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!

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.

At the Monday, May 17 Board Meeting, the P-H-M Board of School Trustees approved two new positions, recognized P-H-M’s Teacher of the Year candidates, and outgoing staff members. Congratulations to everyone!

Another sign that things are slowly are getting back to normal … hundreds of P-H-M’S 4^th and 5^th grade boys took part in the annual Running is Elementary, although things looked a little different this year. Last spring due to COVID shutdown, the district wide case was not held. This year, instead of holding one giant race at Penn High School Cross Country track at Elm Road Elementary, individual races were held at the 11 elementary schools. 

The races are held in groups: 4^th grade girls, 4^th grade boys, 5^th grade girls, and 5^th grade boys. Running is Elementary encourages fitness, healthy choices and wellness. Fourth and fifth graders are encouraged to sign up for the free running club. Designated coaches at each school are then tasked with training the runners for the 6-week club which then culminates with the Running is Elementary one mile race.

The students are cheered on by their families, principals, teachers and running coaches; it’s amazing to see the dedication and hard work the students put in to complete the race. The event also serves as a community and relationship building real life, real time exercise. Students cheer on their fellow racers and friends. And many times, coaches, teachers, parents and students join in to run alongside a runner to keep their spirits up and help them finish the race.

Click to see photo albums of some of the races on our Facebook page: Madison, Mary Frank and Elsie Rogers Elementary Schools.

Cindy Batalis (P-H-M’s 2009 Teacher of the Year and physical education teacher at Mary Frank Elementary School) began the yearly tradition of Running Is Elementary back in 2008. Batalis’ own love for running and her desire to pass that love on to students is evident in the passion she puts into the Running is Elementary event each year. 

The event is sponsored by P-H-M Education Foundation and the Corporations for Education.

Teacher Appreciation Week brought more surprises and honors for one Mary Frank Elementary School teacher. Today the 5th grade students of Mrs. Alexandra (Lexi) Banks were on hand to help surprise her that she had been chosen as the 2021 P-H-M Education Foundation’s Jeneane Arter Excellence in Education Award. Please see the full photo gallery below.

The Arter Award is named after Northpoint Elementary School teacher Jeneane Arter and and is given to an outstanding P-H-M staff member. Students nominate their candidate to P-H-M Education Foundation by submitting an essay describing how a P-H-M teacher or staff member has contributed to their educational experience in P-H-M. Mrs. Banks’ students wanted to honor their teacher for all she’s done during this challenging school year. Fifth grade co-teacher Mrs. Erin Horvath helped the students with their nomination. The winner of the Arter Award receives $2,000, which is underwritten by Jason and Darla Lippert. 

These are some of the comments students submitted as part of their nomination:

~I love it when she gets excited during morning meetings, it always makes me happy.

~Mrs. Banks makes coming to school fun because she is so funny, she helps you with whatever you need, and if you are ever feeling down, she'll make you feel so much better.

Click to read the student’s full nomination submission.

Mary Frank Principal Christie Heerschop and Mrs. Horvath orchestrated this morning’s surprise by telling Mrs. Banks there was a 5th grade Assembly in the cafeteria. While Mrs. Banks and her students waited for the “Assembly” to begin. Mrs. Banks was surprised when PHMEF Executive Director Jennifer Turnbloom walked in with Mrs. Lippert and a giant check! Also hand for the surprise were Mrs. Banks’ mother Lisa Pawlik, Penn High School Volleyball Coach and teacher.

Prairie Vista teacher Amanda Fox was recently honored at a luncheon with Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner as one of Indiana's three state finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), the nation's highest honor for STEM teachers. Ms. Fox was also recognized in Dr. Jenner’s weekly IDOE enewsletter that is distributed statewide to all Indiana School Districts. At the luncheon, Ms. Fox was recognized for her work in computer science and her collaboration with the University of Notre Dame.

The national PAEMST selection committee reviews state finalists’ applications and ranks state finalist and recommends up to two finalists per state as a Presidential Awardee. Winners receive a certificate signed by the President of the United States and a $10,000 award and attend an award ceremony in Washington, D.C. 

Penn Biology teacher John Gensic won the PAEMST award in 2017 and was recognized in 2019.