The Food Service Department of the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation is participating in the Summer Food Service Program for Summer 2020. The summer program will run June 4 – August 18 at nine locations. 

Our school year meal service at the three locations of Prairie Vista, Grissom and Penn will continue through June 3. Click here for details on those pickup hours. Monday, May 25 is Memorial Day and no meals will be available. However, we will be handing out food backpacks at Grissom and Penn Friday, May 22 during lunch. Each backpack will have enough food for two meals for two kids. More details can be found here. 

The summer meal program will operate Monday through Friday, June 4 – August 18 at nine locations. Each location has different hours and dates of service. Please click here for more information and a complete list of sites and dates.

All sites will be closed on Friday, July 3, 2020.

FREE MEALS will be available to children 18 years of age and under, or persons more than 18 who are determined by a state or local public education agency to be mentally or physically disabled and who participate in a public or non-profit private school program established for the mentally or physically disabled. 

If you haven’t seen or heard by now, our school’s “One Book, One School” this year is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Discovery staff are really pulling out all the stops to get students excited and engaged throughout the month. Click to see the monthlong overview of what’s planned.

On Friday, May 21, Discovery staff dressed in the different houses of Harry Potter.

Staff have also been hard at work transforming the IMC (Library) into Diagon Alley. Click to see the pictures of the transformation.

To see more pictures of how we transformed our school into Hogwarts, take a look at the photo gallery below!

We understand that many Archers need to retrieve personal items from Discovery and also need to return textbooks. Middle school material retrieval will be Wednesday, June 3rd;  Thursday, June 4th; and Friday, June 5th from 8:00 a.m. –  4:00 p.m.

For the SAFETY of all Discovery community members,  it is vitally important that ALL families adhere to ALL of the following guidelines.  

Confirming your Retrieval Time:

• With safety in mind, we have created a schedule for you to come to pick up your child’s materials. Please note, you will only be able to enter the building during your assigned time. 
• Please click to complete this sign-up form to let us know you are coming to retrieve your items within your assigned window of time outlined below.

  

• If you cannot come during your assigned time, you will need to note that on the survey above, and someone will contact you about a different retrieval time. 

Procedures:

• We recommend that one parent comes to pick up their child’s items. If needed, the student that attends Discovery may accompany that parent. 

• ALL individuals (parents and students) entering the building must wear a face mask or face covering and keep it on during their stay in the building. You will not be allowed in the building unless you are wearing a face covering. 

• You will enter Door A if you need to retrieve items from lockers. As our previous practice, you will need to use the buzzer at Door A to enter the building. 

• Once inside the building, you should go directly to your child’s locker to gather their things.

  • Prior to coming to Discovery, we highly recommend you check Skyward to confirm your child’s locker number and combination. These details can be found on the Student Profile page and is listed to the bottom right of your child’s picture. 

• ​After gathering their items from the locker, go directly to the Cafeteria Stage to turn in textbooks. There will also be a designated location (marked tables) to turn in library books and athletic equipment. 

• You will then exit the building.

Other Important Details:

• All items not picked up by 4:00 p.m. on June 5th will be donated unless other arrangements are made. 

• If students have items in a teacher's classroom, they will need to email the teacher to make arrangements for picking up the items in a central location. 

• Bathrooms will be sealed and classrooms will not be open.

Thank you for following these guidelines to help this process be efficient and safe for everyone!
 

Discovery Middle School office hours will be 8 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., Monday-through-Friday, while P-H-M schools operate in extended eLearning due to the COVID-19 national emergency.

For parents who need to pick-up items at your child's school, click here for an appointment form to arrange for curb-side pick-up from a staff member.

The message below was sent out to all P-H-M staff and families the afternoon of March 12, 2020.

Dear P-H-M Families and Staff,

Based on Governor Eric Holcomb’s announcement released at 4:28 p.m. today, all P-H-M students will not report to school tomorrow Friday, March 13 and Monday, March 16, 2020. These days will be recess days (no eLearning will be conducted on these two days). Students and families should be prepared to begin extended eLearning beginning on Tuesday, March 17, 2020.

All P-H-M staff are to report to their normal work location at normal times on Friday, March 13 and Monday, March 16 to help prepare the district for extended eLearning days.

More details to come for respective staff groups and families. Please be patient with us as we work through these details.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Thacker​
Superintendent of Schools

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!

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

Three P-H-M teams (two from Penn High School and one from Discovery Middle School) took the top awards at the annual Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) competition at Trine University (2/18/20). The event, which included 200 students on 25 middle and high school teams, is a qualifier for the TEAMS national competition June 27 to July 1 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Discovery’s “A” Team won the middle school division. TEAM members were Joshua Kim, Cameron Poznanski, Bella Schaetzle, Noah Schafer, Jaden Shim, Jayden Wang, Michelle Yen and Felix Zhang. The team is coached by Scott Vandygriff.

Penn's “B” Team was the champion in Division I, taking the John J. McKetta Outstanding Junior Engineering Team Award. Penn's “D” Team won Division II and the Mike McKetta Outstanding Junior Engineering Team Award. Both Teams were coached by Adam Beck. 

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.

*To visit our school’s Naviance Student site, you will login via Clever with your student. You will need to use your student’s Clever credentials to login.

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.