Today (Thursday, August 24, 2017) more than 800 children walked into Penn-Harris-Madison’s 11 elementary schools as kindergartners! Teachers and staff were excited to begin educating the future Class of 2030 and start them on their journey of academic excellence in P-H-M schools.

We visited four of the 11 elementary schools to capture the excitement: Elsie Rogers, Mary Frank, Northpoint and Prairie Vista. And we caught up with P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker and School Trustee Board Members Larry Beehler and Jim Garrett during their visit to Northpoint. Dr. Thacker visits all of P-H-M’s 15 schools during the first three days of school. View the photo gallery below.

More than 10,000 Penn-Harris-Madison students in grades 1-12 headed back to school today (Wednesday, August 23, 2017) with tons of excitement for another year of #PHMExcellence!

Here’s a snapshot of the First Day from across the District … (be sure to click to view the photo gallery at the end of this story)

Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker and new Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher got an early start to the day doing live interviews on the early morning news programs of South Bend’s three television stations, starting at 5:00 a.m.!  With student enrollment up this year to about 10,800 students, Dr. Thacker talked with excitement about the new school year. With P-H-M’s successful 1:1 Technology Initiative for all students in the District, P-H-M is in a great position to empower teachers with new technology and software that will help them utilize student formative assessment data more efficiently, which will help create a more personalized path unique for each student. Dr. Thacker also talked about how the District has recently created teacher leadership teams in all 11 elementary schools to increase leadership capacity and promote a renewed focus on high quality instructional practices. Principal Galiher talked to the news stations about Penn High School’s 97% graduation rate, with 45% of Penn students graduating with Honors and 51% graduate with a Core 40 degree.
 

Over at P-H-M Transportation Headquarters, approximately 139 buses started rolling out about 7:00 a.m. to pick up and transport students across the District to our 15 schools (11 elementary and three middle schools, and Penn High School).

For the first three days of school, Dr. Thacker visits all 15 schools! After leaving Penn High School this morning, his first stop was Madison Elementary to speak to students during their school assembly. All the students got a kick out of hearing about Dr. Thacker’s teaching days at Madison. P-H-M Board Members Jim Garrett and Larry Beehler (a Madison student alum) joined Dr. Thacker for his school visits this morning. Kevin McMillen’s enthusiasm, Madison’s new principal, for the new year was contagious. Students were so glad to be back at school they were hugging their teachers.

Over at Horizon Elementary, Principal Tressa Decker enlisted the help of parent volunteers to join Horizon teachers and staff to give students a “Heroes Welcome.” When students arrived at school, they were greeted by parents dressed in their work uniforms and were given "Be The Hero" medal. The goal … to inspire students to be the heroes we know they can be. 

Grissom and Schmucker Middle Schools also have new principals this year. Jean Milfort and Lavon Dean-Null were there to welcome sixth through eighth graders as they exited the buses. The hallways were a flurry of activity, but Mr. Milfort managed to spot and meet Grissom’s female football player linebacker and tight end, whose looking forward to a great year of proving herself to all the naysayers! Dr. Thacker and the Board members showed up later to say hello as part of their District tour. At Schmucker, Mrs. Dean-Null was busy helping students find their way to lockers, classes and at times played the role of “traffic cop!”

Horizon students weren’t the only ones to get a surprise when they arrived at school today. Back at Penn High School, Early College Academy staff dressed in caps and gowns to welcome the Early College Academy senior Class of 2018. This spring the students will be Penn’s first graduating co-hort of the Early College Academy—graduating with both high school diplomas and college associate degrees! Quite an accomplishment and something to look forward to!

Thursday, August 24 is the first day back for kindergartners in P-H-M’s 11 elementary schools.

It’s going to be another amazing year of academic excellence in Penn-Haris0n-Madison this year! Be sure to follow #PHMExcellence to see all the amazing pictures, videos and stories throughout the year!

As a result of this morning’s rain,  the caulking on the drive connecting the parking lot behind Penn High School and the north Bittersweet drive is not complete.  The driveway will be closed to through traffic, from the north, on Wednesday, August 23 (the first day back for P-H-M students). 

