This year's “Short Hair Because We Care” will hold a hair donation event for the Children With Hair Loss organization will be held Saturday, November 16 at Penn High School's Studio Theater.

Anyone in the community can donate their hair, but the minimum is 8 inches of hair. Hair that is colored and permed is accepted. Local professional hair stylists will be donating their time to cut volunteers hair for free. Because this is for hair donation, the service provided is just a simple cut, no style.

This event was started in 2019-2020 school year by a group of 7th grade Grissom Middle School students, one of which was Ella Smoker, Valedictorian Class of 2024.

“It started as something that students could give, that wouldn’t be money or something they wouldn’t have control over being young students, but everyone can donate their hair, so that’s why we started it: to give everyone an opportunity to serve even if they don’t have other resources,” said Smoker. Click to see the WNDU-TV's story.

Last year, 33 people donated a total of 334 inches (click to see photos)! Donate this year and help beat last year's totals!

If you're interested in donating, click here to sign up using the Google form.

Email shbwcphs@gmail.com with questions, and follow the group on Instagram at @shbwc_phs. 

If you can't make it to the event or don't have enough hair to donate, you can still help out by donating directly to Children With Hair Loss.

Children With Hair Loss is a nonprofit organization that provides hair replacements at no cost to children or young adults facing hair loss at no cost. Whatever the cause, hair loss can have effects that go deeper than cosmetics. Providing this hair is how this organization gives back to the community. You can help us give back to your community and the children facing hair loss by donating your hair or simply spreading the word about the event to everyone! 

With the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, P-H-M is switching to ParentSquare, a new unified, user-friendly, communications platform designed with parents and guardians in mind. CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE INFO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED.

ParentSquare provides a centralized location for families to receive communications from school principals, teachers, coaches, and front office staff on all their students, in all schools, in all classrooms! CLICK HERE TO GET ALL THE INFO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED. 
 

Parents/guardians receive alerts, updates, and posts on:

• important notifications, such as school closings and delays
• attendance
• principal & teacher newsletters
• school & classroom calendar of events
• volunteer & RSVP for events
• fill out permission slips & other forms
• … ALL IN ONE LOCATION!

Families chose their preferred mode of communication for non-urgent notifications– app, text, email, phone. Parents/guardians can also chose to have all communications automatically translated to their preferred first language.
 

As we approach the first day of school (Wednesday, August 21), principals and teachers will be using ParentSquare to share important "Back to School" information. Parents and guardians are asked to activate their accounts by Monday, August 12, 2024. 

PLEASE NOTE: If your child is transitioning to a new building from last school year, the information will be updated later this summer. You are still able to register for ParentSquare.

To activate parent/guardian accounts, parents need to check their email for the welcome and introductory email.

The email was sent between Thursday, July 11 and Friday, July 12, 2024 with the subject line: “Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. is now using ParentSquare.” 

The sender of the email will appear as “Penn-Harris-Madison via ParentSquare” with a donotreply @parentsquare.com email address, similar to this … donotreply+01d8d49e-b6f1-47f3-ac23-d45abf67b233@parentsquare.com

At the P-H-M Board of School of Trustees meeting on Monday, February 26, district administration made a presentation to the Board regarding the total solar eclipse taking place on Monday, April 8. As part of the presentation, district administration announced that for a variety of reasons Monday, April 8 will be an eLearning Day. If the district has used all of its allotted three eLearning Days (we currently have used two), the day will be a Virtual Learning Day. No P-H-M sponsored field trips or planned evening activities will take place on this date. Monday, April 8 is the first day back after Spring Break (April 1-5). 

Indiana is in the path of totality and is centrally located in the United States, thus the Indiana Department of Homeland Security is telling tourists, residents, school districts and public agencies to be prepared for three days of potential impact such as, oversized crowds, gridlock traffic, communications disruptions, and even nocturnal animal confusion. Click here to see the full presentation from last night’s Board meeting.

