The message below was emailed to all P-H-M families on March 13, 2020.

 

 

Dear P-H-M Families,

 

I want to start by thanking all of you for your patience throughout this process. We are all trying to find a way to maintain normalcy during the nation’s unprecedented times. Yesterday’s decision was made for a variety of reasons, but was done out of an abundance of precaution and after Governor Holcomb’s announcement of procedures for Indiana was released.

 

Our primary goal now is to help provide a continuation of learning for our students. Fortunately, P-H-M has been using eLearning for nearly seven years and our teachers and students are comfortable with the platform. We will need to be flexible, but I believe eLearning will allow for unique and dynamic educational exercises for our students and teachers.

 

My communication for you today is to relay important information and next steps. We are sharing the details that we’ve worked out up to this point:

• All school extra and co-curricular activities are temporarily suspended. Since we do not yet know when we will return to school as normal, we do not know when activities will resume and under what circumstances. 
• Use of P-H-M buildings for all external organizations is temporarily suspended.
• We anticipate the last day of school will still be on Thursday, June 4.​

 

eLearning:

• eLearning will begin Tuesday, March 17. At this point, there is not a scheduled number of days, however we anticipate it to be an extended period of time. A calendar will be provided next week. 
• During eLearning, teachers will post lessons for students and parents to access. If you have any struggles accessing the lessons, please email your child's teacher.
• For families who do not have a home device to access eLearning (this primarily pertains to elementary parents), P-H-M will provide a Chromebook. If you do not have a home device or a P-H-M issued Chromebook, please email both your student’s Principal and your child's teacher to make arrangements for you to pick up a Chromebook at the school. Click here for a listing of Principal email addresses and school office numbers.
• eLearning for Kindergartners will be available. If families do not have a device at home, we will be making the iPads available for parent pickup at the schools.
• For families without internet access, Comcast has announced 2 months of FREE access in response to emergency measures related to the Coronavirus. For more details on this offer, please click here. Any families who continue to not have internet access to complete eLearning should email their teacher and the Principal.

 

Building Access:

• All P-H-M employees are working and we will make student items that are at school (such as personal items, band instruments, etc.) available for parents to pick up.
• Please email both your student’s Principal and your child's teacher to make arrangements to pick up the item(s). As a safety precaution, staff will bring items outside for pickup. 
• Anticipate hearing from your building principal regarding the hours when parents can arrange to pick up items starting Monday, March 16. If you cannot come to the school at the times provided, please email the Principal and teacher to make alternate arrangements. 
• Medications must be picked up by Friday, March 20 at 12:00 p.m. or they will be discarded unless other arrangements have been made. Please contact your school nurse or building principal to make these arrangements. Medication must be picked up by an adult, unless a permission slip has previously been signed.
• If you have a fever or you have been in known contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient, please do not come to the school; please make other arrangements to send another adult.
   

Lunches:

• We will be offering “to go lunches” for any students who are in need starting on Monday, March 16. Lunches will be offered Monday-Friday between 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Walt Disney (beginning Monday, March 16) and Moran (beginning Tuesday, March 17).
• The lunches will be provided by staff members outside the school in a drive-up format. 
• Students must be present with the parent to pick up the lunch. We apologize, but per USDA guidelines, a parent is not allowed to pick up lunches for the family and we must record the student's ID number to track the meals provided. So please make sure to have your student with you and have their student ID number, which is available in Family Access.
• The lunches must be taken and consumed off school property. Students will not be permitted to eat them inside or at the school.
• The lunches will be FREE, no payment is required!
• Credits on meal accounts are always rectified at the end of the school year.

   

SAT Testing at Penn High School:

• Testing that was previously scheduled for this Saturday, March 14 will be rescheduled. We are working with the College Board on a new date. If you have a specific question or concern regarding SAT testing, please contact Penn High School Guidance Office at (574) 258-9502.

   

Kids Club, Early Learning Academy and PennPALS accounts:
Because of the complexity of how pre-payment is arranged for these programs and the unknown period of which we are going to be out, we are still working out the process of credits or reimbursement. If you have an immediate question, please contact these staff members:

• Kids Club: Binti Shah, Kids Club Program Director, (574) 258-9514, bshah@phm.k12.in.us
• Early Learning Academy: Horizon: Rita Szweda, School Treasurer, (574) 679-9788, rszweda@phm.k12.in.us 
• Mary Frank: Michael Furnas, School Treasurer, (574) 272-0340, mfurnas2@phm.k12.in.us 
• PennPALS: Meghan Murphy, Lead Preschool Specialist, (574) 968-9600, mmurphy2@phm.k12.in.us

Exceptional Education:

• We will continue to hold previously scheduled case conferences and services will continue to be provided through eLearning. If you have any questions, please email your teacher of record or call the Exceptional Education Office at (574) 968-9600 or email Exceptional Education Director Gena Todd at gtodd@phm.k12.in.us. 
   

Please recognize that we are providing all the information that we have for you at this time. We are still working on a number of different details and will continue to have information to share with you. If you have a question about something that has not been addressed in this email, we ask for your patience until next week as we will be releasing more details and information. We will have regular updates as the extended eLearning days continue.

If you have an immediate concern, we ask that you please contact your school office, teacher or principal first as they are able to help address school and student specific questions. Click here for a listing of Principal email addresses and school office numbers.

 

P-H-M Administration and employees are working tirelessly to make this process as smooth as possible for our families under unusual and difficult circumstances. We want to help our families resolve issues and answer questions. Social media is not always the best and most effective means for one-on-one communication during a constantly evolving situation. We will only use the district Facebook and Twitter platforms to post important details that have first been sent to you via School Messenger. However, we do not have the means to answer and respond to individual questions on social media; please contact staff directly so that we can help you. We want to maintain the level of customer service that our families expect and deserve. We have been posting all messages about COVID-19 since Tuesday, March 3 on https://www.phmschools.org and will continue to do so for future reference.

 

Lastly, the district is a major employer in our area. We have received a number of questions from parents and other concerned members of the community about our hourly employees during the period of expanded eLearning. We, of course, are in close communication with our staff during this time of flux. We value and appreciate everyone as members of the P-H-M family and are working on a plan to ensure continued employment and pay opportunities for EVERYONE. These are definitely challenging times, but I am confident that we can and will make it through this together. By showing compassion, understanding and empathy to one other, we will persevere as a community.

 

Thank you,
Dr. Jerry Thacker​
Superintendent of Schools