The Arena Lot will be made available after 12:00 p.m. today (Tuesday, August 22) to the public.  The lot can be accessed from the south Jefferson Blvd. entrance.

We encourage people to continue to use door D and the main parking lot.  The Arena Lot can only handle a minimal amount of pedestrian and car traffic.  

Fitness Center patrons will be able to use door G once again beginning today at 3:45 p,m.  
 

Brats & dogs hot off the grill at P-H-M’s annual community football tailgate party! 

Join us this Friday, August 25 from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. under the big tents behind the Educational Services Center (ESC) at 55900 Bittersweet Rd., Mishawaka. 

There’s plenty of time to grab dinner for the family, visit with friends and then get to your seats inside TCU Freed Field before the 7:30 p.m. kickoff. 

The Penn Kingsmen will take on the Merrillville Pirates in the season home opener.

The P-H-M Community Tailgate, hosted by the District’s central office staff and administrators, is a tradition now in its 30th year. The event is open to the public and all are welcome! Tickets are $3.50 and are sold on site, not in advance.

Dr. Jerry Thacker and P-H-M administrators look forward to meeting members of the community and visiting with P-H-M families. 

This morning Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker welcomed back nearly 1,500 teachers, administrators and classified support staff during the annual Kickoff Breakfast (click here to see the photo gallery below). As part of building excitement for the new school year, Dr. Thacker always takes time to praise staff and student achievements from the past year. Some of the many EXCELLENT accomplishments of P-H-M teachers, students and staff were highlighted in a video shown to staff. Dr. Thacker encouraged staff to share the great stories taking place across the District this coming year on social media using #PHMExcellence.

As part of the Kickoff Breakfast, a motivational speaker and leader in education is invited to come in and speak to P-H-M teachers. This year Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, superintendent of Fall Creek School District in Fall Cree, Wisconsin spoke to P-H-M instructional staff about “Brining School stories to the World” and telling P-H-M’s story. Dr. Sanfelippo was named an Innovative District in 2016 and 2017 by the International Center for Leadership in Education and is the author of “Hacking Leadership: 10 Ways that Great Leaders Inspire Learning that Teachers, Students, and Parents Love.” Dr. Sanfelippo is innovative school administrator who has built strong relationships with his district’s students, families and employees through engaging social media stories. Today he also encouraged P-H-M teachers to do the same and be EXCELLENT storytellers and to share the EXCELLENT things taking place every day within P-H-M’s 15 schools, telling them “You are teachers! You move people!!!”

P-H-M is an “A” rated school district and in the state’s Top 3 of public school districts with nine Four Star Schools. Excellence happens here!  Our teachers and students do amazing things every day.  Throughout this year, the community and our families will start seeing more and more of these stories. Look for and use #PHMExcellence on social media and click here for #PHMExcellence feed to catch up and see what you might have missed. 

In recognition of Larry Beehler’s 31 years of service on the Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees, anonymous donors have established a naming rights partnership with the P-H-M Education Foundation to name the newly constructed ticket center at TCU Freed Field.

The ticket center is part of the facility updates that took place over the summer at Penn High School’s football field. P-H-M’s Board of School Trustees voted to approve  the naming at their meeting (Monday, August 14, 2017) to name it the Larry Beehler Ticket Center.

Mr. Beehler is a graduate and class valedictorian of then Madison Township High School (Wakarusa), which is now Madison Elementary School, one of P-H-M’s 11 elementary schools. Larry and his wife of 55 years, Judy, are lifelong residents of the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation. In July of 1986, he was elected to the Board as the Madison Township representative and is currently serving his 31st year as a Board Member. During his time on the Board, Mr. Beehler served in leadership roles as Board Secretary for three years, Board Vice President for nine years, and Board President for six years. He has also served as P-H-M’s representative on several different Indiana School Boards Association (ISBA) boards, including as Board Policy Liaison and Legislative Liaison. He is also an active member of the National Schools Boards Association (NSBA).

