U.S. News Ranks Mary Frank #8 Indiana Public Elementary School
U.S. News & World Report “Best Schools” Designations has recently expanded to include elementary and middle schools. With Penn High School earning a “Best High School” designation for several years, P-H-M now has several elementary and middle schools who also have earned this distinction! And our very own Mary Frank ranks #8 in Indiana for Public Elementary Schools (data is based on the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years). Click here to see why Mary Frank ranks so highly.
A total of 10 of P-H-M elementary schools earned the high ranking as a U.S. News “Best Public Elementary School.” Other than Mary Frank at #8, the other nine schools are ranked as follows:
1. Northpoint Elementary
3. Prairie Vista Elementary
11. Horizon Elementary
93. Bittersweet Elementary
136. Meadow’s Edge Elementary
157. Elm Road Elementary
177. Moran Elementary
256. Walt Disney Elementary
299. Elsie Rogers Elementary
Two of our middle schools, Discovery and Schmucker, are also named “Best Public Middle Schools.” Discovery is ranked #4 in Indiana and Schmucker is ranked #96.
Here’s how U.S. News calculated the rankings:
For each state, schools were assessed on their pupils’ proficiencies in mathematics and reading, as measured by state assessment tests. Half of the ranking formula was the results themselves; the other half was the results in the context of socioeconomic demographics. In other words, the top-ranked schools are high achieving ones that succeeded in educating all of their students. All data for the rankings are from third-party sources, including the U.S. Department of Education.
U.S. News has published state rankings for more than 47,000 public elementary schools and more than 23,000 public middle schools. Most schools with an elementary school ranking offer grades K-5 or K-6, while most with a middle school ranking offer grades 6-8 or 7-8. Some schools with wider grade spans were ranked in both categories.
U.S. News has published an in-depth methodology article that provides more information about the rankings and how they were calculated.
Halloween Costume Photo Gallery
Today students got to enjoy Halloween a few days early.
Check out all the cute costumes.
To download high-resolution jpg files from the photo gallery below, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. We are happy to provide this service to you, free of charge!
Penn Robotics October & November Workshops
Penn High School Robotics Team 135 is pleased to once again offering Next Gen Camps this Fall to inspire elementary and middle school students pursue Robotics. The dates are October 29th & 30th, as well as three dates in November: Nov. 13th, 26th, and 27th.
Click the images of the flyers below to enroll your student today.
Penn Youth Girls Basketball League Grades 3-8
Registration for the Penn Youth Girls Basketball League for students in Grades 3-8 will be held on Sunday, Sept. 12, from 12:00-2 p.m..
When: Sunday, Sept. 12, 12:00-2 p.m.
Where: Penn High School/ Enter through Door D
Price: $125
Space is limited to the first 108 athletes per age group.
Please read this flyer thoroughly!
Kingsmen Boys Basketball League for Grades 2-8
Registration for the Penn Boys Basketball League for students in Grades 2-8 will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 1, from 5:45-8 p.m..
When: Wednesday, Sept. 1, 5:45-8 p.m.
Where: Penn High School/ Enter through Door D
Price: $75 Grades 2-6 / $60 Grades 7 & 8th
Discount: $10 Discount for Summer Basketball Camp Attendees
Information: If you have any questions please contact Assistant Varsity Coach Julius Smith at jsmith5@phm.k12.in.us
Please read this flyer and bring it to registration if possible.
Return to In-Person Instruction – Summer 2021
Penn-Harris-Madison continues to monitor the spread of COVID-19. With more than 13,000 students and employees, we all play an important role in minimizing the risk and impact on each other and our operations. The health and safety of students and staff is our top priority. As a result, P-H-M Schools will implement various measures to keep everyone as safe as possible.
Please click here to read an overview of the district’s plan for a safe and healthy learning environment for Summer 2021 In-Person Instruction.
Throughout Summer 2021, P-H-M will continue to track COVID cases of students and staff that are made known to district and school personnel. Click here to view the P-H-M Positive COVID Dashboard.
To read documents related to P-H-M’s Return to Learn Plan for the 2020-2021 school year, please click here.
Meals for eLearning Day on Tues., March 30, 2021
With the announcement that Tuesday, March 30, 2021 will be an eLearning day, the meal plan for March 30th is as follows:
Elementary:
- Every elementary student in school on Monday, March 29th will receive a meal for Tuesday, March 30th as they leave.
- Breakfast AND lunch will be included for students who attend Bittersweet, Elm Road, Elsie Rogers, Horizon, Mary Frank, Meadow’s Edge, Walt Disney, Moran & Madison.
- Lunch only will be provided for students who attend Northpoint & Prairie Vista
- Elementary School Menu
Middle:
- When students leave school on Friday, March 26th, they will receive 2 days worth of meals. Those meals will cover Monday, March 29th and Tuesday March 30th.
- Students at Grissom and Schmucker will receive pre-packaged breakfast and lunch.
- Students at Discovery will receive pre-packaged lunches.
- Middle School Menu
High School
- When students leave school on Friday, March 26th, they will receive 2 days worth of meals. Those meals will cover Monday, March 29th and Tuesday March 30th.
- High School Menu
Meals for 100% Virtual Learners:
- Pick up meals at Door K at Penn High School
- Day & Time: Monday, March 29, 1-3 p.m.
