Teachers whose students have seen significant First Semester growth, achieving individual improvement on their formative assessments over time, are being recognized with the P-H-M Impact Award. It’s quite an honor, and a surprise, to receive this award.

While all P-H-M teachers across the district are dedicated to helping their students achieve personal academic success, we are especially proud of teachers and their students who have excelled.

Today Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker visited Walt Disney and Mary Frank Elementary Schools to congratulate a couple of P-H-M’s amazing teachers. 

Walt Disney Principal Dr. Mindy Higginson helped Dr. Thacker surprise Kindergarten teacher Amy Scoles as she was teaching class; and Mary Frank Principal Christie Heerschop organized the surprise for 3^rd grade teacher Amanda Harcus.

Mrs. Scoles won the Impact Award for having the highest DIBELS growth outcomes in all of P-H-M in grades kindergarten through second grade! Click here to see the photo gallery on Walt Disney’s website.

Mrs. Harcus was recognized for her students being the Top 1 or Top 2 in three subjects: Reading, Writing, Math on Clear Sight. Click here to see the photo gallery on Mary Frank’s website.

Congratulations to these teachers and the hard work of their students!

The Impact Awards were first handed out in September 2023 to teachers with the most significant overall student growth during the 2022-2023 school year.

Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for purchasing the beautiful crystal awards given to the teacher award recipients.

All teachers make an impact on their students. At P-H-M we honor those teachers whose students have improved academically with the P-H-M Impact Award. This semester, Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker is visiting schools and surprising teachers whose students had significant First Semester growth

Today Dr. Thacker, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Heather Short, Director of Literacy Ryan Towner, and the Executive Director of the P-H-M Education Foundation Jennifer Turnbloom stopped by Horizon Elementary and Discovery Middle School to surprise teachers there. 

Fourth grade Horizon students of Julia Rulli had the district’s highest movement/growth in ELA of 4^th grade students—those who were below proficiency in Clear Sight! It may have something to do with Mrs. Rulli showing her students love and support. Click here to read a story about how she makes her students feel loved. Click here to see a photo gallery of today’s surprise.

At Discovery, Coleen Manspeaker was recognized because her students had P-H-M’s highest growth in proficiency in 8th grade math, growing 59%! Click here to see the photo gallery.

The Impact Awards were first handed out in September 2023 to teachers with the most significant overall student growth during the 2022-2023 school year.

Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for purchasing the beautiful crystal awards given to the teacher award recipients.

Teachers whose students have seen significant First Semester growth, achieving individual improvement on their formative assessments over time, are being recognized with the P-H-M Impact Award. It’s quite an honor, and surprise, to receive this award.

Today Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker visited Prairie Vista Elementary School to congratulate 1^st grade teacher Rose Montgomery. 

Principal Dr. Keely Twibell helped Dr. Thacker surprise Mrs. Montgomery as she was teaching class. 

Mrs. Montgomery had 100% average or higher growth on DIBELS; that’s 82% with accelerated growth!

While all P-H-M teachers across the district are dedicated to helping their students achieve personal academic success, we are especially proud of Mrs. Montgomery and the other teacher Impact Award winners.

The Impact Awards were first handed out in September 2023 to teachers with the most significant overall student growth during the 2022-2023 school year.

Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for purchasing the beautiful crystal awards given to the teacher award recipients.

The first year of the combined Young Authors’ Conference and Next Gen Robotics event for P-H-M elementary students was a HUGE SUCCESS! See the full photo gallery below.

The combined “Books and Bots” event was held this past Saturday, March 2 at one location, Penn High School.

There were a record number 283 registrants and their families.

Great job by Candi Cussen for organizing the “Books” portion and to Jessie Kinney for coordinating the “Bots” portion. A big THANK YOU also to our celebrity children’s author Carolyn Crimi who wowed the students by sharing her storytelling techniques; and to Northpoint teacher Jocelyn Dupuis, who dressed up as a pirate and read Crimi’s “Henry & the Buccanneer Bunnies.”

Thank you to our sponsors P-H-M Education Foundation and Better World Books and to all the attendees who donated 179 gently used books to Better World Books. Our gratitude also goes to Dr. and Mrs. Thacker’s matching #GivingTuesday gift made it possible for this year’s event to be FREE for all attendees!

P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker surprised another couple of teachers today letting them know that they were winners of the Spring 2024 Impact Awards. At Madison, Principal Lindsay Schirripa helped Dr. Thacker and a group of P-H-M Administrators catch 5th grade teacher Mrs. Kathy Dance off guard. Click to see the full photo gallery on Madison’s website.