“Working with Larry Beehler is such a privilege,” said Board President Gary Fox. “He has profound knowledge not just of Indiana law, education policies and best practices, but also of the school district’s history. He tirelessly serves the children and families of P-H-M; and although there is no one more humble, there is also no one more deserving of this honor than Larry Beehler.”
 

During his time on the Board, Mr. Beehler’s roles have ranged from also serving on District Strategic Planning Committees to Smaller Learning Communities Achievement Design Committee for Penn High School. Mr. Beehler was nominated and received the Penn High School Distinguished Staff Award in 2010 sponsored by the Penn High School Alumni Association.

“Larry has dedicated thousands of hours of his personal time serving on several P-H-M school committees, always looking out for what’s best for the students of P-H-M,” said Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “Our students have no greater champion than Larry Beehler! I’m thrilled that others in community also feel this way and we’ve found a way to honor Larry as the champion that he is!”

Aware of the P-H-M Education Foundation’s ongoing naming rights campaign, anonymous donors contacted the P-H-M Education Foundation wishing to contribute to the Foundation’s endowment. Wanting to also find a way to honor Mr. Beehler’s three decades of civil service and dedication to P-H-M, the naming rights partnership for the new ticket center was suggested. Per the agreement, the donors have donated $25,000 to the P-H-M Education Foundation endowment.

When a donor partners with PHMEF on the naming rights fundraising initiative, 80 percent of the donation goes into the Foundation’s endowment. This in turn provides alternative and additional funding for various co-curricular and extracurricular programs. The remaining 20 percent directly funds professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing education and training of educators is a major priority for P-H-M School District. The key to providing an excellent education is having excellent teachers. P-H-M teachers are excellent at what they do because of their passion, but also because of the ongoing professional development the District provides.

“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,” said PHMEF Executive Director Mari Linn Wise. “PHMEF enthusiastically does whatever we can to support education throughout the District through awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.”

See the list below for a timeline of P-H-M Education Foundation’s other naming rights partners:

• In August 2014, P-H-M Education Foundation recognized two local families for their longtime support, in-kind donations and financial contributions to P-H-M educational programs:
  • The music rooms at all P-H-M's elementary schools were named after Jim and Julie Schwartz (represents $50,000 worth of donations over 10 years)
  • The Band Room at Penn High School was named after the Doshi family (represents $15,000 worth of donations over 10 years)
     
• Lionshead Specialty Tire and Wheel Penn High School Soccer Field
  Board approved September 2014
  $25,000 payable over 5 years
   
• Dar and Dot Wiekamp Penn High School Tennis Courts
  Board approved September 2014
  $25,000 payable over 5 years
   
• May Oberfell Lorber Penn High School Softball Field
  Board approved October 2014
  $25,000 payable over 5 years
   
• TCU Freed Field (Penn High School’s football stadium)
  Board approved June 22, 2015
  $400,000 payable over 12 years
  *This agreement was a continuation of a long standing partnership. TCU’s commitment represents more than the renaming of the high school football field. TCU is collaborating with P-H-M educators to develop financial literacy programs, scholarships, functions and activities.
   
• The Zolman Tire Concession Stand (north Concession stand at TCU Freed Field)
  Board approved January 11, 2016
  $25,000 payable over 5 years with 12-year naming rights
   
• Jordan Automotive Group Baseball Field at Penn High School
  Board approved January 25, 2016
  $25,000 payable over 5 years with 12-year naming rights
   
• Tradewinds Restaurant Concession Stand (second floor concession stand, near the entrance to the pool and across the main gymnasium at Penn High School)
  Board approved March 28, 2016
  $25,000 payable over 5 years with 12-year naming rights
   
• Saint Joseph Health System Tennis Courts at Prairie Vista (the tennis courts at Prairie Vista Elementary School)
  Board approved Monday, July 25, 2016
  $10,000 payable within 30 days with 12-year naming rights
   
• Larry Beehler Ticket Center (at Penn High School’s TCU Freed Field)
  Board approved August 14, 2017
  $25,000 paid in full with 12-year naming rights

One of the most exciting celestial events is coming up the afternoon of Monday, August 21 and

P-H-M wants our students to be prepared and experience the Great American Solar Eclipse. 

