Veerkamp wins FT School Board race;
3 incumbents unseated on Advisory panel 

Two new Franklin Township School Board members will be sworn in for four-year terms that will begin this coming July 1.

Results of the 2008 Primary Election on Tuesday, May 6, determined the upcoming FT School Board member from the Northwest Quadrant in a three-candidate race, while the Southwest Quadrant representative ran unopposed.

The new School Board members will be:

** C. Scott Veerkamp, an area Realtor, who pulled the most votes for the Northwest seat that will be vacated by the current president of the School Board, Matthew Hamner.

** Aaron L. Sullivan, the immediate past president of the Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police, who was unopposed for the Southwest seat that will be vacated by the current vice president of the School Board, Geoffrey Horen.

Sullivan and Veerkamp will be joining Randall Bland, Steve Randall and Christopher Wood on the five-member FT School Board. All School Board positions are determined by township-wide balloting.

In the voting for Franklin Township Advisory Board positions, three candidates - Tim Back, Todd Colip and Andrew Hearrell - endorsed by the Metropolitan Professional Firefighters Local 416 successfully unseated three incumbents on the seven-member panel, where positions are selected by district voters.

In contested races, the winners included Andrew Hearrell in District 3, Todd Colip in District 5, and Tim Back in District 6. Incumbents being replaced include Bernice L. Lowes by Hearrell, Michael R. Shaffer by Colip, and Shirley A. Hauck by Back.

FT Advisory Board incumbents running unopposed included Joe McCullough in District 1, M. Paige Green in District 2, Alan Keith Coyner in District 4, and Theresa Young in District 7.

All candidates for the FT Advisory Board positions were Republicans.

In Primary races that stretched beyond Franklin Township boundaries but involved voters in at least a portion of the township:

** Another showdown between Democrat Andre D. Carson and Republican Jon Elrod was assured in the General Election in November for the U.S. Representative District 7 seat. Carson, who currently represents the district once served by his late grandmother Julia Carson, easily outdistanced top challengers Woody Myers and David Orentlicher in the Democratic Primary, while Elrod attracted nearly 85 percent of the vote on the Republican side.

Both Carson and Elrod contended for Julia Carson's vacant seat in a special election this past March that resulted in Andre Carson being sent by voters to Washington , D.C. , as a member of the U.S. Congress.

** A General Election race for the State Senator District 32 seat has been established between incumbent Republican Patricia Miller and Democrat Ken Kern. Both were listed on the Primary ballot, but both were unopposed.

** State Representative Michael B. Murphy in District 90 easily warded off the challenge of outgoing FT School Board president Hamner. With no Democrats filing in District 90, the Repubican incumbent will be returning for another term in the State Legislature. Murphy was backed by Governor Mitch Daniels and the Marion County Republican Central Committee; Hamner's candidacy carried the endorsement of the Indianapolis FOP.

** A General Election face-off was established for State Representative in District 89, where Republican Lawrence Buell is retiring after a lengthy political career. Representing a small portion of Franklin Township , voters will be offered a choice in November between the Primary winners, Democrat John F. Barnes and Republican Chris J. Swatts.

In the race for U.S. Representative District 5 - which includes a portion of Franklin Township , other portions of Marion County and areas outside of the county extending from Huntington to Johnson County - incumbent Republican Dan Burton in seeking his 14 th term in Congress survived the challenge of former Marion County Coroner John McGoff.

In Marion County voting alone, McGoff topped Burton by more than 3,500 votes.

Winning by a 52-45 percentage margin in the entire district, Burton will face Democrat Mary Etta Ruley of Gas City in November.

Click here for Marion County Primary Election Results. 

- FTONEWS.com -

2 administrative appointments approved 

The Franklin Township School Board has granted approval for appointing two new administrators for the 2008-09 school year.

Meeting in its regular monthly session at the Dr. E.B. Carver Community Education & Technology Center on Monday, April 28, the Board voted 4-0 to hire a principal for Thompson Crossing Elementary School and an assistant principal for Franklin Township Middle School East. The new FTMS East educational facility is scheduled to open this coming fall.

The appointments earned favor from Board Members Matthew Hamner, Randall Bland, Steve Randall and Christopher Wood. Member Geoff Horen was not available to attend the meeting.

The appointments include:

** Teresa A. Brown as principal at Thompson Crossing Elementary School at an annual salary of $85,000, plus administrative benefits. She will replace Marilyn Sudsberry, the school's interim principal for the 2007-08 academic year.

A 1982 Manual High School graduate, Brown majored in Elementary Education at Franklin College, and in December of 1995 completed a Master's Degree in School Administration at Butler University.

Brown is presently the principal of Bob Sikes Elementary School in Okaloosa County Schools in Florida.

In Indiana, Brown served as principal at the following schools - Wheeler Elementary School (Speedway City Schools) in 2006-07, Mill Creek East Elementary School and Cascade Middle School (Mill Creek Community Schools in Hendricks County) from 2001-06, and Loper Elementary School in Shelbyville from 1997-2001. She also served as assistant principal in Decatur Township elementary schools from 1994-97.

Brown's teaching background includes elementary school classrooms in Decatur Township (1988-94) and Indianapolis Public Schools (1986-88).

Brown will begin her duties at Thompson Crossing Elementary School on July 1.

** Amy M. Miller as assistant principal at Franklin Township Middle School East at an annual salary of $79,900, plus administrative benefits.

For the past six years, Miller has been a Science teacher in Wayne Township Schools, and currently serves as the Science Department Chair.

A 2000 graduate of Marian College with a degree in Biology and Physical Education, Miller in 2007 completed a Master of Arts Degree in Professional Leadership at the University of Indianapolis, and also obtained her administrator's license.

Miller also taught Science at Greenwood Middle School in 2001-02, and served as a research coordinator (grant project) for the Beech Grove Education Foundation from 1998-2001.

In addition to the two administrative appointments, the FT School Board by a 4-0 vote formally approved the appointment of Brian Harbin as Franklin Central's new varsity head football coach. The selection of Harbin, the former assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Center Grove High School, had been announced previously.

Harbin replaces Lance Scheib, who has been named head football coach at Noblesville.

- FTONEWS.com -