Managing COVID-19 Anxiety & Stress

 

Talking with Your Child & Teen About Infectious Diseases (such as the Coronavirus) … Helping to Relieve Anxieties

 

With all the information out about Infectious Diseases, such as the COVID-19, coronavirus, many people may have concerns and anxieties looming about their own health and the spread of the disease. As parents, we may have questions about how to talk to our children about the disease. With that in mind, we wanted to offer ways to support you from the social-emotional side. Please click to watch the video below from P-H-M's Director of Social-Emotional Learning & Mental Health Jennifer Sears, Ph.D. 

 

 

Dr. Sears has also prepared a multitude of tips and resources below for parents.

 

  • The following are guidelines or suggestions on the type of information that is age-appropriate for most. Remember, you know your child best.
    • Early Elementary: Keep the conversation brief, simple and stick to the facts. Assure the child home and school are safe. Let the child know IF someone gets sick, adults will help. Help the child learn ways to stay healthy, such as washing their hands, maintaining a sanitary environment, eating properly, getting enough rest, etc. 
    • Upper Elementary and Early Middle Schoolers: Share facts as above, but keep in mind children at this age are processing information more and may question if they are really safe. Therefore, it is important to separate fact from rumor. Share the ways people at home and school are taking measures to help keep them healthy. Monitor or limit media intake.
    • Upper Middle School and High Schoolers: Information can be shared more in-depth and more adult-like. Be honest, accurate and factual. Make sure they feel a sense of control in the situation, which comes by engaging in activities that will help keep themselves and others be healthy. Monitor media intake. 
  • Key Talking Points: When you talk with your child, keep the above in mind as well as a few key talking points for your consideration — State that at home and school, adults are taking every effort to keep everyone safe. Not everyone will get the disease/virus. Steps are being made to limit the spread of the disease and care for those who are sick. They can do things to help stay healthy (i.e., wash hands with soap and water, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer, avoid contact with people who are sick, do not touch your mouth, eyes, nose or face, use your elbow to catch your sneeze or cough, clean and disinfect surface areas, etc.).

  • Here are some additional helpful suggestions about how to talk with your child about Infectious Diseases, such as the COVID-19:

    •  Be available and present: Take a few minutes to have a conversation with your child. Chances are they have heard something about the virus, and if not, it is a good time to set the tone with your child. Stick to the facts and reassure them that everyone is making every reasonable effort to keep people safe. Tell them you are aware of the symptoms (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath, per the CDC) and will monitor their health and seek immediate medical attention if you have concerns.

    • Remain calm and reassuring: Children will imitate what is modeled for them, so keep your voice calm, soothing and reassuring as you talk to them. Tell your child your family and the school are taking every precaution to help keep them safe.

    • Do not blame others: At times, we may find ourselves blaming a person or group of people, but it is really important to avoid stereotyping and blaming, especially in an instance when no one has meant to cause any harm. Any negative talk should be stopped and if there are concerns, you can report this to the school or make a call to the Safe School Helpline.

    • Listen to Concerns to Help Keep them Manageable: As do adults, children’s minds can wonder and they can imagine horrible situations. They may be worried about their loved ones becoming sick. Listen to their concerns, stick to the facts, and only share age-appropriate information. You know your child best.

    • Be aware of signs of anxiety in your children. You may notice some behaviors in your child that are a little out of character. For instance, on the mild side, they may hang around you more, seem clingy or want to be with you to help build a sense of security. Be patient. Younger children will have more difficulty expressing their worries than older children so they may not be able to put their thoughts into words, but their behaviors will help you gauge what they are feeling. Also keep in mind, young children may ask a few questions, play and then come back with more questions. They are unpacking a lot of information and attempting to make sense of it based on their experiences and knowledge. This is why it is important to stick to facts, answer what you are able to and what is age-appropriate, and prevent or limit access to media or talk that will heighten concerns.

  • Other Important Considerations:

    • Relieving Anxieties: Oftentimes, we feel a sense of anxiety because we do not feel in control or want to gain some control over the situation. With this in mind, remind children and adults alike that they have a sense of control in that they can help prevent the spread of the virus by taking appropriate measures to keep their hands sanitized using soap and warm water or an alcohol-based sanitizer, not touching face or mouth, not touching others, covering their mouths when they cough or sneeze, not eating or drinking after others, which all can provide provide a sense of control in people that they are not spreading the virus. We can also feel a sense of control when we take measures to stay healthy and give our immune system what it needs to keep our bodies healthy by eating right and getting enough sleep for their age. Assess your own risk to gain a sense of control over your health. Please consider speaking with your medical provider if you have individual concerns. The CDC also offers information on risks to different populations.​​ Please find the link here to CDC Website with information about people at high risk. If you know your risk, you can take the recommended precautions in order to help gain a sense of control, which will help alleviate some anxieties.