Mrs. Dance is being recognized with an Impact award because she had the highest growth in 5th grade Clear Sight reading. Her students grew 37%!

At Grissom, Assistant Principal Eric Spatt helped Dr. Thacker surprise 6th grade teacher Ms. Natasha Bean. Click to see the full photo gallery on Grissom’s website.

Ms. Bean had the two highest class sections for growth in 6th grade reading!

This round of P-H-M Impact Awards recognizes teachers with First Semester growth. While all P-H-M teachers across the district are dedicated to helping their students achieve personal academic success, the Impact Award shines the spotlight on educators who have helped their students achieve individual academic growth on their formative assessments over time. The first-ever Impact Awards were handed out in September 2023 and recognized the teachers with the most significant overall student growth during the 2022-2023 school year.

Thank you to the P-H-M Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for these amazing teachers.

Literacy Director Ryan Towner learned this week that he’s been selected by IUSB School of Education to receive the 2024 Indiana University-South Bend Alumni of the Year Award!

Ryan joined P-H-M as a fifth grade elementary teacher at Prairie Vista in Fall 2011. In his 12 years with the district, he’s also served as Assistant to the Principal at Walt Disney and Principal of Madison Elementary. He’s served as Walt Disney Principal since 2017.He also presented on P-H-M’s Tiered Literacy practices at IASP and recently Indiana State Literacy Association virtual workshop series. He received both his undergraduate and Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from IUSB.

Towner will receive the award in September at their annual Gala held this year at the Lerner Theater in Elkhart.

Towner, a former principal of Walt Disney Elementary School, is a winner of the prestigious Milken Educator Award in 2022. Click here to read more about the Milken Award.

Also in 2022, Towner was a member of the South Bend Regional Chamber’s “Forty under 40” class.

Today Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker surprised another group of teachers hand-delivering the Spring 2024 round of Impact Awards. With the help of Penn Principal Dr. Sean Galiher and Schmucker Principal Sarah Smith, Dr. Thacker handed out three awards (two at Penn and one at Schmucker). Click to see the full photo gallery below.

This round of P-H-M Impact Awards recognizes teachers with First Semester growth. While all P-H-M teachers across the district are dedicated to helping their students achieve personal academic success, the Impact Award shines the spotlight on educators who have helped their students achieve individual academic growth on their formative assessments over time. The first-ever Impact Awards were handed out in September 2023 and recognized the teachers with the most significant overall student growth during the 2022-2023 school year.

Penn High School Economics teacher Mr. Pete Riordan teaches both AP Microeconomics and AP Macroeconomics. During the 2022-2023 school year, both courses increased slightly in enrollment while simultaneously boasting large increases in achievement. Students in AP courses take standardized exams at the end of the school year designed to measure how well they’ve mastered the content and skills of the course. The final score for each AP Exam is reported on a 5-point scale that offers a recommendation about how qualified a student is to receive college credit or placement, but each college makes its own decisions. In general, a score of three or higher results in credit or placement.

In Mr. Riordan’s Microeconomics course, students earning a three or better jumped from 58.7% in 2022 to 70.8% in 2023. Likewise, in Macroeconomics, 80% of students earned a three or higher, an increase of 20.9%, and the highest pass rate for the course in Penn High School history! Not bad for Riordan who is also the Kingsmen Football Team’s Defensive Coordinator.

From Coach Riordan’s classroom, Principal Galiher took Dr. Thacker and Penn administrators down the hall to drop-in on Mrs. Jenny Dakins who teaches Learning Strategies,  which are classes designed to support student success and academic growth. Dakins teaches multiple blocks of the class and at mid semester 68% of her students’ grades were on track. This percentage improved to 92% by the end of the semester. Dakins’ student growth is a result of her dedication to supporting students and meeting with them individually to ensure academic success for every student. Her compassion, support and love for her students is reflected in their growth.

Dr. Thacker then headed across the street to Schmucker Middle School where he enlisted the help of Principal Smith to surprise 6^th grade Langage Arts teacher Mrs. Joy Lightcap. Principal Smith even got Mrs. Lightcap’s 8^th grade daughter Noelle in on the fun. Mrs. Lightcap had the highest reading growth at Schmucker; her students grew 36% in proficiency!

