Dr. Heather Short Approved as New Superintendent
In a special meeting held Tuesday, May 27, the Penn-Harris-Madison Board of School Trustees unanimously (7-0) approved the appointment of Dr. Heather Short as the district’s next superintendent effective July 1, 2025.
Nearly 50 P-H-M teachers, administrators, staff, family and friends showed up to express their overwhelming support of Dr. Short’s appointment.
Dr. Short, a lifelong educator who has dedicated her entire 31-year career to P-H-M, will succeed Dr. Jerry Thacker, who is retiring after 19 years of transformative leadership. Dr. Short has served as Assistant Superintendent for Instruction since 2017. During her tenure, P-H-M students have experienced consistent academic growth and achievement.
“I am deeply honored by the Board’s confidence and grateful to Dr. Thacker for his mentorship throughout my career,” said Dr. Short. “It has been the privilege of a lifetime to grow as a leader within this incredible district. I’m excited to continue working alongside our talented staff, dedicated families, and exceptional students to expand opportunities and ensure every child thrives.”
Under Dr. Short’s leadership, P-H-M ranks in the top 4% of Indiana districts based on ILEARN scores. The district also outpaces the state average by 20 percentage points in overall percent passing rates.
“There is no one better—or more qualified—to lead P-H-M’s continued path of academic excellence than Dr. Short,” said Chris Riley, President of the Board of School Trustees. “Her academic expertise and visionary leadership in developing rigorous, relevant curriculum have been key to our students’ success. Dr. Short was the Board’s clear and unanimous choice for superintendent.”
P-H-M is home to some of Indiana’s highest-performing public schools in both English/Language Arts and Math. Prairie Vista Elementary ranks #3 in the state, while Discovery Middle School ranks #2. In Spring 2024, P-H-M’s IREAD pass rate was 86.8%, surpassing the state average of 82.5%. Three P-H-M elementary schools—Prairie Vista (97.7%), Northpoint (95%), and Horizon (95.3%)—achieved pass rates above 90%.
Included in her district-wide academic strategy was a robust Response to Intervention (RtI) program and expanded summer offerings that support both enrichment and remediation.
Dr. Short’s leadership journey reflects deep roots and unwavering commitment to P-H-M. She began her career as a classroom teacher before serving as an Instructional Leader and High Ability Coordinator. Click here to learn how Dr. Short and Board Trustee Katie Bell’s paths crossed when Dr. Short was a 3rd grade teacher at Northpoint. In 2004, she became principal of Prairie Vista Elementary. Recognizing her talent for professional growth and instructional excellence, Dr. Thacker appointed her in 2007 as P-H-M’s first Director of Professional Development—a role she held for a decade before being named Assistant Superintendent.
Throughout her career, Dr. Short has been deeply committed to developing others. She co-created a nationally recognized leadership development program designed to build internal capacity among P-H-M educators and administrators. Her strategic focus on professional development has empowered teachers at every level—from new educators to veteran principals—through initiatives like the annual Literacy Summit and the New Teacher Series.
As Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Short has combined her instructional leadership with strong fiscal stewardship. She has overseen the management of multimillion-dollar budgets and successfully secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in state grants—investments that have directly enhanced classroom instruction, expanded student programs, and strengthened districtwide operations.
“Dr. Short possesses one of the most valuable qualities a leader can have: the ability to build genuine relationships,” said Dr. Thacker. “She makes personal connections with teachers, principals, staff, families—and most importantly, students. She understands the P-H-M culture because she helped build it. There is no one more fitting to serve as the next superintendent.”
After the Board approved Dr. Short as the district’s new leader, Board members shared well wishes and comments. Trustee Katie Bell (elected in November 2024) talked about how things have come full circle for her as a former student of Dr. Short’s when she taught 3rd grade gifted and talented students at Northpoint. The two were actually featured in an article that ran in the South Bend Tribune in March 2003. The article featured Dr. Short teaching her students how to use PowerPoint for their Geography reports on Asia. Click here to read the original story.
Fast forward to 2013 to when Dr. Short was P-H-M’s Director of Professional Development, she interviewed Bell for a teaching position. Bell was hired as a kindergarten teacher in 2016 at Prairie Vista Elementary School and Dr. Short led the professional development for all new teachers.
“Dr. Short and I are a testament that it’s never goodbye, it’s always see you later,” Bell said. “And I think that shows the true impact of a teacher, that they are in your lives forever, and that you will always remember them.”