The Indianapolis area and south will experience 100% totality; while the St. Joseph County area will experience 96%. Click here to see a map of Indiana regions that will experience varying degrees of darkness from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources website. The South Bend area will start experiencing darkness at 1:53 p.m., lasting until 4:23 p.m., with 96% totality occurring at 3:09 p.m. and lasting just over 4 minutes. Because these times are around school dismissal times and based on the recommendations of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and the IDOE, P-H-M will not be holding in-person instruction on April 8. 

Thanks to Old National Bank and P-H-M Education Foundation, all students in the district will receive eclipse glasses to use at home with instructions. Mrs. Mindy O’Malley, Director of P-H-M’s Arthur M. Klinger Planetarium and Digital Video Theater, and a team of teachers, are preparing grade-level eclipse information to send home with students. In the classrooms leading up to April 8, teachers will educate students about this nearly once-in-a-lifetime event; the next total solar eclipse where portions of Indiana will be in full totality will be 2099.

If parents have any questions, they should contact their students’ principals. Employees should contact their supervisor or Human Resources.

Friday, September 29 is Penn's Homecoming Parade, Fun Zone, Food Trucks & the Penn football game versus St. Joe. The P-H-M Education Foundation is once again sponsoring all the fun and new this year–FIREWORKS after the football game! The entire P-H-M community is invited to come out for this fun-filled family event. All the fun starts with the Homecoming Parade. Be sure to grab your spot on the route by 5:00 p.m. Parade starts at 5:30! Here are some things that will be helpful for families as they head out for all the festivities.

Parking:

• Paid Parking ($3 cash) at these lots:
  • Penn High School (Front Lot & Jefferson Rd. Lot)
  • Softball/Tennis Lot
  • Bittersweet School Lot
• Free Parking at these lots:
  • Soccer Lot (Bank Lot)
  • Pennway Lot
  • Schmucker Lot (front, Sides & in Back of School)

Fun Zone:

• 5-7:00 p.m.
• Penn Baseball Field
• Teacher Dunk Tanks, Jumpies for elementary students
  • FREE for EVERYONE!
• Food Trucks:
  • Ben’s Pretzels
  • Junbuggies
  • Keim’s Elephant Ears
  • Kona Ice
  • Prized Pig
  • REAL Grille
  • Rulli’s Pizza
• Fans will be allowed to take food purchased at the Food Trucks into the stadium. However, no other outside food will be allowed!

   

Gate & Ticket Info:

• Penn vs. St, Joe, Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
• P-H-M students K – 5th grade get in FREE with paying adult!
• Tickets are on sale now-Thurs., Sept. 28 online, ticket price is $6 (students & all other age groups same price)
  • Click here to buy your tickets online
• Tickets on Friday, Sept. 29 are $7 (online or at the gate) 
• PHM Employees plus one guest get in FREE, but you must have ID badge & the guest must be with the employee
• Please remember middle schoolers cannot be dropped off unsupervised. Once in the game, the students are free to walk around. At least one responsible adult must be onsite.
• Tickets are sold at the North & South gates only!
• Penn All Sports Passes and tickets (hard & online) are accepted at all gates
• The Center Gate is reserved for Penn All Sports Passes and online ticket holders only
• No Reentry!

Fan Safety:

• Click to download and red the Lost Child Policy
• Please utilize crosswalks when crossing Bittersweet Road after the parade

Rules to Remember:

• No reentry to Everwise Field; once you leave, you are not allowed back in.
• No outside food or beverages, no insulated cups
• No backpacks
  • Diaper bags & large women’s purses are allowed
• Penn does not have a clear bag policy
• No electronic noise makers
• No Footballs or Beach Balls
• No weapons of any kind
• No alcohol
• No Smoking/Vaping products of any kind. All PHM school property is smoke free.
• No open flames at private tailgating

   

Info on the Penn Student Homecoming Dance on Saturday, September 30 can found on PHMEF's website. CLICK HERE. 

Today (Friday, September 15, 2023) Penn-Harris-Madison’s Learning Division awarded their first Teacher Impact Awards. New this year, the P-H-M Impact Award is being presented to educators who have helped their students achieve individual academic growth on their formative assessments over time. All P-H-M teachers across the district are dedicated to helping their students achieve personal academic success. The P-H-M Impact Award is shining the spotlight on those teachers who are showing the most significant overall student growth during the 2022-2023 school year (Round 1 of Awards). These teachers are prime examples of how our teachers and students achieve P-H-M Excellence!

