner. She moved into the position Monday, Jan. 20. Patterson was named interim editor-in-chief filling the vacancy left by the death in November 2019 of Jeri Seely, long-time editor-in-chief. Patterson has been employed full time at the company since May 22, 1978. She began her tenure with the company during her senior year at Fairfield High School through an intern program, working half-days. "Deb grew up in this business and has the solid support of her co-workers in our editorial department as she takes on this new challenge. Through years of honing her reporting and photographic skills under the tutelage of Jeri and my father, Arch, I have every confidence she will continue to carry our standard forward for solid coverage of local news and events," said Ron Baumgartner, publisher. Over the years, Patterson has covered all aspects in the reporting field from sports photography, to town council/school board meetings and general news not only in Syracuse, Milford and North Webster, but throughout Kosciusko and Elkhart counties. She has spent most of her years with the company covering police, fire, courts, political and specialty organizations. "I am grateful to have the support, encouragement and backing of the staff and publisher," she said. "I had great mentoring from former publisher Arch Baumgartner and gained invaluable knowl- edge from Jeri working under her for all the years at the company. "The staff at The Papers is unbelievable and fun to work with. Being in their shoes for over 40 years, I know some of the difficulties they face when doing stories and hope to help them maneuver around those in their endeavors to bring local news to our readers. "The entire staff takes pride in their work and the news they want to share with readers. I want to help them in any way I can," she added. Patterson does not plan any changes in the operations of the editorial department and will continue to provide needed support. "My goal is to continue bringing hometown news and local issues to our readers through our print publications and online through Ink- FreeNews." Over the years Patterson has won a number of awards in photography and reporting through the Hoosier State Press Association. She was editor of the four northern Indiana Senior Life publications from their inceptions until taking on a position as editor of Ink- FreeNews. She returned to various duties in the main office editorial department. Patterson Legacy Continued from Page 1 The Hoosier Times last week. During the presentation by bill author Rep. Jack Jordan, R-Bremen, Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, asked if the elimination of the requirement to publish the entire report was the "opposite of transparency in government?" Rep. Jordan noted that a number of educational organizations had raised the concern about the cost of publishing the report, but reluctantly agreed that the bill would reduce transparency when pressed by Sen. Leising. HSPA has collected informa- tion on the cost of publication for 130 public school districts and found the average cost was $940 to present how well they were performing. The average school budget for those school districts, was $34.1 million. Sen. Victoria Spaartz, R-Noblesville, said, "We want more transparency, not less. The reports are hard to find. I want to keep them in the papers." She indicated to HSPA that she would submit an amendment to maintain the full publication requirement. Jordan's original bill would have totally eliminated any publication requirement. Rep. Bob Behning, R-Indianapolis, offered an amendment during the bill's hearing in the House Education Committee that requires the publication of a summary with a reference to where a full report could be found on the Internet. HSPA's executive director and general counsel Steve Key pointed out to the Senate Committee that there were no specifics as to what should be included in a summary, which would create no consistency to the public notice as each district could choose how little to publish. Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, supported Sen. Spartz. He agreed that transpar- ency is important and would support her proposed amend- ment. Representatives for the Indiana Non-Public Education Association, Indiana School Boards Association, Indiana Association of School Business Officials, Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association and Indiana Department of Education all testified in favor of eliminat- ing the full publication require- ment. John Elcessor of Indiana Non-Public Education Associa- tion said newspapers are dying and the publication requirement was "archaic." During his testimony, Key pointed out that three million Hoosiers read a newspaper at least once a week while the DOE reported only 14,500 unique page views of the school performance report on its website for all of 2019. When Spaartz noted the lack of Internet coverage in the state, Key noted Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Syracuse said in a different committee that he only could get 10 mb of service between 3:01 a.m. and 3:02 a.m. Leising agreed: "This is a real transparency issue at a time when we're telling parents they have a choice in schools and then make it harder for them to see how schools are doing. There is a shortage of broadband Internet in parts of the state." "I agree with Spaartz and Leising about transparency and accessibility," said Sen. Ed Melton, D-Gary. "Every house may not have access to laptops, iPads, etc. We need to also look at family structure – it could be grandparents raising children, and the grandparents read newspapers. A hard copy is the best way to reach everyone." After one school organization representative argued that Hoosiers would look to their school districts for the reports, Key was able to share that one northern school district told publisher Bill Hackney that only five individuals had used the district website to look for the annual performance report. Key also pointed out that Hoosiers indicated that posting public notices only on govern- ment websites would result in a 60% percent decline in the readership of notices. He also used the average cost of the publication of the annual school performance report and adult population in Indiana to point out that the average cost per adult Hoosier was a nickel of their tax dollars. "I know of no Hoosier who would begrudge five cents of their tax bill going to provide them the knowledge of how well their school is doing to educate children while spending millions of taxpayer dollars," Key said after the hearing. Prior to the Senate committee hearing, Sens. John Crane, R-Brownsburg; Brian Buchanan, R-Lebanon; Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn; Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond; and Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, had indicated support for the publication of the school performance report. The school performance publication language is only one section of the education matters bill. Sen. Jeff Raatz, R-Rich- mond, is the sponsor of H.B. 1003 and chairman of the Senate Education and Career Develop- ment Committee. Prior to the hearing, Sen. Raatz had agreed that the House language was not adequate, but indicated he wanted to talk to Reps. Jordan and Behning before determining how to improve the school performance report section. Update Continued from Page 1 "A hard copy is the best way to reach everyone." Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg

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