We have been notified by St. Joseph County that starting on Tuesday, September 5 (the first day back after the Labor Day recess day) the intersection of Brick Road and Fir Road will be closed to construct a roundabout. The intersection will be closed for approximately two months. Brick Road will be closed from Gumwood Road to S. R. 23 and Fir Road will be closed from S. R. 23 to Adams Road.

Temporary Drop-off and Pickup Procedures

In cooperation with Mr. Mike Seger, Director of Safety for P-H-M, we are adjusting our traffic pattern for pickup and drop-off at Prairie Vista until the roundabout is completed and the roads are reopened. Since the intersection of Brick and Fir Road will be closed, all cars MUST turn LEFT out of the Prairie Vista parking lots. The county has informed us that no RIGHT turns will be permitted, We understand from the county, that residents of Waterford Green, Quail Ridge South or on Brick Road before the intersection of Brick Road and Fir Road will be allowed to turn right.

If you have been routed to use P-H-M bus transportation this school year but have instead been driving your child to and from school, we strongly encourage you to have your child ride the bus during this heavy construction period. Any decrease in traffic to the area will obviously help alleviate  traffic flow.

Detour Route provided by the County:

• Northbound traffic on Fir Rd. will be directed east on S.R. 23, north on Elm Rd., west on Adams Rd., then return north on to Fir Rd.

• Southbound traffic on Fir Rd. / Clover Rd. will be directed west on Adams Rd., south on Gumwood Rd., east on S.R. 23, then return south on Fir Rd.

• Eastbound traffic on Brick Rd. will be directed south on Gumwood Rd., east on S.R. 23, then return back to Brick Rd.

• Westbound traffic on Brick Rd. will be directed east on S.R. 23, north on Elm Rd., west on Adams Rd., south on Gumwood Rd., then back on Brick Rd.

*Please note that this is subject to change

Please remember to be patient with and courteous to Prairie Vista’s traffic assistants. Please respect our staff by following their directions and observing all signs. Remember, this is for the protection of your child and the safety of all.  If you have concerns or suggestions, please feel free to contact Principal Twibell at 574-271-0055 or Dir. of Safety and Security Mr. Seger at (574) 258-9551.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Two of the highest honors for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are the Eagle Scout rank and Gold Award, respectively. Attaining these prestigious achievements not only requires dedication and hard work from the scouts, but also stresses the importance of community service through projects. 

At Penn High School, we encourage student participation in community service through project-based learning. It’s always gratifying when the students then apply these concepts in their own activities outside of school.

Last school year, nine Penn High School students (five graduates and four current students) gave back to their community on their way to achieving their Eagle Scout rank and Gold Awards.  In this latest example of #PHMExcellence, the students walk us through their community service projects at Prairie Vista and Madison Elementary Schools, and at Birch Lake in Vandalia, Michigan.

Today (Thursday, August 24, 2017) more than 800 children walked into Penn-Harris-Madison’s 11 elementary schools as kindergartners! Teachers and staff were excited to begin educating the future Class of 2030 and start them on their journey of academic excellence in P-H-M schools.

We visited four of the 11 elementary schools to capture the excitement: Elsie Rogers, Mary Frank, Northpoint and Prairie Vista. And we caught up with P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker and School Trustee Board Members Larry Beehler and Jim Garrett during their visit to Northpoint. Dr. Thacker visits all of P-H-M’s 15 schools during the first three days of school. View the photo gallery below.

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More than 10,000 Penn-Harris-Madison students in grades 1-12 headed back to school today (Wednesday, August 23, 2017) with tons of excitement for another year of #PHMExcellence!

