Note that the Feb. 16, 4:30 p.m. deadline to apply for this vacancy has passed and the application materials are no longer available online. 

The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation is seeking applicants for the position of Harris Township Trustee (Seat 6) on the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation Board of School Trustees. The Board will appoint a Trustee to serve in the vacancy due to Mr. Larry Romero’s recent resignation. Mr. Romero and his family will be leaving the P-H-M community and relocating out of state. Mr. Romero’s resignation is effective February 8, 2016. The newly appointed trustee will complete Mr. Romero’s term of office from March 2016 to December 2018. The appointee may run for election for the ensuing four-year term with elections taking place in November 2018.

Applicants for the position of Harris Township Trustee shall be registered voters, at least twenty-one (21) years of age or older, and shall be a resident of said township – Harris Township – for at least two (2) years immediately preceding the date of the appointment.

Click here to download an application packet. (This link has been disabled.) Applications may also be obtained at the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation’s administrative office: Educational Services Center, 55900 Bittersweet Road, Mishawaka, Indiana 46545. Office hours are from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.  

Application deadline is Tuesday, February 16, 2016 at 4:30 p.m. Please note the ESC is closed on Monday, February 15 in observance of President’s Day.

Interviews will be held in the Board Room at the Educational Services Center. The Board will take action to appoint the new Trustee at a Special Board Meeting.

The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation will hold two upcoming Special Meetings to interview the four candidates interested in filling the Board of School Trustees vacancy created by the resignation of Harris Township Trustee, Mr. Larry Romero on February 8, 2016.

The two meetings will be held on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016 and Wednesday, March 2 at 6:00 p.m. in the Boardroom at the Educational Services Center, 55900 Bittersweet Road, Mishawaka. The meetings are open to the public and anyone is welcome to attend. 

Board President Gary Fox has called the Special Board Meetings and will lead the interviewing of the four candidates.

The four Harris Township candidates are:
1. Mrs. Angie Gates, Granger
2. Mr. Terry Miller, Granger
3. Mrs. Carole J. Pascarella, Granger
4. Mrs. Clare Roach, Granger

The P-H-M Board will hold a third Special Meeting on Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 8:00 a.m., in the Boardroom at the ESC, to appoint the newest Board member. This meeting is also open to the public. Whoever is selected will serve the remainder of Mr. Romero’s term, which runs through December 31, 2018.

Penn-Harris-Madison will be performing computer network maintenance on February 12, 2016 from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. to upgrade our current internet services. During that time, access to P-H-M online services, including P-H-M hosted websites, Canvas, APlus and Plato will be unavailable. This network maintenance is necessary in order for P-H-M to continue to offer excellent technology online service. We appreciate your patience.

Registration for kindergarten students for the 2016-2017 school year will begin at each P-H-M elementary school on Tuesday, January 19, 2016. This registration opportunity is for youngsters who live within the P-H-M district and who will be five years old on or before September 1. A parent or guardian must appear at the school in person to register their child.  

Parents, before you go to the child’s school, please visit the district’s kindergarten registration page to:

• Learn more about the registration process
• See what documentation you must provide
• View and download copies of the necessary forms

We look forward to welcoming the Class of 2029!

Keely Twibell, principal of Prairie Vista Elementary School is in Washington, D.C. to attend events surrounding the National Blue Ribbon Schools award ceremony and accept the school’s award. Traveling with Ms. Twibell is third grade teacher Mrs. Cathi Gage, who was honored to make the trip and represent her colleagues at the ceremony. The National Blue Ribbon awards ceremony is conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, and all events and travel expenses are underwritten by the agency. The two days spent together (November 9 and 10) allows educators from high-performing schools time to share their experiences with each other and time for leaders at the Department of Education to seek their input on educational trends and policy.

Pictured above are Ms. Twibell (left) and Mrs. Gage (right) at the outset of their Day One itinerary. The National Blue Ribbon seal, like the one pictured here, will soon be hung in the Prairie Vista lobby for all to admire. The national award exemplifies P-H-M’s “Triangle of Success” and, as Ms. Twibell related in the narrative that accompanied the school’s application when submitted last March, the school’s success is credited to the combined efforts of students, teachers and parents. 

The story we published in September, Prairie Vista named 2015 National Blue Ribbon School, provides background on how the school qualified for the prestigious award—and how the students and staff celebrated in an all-school assembly when the award announcement was made. We invite you to read it again! 

Speak Up is a national research initiative that seeks to gather widespread input on the topic of educational technology.  

Each fall the Speak Up survey is posted online so students, parents, teachers, school staff, and the general public can share their views on technology in schools. 

The Speak Up survey has three primary objectives:

• To provide a means for local schools and districts to easily and effectively listen to and act upon the ideas of their stakeholders
• To provide a conduit for the voices of education stakeholders, most notably students, to inform national and state policies and programs
• To stimulate new local discussions around the use of technology within education.

Survey results are typically released in February, and are important to those who shape educational policy, direct school finance, create curriculum, and implement technology in our schools.

Penn-Harris-Madison participates in the survey in part because we are recipients of a Digital Learning Grant that helps to fund our technology.  

Another reason we support Speak Up is because the results can be helpful in the development of our formal technology plans. Each P-H-M school develops and follows a 3-year technology plan that outlines its goals for educational technology and directs how resources may be spent to achieve those goals.

Here’s a link to learn more about the SPEAK UP survey and the agency that conducts the research, Project Tomorrow.  Get answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Speak Up here.

Or, you may want to just jump right in and take the survey!

