The email below as sent to all P-H-M Families the afternoon of September 1, 2022.

Dear P-H-M Families,

We are happy to share with you some important information relative to the latest student achievement data in Penn-Harris-Madison. We are proud of the ongoing work of our teachers, students, and families and we will maintain our focus on continuous improvement to ensure students are ready for college and/or career success as they leave Penn High School.

The Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Jennifer McCormick, made a statement in 2019 in order to clarify the drastic differences between ISTEP+ (the previously used state assessment) and ILEARN (which began as the new state assessment in the spring of 2019). This assessment is given to students in grades 3-8 in both English/Language Arts and Mathematics.

As we shared with you over the summer, we are incredibly proud of our state ranking on spring 2022 ILEARN. Penn-Harris-Madison’s students scored in the top 3.67% of all public school corporations ranking 11th out of 299 districts. We want to thank our teachers for their dedication and commitment to working to accelerate the learning of our students.

As we noted above, the statewide assessment changed in 2019. But even with that change, one way we benchmark our performance is by comparing it to statewide proficiency scores. Since 2013, we have increased our variance from state averages considerably.

This graphic shows that we were 12 percentage points above the state average in English/Language Arts in 2013 and then increased that variance to 20 percentage points in 2022, an increase of 8 percentage points. In Mathematics, we were 11 percentage points higher than the state average in 2013 and increased that variance to 21 percentage points, an increase of 10 percentage points.

On this chart, we again look at our variance from the state average when students have passed both English/Language Arts and Mathematics together. In 2013 we were 14 percentage points higher than the state average, while in 2022 we were 21 percentage points higher, showing a 7 percentage point increase. 

Fourth grade teacher Amanda Fox has been selected as a “Top 10” finalist for Indiana’s Teacher of the Year. She was selected as a Top 25 Finalist on August 18.

Mrs. Fox was P-H-M’s Elementary Teacher of the Year last school year. Mrs. Fox has won a few awards this year:

• 2022 Michiana Forty under 40 class, recognizing young adults, professionals, executives and leaders, under the age of 40, achieving outstanding professional success while also engaging in his/her community through charitable and civic involvement.
• Indiana’s only math finalist for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). She traveled to Washington, DC in May to receive her award.

Watch the video below to find out what makes Mrs. Fox such a terrific teacher …

The next step for the Indiana Teacher of the Year is for Mrs. Fox to do an in-person interview with the Selection Committee on September 12.

The camaraderie and forever bond of Penn’s “Long Black Line” was prevalent among the more than 100 former Penn football players and coaches who showed up Friday night, August 19, 2022 to help dedicate the Chris Geesman Kingsmen Athletic Center. Click to view pictures from the pregame recognition.

As part of the P-H-M Education Foundation naming rights campaign, Dr. and Mrs. Jerry Thacker generously donated $25,000 in December 2021 to the Education Foundation to have the Kingsmen Athletic Center at Penn High School’s TCU Freed Field named after Penn’s legendary championship football coach, Chris Geesman, renaming the facility the Chris Geesman Kingsmen Athletic Center. 

Coach Geesman and his family, Dr. and Mrs. Thacker, Head Coach Cory Yeoman, and the entire Penn football team were on hand for the dedication of the newly renamed facility taking place at halftime of the Penn Kingsmen’s first home football game of the 2022 season against Valpo. The Kingsmen won 35-6. It was a very special night; take a look … 

Geesman, a Hall of Famer coach, came to Penn 1973. The previous season, Penn had a 0-10 record. In Geesman’s first season, the Kingsmen posted a 5-5 record. In addition to the five state championships, Geesman led Penn to 309 wins, and the Kingsmen never had a losing season during the span of his 30-year career as head coach of the Kingsmen. 

Click here to play the full recorded audio of Coach Geesman’s thank you to the Penn football program.

Click here to view pictures from the August 19th Dedication.

“Donna and I are truly honored to have the Kingsmen Athletic Center named after this legendary coach who guided the Kingsmen to five state championships and three state runners-up,” said Dr. Thacker. “It’s only fitting that a facility built to provide Penn student-athletes with the best on field playing experience be named after the coach that led Kingsmen Football to so many wins.”