Here’s a snapshot of the First Day from across the District … (be sure to click to view the photo gallery at the end of this story)

Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker and new Penn High School Principal Sean Galiher got an early start to the day doing live interviews on the early morning news programs of South Bend’s three television stations, starting at 5:00 a.m.!  With student enrollment up this year to about 10,800 students, Dr. Thacker talked with excitement about the new school year. With P-H-M’s successful 1:1 Technology Initiative for all students in the District, P-H-M is in a great position to empower teachers with new technology and software that will them utilize student formative assessment data more efficiently, which will help create a more personalized path unique for each student. Dr. Thacker also talked about how the District has recently created teacher leadership teams in all 11 elementary schools to increase leadership capacity and promote a renewed focus on high quality instructional practices. Principal Galiher talked to the news stations about Penn High School’s 97% graduation rate, with 45% of Penn students graduating with Honors and 51% gradate with a Core 40 degree.

Over at P-H-M Transportation Headquarters, approximately 139 buses started rolling out about 7:00 a.m. to pick up and transport students across the District to our 15 schools (11 elementary and three middle schools, and Penn High School).

For the first three days of school, Dr. Thacker visits all 15 schools! After leaving Penn High School this morning, his first stop was Madison Elementary to speak to students during their school assembly. All the students got a kick out of hearing about Dr. Thacker’s teaching days at Madison. P-H-M Board Members Jim Garrett and Larry Beehler (a Madison student alum) joined Dr. Thacker for his school visits this morning. Kevin McMillen’s enthusiasm, Madison’s new principal, for the new year was contagious. Students were so glad to be back at school they were hugging their teachers.

Over at Horizon Elementary, Principal Tressa Decker enlisted the help of parent volunteers to join Horizon teachers and staff to give students a “Heroes Welcome.” When students arrived at school, they were greeted by parents dressed in their work uniforms and were given “Be The Hero” medal. The goal … to inspire students to be the heroes we know they can be. 

Grissom and Schmucker Middle Schools also have new principals this year. Jean Milfort and Lavon Dean-Null were there to welcome sixth through eighth graders as they exited the buses. The hallways were a flurry of activity, but Mr. Milfort managed to spot and meet Grissom’s female football player linebacker and tight end, whose looking forward to a great year of proving herself to all the naysayers! Dr. Thacker and the Board members showed up later to say hello as part of their District tour. At Schmucker, Mrs. Dean-Null was busy helping students find their way to lockers, classes and at times played the role of “traffic cop!”

Horizon students weren’t the only ones to get a surprise when they arrived at school today. Back at Penn High School, Early College Academy staff dressed in caps and gowns to welcome the Early College Academy senior Class of 2018. This spring the students will be Penn’s first graduating co-hort of the Early College Academy—graduating with both high school diplomas and college associate degrees! Quite an accomplishment and something to look forward to!

Thursday, August 24 is the first day back for kindergartners in P-H-M’s 11 elementary schools.

It’s going to be another amazing year of academic excellence in Penn-Haris0n-Madison this year! Be sure to follow #PHMExcellence to see all the amazing pictures, videos and stories throughout the year!

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This morning Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker welcomed back nearly 1,500 teachers, administrators and classified support staff during the annual Kickoff Breakfast (click here to see the photo gallery below). As part of building excitement for the new school year, Dr. Thacker always takes time to praise staff and student achievements from the past year. Some of the many EXCELLENT accomplishments of P-H-M teachers, students and staff were highlighted in a video shown to staff. Dr. Thacker encouraged staff to share the great stories taking place across the District this coming year on social media using #PHMExcellence.

As part of the Kickoff Breakfast, a motivational speaker and leader in education is invited to come in and speak to P-H-M teachers. This year Dr. Joe Sanfelippo, superintendent of Fall Creek School District in Fall Cree, Wisconsin spoke to P-H-M instructional staff about “Brining School stories to the World” and telling P-H-M’s story. Dr. Sanfelippo was named an Innovative District in 2016 and 2017 by the International Center for Leadership in Education and is the author of “Hacking Leadership: 10 Ways that Great Leaders Inspire Learning that Teachers, Students, and Parents Love.” Dr. Sanfelippo is innovative school administrator who has built strong relationships with his district’s students, families and employees through engaging social media stories. Today he also encouraged P-H-M teachers to do the same and be EXCELLENTstorytellers and to share the EXCELLENT things taking place every day within P-H-M’s 15 schools, telling them “You are teachers! You move people!!!”

