INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The need for school psychologists is growing across Indiana, fitting a trend school districts are seeing nationwide.

The National Association of School Psychologists recommends a ratio of one psychologist to 500 students. According to its data for the 2024-25 school year, Indiana had one psychologist per every 1,869 students.

This fall, the University of Indianapolis is launching a new school psychology program, specifically targeting people already working in schools.

It’s a three-year Education Specialist Master’s Degree. Candidates would complete evening classes and other asynchronous work for two years, and work in schools for another year.

Interim Director Aerin Welch says they’re hoping to fill the gap of School Psychologists in Indiana.

“One of our goals is to work with districts,” Dr. Aerin Welch, the program’s interim director, said. “[They may] have people within their districts who…want to stay within their school communities, but also want a change of pace and to try a new position.“

The shortage is a problem that preschool psychologist Melissa Duvall sees firsthand at the Wanamaker Early Learning Center, part of Franklin Township Community Schools.

“We are probably the busiest building — It seems like,” Duvall said.

On average, she says the school evaluates about 200 students a year. The closing months of the school year prove to be even busier, as they have to reevaluate students ahead of their transition to kindergarten.

Duvall knows how important her work is to the district.

“My job is to just kind of work with students to figure out how they best learn,” Duvall said. “So that we can work with the rest of the staff, so that they can continue to fill their toolbox with things that make sense to that child.”

It’s a sentiment Franklin Township Superintendent and UIndy alum Dr. Chase Huotari echoes.

He says he’d like to have one school psychologist at every building in the district.

“If you look at the school psychologists we have, it goes way beyond just them doing the work with the kids,” Huotari said. “They’re a key part of the entire school community.”

Duvall didn’t originally intend to become a school psychologist. She’s hopeful UIndy’s new program can open doors for others like her.

“It’s just one of those things that you don’t really realize is out there,” Duvall said. “I’m so glad that I was able to find it.”

Applications for UIndy’s new school psychology degree program are now open. Welch says the university hopes to send out acceptance letters this summer.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A community meeting took place on Indy’s westside over what’s threatening to be more than a traffic nightmare.

The planned full closure of the 16th Street bridge could put livelihoods and lives at risk, community advocate Aaron Williams with the Keep the Bridge Open Coalition said.

“And not to mention the countless number of businesses, we’ve calculated over 125 million dollars within a quarter mile of this bridge that generate revenue that are going to be directly impacted,” Williams said.

The aging bridge is scheduled for a full replacement this summer. But in order to do it, the city’s department of public works says it will have to be fully closed to traffic in both directions, for two years. The closure recommendation was first mentioned in a scoping report dating back to 2016.

“It’s been pretty consistent that the recommendation has been a full closure based off of what that first scoping report said,” Kyle Bloyd with the Indianapolis Department of Public Works told News 8.

But residents want to know why the critical span that connects downtown to the city’s Haughville neighborhood can’t be reduced to one lane while the reconstruction takes place, allowing some traffic to get through, instead of none at all.

“We’ve seen time and time again, Lafayette Road, West Kessler Boulecard. We’ve seen where a bridge has been open with one lane in each direction,” Williams said.

It’s a question the owner of Longs Bakery, a longtime Indianapolis favorite, has.
The bakery is walking distance to the bridge, and could see a staggering revenue loss tied to even one day of the bridge being closed, let alone two years.

“We really rely on foot traffic and 500 to 1000 customers a day that are impacted by a bridge they can’t get around or a 10th street bottleneck, that’s our biggest concern,” Carl Long, owner of Longs Bakery said.

The bridge opened in the late 1940s. The Indiana Department of Public Works says there’s no record of any significant rehab effort on the bridge since that time.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Indianapolis police on Tuesday asked for the public’s help to find a missing 26-year-old man with autism.

Tyrese Pepper was described as being 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He was wearing a dark-colored jacket with a Colts logo and navy jogger pants.

He was last seen riding a navy-and-white bicycle eastbound on East 21st Street, according to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

IMPD says Pepper is nonverbal and autistic.

If located, please call 911 immediately.