What makes the Great American Solar Eclipse so great? This is the first major total solar ceclipse across the continental U.S., West to East Coast, since June 8, 1918!

The northern Indiana area is not in the total eclipse pattern. However, starting at 1:00 p.m., moving east, we’ll be able to see maximum coverage (about 88%) at around 2:22 p.m. with the eclipse concluding about 3:46 p.m. Still something extraordinary for our students and families to witness!

Because the first day of the 2017-18 school year is not until Wednesday, August 23, PTOs from all our 15 schools partnered with the P-H-M DVT and Planetarium to send home free “eclipse shades” with all of  our 10,700 students the last week of school back in June. DVT Director Melinda O'Malley also prepared this P-H-Mstudent/parent fact sheet and guide for watching the eclipse safely.

We encourage our students and families to experience this wonderful event, but to do  so safely! If your child has misplaced their “eclipse shades,” here are some resources to find/purchase new ones (some of these resources, but not all, are providing solar watching glasses for free; some payment and pre-orders may be required):

• Get Ready for the Great American Eclipse! seminar, Saturday, August 12, 2017, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m., University of Notre Dame DVT- Jordan Hall: See a simulation of the eclipse in Notre Dame's unique 50-foot planetarium and digital theater. Learn about historically interesting eclipses and how the moon's place in the solar system makes these events so spectacular. Discover how to view the eclipse safely, and receive free eclipse viewing glasses. 

  The event is free and appropriate for all ages, but TICKETS ARE REQUIRED! Click here to get your tickets.

• Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library has a small number available for free, call  574-259-5277 for more information
• Saint Joseph County Public Library is hosting a Solar Eclipse Viewing party on August 21 at the downtown branch on 304 S. Main Street, South Bend. Glasses are free of charge to use only if you attend the viewing party.
• NASA’s website has a listing of reputable vendors of safe solar filters & viewers

P-H-M DVT/Planetarium Director Mindy O'Malley will be in Carbondale, IL on August 21 for the GreatAmericanEclipse. She'll be posting pictures and video that you won't want to miss! Be sure to click here to like and follow PHM DVT & Planetarium Facebook page and then logon on August 21 to experience the eclipse with Mrs. O’Malley.

Be safe and enjoy the viewing, the next total solar eclipse viewable in North America is not until April 2024!

Grissom Principal Nathan Boyd was named the Director of African-American Student Services position at South Bend Community Schools on Monday, August 7.

Mr. Boyd came to P-H-M in 2013 from LaSalle Academy where he was principal and had helped the school become a National Blue Ribbon School in 2012.

“We were very fortunate to have such a talented leader join the P-H-M family. His work ethic and level of dedication to his students and staff was beyond measure. It was so rewarding to then have his commitment honored by IASP by naming him Indiana’s Principal of the Year,” said P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker.

The superintendent has not yet named a new principal for Grissom, but will name a successor very soon and will communicate to Grissom staff and families.

Dr. Thacker also commented that Mr. Boyd is a great leader and wished him well in his new opportunity to help all children across the South Bend school district.

All female P-H-M students grades 3-8 are invited to participate in a community-sponsored girls basketball league. The league begins on Sunday, September 10 and sign-ups are Sunday, August 27 in the Penn High School Arena from Noon – 2 p.m. The “Junior League” is for grades 3-6 and the “Senior League” is for 7^th and 8^th graders.

• Click here for the Junior League (Grades 3-6) informational letter
• Click here for the Junior League (Grades 3-6) registration form
• Click here for the Senior League (Grades 7-8) informational letter
• Click here for the Senior League (Grades 7-8) registration form

Lights, camera, action! Students in grades 5-8 had a chance to experience Broadway this week by taking part in the P-H-M’s Youth Theater Camp. The students worked hard all week and performed for their families at the Penn Little Theater on the last day of camp.

Check out the camp photos below from July 28.  To download and print a 5×7 high resolution picture, simply click on the download button on each image.