P-H-M is an “A” rated school district and in the state’s Top 3 of public school districts with nine Four Star Schools. Excellence happens here!  Our teachers and students do amazing things every day.  Throughout this year, the community and our families will start seeing more and more of these stories. Look for and use #PHMExcellence on social media and click here for #PHMExcellence feed to catch up and see what you might have missed. 

Next Wednesday, Aug. 23 is the first day for grades 1-12 (Thursday, August 24th for Kindergarten), but today Penn-Harris-Madison’s newest teachers had their first day of school!

It was a busy New Teacher Orientation Day for this group of creative, talented and energetic teachers. This year P-H-M hired 41 new elementary, middle and high school teachers, as well Exceptional Education professional staff.

These newest teachers joined the ranks of one of Indiana’s highest ranked public school districts. As an “A” rated school and Four Star School District, 100% of our teachers are rated “Highly Effective” or “Effective.” Ongoing professional development supports and empowers our teachers to then in turn provide an excellent education to our students!

Browse the new faces you’ll be seeing throughout the 2017-18 school year!

Group 1: Elementary

Group 2: Middle School

Group 3: Penn High School

One of the most exciting celestial events is coming up the afternoon of Monday, August 21 and

P-H-M wants our students to be prepared and experience the Great American Solar Eclipse. 

What makes the Great American Solar Eclipse so great? This is the first major total solar ceclipse across the continental U.S., West to East Coast, since June 8, 1918!

The northern Indiana area is not in the total eclipse pattern. However, starting at 1:00 p.m., moving east, we’ll be able to see maximum coverage (about 88%) at around 2:22 p.m. with the eclipse concluding about 3:46 p.m. Still something extraordinary for our students and families to witness!

Because the first day of the 2017-18 school year is not until Wednesday, August 23, PTOs from all our 15 schools partnered with the P-H-M DVT and Planetarium to send home free “eclipse shades” with all of  our 10,700 students the last week of school back in June. DVT Director Melinda O’Malley also prepared this P-H-Mstudent/parent fact sheet and guide for watching the eclipse safely.

We encourage our students and families to experience this wonderful event, but to do  so safely! If your child has misplaced their “eclipse shades,” here are some resources to find/purchase new ones (some of these resources, but not all, are providing solar watching glasses for free; some payment and pre-orders may be required):

• Get Ready for the Great American Eclipse! seminar, Saturday, August 12, 2017, 4:15 – 5:15 p.m., University of Notre Dame DVT- Jordan Hall: See a simulation of the eclipse in Notre Dame’s unique 50-foot planetarium and digital theater. Learn about historically interesting eclipses and how the moon’s place in the solar system makes these events so spectacular. Discover how to view the eclipse safely, and receive free eclipse viewing glasses. The event is free and appropriate for all ages, but TICKETS ARE REQUIRED! Click here to get your tickets.
• Mishawaka-Penn-Harris Public Library has a small number available for free, call  574-259-5277 for more information
• Saint Joseph County Public Library is hosting a Solar Eclipse Viewing party on August 21 at the downtown branch on 304 S. Main Street, South Bend. Glasses are free of charge to use only if you attend the viewing party.
• NASA’s website has a listing of reputable vendors of safe solar filters & viewers

P-H-M DVT/Planetarium Director Mindy O’Malley will be in Carbondale, IL on August 21 for the GreatAmericanEclipse. She’ll be posting pictures and video that you won’t want to miss! Be sure to click here to like and follow PHM DVT & Planetarium Facebook page and then logon on August 21 to experience the eclipse with Mrs. O’Malley.

Be safe and enjoy the viewing, the next total solar eclipse viewable in North America is not until April 2024!