Media Coverage
Mr. Rallo Recognized at Kingsmen Basketball game
Before the start of the Penn vs. Mishawaka Boys Basketball game on Tuesday, February 25, Mr. Curt Rallo was recognized for his upcoming honor of being named to the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame. See the full photo gallery below.
Mr. Rallo is a Penn High School Journalism teacher, Penn Sports Information Director, and member of the P-H-M District Communications Team. He’s worked at Penn for 24 years and has a total of 38 years as a working sports journalist with the South Bend Tribune, covering local high school sports, Big Ten Men’s Basketball and Football, the University of Notre Dame, as well as spot coverage of the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB. Click here for more background on all the amazing work Mr. Rallo does with Penn students.
P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker, Penn Principal Dr. Sean Galiher, Penn Athletic Director Jeff Hart, and P-H-M Communications Director Lucha Ramey honored Mr. Rallo at half-court with a commemorative G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time) award. He received a rousing round of applause and shout outs from the student body, student-athletes, parents and Kingsmen fans.
Along with this celebration of one of the Kingsmen’s biggest supporters, it was senior night. Penn defeated Mishawaka 72-42. Click here to visit Pennant’s Facebook page for game footage and stats.
Mr. Rallo will be inducted at the annual awards banquet to be held in early April in Greenwood. Click for more details on the other inductees on the Stateline Sports Network website.
Penn High School #25, U.S. News 2025 “Best High Schools” ranking
U.S. News and World Report released its “Best Schools” rankings for K-8 public schools by state.
Out of Indiana’s 395 Indiana public high schools Penn was ranked #25!
They also ranked the best public elementary and middle schools. For Indiana, 1,000 elementary schools were ranked.
Several P-H-M’s elementary schools are at the top of the list:
- Northpoint #1 in Indiana
- Prairie Vista #2 in Indiana
- Horizon #19
- Mary Frank #32
- Bittersweet #56
- Moran #163
- Madison #200
- Elm Road #205
- Elsie Rogers #393
- Meadow’s Edge #239
P-H-M’s middle schools were also recognized:
- Discovery #3 in Indiana
- Schmucker #40
Debate Teacher & Coach Mr. Starkweather Named PHM Secondary Teacher of the Year
This week is National Teacher Appreciation Week and Penn-Harris-Madison Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker is making his rounds to surprise a couple of P-H-M’s best educators with some good news.
Today, Dr. Thacker with the help of Penn High School Principal Dr. Sean Galiher and Assistant Principal Jeanie Mitchell (a former PHM Teacher of the year herself), Jeremy Starkweather was taken off guard with the news that he had won P-H-M’s 2024 Secondary Teacher of the Year honor! Local TV stations were on hand to capture it all! Mr. Starkweather’s wife, Ally who is also a teacher at Penn, was told ahead of time so she could participate in the surprise. Along with the students, a big group of fellow Penn teachers and PHM District Administrators were in the classroom to congratulate him. Click to watch the video below.
Mr. and Mrs. Starkweather are both 2013 graduates of Penn High School. Mr. Starkweather attended P-H-M’s Moran Elementary School and Grissom Middle School.
Click here to see the full photo gallery below.
Jeremy Starkweather is wrapping up his 7th year of teaching at P-H-M; but including his time as a student, student-teacher, and now a teacher, he’s been at Penn for a total of 12 years! He’s even still on the Speech & Debate Team just like he was while in school, except now he’s the coach! Mr. Starkweather is everywhere; he serves as the Assistant Coach for the Boys Cross Country Team, Coaching Consultant for the Education Foundation’s Running is Elementary, and Vice President of the Penn Building Trades Board of Directors.
Mr. Starkweather’s interests have carried over from his student days into his teaching career. Along with teaching English, Mr. Starkweather also teaches Debate, and has been serving as Penn’s Speech and Debate Coach since his first year of teaching. Prior to Mr. Starkweather at the helm, the team struggled to attract student participants; now Mr. Starkweather has made it cool to be on the Speech and Debate Team! The 2023-2024 school year both teams did extremely well. The Speech Team has 20 students advancing to the national tournament this summer; and the Debate Team not only won the State Championship, but a couple of the students even broke a record previously held by Coach Starkweather when he was a student!
For the first time in Penn history, the Debate Team won a State Championship. Additionally, out of all five state championship debate categories, three Penn students came in 1st place in two categories (one team and one individual) adding two more State Titles to the list. One of those wins was a student duo in the Policy category. Policy received a traveling trophy that has been around almost a century (in existence since 1928); and the last time the trophy was in Penn High School’s possession was when Jeremy and a teammate won it back in 2013 (his senior year)! How’s that for full circle?
