The Discovery Spell Bowl Team were victorious at the Regional Competition with a score of 69 out of 72 possible points. Not only did they have the best score in their division, but they had the best score of any team at the competition. Congrats to Janet, Olivia, Felix, Aayan, and VJ for their perfect scores and Vikrant, David, and Shahmeer who scored near perfect scores. The team will return to Purdue on November 10th to defend their state title.

Penn High School’s Drama Club will present “Boo Bash”  in the Studio Theater on Thursday, Oct. 25.

“Boo Bash” features two shows, and admission is free.

The first show, “Wren and Moose”, is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 25. It is a 25-minute children’s Halloween show written by Penn High School student Kenny Collymore-Williams. After the show, there will be Halloween candy and a short meet-and-greet with the characters.

The second show, “Death and All His Nonexistent Friends”, is a 30-minute young adult Halloween show, also written by Kenny Collymore-Williams. It is scheduled to start at 7 p.m., and features a few more jumps, bumps, and scares.

According to Drama Club Sponsor Crystal Ryan, “Boo Bash” is a student-led project. It is student-written, directed, acted, and teched.

“The Drama Club developed this event as a way to have a fun, free event for the community, but more importantly, the Drama Board members wanted a low pressure, fun way to engage incoming theatre students,” Ryan said. “With such a large program, it is a great way to get our “Intro to Theatre” involved in a performance situation. 

“The other unique thing about this event it is Penn’s first stage reading!” Ryan said. “Stage readings are how most professional playwrights get their works initially read before they go on to a huge, full production. Having several aspiring playwrights in our program, I would like begin implementing this more in our program to teach students how to get their work read, produced, and out in the professional world.“

Monday, Nov. 5
5:30 p.m.
Schmucker Middle School, 56045 N Bittersweet Rd.

Indiana law (IC 20-19-3-11) now requires that all schools provide age appropriate and research based instruction on child abuse and child sexual abuse to students in grades kindergarten through 12th. Penn-Harris-Madison has partnered with the Youth Service Bureau of St. Joseph County and the St. Joseph County Special Victims Unit to provide this instruction for our students.  

In November and early December, staff from the Youth Service Bureau St. Joseph County and St. Joseph County Special Victims Unit will present the materials to secondary students in grades 6-12. Each unit is age appropriate specific to the grade level.

To learn more about the new State mandated child abuse/sexual abuse prevention curriculum, all P-H-M parents are invited to attend an optional parent information night on Monday, November 5, 5:30 p.m., at Schmucker Middle School, 56045 N Bittersweet Rd.

Parents have the option to have their student(s) participate in the state mandated educational program.

Parents are asked to return either a paper version of the permission slip or click here to submit it electronically through our school website. *Please note a permission form needs to be returned for each individual child enrolled in a Penn-Harris-Madison School.

If you wish to fill out the electronic version of the form, please click here. 

To download and print a pdf copy of the secondary (grades 6-12) permission form, please click here.

Adobe Acrobat Reader will be required to view the pdfs. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, please visit Adobe’s website, at this link www.get.adobe.com/reader/, to download your free version.

If you opt to fill out the paper form, you will need to print the form, fill it out and return it to the school.

The Poinsettia Fundraiser is a great opportunity for 7^th and 8^th grade students to earn money into their trip account.  Please read the attached information sheet. If you have any further questions you may contact Laura Nayee at laura.nayee@icloud.com or Melanie Palmer at mklpalmer@gmail.com. 

Once again Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation schools, in all grade levels tested, scored above Indiana’s averages. The variance between P-H-M’s pass rate over the state is at least 10% or higher across all grade levels and subjects.

For grade 10, 75.6% of P-H-M students passed the ELA test and 58.4% passed the Math portion. The district’s overall pass rate for grade 10 was 56.4%.

For grades 3-8, 78.0% of P-H-M students passed the ELA test and 74.8% passed the Math test. P-H-M’s overall district pass rate for grades 3-8 was 68.3%.

For grade 10, P-H-M ranks in the Top 5% out of 291 public school corporations. In grades 3-8, P-H-M is in the Top 6% of public school districts out of 294 public school corporations.

