The P-H-M Community Tailgate was held Friday, August 27 before Penn’s home opener football game against LaPorte. The popular annual event brings together members of the community, Penn faculty, staff and students, as well as parents and families from across the District. This was the 34th year for the event. Click to see the photo gallery below.

Penn fans and patrons showed up to enjoy the food and good times served up by the P-H-M Education Service Center Staff and Administrators. Unfortunately, Penn lost to LaPorte 21-14 in overtime.

If you missed the Community Tailgate this year, be sure to mark your calendar for next year. It’s always held the night of Penn’s first home game from 5:30-7:00 at the south end zone Zolman Concession Stand! 

See the photo gallery below. To download high-resolution jpg files, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. We are happy to provide this service to you, free of charge!

It’s August and that means Kingsmen sports and Marching Band practices are in high gear.

To recognize the hard work they’ve already put in and to wish them luck for their coming seasons, Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker stops by all of the fall sports practices to hand out popsicles!

It’s an annual tradition that students have come to expect and look forward to. He’s been doing it for over 15 years! This year, Chief Operating Officer Aaron Leniski joined Dr. Thacker in handing out the frozen treats.

Today (Friday, August 13) we caught up with Dr. Thacker and Mr. Leniski as they handed out frozen treats to Penn Band members. 

In a nice show of solidarity, the Penn Kingsmen football players came to the band practice area to wish them well.

To download high resolution jpg files from the photo gallery below, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. We are happy to provide this service to you free of charge.

Next Wednesday, August 18 is the first day for 1st – 12th grades (August 19th for Kindergarten), but today P-H-M’s newest teachers went “Back to School!”

It was a busy New Teacher Orientation Day for this creative and talented group of 79 of P-H-M’s newest elementary, middle and high school teachers and Exceptional Education staff. A total of 84 new teachers were hired for the 2021-22 school year.

Here’s the stats on this year’s incoming teacher class:

• @25 have Master’s degrees
• @63 have received their Bachelor’s or Master’s from an Indiana College or University
• @27 are Penn High School graduates
• 350+ total years of combined experience

Browse the new faces below … your child may end up having them this year!

On Monday, August 2nd and Tuesday, August 3^rd, P-H-M Administration held three Parent Information Sessions and Workshops on Social Emotional Learning & Diversity Equity Inclusion Student Lessons.

196 people attended the Parent Information Sessions/Workshops; 316 had pre-registered.

For those unable to attend the sessions, P-H-M is providing a recording of the August 3^rd 7:00 p.m. session. Click to watch the recording below.

Click to view a PDF of the Google Slide Show that was used in the presentation in the recording above.

Tokyo 2020 is officially underway and we are PROUD to have not one but two graduates from Penn High School representing Team USA. Annie Drews (‘12) will be competing in volleyball and Sarah Hildebrandt (‘11) will be competing in freestyle wrestling. Also in Tokyo is Penn Wrestling Head Coach Brad Harper. Brad is working with Sarah as her personal coach. Learn more about Annie and Sarah below!

Annie Drews, a 2012 graduate of Penn High School, will be playing volleyball as an opposite hitter, representing Team USA with the perfect balance of offense and defense.

Before earning her spot on the world stage, Annie won two 4A volleyball state championships at Penn High School in 2010 and 2011. Annie was also a member of the U.S. Women’s National A2 Program while studying at Purdue University.

She is also the first in program history to represent Purdue on the Olympic Volleyball Team. U.S. Women’s Volleyball is currently ranked No. 1 in the world, and I can’t wait to see how far they’ll go!

Sarah Hildebrandt, a 2011 graduate of Penn High School, will represent Team USA as a wrestler in the 50KG weight class.

While at Penn High School, Sarah became the first female to qualify for the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) Wrestling Semi-State competition and led Penn High School to the IHSAA Team Championship. Since graduating from high school, Sarah has earned four gold medals competing in the Pan American Games, as well as a silver medal in the World Championship.

Sarah brought Penn High School Wrestling Head Coach Brad Harper with her as her personal coach. Sarah’s continues involvement in Penn Wrestling is an inspiration to the next generation of girls and has helped grow the girls wrestling program to the best in the area!

These are just two of more than 30 American Olympians who have connections to Indiana high schools, colleges, or universities.

To learn more about our Olympians with Hoosier roots, click here.

The message below was shared with P-H-M Families and Staff via email July 1^st and 2^nd, 2021.

Dear P-H-M Families and Staff,

At the Monday, June 21, 2021, P-H-M Board meeting, I shared information regarding P-H-M’s social-emotional learning and diversity initiatives. As part of the growing national discussion about race relations, many parents are reaching out inquiring about critical race theory.

As I stated in last week’s Board meeting and several members of the administration have stated in response to parent emails, P-H-M is not teaching critical race theory. 

Many people have also requested more information about our Social Emotional Learning and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion lessons. 

To help clear up misinformation and misconceptions of what we are teaching and our intentions, P-H-M will be hosting public information sessions before the start of the school year in August. We are still in the planning stages, but we will be sharing information with everyone very soon. 

We hope that our students, parents, staff and community will join us to learn more. Stay tuned!

I wish you and your families a very happy and safe Fourth of July holiday.

Dr. Jerry Thacker
Superintendent of Schools

Penn-Harris-Madison continues to monitor the spread of COVID-19. With more than 13,000 students and employees, we all play an important role in minimizing the risk and impact on each other and our operations. The health and safety of students and staff is our top priority. As a result, P-H-M Schools will implement various measures to keep everyone as safe as possible. 