Penn’s Geesman Athletic Center is a 13,264 square-foot facility that was completed in October, 2018. It houses three locker rooms to be rotated during the Fall and Spring sports seasons: Football (Varsity, JV and Freshmen), Track & Field (Boys & Girls) and Girls Lacrosse. All three locker room areas have adjacent coaching staff office space and an on-site training room, giving Penn athletic trainers access to equipment and medical treatment supplies. Click here to read more details about the Athletic Center when it first opened.

Since 2008 and including the naming rights contribution, as Superintendent of P-H-M, Dr. Thacker has contributed $194,850 to the P-H-M Education Foundation. Besides the $25,000 pledged to the Naming Rights Campaign some of the other programs he has contributed to include:

• $20,000 in matching funds for the Annual Drive
• $25,000 Corporations for Education (matching funds)
• $15,000 Silver Mile
• $39,550 total to Thacker Scholarship funds

The mission of the Education Foundation is to develop alternative sources of income to support education initiatives in the School Corporation by strengthening partnerships between the community and the District. PHMEF supports education through awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.

“Our goal is to provide P-H-M teachers and staff with access to grant funding for unique and creative educational programs that fall out of the school district’s budget,” PHMEF Executive Director Jennifer Turnblom. “We support P-H-M teachers by helping to ensure that they have access to the best education tools. Community partners are vital to sustaining P-H-M excellence in education.”

PHMEF’s naming rights commitment is $25,000, payable at a rate of $5,000 per year over five years. The naming rights last for 12 years. 80 percent of the donation goes into the Foundation’s endowment, which in turn provides alternative and additional funding for various P-H-M co-curricular and extracurricular programs. The remaining 20 percent directly funds professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School District.

“The Foundation Board and I are so appreciative of Dr. and Mrs. Thacker’s generosity through the years,” said Turnblom. “Their unwavering support has been a tremendous help to us fulfilling our mission. The Thacker’s donations alone have made it possible for the Foundation to fund approximately 20% more classroom grants, activities and programs possible for the students of all P-H-M’s 15 schools. Their impact has been nothing less than incredible!”

Fourth grade teacher Amanda Fox has been selected as a “Top 25” finalist for Indiana’s Teacher of the Year.

Mrs. Fox was P-H-M’s Elementary Teacher of the Year last school year. The IDOE Selection Committee notified her on August 18 that she had been selected as a finalist.

The next step is for the Committee to determine the “Top 10.” If Mrs. Fox is selected as a “Top 10” finalist, she will be invited to the “Top 10 Interview Day” at CIESC, in Indianapolis, on September 12, 2022. 

Registration for the 2022-2023 Penn Kingsmen Junior Boys Basketball League will be from 5:30-8:30 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 25. Enter at Door D.

The leagues for Boys in Graces 1-8 will start in September.

Click here for details/forms.

Contact League Director Julius Smith – jsmith5@phm.k12.in.us – for information.

Registration for the Penn Youth Girls Basketball League for Girls in Grades 3-8 will be from 12-2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022, in the Penn Main Arena.

The cost is $125 per athlete.

Sunday, Sept. 25, will be a practice day at Penn. There will also be a parent meeting.

Games start on Sunday, Oct. 2.

Click here for details/registration form.

After 19 years as P-H-M’s Director of Safety and Security and helping our district become recognized as among the safest in the nation, Mike Seger has retired. Click to see the photo gallery below.

The ESC staff, staff across the district, along with P-H-M vendors Gibson and Honeywell, all gathered Thursday afternoon (July 21, 2022) to wish Seger well and help him usher in his retirement. Thank you to Honeywell for sponsoring the retirement reception.

Not to worry the safety and security of P-H-M schools is great hands and protected. 30-year police veteran and new Safety and Security Director Tommy Teeter has been cross training with Seger for two months. Click to read more about Director Teeter’s law enforcement expertise, along with new Lead Safety Agent Antwon Jones. Mr. Jones joined P-H-M this month as a 22-year veteran police officer and SRO from South Bend Police Department. Jones also worked as South Bend John Adam’s High School Head Varsity Football and Unified Track Coach. 

After some much deserved rest and relaxation, Mr. Seger will be available to P-H-M’s Safety Team for ongoing consulting as needed.

WHAT:          Summer Learning Conference
WHEN:         August 2, 2022 from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
WHERE:       Penn High School
                    56100 Bittersweet Rd.

Technovation is part of the conference series “Summer of Learning” hosted by the Indiana Department of Education. Click for more details about the series. This event is open to ANY EDUCATIONAL STAFF MEMBER IN INDIANA.