Other significant highlights from the Spring 2018 ISTEP+ results:

• Penn High School ranks 5th out of large public school districts (500+ students tested, based on both Math and ELA pass results of grade 10)
• Northpoint Elementary School is 2nd in Indiana public primary elementary schools (schools where grades 3-5 were tested)
• Discovery Middle School is 3rd in Indiana public middle schools (schools where grades 6-8 were tested)

• A total of four P-H-M elementary & one middle school—Northpoint, Prairie Vista, Horizon and Mary Frank Elementary Schools, along with Discovery Middle School—rank among the state’s Top 50 of all 1,426 public schools 

When reviewing the Corporation’s performance on the last round of ISTEP+ (grades 3-8) test results, P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker commented “P-H-M teachers and administrators are incredibly committed to our vision of excellence and offer the best education in the Michiana area. I am very proud of the fact that P-H-M is one of the state’s top performing school districts. The credit goes to our outstanding teachers, students and parents.”

Students in Grades 3-8 and students enrolled in Biology at Penn will take ILEARN Indiana’s, new computer-adaptive standardized test, this spring (April 22 – May 17) replacing the state’s previous test, ISTEP+. To see what subjects students will be tested per their grade level, please click to visit the IDOE website. 

To help parents better understand how their children will be tested and to help them prepare their students for the test, the IDOE has put together a quick one page guide. Click here to download the pdf copy.

The ISTEP+ Grade 10 assessment will be administered during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years. Click here for more information on the transition from the ISTEP+ Grade10 assessment to the College Entrance Exam.

IREAD-3 for Grade 3 will continue as is. Click for more details.

Starting this spring, the Indiana Department of Education will also transition to a new test to assess students with significant cognitive disabilities in Grades 3-8 and 10. IAM is the new summative accountability assessment. Click here for more details on IAM.

Click to view all the testing dates on the P-H-M Corporate Calendar or reference the 2018-19 P-H-M District Activities Wall Calendar.

Fund Your Student’s School Trips for FREE!

Discovery Middle School PTO RaiseRight Program | 2026–2027

Before you know it, your student will have incredible opportunities to travel with DMS—whether it’s the 7th grade trip to Mackinac Island, MI, the 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C., or an unforgettable journey to Europe or Asia in 7th/8th grade.

While traveling can add up (the D.C. trip alone costs approximately $1,316), the PTO provides an easy way to completely offset these prices. By using RaiseRight, the average DMS family earns $25 a month simply by doing what they already do. It’s an effortless way to cover or significantly lower the cost of these milestone trips during your student’s time at Discovery Middle School!

Over the last 7 years, DMS families have purchased more than $1,712,000 in gift cards, racking up over $71,000 in completely free money for student travel.

What is RaiseRight?

It is a simple, rewarding fundraising program that lets you earn money for your student’s trip account through your everyday spending.

Four Ways to Earn Big:

• Gift cards: Buy physical or digital cards at face value and watch the earnings stack up.
• Shop online: Start your online shopping through RaiseRight to unlock immediate percentages back (read exclusions for each vendor online). 
  • “Note – these rebates earned may take up to 90 days to credit to your PTO account.“
• Local dining: Earn when you dine at participating restaurants.
• Travel bookings: Book hotels, car rentals, or attractions to earn.

How Does it Work?

• Buy: Access brands, dining, and travel bookings on the RaiseRight app or online at raiseright.com.
• Earn: For every transaction, you earn a rebate between 1.25% and 20%.
• Split: 90% of that rebate goes directly into your student’s personal DMS Trip Account, and 10% supports the PTO.
• Spend: Use the full-value gift cards or bookings for your normal household expenses.

