The letter below was emailed to parents and staff on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021.

Dear Parents,

It has always been our goal to have all of our students with us for in-person learning following COVID-19 safety protocols. Under the guidance of the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) and the St. Joseph County Department of Health (SJCDoH), our secondary schools have either been in hybrid or virtual mode since the start of the school year because of the population size of those buildings. Since September, our elementary schools have been successfully educating students in-person. We’ve also been able to provide a virtual option for any family who was more comfortable with their student(s) learning at home. Through all of these scenarios, we’ve put the well-being and safety of our students and staff first while balancing the guidelines and protocols of federal, state, and local health agencies.

The efforts and precautions we’ve all made to help lower the community spread of COVID-19 have finally paid off! Yesterday (Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021) the IDOH released their weekly updated County metrics; and St. Joseph County’s weekly 2-metric score has improved to Yellow (click here to visit the IDOH website & view the county metrics map). SJCDoH also sent out a news release yesterday (click here to read it in full) reinforcing the IDOH’s message that “a county must maintain a lower weekly 2-metric score for two consecutive weeks before moving down to a lower Advisory Level.” St. Joseph County’s Advisory Level does remain Orange. 

I am happy to notify our secondary parents that with the approval and permission of SJCDoH and in collaboration with the P-H-M Teachers Association, on Monday, February 8th, I will be recommending to the Board of School Trustees for their approval plans for the phase-in process of transitioning secondary students (grades 6-12 whose parents chose hybrid instruction for the 2nd semester) back into the classroom for in-person instruction working up to 5 days per week. Please note that the transition begins with Mondays as a virtual day for all students and four days of in school instruction. Please click here for a detailed breakdown of the Secondary Return to Learn Transition Plan.

We have developed this plan after many discussions with our Teachers Association and local health authorities. This plan is supported by both parties because of the factors listed below:
 

• Not all secondary students will be brought back all at once; grades will be transitioned back in on a weekly basis. Please click here for a detailed breakdown of the Secondary Return to Learn Transition Plan.
• This is an option only for those middle and high school students whose parents declared them hybrid for the 2nd semester, until SJCDoH increases the allowable capacity in our school buildings.
• P-H-M Administration will meet weekly with SJCDoH for data monitoring of local metrics. Data will continue to guide all decision making. We hope to eventually have all students back in school for face-to-face instruction.
• St. Joseph County, like the rest of the State, is experiencing a decrease in COVID-19 cases. However, we must maintain our risk mitigation strategies to avoid an increase in numbers.
• The federal and state governments are ramping up vaccination efforts and availability. While the IDOH still has not included teachers as part of essential workers or critical infrastructure, the State’s vaccine eligibility based on age groups is moving quickly. SJCDoH continues to support teacher vaccination. 
• SJCDoH encourages social distancing of 6 ft. or more whenever possible, but recognizes and accepts that the Governor’s guidelines for schools are the following:
  • If necessary, a minimum social distancing standard of 3 ft., if everyone is masked and facing the same direction (click to read Executive Order 21-02 (renewed 1/28/21).
• P-H-M continues to track the number of student and staff COVID cases reported to us. The cases are reflected on P-H-M’s COVID Dashboard. A link to the Dashboard is on the homepage of P-H-M’s district website for staff and families to easily find; it is updated daily except for weekends, holidays, and recess breaks. 

We do realize that there are probably students and families who chose virtual learning for a variety of reasons and who may prefer to be back in school with their teachers and classmates. Again, it is our utmost desire as educators to have 100% of our students back 100%. The determination for the possibility for 6-12 In-person students to go 5 days a week and 6-12 Virtual students to return to in-person learning will be based on the metrics, evaluation of internal data, and approval for capacity by the SJCHoD. This will remain to be under review and consideration for any changes to occur no sooner than after Spring Break.

As stated above  and in the Secondary Return to Learn Phase-in Plan, we will be meeting weekly with SJCDoH leaders to monitor and evaluate the community and P-H-M COVID-19 case data. When we can safely return those virtual students who want to return to the classrooms, we will do so as soon as it is permissible by SJCDoH. 

Please direct specific questions about your student and school to your building principal. Secondary principals will have follow-up communications with building specific details of the transition plan.

The Board of School Trustees and I want all our families and employees to know that their safety is at the very forefront of our decision making. We will continue to make decisions in consultation with the St. Joseph County Department of Health.