Until recently, Mr. Starkweather was known for his big bushy, blonde afro. However, thanks to Jeremy’s topnotch debate coaching skills, his team captains convinced him last summer, when the team was at the national competition, that if they won the State Championship, he would allow the students to shave his head. Jeremey Starkweather is a man of his word! He didn’t just allow his students to cut his hair, he let ALL the Speech & Debate students, Speech teacher Mrs. Danielle Black, and Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker get in on the action. It took over an hour to cut off 9 inches of his golden locks! Now that’s showing commitment and dedication to your students! Click here to see that video and full photo gallery.
Speech and Debate has become so popular at Penn that Mr. Starkweather enlisted the help of his top students to see if they could create the same interest at the middle school level. Not only was there interest, there’s now Debate teams at all three middle schools with over 80 students. The past few summers Jeremy has also been offering Summer Debate Camp.
What is Mr. Starkweather’s secret to creating such an interest for Speech & Debate? It could be that he has the best and rowdiest student club floats in Penn’s Homecoming parade; but it’s also because he quite simply cares about his students and they know it. There’s no “debating” it!
During the week of May 6 along with surprising the Teacher of the Year winners, Dr. Thacker will also surprise the honoree of Classified Employee of the Year. Monday, May 6 Dr. Thacker surprised 3rd grade Northpoint teacher Nichol Mondy with the news that she was the district’s Elementary Teacher of the Year. All winners will be officially recognized at P-H-M’s Employee Recognition & Retiree Dinner on Wednesday, May 22nd. Along with a plaque, the two Teachers of the Year will also receive a grant from the P-H-M Education Foundation to use in their classroom. Both TOY winners will go on to compete for Indiana’s Teacher of the Year, which will be announced in early Fall 2024 by the IDOE.
Penn Robotics Students Competing in FIRST World Competition
A group of six Penn students, members of the 8-member Team 12014/The FireWires will be competing in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) in Houston April 17-20. FireWires is a community based team through GEARS.
Click here to read an article that ran in the South Bend Tribune on March 31, 2024.
The FireWires Team is the Indiana State FTC champions and has qualified for the World Championship. At the time of this posting, the team was ranked 11th in the world! Penn Junior Nate Baker won the Dean’s List Award.
FireWires was also very instrumental in the passage of House Bill 1382 that passed the General Assembly on April 24, 2023. The bill provides grant funding that school-based eligible teams can apply for. Eligible schools include public, charter and state-accredited nonpublic schools.
During this year’s General Assembly, the passage of House Bill 1233 amended the definition of “eligible school” to include community-based robotics competition teams like FireWires. HB 1233 takes effect July 1, 2024.
Team 12014/The FireWires is coached by P-H-M Corporate Web Designer Rich Lester.
Culver’s Bus Driver of the Month
We’re happy to introduce PHM bus driver Tim Tretheway, as the Culver’s Bus Driver of the Month for March 2024!
Tim drives for Prairie Vista Elementary School and Penn High School.
Transportation consistently receives compliments about Tim from coaches, teachers, and other leaders regarding trip efficiency and his willingness to help!
The surprise took place at Prairie Vista on March 27, 2024 as he waited for her students to board for afternoon pick-up. Some of his elementary student riders were in on the surprise.
Thank you Culver’s and and the P-H-M Education Foundation for being valued partners to make this award possible! If you would like to nominate your student’s bus driver, click here to fill out the nomination form.
Penn Robotic Team 135 Heading to State Championship
Dr. and Mrs. Thacker Donate $10,000 for Yeoman Family Plaza
Penn-Harris-Madison School Superintendent Dr. and Mrs. Thacker donated $10,000 to the P-H-M Education Foundation Naming Rights Campaign to name the the plaza located at Penn High School’s everwise Freed Field the Yeoman Family Plaza, after Penn High School Retiring Head Football Coach Cory Yeoman and his family.
Per PHMEF’s Naming Rights fundraising initiative, 80 percent of the donation will go into the Foundation’s endowment, which will in turn provide alternative and additional funding for various co-curricular and extracurricular programs. The remaining 20 percent directly funds professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing the education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School District.
The mission of the Education Foundation is to develop alternative sources of income to support education initiatives in the School Corporation by strengthening partnerships between the community and the District. PHMEF supports education through awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.