    • Self-Care: It is vital that we continue to engage in self-care activities to promote physical, psychological, personal, emotional, spiritual and professional well-being and help strengthen our ability to be resilient, or bounce back. If you are feeling more stress during this time, it is a good idea to make self-care more of a priority than it usually is for you. Self-care activities include eating and exercising properly, getting plenty of sleep, as well as engaging in activities that are safe and you enjoy.

    • Flexible Thinking: Practice flexible thinking, which is thinking about things in a new way. During times of change, we can practice flexible thinking when we think about our routine, for example. During times of change, we can practice cognitive flexibility by realizing we might do school work differently than normal, but we are still learning-we are just going about it in new ways than we typically do.

    • Supervise media consumption. Make sure information is age appropriate. Sensitive topics such as death can cause extreme worry and confusion. Limit the amount of time and conversation surrounding the Infectious Disease (e.g. COVID-19). While it is important to take precautions, adults should not dwell on the topic or share information with students that can be frightening and cause unnecessary panic. Reference the cdc.gov for the most accurate information. Communication regarding school will come from school administration. Be careful not to get caught up in rumors. If you have specific concerns, please report those to your child’s school. Rather than spending too much time with social media, especially with your children around (remember, they pick up on more than you know), engage in a game or other healthy activity to build relationships and ease their concerns by having the attention and presence of an adult. 

Additional Resources:

 

Important Message from Dr. Thacker re: COVID-19 (3/11/2020)

The message below was sent out to all P-H-M staff and families the afternoon of March 11, 2020.

 

Dear P-H-M Families,

 

The Saint Joseph County Department of Health held a news conference shortly after 3:00 p.m. this afternoon (Wednesday, March 11, 2020) to announce that St. Joseph County has its first positive case of COVID-19. 

 

If you are not yet aware, the Health Department stated that the patient is an adult male in his 50s and is quarantined at home. They stated that the patient does not need to be hospitalized. Due to patient privacy, no other information was released.

 

Out of an abundance of precaution and to minimize risk of exposure to the elderly and those with medically compromised immune systems, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation has decided to postpone large community events that we are hosting for the remainder of this week through Sunday, March 15. Building principals will notify the groups affected by the postponement of these events.

 

P-H-M Administration will take the rest of this week to examine what future action may need to be taken. We will be following the recommendations and direction of local, state and federal health officials.

 

We shared with you yesterday afternoon that we met with the Health Dept. officials. Their recommendation was to continue to stress the importance of hand hygiene and the importance for students and staff who are displaying flu-like symptoms to remain at home until they are fever and symptom free for at least 24 hours. CDC recommendations include:

  1. Wash your hands. Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. Soap and water is best, washing the hands for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  2. Cover your mouth and nose. Remind your students to cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. The best thing is to cover the mouth and nose area with a tissue and then throw the tissue immediately away. Second best, if tissues are not available, is to cough/sneeze into your elbow. 
  3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.

 

Both influenza and COVID-19 are respiratory viruses and the symptoms are very similar (click here for COVID-19 symptoms as described by the CDC). If you or a family member is having flu-like symptoms, you should contact your family physician for medical guidance. 

 

Please use these resources for more information on the COVID-19 situation nationally and in our state:

 

We appreciate your patience during this time.
 

Dr. Jerry Thacker​
Superintendent of Schools

Parent information on Naviance

P-H-M is excited to offer Naviance to students in grades 6-12. Naviance is a college, career and life readiness web-based platform that helps identify and align students' individual strengths and interests to post-secondary goals, including college and careers. Naviance was built for students to learn about who they are as learners, what their interests and strengths are, and then tie their personal interests and strengths to potential career pathways and colleges.

 

Starting in the Spring 2020 semester, students in 6th-12th grades will be doing two to four learning activities through the Naviance platform as part of Phase I of our Naviance launch.

 

During the 2019-2020 school year specifically, in middle school, students will engage in Naviance during social studies, and high schoolers will engage in Naviance during English for 11th & 12th graders, science for 10th graders, and PCC for 9th graders.

 

Students will have access to Naviance using their Clever credentials, and parents can have access to their student's account using their child's Clever credentials as well.

 

Please click here to access the presentation used at a parent informational meeting on March 2, 2020 for additional information.

 

We are pleased to offer this robust tool to continue to support your student to reach his or her potential and set them on a path toward success!

Important Message from Dr. Thacker re: COVID-19 (3/3/2020)

The message below was sent out to all P-H-M staff and families the afternoon of March 3, 2020.