Please click here to read an overview of the district’s plan for a safe and healthy learning environment for Summer 2021 In-Person Instruction.

Throughout Summer 2021, P-H-M will continue to track COVID cases of students and staff that are made known to district and school personnel. Click here to view the P-H-M Positive COVID Dashboard.

To read documents related to P-H-M’s Return to Learn Plan for the 2020-2021 school year, please click here.

On Monday, June 21, 2021 the Board of School Trustees approved the administrative changes submitted by Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. The changes below will take effect July 1 for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year:
 

• Bob Thompson was approved as the new Director of Alternative Education and Special Projects. This position opened when Seth Molnar was appointed Director of Human Resources replacing Mike Lureman who retired. Bob began his career in education in 2000 and has been with P-H-M for thirteen years, beginning in 2008 when he was hired as the Assistant to the Principal for Elsie Rogers Elementary. From 2009-2012, he served as Principal of Elsie Rogers. Bob was Principal of Bittersweet Elementary from 2012 until the end of this school year. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor for Bethel University in the Graduate Education Program since 2015. Bob is a Penn alum receiving the Penn High School Distinguished Alumni Award, Teacher of the Year at Battell Elementary during his time with School City of Mishawaka, as well as the IUSB Outstanding Future Educator Award.
• Katie Carroll was appointed as the new Principal of Bittersweet Elementary. Katie has been the Assistant to the Principal at Walt Disney Elementary since 2017 and served as K-4 Summer School Co-Principal since 2018. She is also a product of P-H-M attending Mary Frank, Horizon, Discovery and Penn. She began her teaching career in 2008 at Elsie Rogers after doing her student teaching with P-H-M. Katie taught kindergarten and first grade for nine years at Elsie. She is certified in Orton Gillingham Multisensory Approach, CPI trained, and is a certified Indiana School Safety Specialist.
• Brad Boyd was named Night School Supervisor following the retirement of Ginny Mueller. Brad began with P-H-M as a substitute teacher in 2009 and then moved to Walt Disney Elementary as a full-time Educational Assistant through Joint Services in January of 2010. Brad started teaching at Penn in 2012 as a half-time Social Studies Teacher and a half-time Dean of Students. He became full-time Dean of Students in 2014, with the exception of the 2016-2017 school year when he acted as an interim Assistant Principal.
• Kevin McMillen will be moving to the Assistant Principal position at Grissom Middle School. Kevin was hired in 1995, teaching German at Penn High School. He transitioned to Discovery Middle School the following year to teach multiple foreign languages for 7th and 8th grades. Kevin served as an interim Assistant Principal at Schmucker Middle School before being named principal at Madison Elementary in 2017.
• Jennifer Sinclair was approved as the new building principal for Madison Elementary. Jennifer has been with P-H-M for nine years, beginning in 2012 as a classroom teacher at Walt Disney Elementary. In 2018, she became an Assistant Principal at Grissom Middle School. During her time at GMS she has served as the RtI coordinator, the School Threat Assessment Team Leader and District Team Member. This past school year Jennifer was one of three Assistant Principal's who worked at the ESC supporting central office staff, managing COVID communications, and providing COVID protocols and guidance for building principals.

Penn’s 62^nd Commencement was held Friday, June 4, 2021 at TCU Freed Field. 868 graduates, their families, Penn faculty, staff, Penn & P-H-M administrators, and P-H-M Board of School Trustees members weathered the hot and steamy evening to celebrate the many accomplishments of the Class of 2021. Click to watch the recording below of the live stream that aired on P-H-M’s YouTube Channel …

For a listing of student awards and accomplishments highlighted on Senior Recognition Night held May 11, please click here.
 

Candid photos that were taken throughout the evening by Penn & P-H-M staff were posted on Facebook. Click to view album #1 on Penn’s Facebook page posted 6/4/21. Click to view album #2 on Penn’s Facebook page posted 6/7/21.

Inter-State Studios was the Official Commencement photographer and was in position to take individual pictures of seniors with P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker holding their diplomas. Click here to access Inter-State Studios’ secure website. Password = Penn2021.   

Valuing and celebrating diversity is a tenet of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation. We have rich cultural diversity amongst our student population. We different opportunities for all of our students to learn more about their fellow students and other world cultures as a way of preparing our students for college and career readiness in a global society.

Over the last several weeks, our elementary schools have been studying different cultures around the world. We encourage students to embrace and share about their culture all year long, but even more so, during our units of study in May.

Walt Disney Elementary School is one of P-H-M’s more diverse schools with 33 different languages spoken in Disney family homes! In a normal school year, the culmination of the multicultural study unit ends with a "Multicultural Night" where Disney families to come together, share their cultures, and celebrate our vibrantly diverse community.” Click to see pictures from the 2017 event. This year the event was turned into a Culture Day where every student in grades K-5 got to go through the school and learn about cultures of the countries spanning six continents. Even the virtual students got to participate. As part of the studies earlier in the week Mrs. Joshi, at Walt Disney, explained the background history of Henna tattoos and even gave some of the students Henna designs!  It was fabulous having the students be the teacher! Click to learn more about Disney’s Culture Day and see the full photo gallery.

At Horizon, students ended the unit with by teaching about their own cultures. Students created slide presentations or completed a paper with information about their culture and heritage. Click to see pictures on Horizon’s website.

At Northpoint, hallways were decorated with artwork, displays, and fact cards. Click to see pictures from Northpoint’s website.