Executive Director of the P-H-M Education Foundation Jen Turnblom was present for this morning’s awards. P-H-M is grateful to the Education Foundation for covering the cost of the awards for these amazing teachers.

At the P-H-M Board of School of Trustees meeting on Monday, February 26, district administration made a presentation to the Board regarding the total solar eclipse taking place on Monday, April 8. As part of the presentation, district administration announced that for a variety of reasons Monday, April 8 will be an eLearning Day. If the district has used all of its allotted three eLearning Days (we currently have used two), the day will be a Virtual Learning Day. No P-H-M sponsored field trips or planned evening activities will take place on this date. Monday, April 8 is the first day back after Spring Break (April 1-5). 

Indiana is in the path of totality and is centrally located in the United States, thus the Indiana Department of Homeland Security is telling tourists, residents, school districts and public agencies to be prepared for three days of potential impact such as, oversized crowds, gridlock traffic, communications disruptions, and even nocturnal animal confusion. Click here to see the full presentation from last night’s Board meeting.

The Indianapolis area and south will experience 100% totality; while the St. Joseph County area will experience 96%. Click here to see a map of Indiana regions that will experience varying degrees of darkness from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources website. The South Bend area will start experiencing darkness at 1:53 p.m., lasting until 4:23 p.m., with 96% totality occurring at 3:09 p.m. and lasting just over 4 minutes. Because these times are around school dismissal times and based on the recommendations of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the IDOE, P-H-M will not be holding in-person instruction on April 8. 

Thanks to Old National Bank and P-H-M Education Foundation, all students in the district will receive eclipse glasses to use at home with instructions. Mrs. Mindy O’Malley, Director of P-H-M’s Arthur M. Klinger Planetarium and Digital Video Theater, and a team of teachers, are preparing grade-level eclipse information to send home with students. In the classrooms leading up to April 8, teachers will educate students about this nearly once-in-a-lifetime event; the next total solar eclipse where portions of Indiana will be in full totality will be 2099.

If parents have any questions, they should contact their students’ principals. Employees should contact their supervisor or Human Resources.

This morning Grissom administration and special guests honored our school’s inaugural class of ”Fourteen Under 14.” Click here to see the photo gallery on Grissom’s website.

P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker, Kate Lee, Executive Dir. of Education & Workforce at South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Dr. Jenny Sears, P-H-M Director of Student Support Services joined Principal Jen Sinclair in recognizing the students during a special breakfast before the start of school. The award is modeled after Michiana’s Forty Under 40 (of which several P-H-M leaders have been a part of), which is sponsored by the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The students were notified last week (Thursday, Feb. 15) by surprise announcements by Principal Sinclair. Click to see those photos on Grissom’s website.

The students were praised for their community involvement, student leadership, commitment to academics, entrepreneurial skills, and kindness towards others. Families of the award winners were on hand to celebrate as well. Students were given a crystal award to commemorate their achievement. 

Below is a list of the winners in alphabetical order, congratulations!

1. Briar Barrier
2. Sadie Charbonneau
3. Jenna Fair
4. Ethan Guzman
5. Nora Haab
6. Lali Juarez
7. Tate Mackiewicz
8. Anastashia Michael
9. Mari Powell
10. Dottie Pogue
11. Emily Schmidt
12. Anniston Steele *could not be present
13. Betty Smoker
14. Leyna Tropp

The National High School Strength Coaches Association (NHSSCA) named Penn Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Cates the 2024 National Coach of the Year!

Last February Coach Cates was named the 2023 Great Lakes Regional Coach of the Year. In 2020, he became the State Director of NHSSCA for Indiana. In January 2022, Penn’s Strength and Conditioning program led by Coach Cates was awarded with a NHSSCA Program of Excellence School designation!

Coach Cates’ enthusiasm and dedication working with student-athletes has made him one of the most popular people at Penn High School. Coach Cates builds lasting relationships with students bringing out the best in them. He is a great motivator, making videos in 2021 to help students cope with the pandemic. Click to watch some of his videos on PHM’s TikTok account. At the start of the 2023-2024 school year, he was one of the teachers who spoke at the Freshman Class Meeting welcoming 9th graders to Penn. He got the biggest round of applause, even from the freshmen! Click to see the pictures.

Cates was chosen from four finalists. The award is given each year to a high school Strength Coach based on their achievements and contributions to their school community. Click here for more information on the award.

Coach Cates will be honored this summer at the national conference in Dallas as NHSSCA’s 2024 National Coach of the Year!