 

Dear P-H-M Families,

 

The health, safety and well-being of Penn-Harris-Madison students and staff are our top priorities. With the ongoing elevated discussion regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the world news, we are reaching out to remind everyone in the P-H-M family about the preventive safety measures we can all take, as well as to inform you what we at P-H-M are doing.

 

As a school district, we are closely monitoring the situation via the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. The CDC is providing local expert and community guidance through the St. Joseph County Department of Health and the Indiana Department of Health. We are also receiving information from the U.S. Department of Education and the Indiana Department of Education, as well as a host of other state and national professional organizations. The one good thing about this situation is that there is an abundance of expert guidance. We are following the advice and direction of the governmental entities in charge. As a district, we are focusing on the things within our control.

 

All of the health officials are uniformly reiterating that the best preventive measure that each and every one of us can do is practice good hand hygiene. The same precautions that we annually remind our students, at all grade levels, during the cold and flu season are the exact same practices that the CDC is recommending to help prevent the spread of COVID-19:
 

  1. Clean hands. Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  2. Cover your mouth and nose. Remind your students to cover their mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. The best thing to do is to cough/sneeze into your elbow. Second best is to cover the mouth and nose area with a tissue and then throw the tissue away.
  3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
  4. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.

 

P-H-M’s janitorial staff already cleans common areas and disinfects common touch surfaces regularly. We ramp up these efforts during the cold and flu season. Under the current circumstances and in an abundance of precaution, P-H-M is taking extra steps to increase our normal diligent disinfectant measures.

 

As stated in all P-H-M Student Handbooks if students are sick please keep them home. Students should not return to school until they are fever and symptom free for 24 hours. We are constantly reminding families to practice this ongoing safety practice year round.

 

As it pertains to concerns over COVID-19 symptoms, the CDC has very specific recommendations if the symptoms coincide with recent travel to specific countries on their watch lists.

 

This situation continues to evolve. P-H-M Administrators are staying abreast of the information, as we have since the beginning. If the need should arise to change or defer from our normal operations, rest assured we will communicate with our families and staff immediately.

 

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Dr. Jerry Thacker

Superintendent of Schools

Naviance Parent Info Night, March 2

Penn-Harris-Madison is pleased to introduce Naviance Student as a comprehensive website that you and your middle or high school student can use to make post-secondary plans. Naviance Student allows your student to engage in a variety of activities, such as:

  • Getting involved in the planning and advising process – Build a resume, complete online surveys, and manage timelines and deadlines for making decisions about post-secondary options and careers
  • Researching colleges – Review statistics regarding students who have been admitted in the past
  • Researching careers – Research hundreds of careers and career clusters, and take career assessments
  • Creating plans for the future – Create four-year plans, goals and to-dos, and complete tasks assigned by the school to better prepare your student for future post-secondary and career goals.

 

To help parents answer questions about this new tool, we will be holding a information night for middle and high school parents:

Naviance Parent Info Night (middle & high school parents)

Monday, March 2

6:00 p.m.

Penn High School, LGI-B

*Enter Door A or B

 

You can get started by clicking here to watch a demo of “The Student Journey in Naviance.” 

 

Naviance Student also lets us share information with you and your student about upcoming meetings and events, local scholarship opportunities, and other resources for post-secondary information. We will systematically introduce Naviance to your student so your child can begin engaging in a variety of  activities. 

 

Additionally, over the course of the spring semester, your student will have the opportunity to complete different activities in Naviance, so please talk with your student about what your child is completing and learning about themselves in preparation for college and career readiness.

 

Athletics Physicals at Penn set for Tuesday, May 19

 

 

Penn High School will host athletics physicals for 2020-2021 high school students and incoming freshmen (current eighth graders) only.

 

Date: Tuesday, May 19

 

Location: Penn Main Arena

 

Time: 3:15 – 5:00 p.m.

 

Cost: $25 (checks made payable to Penn High School)

 

Student-athletes MUST have their physical forms page 1 and 3 completed prior to attending.

 

Click here for the Athletics Physical form, or you can pick up the forms at the Penn Athletic office, or your middle schools athletic office.

 

These pages include parent and student signatures (page 4 is informational). The doctors will complete page 2. Once the student-athletes have been to every station and checked out with the doctors, they will check out with the athletic office staff and turn their completed physical form in.
 

Register Now for the 2020 Silver Mile Bubble Bash on Sat., May 16

Saturday, May 16

8:30 a.m. – Noon

Penn High School

 

Register online today! Early Bird Registration is available until Sunday, May 3 ($20 for adults, $10 for students)!

 

Do you like bubbles? Well, if you do, you’ll enjoy the Silver Mile Bubble Bash!  