On February 8, 2024, Hall of Famer Coach Cory Yeoman announced to Kingsmen student-athletes and assistant coaches that after 40 years with the Kingsmen he’d be retiring at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. Coach Yeoman spent his first 19 years as an Assistant Coach under Hall of Famer Coach Chris Geesman, and the past 21 years as Head Coach. Yeoman took over the Kingsmen program in 2003 and compiled a 208-56 record overall.
In his first season after replacing legendary Coach Geesman, Yeoman guided Penn to the 2003 State Championship Game. Yeoman also led Penn to Semi-state titles in 2017, 2015 and 2011. In addition to winning four Semi-state Championships, the Kingsmen have won nine regional crowns under Yeoman’s leadership, 13 sectional titles and 17 Northern Indiana Conference championships.
Coach Yeoman bleeds black and gold and has always been a Kingsmen. He played for Penn, earning all-state honors at defensive tackle. In 1979, Coach Yeoman led a Kingsmen defense that only allowed 33 yards rushing a game. That Kingsmen team finished 11-1, winning an NIC Championship before losing to Hobart in the second round of the playoffs. Yeoman graduated from Penn in 1980. Coach Yeoman is in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame, the first Penn player nominated for the Hall.
Coach Yeoman’s father, Wally Yeoman, coached under Chris Geesman. Wally then coached alongside Coach Cory. Brothers, Trent and Todd, were assistant coaches. Coach Cory coached his son Gary who played for Penn; Gary later also became an assistant coach.
At the March 25 meeting of the P-H-M Board of School Trustees, the Board approved the request of PHMEF to add the signage to the plaza. The naming rights will be effective August 1, 2024 and will last for 12 years.
Per PHMEF’s Naming Rights fundraising initiative, 80 percent of the donation will go into the Foundation’s endowment, which will in turn provide alternative and additional funding for various co-curricular and extracurricular programs. The remaining 20 percent directly funds professional development initiatives for P-H-M teachers. Continuing the education and training of teachers is a major priority for P-H-M School District.
The mission of the Education Foundation is to develop alternative sources of income to support education initiatives in the School Corporation by strengthening partnerships between the community and the District. PHMEF supports education through awarding innovative teaching grants, scholarships to students, staff development and other corporation-wide initiatives.
Pete Riordan News Conference as Penn New Head FB Coach
A few hours after being introduced to his team as the Kingsmen’s new Head Football Coach, Pete Riordan was introduced to the South Bend sports media in his first news conference. News outlets in attendance were WHME-TV, WSBT, WNDU, ABC 57, and the South Bend Tribune. Students from PNN (Penn News Network) and The Pennant were also present and participated. Click here to see the full news conference. Click here to see a full photo gallery below.
Here are some highlights of the news conference. Penn High School Athletic Director Jeff Hart introduced Coach Pete, who made a few short remarks before opening up the discussion with reporter questions.
Also taking reporter questions were retiring Coach Cory Yeoman and Hall of Famer Chris Geesman.
Returning Penn players Vinny Freeman and Kellen Watson also spoke to how excited they are to have Coach Pete take over. In the clip below Freeman talks about the sense of family that Coach Pete invoked at this morning’s team meeting.
Watson is also on the Penn Track & Field Team; as a member of the 4×100 team, Watson was one of the players that broke the school record. Watson was last year’s backup quarterback!
Click here to see the full news conference.
Pete Riordan Named New Kingsmen Head Football Coach
Penn High School football players learned in a “surprise introduction” during an early morning team meeting that Pete Riordan would be their new head coach! The announcement came in the locker room of the Chris Geesman Kingsmen Athletic Center on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Riordan has been an assistant coach on the Kingsmen Football staff for 20 years (most recently serving as Defensive Coordinator). Riordan will be the seventh head coach of the Kingsmen Football Team.
It was important for Coach Riordan to talk to his players first this morning before making a public announcement. Coach Matt Cates and Coach Cory Yeoman set the stage for the team announcement. Click to watch the video below.
Click here to see the photo gallery below of this morning’s team meeting.
A news conference with local sports media was held at the P-H-M Educational Services Center later in the afternoon. Click here to watch the highlights and photo gallery.
Taking over one of Indiana’s elite Football programs, Riordan replaces Cory Yeoman, who recently retired as the Penn Football Head Coach. Penn finished the 2023 season with a 10-2 record, winning Sectional and Northern Indiana Conference Championships. Riordan has coached in four State Championship Football games as an assistant with the Kingsmen (2003, 2011, 2015 and 2017), with Penn earning a State Runner-up finish in those seasons.
