IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO REGISTER FOR THE YOUNG AUTHOR’S CONFERENCE! The registration deadline has been extended until Friday, Feb. 26.

Calling all young authors and their parents!

P-H-M’s annual Young Author’s Conference will take place Saturday, March 12—and you won’t want to miss it.

The morning program will be full of engaging activities, fun entertainment and creative challenges—along with opportunities to learn and share.

We are pleased to host guest author Laura Purdie Salas. Salas will be on hand to share her published work and her love of writing, and to encourage students to produce their own poems and stories.

Meet Mrs. Salas now in this brief video, and preview two of her popular books in these videos: A Leaf Can Be and BookSpeak!

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU EXPECT?

Get ideas!  Parents will hear from Kathy Higgs-Coulthard, the director of Michiana’s Writing Center and also an instructor at St. Mary’s College. Higgs-Coulthard supports writers and writing events in the community, and will share tips with parents on how to do the same in their own families.

Get inspired!  Students will share their own written work with other students in small groups, getting feedback and giving encouragement and gaining confidence in their ability to create.

Get the giggles!  The Roz Puppets will be sure to make you laugh. Big puppets with big personalities, their performances delight “children of all ages.”

ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED!

• WHO: Students from Kindergarten through 5th grade, and one parent from each family

• DATE: Saturday, March 12, 2016

• TIME: 8:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

• LOCATION: Schmucker Middle School, 56045 Bittersweet Road.

• DIRECTIONS: Enter at the traffic signal, park in front, use main entrance.

• COST: $5 per student, payable upon registration

Watch for conference information that your student will bring home from school, then send back the registration envelope with your payment promptly. If you need another copy of the registration form, contact the school.

THE REGISTRATION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26.

QUESTIONS?  Please contact Ms. Lisa Duerksen at lduerksen@phm.k12.in.us

Students who will be in 6th grade next year use the "Instrument Selection Night" as an opportunity to handle and test a variety of band and orchestra instruments.  Professional music teachers are on hand to help “pair” each student with an instrument on which they will find great success in their middle school music experience! 

As students are making choices about music classes in 6th grade, it is critical that they be able to try a variety of instruments in order to make an informed decision about what class and which instrument they prefer.

Instrument Selection Nights will be held at each middle school, beginning at the end of February and running through the month of March.  Parents of 5^th grade students need to consider available dates, then choose one night and schedule their visit in advance—which is easily done online. 

►Click here to LEARN MORE and to SCHEDULE your appointment!

A team representing Northpoint Elementary School achieved Highest Honors in the January 2016 WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually. The fourth grade team scored an impressive 192 points out of a possible 200 in the first of three meets this year, placing second in the nation!  

Competing in the difficult Blue Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, fourth graders Cameron Herman, Felix Zhang, Andy Chen and Judy Davis each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 50 fourth graders achieved this result.

Other students from Northpoint Elementary School who achieved outstanding results in the meet include third grader Sydney Knipp and fourth graders Evelyn Shrout, Jayden Wang, Chris Chapple, and Lydia Frischknecht. The students are coached by Mrs. Jenny Doms.

The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships. 

As for preparation, the students study definitions, synonyms, and antonyms.  They use the words when writing personal narratives, persuasive essays, and expository essays.  Many different analogy questions are posed in the classroom so the students become familiar to all the different angles of analogies.  They also make up possible analogy questions using the words, and all the children in the class have an opportunity to solve those problems.

Teacher-coach Mrs. Jenny Doms says, “I am so proud of these children!”  She adds, “Every day I try to model my love of learning in hopes that the children will take after me to make their love of learning stronger.  The children know that this is a higher level challenge, so I encourage them to push themselves to be the best they can be. 

“Our theme for the year is ‘Breaking Boundaries’ and we talk daily about the many ways to be the 'X' factor. . .the child who thinks outside the box and is able to break those boundaries.  I put this competition into that arena by tasking the children to do more than they imagine possible.  In the end, it is the students working with the words that leads them to understand so fully.  It is a very challenging competition.”

The next meet will be held on February 18th, followed by a third later in the spring.  We wish these Northpoint “word masters” the best of luck! 