 

Highlighted changes for this year’s event:

  • Early start time, 8:30 a.m.
  • 1.5 mile and 5K route options
  • Lower early bird prices: $20 for adults, $10 for students
  • Family Pricing: $60 for four or more (at same address)

 

Missed out on all the bubbly fun last year? Don't let it happen two years in a row! Watch the video and see how much fun you and your whole family will have …

 

 

The Silver Mile Run is the largest fundraiser for the P-H-M Education Foundation and all the proceeds go towards providing innovative P-H-M teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development, and other corporation-wide initiatives.

 

Presenting sponsor Saint Joseph Health System will offer free health screenings including body mass index and blood sugar! Other area businesses will also be on hand to showcase health and fitness related activities, resources and services. 

 

After a fun day, leave with great bargains purchased at the Silent Auction. The P-H-M student talent showcase is always a crowd pleaser. Last year, the student groups included Horizon Show Choir, Bittersweet Cardio Drummers, Elm Road Jumping Eagles, Meadow's Edge Dancers, and Penn High School Dancers.

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Choose to walk or run the 5K or take a shorter loop. This exciting untimed race welcomes runners of all experience levels while blasting through foam bogs and fun spirit stations along the course.

​

The Silver Mile Bubble Bash is a chance for P-H-M families and local community members to get together and show their support for excellence in education in all P-H-M schools.  Proceeds are returned to P-H-M schools by awarding innovative teacher grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.

 

Click here to take advantage of early bird registration and for more information on the Bubble Bash.

Running is Elementary set for Mon., April 27

Monday., April 27 (Rain Date is Wed., April 29)

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

behind Elm Road Elementary School 

59400 Elm Road, Mishawaka
 

“Running is Elementary” is gearing up for another great year! This is the 12th year for the one mile, non-competitive run which will feature the participation of almost 700 fourth and fifth grade students from all 11 P-H-M elementary schools. This event is FREE to students and takes place on the Penn cross-country course located behind Elm Road Elementary School.

 

Each school year fourth and fifth graders are encouraged to join the running club at each of P-H-M’s elementary schools. The kids go through this six-week club trained by designated coaches at each school. The end of the six weeks is then celebrated by participating in the Running is Elementary run.

 

Click to download the RIE forms to sign your student(s) to participate. 

 

Mary Frank physical education teacher and P-H-M’s 2009 Teacher of the Year Cindy Batalis began this event in 2008. Running has always been a true passion for Batalis and she shares that passion with students by organizing this yearly event.

 

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

2020 Middle School Instrument Selection Nights

Discovery Instrument Selection Nights

Monday, Feb. 24, 2020

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020

4:30 – 7:30 p.m.
 

Schmucker Instrument Selection Nights

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

4:30 – 7:30 p.m.

 

Grissom Instrument Selection Night

Monday, March 9, 2020

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

4:30 – 7:30 p.m.

 

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation is nationally recognized as one of the “Best Communities for Music Education” offering choir, band and orchestra at our three middle schools: Schmucker, Discovery and Grissom.

 

Every P-H-M 5th grader who will be attending a P-H-M middle school as an incoming 6th grader in the Fall 2020 has the opportunity to join an instrumental music class, which includes either band or orchestra. “Instrument Selection Night” is when students and families get to make their choice!

 

In order to join 6th grade band or orchestra, students must select an instrument that they will learn, practice and perform for the school year.  Click this link to sign-up for your appointment at your designated school and date. 

 

Please click here to download the flyer with all the information.

 

At “Instrument Selection Night,” a music professional will be available to give students advice about which instrument may be best suited for them. They will be allowed to “try out” instruments from various instrument groups.

Facts about Lead Poisoning

Lead poisoning is caused by swallowing or breathing lead. Children under the age of six-years-old are more at risk. Lead poisoning can also harm unborn babies, so pregnant women should also take precautions.

Lead can cause learning and behavior problems because lead harms the brain and nervous system. Some of the effects of lead poisoning may never go away.

Lead in a child’s body can:

  • Slow down growth and development
  • Damage hearing and speech
  • Make it hard for children to pay attention and learn

Most children get lead poisoning from paint in homes built before 1978. When old paint cracks and peels, it makes dangerous dust. The dust is so small that it cannot be seen with the naked eye. Most children get lead poisoning when they breathe or swallow the dust on their hands and toys.

Lead testing is the only way to know if a child has been exposed to lead poisoning. Most children who have lead poisoning do not look or act sick.

Parents are encouraged to talk to their pediatrician if they think their child may be at risk for lead poisoning. Testing is available through your family doctor as well as the St. Joseph County Health Department.

Click here for more information on lead poisoning, how you can protect your family, and safe cleaning tips if your home has lead paint.