Parents and community members CLICK HERE to TAKE THE SPEAK UP SURVEY NOW

The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete and you will not need to create an account. The survey will be open until December 18 and the link on this webpage will remain active until then. 

P-H-M staff and students will have opportunities to take their version of the Speak Up survey at school / at work through arrangements made in the coming weeks.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that Prairie Vista Elementary School is among the 335 schools (10 in Indiana) named a 2015 National Blue Ribbon School. Prairie Vista is being recognized for being an “Exemplary High Performing School,” per the Department of Education’s classifications. 

This makes the second time that the Penn-Harris-Madison elementary school has been awarded this national honor; the first award was given in 1996-1997. The school has a strong track record of maintaining high standards and helping their students achieve academic success. For the past seven years, the Indiana Department of Education has also recognized Prairie Vista as a Four Star School. 

Principal Keely Twibell is calling an all-school assembly this afternoon at 1:30 p.m. to make the surprise announcement to students, teachers and staff so that everyone could share in the excitement together.

“This is a remarkable accomplishment for our students and teaching staff,” said Twibell. “Prairie Vista was selected for this award based on a comprehensive review of our achievements over the past five years. This award belongs to all of us because it is the combination of talented educators, energetic students, committed parents and a supportive community and school district that makes Prairie Vista such an outstanding school. ”

Organized into traditional K-5 grade levels, averaging 25 students per class, Prairie Vista is a diverse student-centered learning community where 21 languages are represented amongst our student body. The staff of 65 creates a safe, secure, nurturing and diverse environment for each and every one of the 500 students.

“Today’s award is an affirmation for Prairie Vista and P-H-M School Corporation that our formula for success works,” said Penn Harris Madison School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “Students committed themselves, they were supported by their parents and families, and of course were guided and taught by excellent teachers … that’s the P-H-M ‘Triangle of Success’—students, parents, teachers!”

Success at Prairie Vista is not just defined by academic excellence, fostering strong character development in students is also paramount. The school’s positive behavior plan (PRIDE) and Whole Brain Teaching strategies empower students to take ownership of their actions and learning. Students are nurtured as leaders, producing videos and crafting morning announcements to positively influence their own school culture. A commitment to rigor and relevance leads students to become problem solvers, critical thinkers and decision makers prepared to thrive in college, career and life.

Prairie Vista’s 2015 recognition makes the eighth time that a P-H-M school has received the National Blue Ribbon designation: Penn High School in 1994, 1995 and again in 2001; Discovery Middle School in 2006 and 2013; Northpoint Elementary School in 2010; and Prairie Vista received the award for the first time in 1996.

The Department will honor 285 public and 50 private schools at a recognition ceremony at the Omni-Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC to be held on Monday and Tuesday, November 9 and 10, 2015.

In its 33-year history, the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program has bestowed this coveted award on more than 8,000 of America’s schools.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program honors public and private elementary, middle and high schools where students either achieve very high learning standards or are making notable improvements in closing the achievement gap. The award affirms the hard work of students, educators, families and communities in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content.

All schools are recognized in one of two performance categories, based on all student scores, subgroup student scores and graduation rates:

• Exemplary High Performing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools as measured by state assessments or nationally normed tests. Student subgroup performance and high school graduation rates are also at the highest levels.
• Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools are among their state’s highest performing schools in closing achievement gaps between a school’s subgroups and all students over the past five years. Student subgroup performance and high school graduation rates for each subgroup are at high levels.

Specifically, for the 2014-2015 award year, the Department strengthened the focus of both categories’ performance criteria around subgroups within a school and improving graduation rates for all students.

The Department invites National Blue Ribbon School nominations from the top education official in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the Department of Defense Education Activity and the Bureau of Indian Education. The Council for American Private Education (CAPE) nominates private schools. A total of 420 schools nationwide may be nominated, with allocations determined by the numbers of K-12 students and schools in each jurisdiction. The U.S. Secretary of Education invites nominated schools to submit an application for possible recognition as a National Blue Ribbon School.

Alarm clocks were set early. The weather cooperated beautifully. Children got themselves ready for school while parents snapped photos. Then the yellow buses started to roll and School Year 2015-2016 was underway!

Today was the first day of school for grades 1-12 at Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation. We welcomed back more than 10,600 students to our 15 schools. About 700 kindergartners, members of the future Class of 2028, attended orientation sessions with their parents and families getting prepared for their first day tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 20. And close to 800 seniors, making up the Class of 2016, followed a Gold Day schedule at Penn High School.

We want to see all your “1^st Day of School” photos. We asked parents, families and high school students to snap, tag ‪and share their pictures on Facebook and Twitter using #‎PHMBACK2SCHOOL. Go to our channels or check out our picture gallery on the home page to get a glimpse.

The start of school also means new faces at the front of the classroom as well! Last week, we also welcomed more than 50 new teachers to P-H-M. Click here to see their friendly faces.

Thank you to ALL our students, parents, teachers and staff for all the great pictures. Here’s to a great year!

Girls in grades 3 through 8 are invited to be part of a community-sponsored girls basketball league run by PHS girls varsity basketball coach, Kristi Kaniewski Ulrich. 

JUNIOR LEAGUE is for girls in grades 3 through 6.  

SENIOR LEAGUE is offered for girls in grades 7 and 8. 

Sign-up takes place on Sunday, August 30 in the Penn High School Arena from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.​ 

The league begins on Sunday, September 13. 

This is a great opportunity to learn the game, pick up skills, build fitness and make friends! 

Click here to access the informational flyers and the registration form.

Please join us on August 17th  for the PTO Ice Cream Social from 5:00-7:00 P.M.

Families may also tour the building to find classrooms.