Please stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Thacker
Superintendent of Schools

Penn High School’s Debate Team placed eighth in the state during competition on Jan. 30, 2021. The Kingsmen are coached by Jeremy Starkweather.

Amrita Kulkarni qualified for the final round in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate and placed second in the state out of 56 students who qualified for the state finals.

Penn’s World Schools Debate Team of Matt Chapple, Emma Thilman, Royce Butler, Evan Futa, and Aidan Sucharetza placed fifth in the state.

In Congress Debate, Tasneem Ahmed and Alivia Schultz qualified for the semi-finals.
 

Penn High School students excelled in the Scholastic Art competition for the 2020-2021 school year. A total of 22 Penn students won award.

Click here for a list of Penn’s Scholastic Art Award winners.

A Photo Gallery of some of the Scholastic winners is posted below.

Scholastic Art Awards is the largest nationwide and longest running competition for junior and high school students in our country (approximately 98 years). It has gotten more selective and more prestigious over the years and the students that are have work selected to be entered, even if not chosen for an award, should be extremely proud of doing such high quality work. There are three levels of awards: Gold Key, Silver Key, and Honorable Mention. The Gold Key winners will be sent to compete at the national level in New York City. Recognition at the national level usually brings with it many scholarship offers as well as tremendous honors.

All three levels will be displayed at a public exhibition in the Warner Gallery at the South Bend Museum of Art in the Century Center from Feb. 6-March 13. The awards presentation for the winners and their families will be Feb. 7 at 2:30 p.m. (junior high presentation is at 1:30). The Awards Ceremony will be Virtual this year. All winning students and their families should attend this celebration to honor them. Even though the awards ceremony will be virtual this year, the Scholastic exhibit displays some of the finest artwork you will see from junior and high school students.

The lights were dimmed, the musicians were in their place and the cameras were rolling for the Kingsmen Band’s January virtual performance!

On Wednesday, January 27 and Thursday, January 28 the band had their moment to show off their musicianship. The concerts were recorded and the videos will be shared privately with the musicians and their family.

Due to music copyright reasons we can’t post the video publicly, but here’s some pictures that will make you feel like you were there!

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!

Twenty Penn students were recently selected to participate in the 2021 Indiana All State Band. These students were selected from among 500 candidates through a highly competitive audition process held early in January. 

• Elizabeth Wyatt, Senior – Clarinet
• Mikayla Lemarr, Senior – Bass Clarinet
• Caden Miller, Senior – Trumpet
• Anna Voros, Senior – French Horn
• Pete Sullivan, Senior – Trombone
• Luca Nijim, Junior – Tuba
• Kyle Books, Junior – Percussion
• Blake Gibson-Ross, Junior – Percussion
• William Chenoweth, Sophomore – Percussion
• Hannah Steele, Sophomore – Flute
• Evelyn Weaver, Senior – Oboe
• Michael Tapp, Junior – Oboe
• Guinn Hill, Sophomore – Bassoon
• Noah Fulkerson, Senior – Clarinet
• Caden Daffron, Senior – Tuba
• Grace Waddell, Senior – Percussion
• Elle Fox, Senior – Flute
• Liam Mroczek, Sophomore – Oboe
• Wilson Shrout, Senior – Tuba
• Kathure Kiunga, Junior – Percussi

Students in the All-State Bands are assigned to one of two bands: the All-State Band and the All-State Honor Band. One hundred seventy outstanding high school band members have been selected for participation in the 2021 Festival. 

The 2021 All State Bands will be a virtual event. All State Band members will participate in a series of virtual rehearsals on Sunday, February 28th. 

This also represents the second largest number of students sent by a single high school for 2021.

Students in Becky Hope’s Art Class created masks influenced by the culture and landscape of Africa.

A few are included in a Photo Gallery below.

It’s a good day to be a Kingsmen! Today we welcomed back students to in-person, hybrid learning.

Students whose last names begin with A-L came back to fill the halls of our school. While the rest continued to learn virtually, it won’t be long until our M-Z students are back.

We were so happy to see our students again, we can’t wait to see the rest!

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 High School students may pick-up or drop-off materials for their classes on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and Wednesday, Jan. 27, from 8 a.m.-6 p.m.

Students can enter at Door A. The items will be in the IMC.
 

