The Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees voted to approve the sponsorship agreement between the P-H-M Education Foundation and Saint Joseph Health System at tonight’s Board meeting (Monday, July 25, 2016).
Per the agreement, Saint Joseph Health System will donate $10,000 to the P-H-M Education Foundation endowment for a 12-year naming rights period, thereby affording SJHS the opportunity to name the tennis courts at Prairie Vista Elementary School. SJHS will pay the signage costs to have the field renamed “Saint Joseph Health System Tennis Courts at Prairie Vista.”
Per PHMEF’s naming rights fundraising initiative, 80 percent of the donation will go into the Education Foundation’s endowment, which will in turn provide alternative and additional funding for various co-curricular and extracurricular programs district wide. The remaining 20 percent will directly fund the school district’s professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School Corporation.
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. The Foundation awards innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, and other corporation-wide initiatives.
A separate fundraising initiative has been underway since Spring 2015 to resurface the Prairie Vista tennis courts. No portion of the Saint Joseph Health System sponsorship contributed to the court refurbishment project; the naming rights are not related to that initiative. The cost of resurfacing of the courts was paid for by Penn-Harris-Madison School District, a grant from the United States Tennis Association and private donations by the P-H-M Education Foundation, Prairie Vista families, community members and local businesses. You can read more about that project on Prairie Vista’s website at https://prairievista.phmschools.org/prairie-vista-tennis-courts-get-facelift.