Want to see it in action? Watch this short video tutorial to see how you can buy and scan e-cards instantly while waiting in line at the grocery store or sitting at a restaurant.  https://youtu.be/lPD4jn7FYvY

How to Get Started

• Step 1: Register with DMS — Fill out this form so the PTO knows exactly who should receive your earned rebates.
• Step 2: Create Your Account — Download the RaiseRight app or visit the website and create an account. Use our exclusive DMS enrollment code: 7A84L4BB37615.
• Step 3: Link Your Payment — Connect your account to enable instant, digital deliveries. The PTO does not accept cash or checks for RaiseRight payments. Choose the digital payment option that works best for you:
  • Secure Bank Transfer (ACH): $0.29 flat fee per order
  • Debit Card: 1% fee per order
  • Credit Card: 3% fee per order

The Fine Print: Only parents/guardians can hold active RaiseRight accounts for students and the PTO requests that there be only one account per household. You are welcome to collect orders from family and friends, but all transactions must pass through the main parent account. All funds raised must be spent on school-sponsored Discovery Middle School trips. Unused balances at the end of 8th grade can be transferred, upon request, to a sibling at DMS or gifted to another student’s trip account if they are a current DMS student or incoming 6th grader (no gap years permitted). Any remaining balances not transferred will be donated to the PTO.

RaiseRight FAQ’s

How do I get information to know when orders are due and when to pick them up?

• All RaiseRight communication is posted on the DMS PTO Facebook page. Physical gift cards are shipped after the 1st of each month and the DMS PTO RaiseRight coordinator will contact you once your order has arrived to arrange pick up.
• Typically there will be one Friday a month when students can pick them up from the concession stand at dismissal with prior permission from a parent or from the RaiseRight Coordinator’s home.

Can I use RaiseRight to help pay for an adult/chaperone to go on a trip?

• No, RaiseRight fundraising is only for students.

How do I find out how much money is in my student’s trip account?

• You can easily keep track of how much you’ve earned with RaiseRight by clicking on “Account”, “Personal Dashboard”, and “Order History” on the RaiseRight website. Remember that you get 90% of the total rebate earned and the PTO keeps 10%.

Why does the PTO collect 10% of the rebates?

• The PTO is actually very generous in giving 90% of the rebates back to the families. We did research when we began this program at DMS and found that many nonprofit organizations ask their families to participate in the program and all of the funds are kept for the organization.  Other groups split the rebates 50/50.
• In our case, the 10% helps to cover the cost of shipping the orders, printer ink, and other miscellaneous fees associated with running this program, and the rest of the money is put into the general PTO fund, which is returned to school in numerous ways. 

For how long can I contribute to my student’s trip account with RaiseRight?

• RaiseRight rebates can be applied to a student’s trip account beginning in June after they complete 5th grade (they are then considered a 6th grader) through February of the student’s 8th grade year. Final DC trip payments are made in March.
• Funds may still be earned after February of 8th grade and any remaining funds are then transferred to a sibling or other student account (if requested) or donated to PTO.

I have earned enough to pay for my student’s trip, now what?

• If you have another student at DMS, you can begin earning RaiseRight money for that student, just let the RaiseRight Coordinator know that the funds earned should now be directed toward your other student.
• Remember that the student’s trip account is for any major DMS trip, including Washington DC, Stay Local Adventure (in lieu of DC), Europe, China, or Mackinac Island, MI, so you can continue to fundraise for another trip, if applicable.
• You can continue to order from RaiseRight and donate the full rebate to the PTO.
• Please be aware that unused money will not be returned to a family. If you move or switch schools, the money in your account stays with the DMS PTO.

What if my student does not go on the DC Trip?

• Money accrued in your student’s account can be used for expenses associated with the “Stay Local Adventure,” the alternative to DC activity for students who do not go on the DC trip, as well as the DMS trips to Europe and China as well as the 7th grade Mackinac Island, MI trip. Any unspent funds will remain with the PTO.

Other questions?

• Contact the RaiseRight Coordinator, Sarah Kotys at smkotys@gmail.com

This video will help you to become familiar with the design of our new assessment web pages and how to find key information and resources for all of Indiana’s assessments.  

Please click HERE to view the assessment video. 

The show schedule for the 2018-19 school year has been set, with the first show of the season kicking off on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 6:30. Click here for the full schedule.

Patrons are now able to reserve and purchase tickets online through the P-H-M ​RevTrak Web Store. More  details online at www.phmschools.org/dvt.  

School pictures will be taken on September 18^th and 19^th during health/gym classes.  

On September 18^th the following students will have their picture taken:

7^th grade girls, 6^th grade girls , 7^th grade boys 

On September 19^th the following students will have their picture taken:

6^th grade boys, 8^th grade boys, 8^th grade girls