Beginning Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021, Canvas will roll out the new Rich Content Editor (RCE) in all Canvas courses.

The new Rich Content Editor is an update to the previous Canvas Rich Content Editor. It provides a condensed, more intuitive toolbar that is grouped by common icons and interactions. Several features in Canvas support the New Rich Content Editor, including Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes.

Click here for an instructional video and directions on how to use the new Rich Content Editor.

Click to read Principal Sean Galiher’s parent email and to fill out Penn’s Second Semester Parent Questionnaire by Monday, Jan. 11, 2021.

The email below from P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker was sent to parents on Thursday, January 7, 2021.

Back on November 18 when I notified P-H-M secondary families that St. Joseph County Department of Health (SJCDH) was recommending area school districts revert secondary students from hybrid to virtual, I explained that this would only be temporary to cover the time before, during and after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s holidays. This was one of several recommendations that SJCDH made in mid-November in an effort to help lessen the impact of COVID community cases on our local health systems. 
 

I shared with you at that time that it was our goal to bring middle and high school students back to school on the hybrid model beginning Tuesday, January 19, pending SJCDH guidance. This week P-H-M Administration discussed secondary students’ return to school with the SJCDH and I am happy to report that they support the return of our middle and high school students to the hybrid model on Jan.19th.
 

We know that our students receive the most ideal instruction through face-to-face learning. It is in our students’ best interest for their academic success and social emotional well being to receive as much face-to-face instruction as COVID health safety precautions will allow. We are in a position to return to hybrid learning because of the following:
 

• The most common contributors to community spread are social gatherings in which COVID safety protocols are not observed.
• In recent local news reports, SJCDH states local hospitals are in a better position now than they were before Thanksgiving and that the post Thanksgiving surge was relatively modest. SJCDH is relatively hopeful that the post Christmas/New Year’s holiday surge will also be modest.
• P-H-M tracks the number of student and staff COVID cases and actively conducts contact tracing on all cases reported to us. We proactively ask students and staff identified as close contacts to quarantine. The cases reported to us are reflected on P-H-M’s COVID Dashboard; a link to the Dashboard is on the homepage of P-H-M’s district website. The Dashboard is updated daily except for weekends, holidays, and district breaks.
• Most secondary parents support their students returning to the Hybrid model for their students’ academic and social emotional well being.
• All P-H-M parents, at all grade levels, have the option to keep their students 100% virtual. 
• We expect a modest number of secondary families will choose to keep their students virtual, which will further reduce the number of students in the buildings and classrooms.

Secondary principals will be asking their parents to return a survey declaring whether their student will remain virtual or return on hybrid. If you are a parent of a secondary student, please look for that email from your building principal and return your responses as soon as possible. Click to read Principal Sean Galiher’s parent email and to fill out Penn’s Second Semester Parent Questionnaire by Monday, Jan. 11, 2021.

All COVID safety protocols as laid out in the Staff Return to Learn, the District Overview Return to Learn, and building level Return to Learn plans remain in effect. Among our many protocols, masks will still be required along with social distancing of 6 feet or more whenever possible.

Regardless if your child is virtual, in-person or hybrid, please continue to monitor your child’s health every day using this ISDH screening tool. Please do not send your child(ren) to school if they experience any of the following symptoms: fever or chills, sore throat, uncontrollable or new cough or shortness of breath or difficulty breathing (especially new onset), diarrhea, nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain, headache (especially new onset of severe headache with fever, or new loss of taste or smell). 
 

Also, please do not send your student(s) to school if they have had close contact with a known positive case, including in your own household, or awaiting test results. When you have a positive case (tested or clinical) in your household, the positive case should self-isolate away from the rest of the family members and the family should remain in quarantine. 
 

We also ask all P-H-M staff members to self-monitor their health and practice these same safety prevention guidelines. We continue to record cases of students and staff who are virtual. Therefore, parents should still report to your school principal if your virtual student has tested positive, and staff should also report if they are aware of a virtual student who is positive.

For more information on COVID-19 & P-H-M’s safety mitigation protocols, please visit our Return to Learn page.
 

Stay healthy and well and thank you for your continued flexibility and partnership as we work to provide the best education possible to your students.
 

Sincerely,

Dr. Jerry Thacker

Superintendent of Schools

CLICK HERE to download and print the secondary hybrid model beginning 1/19/21.