Riordan started his teaching career at Penn High School in 2000. He relocated to Indianapolis from 2007-2009 while his wife was in residency as a physician. During this time, Coach Riordan served as assistant coach at Ben Davis for three seasons (2007-2009), the last two seasons as the Giants’ defensive coordinator.
Penn AD Jeff Hart was in on the planning of this morning’s surprise for the players.
“Coach Riordan brings a proven track record of elite success to this role, both on and off the field,” Hart said. “A state champion as a high school student-athlete, and two decades of coaching while being mentored by Hall of Fame coaches at both Penn and Ben Davis have shaped him for this moment.”
Riordan also teaches Economics, Advanced Placement Economics and ACP Business at Penn High School. He was recently named a teacher Impact Award winner by the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation for helping his students increase their test scores on their AP exams by as much as 20%. Click here for more information.
“He has a teacher’s heart and his high character leadership in the classroom and on the field fits our culture perfectly,” Hart said. “I can’t wait to see where his positive vision takes the program.”
Riordan is excited about the opportunity to lead one of Indiana’s elite Football programs.
“It is humbling and an incredible honor to be chosen to continue the success and tradition of the Long Black Line as the next Head Coach at Penn,” Riordan said. “While it is a great responsibility, it is one that I am thrilled to undertake.
“The Penn Football Program has always been a family that has supported each other,” Riordan added. “The coaches, their wives and families, the administration and boosters have always had great camaraderie and that is one of the things that helps make Penn Football such a special program.”
Riordan is grateful to the Penn-Harris-Madison leadership for the opportunity to lead the Penn Football Program.
“I would like to thank Coach Cory (Yeoman), Coach Geesman, and all of the great Penn assistant coaches for helping me get to this point,” Riordan said. “Additionally, the support of the Penn Athletic Department led by Jeff Hart, the school Administration led by Dr. Galiher and the corporation’s leadership from Dr. Thacker and Dr. Leniski has been tremendous and I look forward to this opportunity.”
Coach Riordan and his wife, Nicole (Penn Class of 1999) have two daughters who attend P-H-M schools.
Riordan owns a state championship legacy. He played on the 1995 South Bend St. Joseph State Championship Football Team and was a three-year starter. Riordan also played one year of Football at Wabash College. He earned a B.A. from Wabash and earned an MBA in Finance from Indiana University South Bend.
Riordan credited his high school coach, Frank Amato, for teaching love and respect for the game of Football. He also credited former Penn Defensive Coordinator Don Monhaut for teaching the details and preparation of game-planning, and credited former Penn Head Coach Cory Yeoman for his unbelievable passion for the game.
Riordan embraces the standards of excellence that are at the foundation of Kingsmen Football.
“I look to continue the traditions and improve on the successes that have made Penn a premier program in the state,” Riordan said. “The staff and I will continue to evolve without losing sight of what makes Penn such a special place.”
Yeoman leaves Penn after 21 seasons as the head coach. He compiled a record of 208-56, winning four Semi-state championships, nine Regional championships, 13 Sectional championships and 17 Northern Indiana Conference championships. Click here for more information on Coach Yeoman.
Prior to Yeoman’s tenure as the Penn Football Head Coach, Chris Geesman coached the Kingsmen. Geesman led Penn to five state championships and had an overall record of 310-48. The legendary Kingsmen Head Coach guided Penn to 16 undefeated regular seasons and a state-record 89-game regular-season winning streak. Click here for more information on Coach Geesman.
Riordan joins an elite Football fraternity as the Kingsmen head coach. Yeoman and Geesman are both Indiana Hall of Famers. Rogers Reynolds (1970-1972) played for the New York Giants, and Bob Ward (1965-69) played for Notre Dame. After coaching one season at Penn, Ron Meyer (1964) eventually coached at SMU and coached the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots. Dale O’Connell started the Penn Football program (1958-1963) and compiled a 32-21-4 record.
In addition to coaching Football at Penn, Riordan was a Junior Varsity Baseball Coach at Penn (2001-2003). Penn won State in Baseball in 2001. He served as the Boys Basketball Freshman Head Coach (2001), the season that the Kingsmen finished as State Runner-up. He was a volunteer assistant Football coach at Northridge for the 2000 season.
The P-H-M Board of School Trustees will officially approve Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker’s recommendation of Coach Riordan to this position at its meeting on Monday, March 25, 2024.
