This morning in a special meeting Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees unanimously voted to approve the Teachers Agreement for the 2016-2017 school year raising the eligible teachers’ salaries by $1,000, retroactive to the start of this school year.

 

In the new one-year agreement ratified Tuesday, Sept. 27 by the Teachers Association, the minimum starting salary for teachers will increase from $37,000 to $37,500. This is the second year in a row Board has approved a salary increase for teachers. The new salary range for the 2016-2017 school year will be $37,500-$70,500. The salaries for extracurricular academic and athletic coaches at all levels (elementary, middle and high school) levels will increase by 3%. Health insurance plan cost increases will be addressed through plan design changes and premium increases for both teachers and the District effective January 1, 2017.

 

In 2015, P-H-M was rated an “A-rated” school district by the Indiana Department of Education for the 6th year in a row, with 100% of P-H-M teachers rated as either “Highly Effective” or “Effective.” P-H-M values its teachers and wants to reward them.

 

“Our teachers have helped make P-H-M a top 10 school district in the state of Indiana,” said Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “We want to not only attract the best school teachers, but retain them. These salary increases help make that possible.”

 

For the 2015 ISTEP+, P-H-M earned an 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts); 78.0% pass rate for Math; and an overall combined pass rate of 72.1% for both subjects areas. P-H-M now ranks 10th in the state among 293 public school districts. Serving approximately 10,700 students, P-H-M has six “Four Star schools” named by the IDOE last year: Horizon Elementary, Mary Frank Elementary, Prairie Vista Elementary, Northpoint Elementary, Discovery Middle, and Penn High School. Penn High School's graduation rate exceeds the state’s with a 97% graduation rate.

 

Yesterday (Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016), Northpoint Elementary School was named a 2016 National Blue Ribbon School (one of just 329 schools nationwide and eight in Indiana). This makes the ninth time a P-H-M school received the nation's top honor. Prairie Vista won in 2015 and in 1996; Penn High School in 1994, 1995 and 2001; Discovery Middle School in 2006 and 2013. Northpoint previously received the award in 2010.