With the help of Principal Elizabeth Cunha and Assistant Principals Troy Kauffman and Kevin McMillen, Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Heather Short, Dr. Lavon Dean-Null, Ryan Towner, and Executive Director of the P-H-M Education Foundation Jen Turnblom surprised 7^th grade teacher Emma Zerfas while she was teaching Math Class. Her students were overjoyed for her! Zerfas students had the highest consistent 7th grade Math growth of all 7th grade Math teachers in P-H-M’s three middle schools. Zerfas’ students averaged 47% growth in proficiency; the average P-H-M proficiency growth was 28%. Click here to see photos on Facebook.

Dr. Thacker and team also gave two awards to 5th grade co-teaching team of Lexie Banks and Erin Horvath at Mary Frank. With the help of Principal Christie Heerschop, Dr. Thacker was also able to surprise Banks and Horvath. Banks and Horvath had the two highest Math growth scores for 5th grade in P-H-M. Banks’s Class went from 3% proficiency at the beginning of 2022 school year (Clear Sight), to 97% proficiency on the Spring 2023 ILEARN. Horvath’s class went from 5% to 90% proficiency. Banks’ class had a gain of 94% and Horvath’s 85%! The average 5th Math grade gain across P-H-M 5th grade was 50%.Click here to see photos on Facebook.

As a side note, Horvath’s classroom was Dr. Thacker’s room when he taught at Mary Frank!

P-H-M is grateful to the Education Foundation for covering the cost of these beautiful awards. 

The Teacher Impact Awards are also a testament to the hard work and outstanding learning and comprehension of our students and the support they receive from their families. That’s P-H-M’s Triangle of Success!

This was only Round 1 of surprising teachers with the Impact Awards. There are many P-H-M teachers to recognize in the days, weeks and months ahead!

The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation’s ENL Services’ is sponsoring the District’s FREE Community Connections Fair!

Come check out what the Mishawaka, South Bend, and Elkhart communities have to offer to your families!

P-H-M is inviting area businesses who want to participate in the Community Connections Fair to sign up. Click here to request a table at the event. 

The Fair will also include cultural performances from P-H-M students and families. Families wishing to sign up to perform, click here.

Bilingual interpreters will be on hand at the event to assist those families who need it.

Come out and enjoy the many cultural performances and student work that will be on display representing countries from all over the world! 

Please join us! Click here to download and share the flyer.

For more information, please contact:
Rylee Jacobson
P-H-M Elementary ENL Coordinator
(574) 271-8598, Ext. 50913
rjacobson@phm.k12.in.us

Penn Girls Basketball Head Coach Kristi Ulrich is once again offering a fall youth basketball league  The “Junior” League is open to girls in 3rd – 6th grades. The “Senior” League is for student-athletes in 7th & 8th grades.

All those participating in the ”Senior” league MUST live in the P-H-M District or attend a P-H-M School. Sign-ups are on Sunday, September 10  from 12 – 2 p.m. in the Penn High School Main Arena. Enter Door D. 

The League runs September 17th – November 12th with a single elimination tournament for all age groups. All games will be played on Sundays at Penn High School in the Main Arena, Auxiliary and West Balcony courts. Tournament times may vary on Nov. 12th. Weekly Game Times are:

• 3rd & 4th grades: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
• 5th & 6th grades: 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
• 7th & 8th grades: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Click here to download the PDF with more information and to register.

The 2023-2024 District Activities Calendar was mailed to the homes of P-H-M families the last week of July.

The calendar provides key dates for testing, recess breaks, and school specific events (for the schools that provided the information).

You can click here to view a PDF copy of the calendar. You can also view a one-page of the 2023-2024 school calendar that shows the school year at a glance.

The P-H-M District online (Google) calendar is the most up-to-date. You can add this district and any school calendar to your own personal Google calendar.

Each of our 15 schools also maintains an online calendar that is updated frequently with the school’s scheduled activities and event details. You’ll need to visit your school’s website to add that calendar to your personal Google calendar.