The Indiana Department of Education released 2015 school accountability grades today and all 15 of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation’s schools earned an “A”! The final grades were approved unanimously by the State Board of Education during the January 26 Board meeting.

“This straight ‘A’ report card is a result of the hard work and dedication from principals and teachers to the staff, students and families at all of our schools,” said P-H-M School Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “This latest achievement is a result of our District’s commitment to excellence.”

Last year, 13 P-H-M schools earned an “A.” With Madison Elementary and Elsie Rogers Elementary each moving up from a “B” to an “A,” all 15 P-H-M schools (11 elementary, three middle and one high school) have now earned this top recognition from the IDOE. Out of 2,095 schools across the state that got a letter grade, only 123 schools saw their letter grades go up in this latest ranking.

A spreadsheet reflecting the final school grades as approved by the State Board of Education is available through this link, http://www.doe.in.gov/news/indiana-department-education-releases-2015-accountability-grades.

On January 6, 2016 the IDOE publicly released the 2015 ISTEP+ results. With an 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts) and a 78.0% pass rate for Math, P-H-M ranked 10th in the state among 293 public school districts. The District’s 2015 overall combined pass rate for both subject areas is 72.1%

Click here for more information on P-H-M’s 2015 ISTEP+ results.

With the Wednesday, January 6, 2016 public release of the 2015 ISTEP+ results, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation saw a jump in its ranking among Indiana’s 293 public school districts. With a 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts) and a 78.0% pass rate for Math, P-H-M ranks 10th in the state! The District’s 2015 overall combined pass rate for both subject areas is 72.1%.  

Another highlight from the 2015 ISTEP+ results for P-H-M … the School Corporation saw an increase in score variance. In grade 3, the variance between P-H-M’s scores and the state’s increased to 19.6 points; in grade 8, it goes up to 25.1 points. This shows that the younger a student enters the P-H-M education family, and the longer they are taught by P-H-M teachers, the better the students do!

Superintendent Jerry Thacker keeps the district’s focus on excellence in education, and acknowledges the partnership that makes it possible. “We commend our students and teachers, along with our parents for their concentrated hard work and dedication; that is the ‘Triangle of Success’ we tout at P-H-M.”

This link takes you to the full story of how P-H-M students fared on the 2015 assessment, including access to data charts that display individual school results.

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.

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.

Another Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation school has been nominated for a National Blue Ribbon School Award.  Northpoint Elementary School received word on Friday, Jan. 15 of the school’s recent nomination by Indiana Superintendent Glenda Ritz to the U.S. Department of Education for the National Blue Ribbon School award.

Northpoint is one of just eight Indiana schools nominated for the award. The school was selected based on student performance on 2014-2015 ISTEP+. In 2015, Northpoint had 95.9% pass rate for ELA, and 94.1% for Math. In 2014, the ELA pass rate was 99.3% and Math was 99.7%.

The award requires that schools nominated have pass rates on each test, at each grade level, and be in the upper 15 percent of Indiana schools. Additionally, three of the eight schools must have 40% or greater free/reduced lunch rates.

Announcement of school award winners will be made in September 2016 by the U.S. Secretary of Education, John B. King, Jr. If Northpoint is named a National Blue Ribbon School it will be the second time the school has received the honor (the first time was in 2010) and two consecutive years that a PHM school was named a National Blue Ribbon School.

On Sept. 29, 2015, Prairie Vista won. To date, P-H-M has received the National Blue Ribbon designation eight times: 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 in 1996 and 2015.
 

Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation serves approximately 10,700 students in 11 elementary schools, three middle schools and Penn High School. For the 2015 ISTEP+, P-H-M earned an 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts); 78.0% pass rate for Math; and an overall combined pass rate of 72.1% for both subjects areas. P-H-M now ranks 10th in the state among 293 public school districts. In 2014, P-H-M was rated an “A-rated” school district by the Indiana Department of Education for the 5th year in a row. Penn High School's graduation rate exceeds the state’s with a 97% graduation rate and is rated a 90-25-90 school by the IDOE. 100% of P-H-M teachers rank either highly effective or effective. 

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.

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!