THINGS TO KNOW:

• Click here to register. This event is FREE to P-H-M teachers. Please contact Technology at (574) 254-2829 for details.
• Lunch will be Italian style dishes provided by Automated Data Systems and catered by SweetLou’s in Westville, IN
• Snacks and beverages provided by our partners at Luma Audio & Visual
• Technovation is part of the conference series “Summer of Learning” hosted by the Indiana Dept. of Education. Click for more details about the series. 
• PGP points will be provided for each session attended.
• Click to see the full list of sessions available

• Click for more details about the conference and the full list of speakers on the P-H-M Technovation 2022 website

• Find us on Twitter: @phmtech or hashtag #Technovate

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Technovation 2022 is proud to announce that Carl Hooker will be our keynote speaker this year. Mr. Hooker has been a part of a strong educational shift with technology integration since becoming an educator.  From his start as a teacher to his role as a district technology leader, he’s always had one common belief – that kids need to drive their own learning. Carl has been an educator for the past 21 years. He has held a variety of positions in multiple districts from 1st grade teacher to Virtualization Coordinator. Mr. Hooker has published a 6 part book series titled “Mobile Learning Mindset” and has recently published a new book “Ready, Set Fail!” Aside from his speaking and consulting work, Carl also works as an influencer and advisor for multiple Ed Tech start-up companies. He’s also a national advisor for the Future Ready Schools Initiative. He blogs regularly at HookEDonInnovation.com and has written guest blogs for the Huffington Post and Edutopia.

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Interested in being a Substitute Teacher, or Substitute Teacher’s Aide, Substitute Exceptional Education Aide or a Substitute Office Aide for P-H-M?

Sub Teachers pay $100 day, Sub Aides and Sub Office Aides $14 an hour, & Sub EAs $85 a day. Check out the job descriptions at https://bit.ly/PHMWork.

Come out Wednesday, July 27, 2022, 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.,  Schmucker Middle School, Door B.

The message below was emailed to P-H-M Families on the afternoon of July 15, 2022.

Dear P-H-M Families,

I hope you are enjoying your summer. I have some great news! I am extremely proud to share that the Indiana Department of Education released the Spring ILEARN 2022 scores this week and P-H-M is once again one of Indiana’s top performing public school corporations–going from the Top 6% in 2021 to the Top 3.67% in 2022. That means that Penn-Harris-Madison ranks #11 out of Indiana’s 299 public school districts!

Congratulations to you and your children! I never cease to be amazed by our students’ continued resiliency, hard work, and dedication. I applaud our P-H-M families and the commitment of our teachers, administrators,
and staff.

Additionally, Northpoint again is the #1 public elementary school in the state, for passing both ELA and Math ILEARN. Prairie Vista moved up to the #2 spot. Discovery is among Indiana’s top performing middle schools coming in at #2, for passing both ELA and math. To see your school’s scores, please click here to visit the IDOE website.

These results are even more pleasing knowing that our students and educators have been working diligently to close the learning gaps caused by the pandemic. We have been extremely focused on providing excellence in education to help all of our students learn and achieve academic success. P-H-M’s post-pandemic learning recovery plan has included hiring additional staff, specifically adding instructional interventionists at all of our schools to assist teachers in providing more attention directly with the students who need it most. We have also added before and after school student tutoring sessions, increased targeted summer learning opportunities to help students catch up, and we continue to provide professional development for our teachers, this past year with specific and intentional focus on accelerating student learning.

We know that the pandemic created a lot of issues in a number of educational areas, and it will take the ongoing intense focus of school leadership and district administration to help our cohort of students most impacted by the pandemic regain what was lost. Our educators are committed to providing exceptional academic support to all students in all 15 of our schools and are working tirelessly to do so. The ongoing efforts by our teachers in this endeavor is greatly appreciated. The Board of School Trustees and I continue to be confident that the P-H-M “Triangle of Success”–connecting students, teachers, and parents–creates a learning environment in which our students thrive.

As the parents and families of students, your active participation in your children’s education is invaluable to student success. Educational success starts at home and that is why the “Triangle” is so important. We congratulate all our families and students on this success, and we look forward to making even more progress this coming school year.

Enjoy the rest of your summer. We look forward to welcoming your children back on Wednesday, August 17.

Dr. Jerry Thacker
Superintendent of Schools