- Students will receive a refrigerated box and a frozen bag with four (4) breakfasts and four (4) lunches since Friday, April 2nd is a recess day.
Additional Information
- Students do not need to be present for the parent or guardian to pick up meals.
- Student ID’s WILL NOT be required.
*Meals will not be provided on Recess Days.
Menus for all schools and virtual learners can be found here.
eLearning Day Scheduled for Tues., March 30, 2021
The information below was sent to P-H-M families on Friday, March 26, 2021.
Dear P-H-M Families,
In the District’s ongoing efforts to provide opportunities for P-H-M staff to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, we worked with Meijer to provide a vaccination clinic on March 8 for the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.
1,170 people were vaccinated, including staff from P-H-M and neighboring school districts, as well as some community members. This included over 700 P-H-M staff, representing about half of our entire workforce.
Meijer is returning next Monday, March 29, to administer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to staff and community members who were vaccinated at our clinic three weeks ago.
As part of our weekly meeting with the St. Joseph County Department of Health, it was shared with us that we should expect 15-30% of P-H-M employees to experience mild to adverse effects after receiving the second shot.
We know that other area school districts had to call eLearning days after their staff members experienced some side effects following the second dose of the Moderna vaccine. If 15-30% of P-H-M staff members called in sick for Tuesday, March 30, we would not be able to transport, feed or teach our students.
Based on this information, we are calling an eLearning Day for grades K-12th grade for next Tuesday, March 30. This day will be an eLearning day (just like what is called due to weather), NOT a virtual learning day. Teachers will not be teaching live on Tuesday. Head Start, PreK (Early Learning Academy and PennPALS), and Young Adult programs are all canceled for March 30. However, eLearning lessons will be provided for Early Learning Academy, PennPALS, and Young Adult programs.
The regular eLearning Day responsibilities of teachers will be in place next Tuesday. If a teacher is not sick, he/she will be online and responsive to student questions and to offer additional support and clarification as needed throughout the school day. If a teacher is taking a sick day on Tuesday, they will notify students and families through email and other normal modes of class communication and will not be available online that day. The classroom teachers will give specifics and assignment due dates of the eLearning lessons.
We know that this is a disruption and an inconvenience for our families at a time when we are trying to return all students to 100% in-person learning. Having nearly half of our workforce fully vaccinated through our Meijer clinic coupled with the state opening up vaccine eligibility to people 16 and older will ultimately help school districts return to near normal, pre-pandemic operations of educating students. We hope that parents, guardians, and families will also personally consider getting vaccinated to help our greater community, state and country. Thank you for being valued partners.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Thacker
Meijer Pharmacy Administers 1,170 Vaccine Doses
Almost a year to the date Indiana schools shut down (P-H-M schools shut down on March 12, 2020), P-H-M teachers and staff got a literal shot in the arm and marked a major step forward in our fight against COVID-19.
On Monday, March 8, 202, Meijer Pharmacy set up a vaccination clinic inside the Main Arena at Penn High School and administered 1,170 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine.
Every P-H-M teacher and staff member who wanted to get the vaccine was able to do so.
The vaccines were made available under the federal allotment of vaccines through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. The White House announced that the federal allotment would be open to educational staff at schools so teachers and staff could receive the vaccine, especially in states where educational staff had not been included in the first responder group. P-H-M Human Resources reached out to Meijer as word spread that they were working with Indiana schools to set up on-site vaccination clinics.
We are so thankful to the team at Meijer and to EVERYBODY at P-H-M who worked so hard to make this event happen on very short notice.
Jenni McCarthy, a kindergarten teacher at Bittersweet Elementary said “I honestly have to say that it was fantastic when I found out that we could get them right here at school. I didn’t have to go anywhere. I didn’t have to sign up on any list, I didn’t have to do anything. It just goes to show that Penn-Harris-Madison is a great place to work because they always think of their employees first and are trying to make sure that we are safe to be back in the classroom.”
In addition to the over 700 P-H-M staff members who received a vaccine, we also reached out to area schools to make doses available to others as well. P-H-M felt it was important to share any extra vaccines with educators and staff from other school districts and private schools within P-H-M’s boundaries so that no vaccines would be wasted.
Dr. Jerry Thacker, P-H-M’s superintendent of schools said “…this just has a tremendous positive impact on the feeling the teachers, all school employees and the students have with regards to receiving a vaccine. They know they’re going to be safer, so this is the first step in that. It also gives us a barometer of what we need to be doing in the future with regard to reaching out and making sure that we can get our students back [in person].”
Watch the video to get a fuller sense of what the day was like. Meijer will return to Penn Monday, March 29th to administer the second dose.
To download high-resolution jpg files from the photo gallery below, just simply click the “DOWNLOAD” button on the bottom right-hand corner of the photo while viewing it in the Photo Gallery function. We are happy to provide this service to you, free of charge!
Registration Opens for Spring Break 2021 Kids Club
Spring Break Kids Club
April 5 – 9, 2021
6:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Northpoint Elementary School (Door E)
Cost is $35 per child, per day or $150 per child for the full week. If you are not currently enrolled in Kids Club, you must also pay the $25 registration fee per child. Registration and payment are due, and non refundable, by Tuesday, March 30, 2021.