Archer Update #4

We're all Kingsmen! So we're all celebrating Penn High School Head Football Coach Cory Yeoman's who reached his 200th career with the victory over Mishawaka Friday, August 25th. For that milestone, Coach Yeoman was named Indianapolis Colts/NFL Coach of the Week for Week 2. Click for more details. We wish the Kingsmen luck as they take on Indianapolis Cathedral this Friday, Sept. 1. Watch for game updates on The Pennant X (Twitter) account; click here to follow.

Penn High School Homecoming 2023 is a community event for all P-H-M students and families. So, mark your calendars for Sept. 29. All the fun starts at 5:00. For all the details, visit https://www.phmef.org/homecoming/. Last year's event was so much fun, and this year it will be even better. You won't want to miss it!

All Kingsmen, future Kingsmen, families, and community members will have a chance to show their Penn Pride with three t-shirts options –

Homecoming Spirit Wear

1.) Penn High School Students & Staff - $12.00 Each

*This shirt was designed by one of our Penn High School students.

2.) Kingsmen Families & Community Members - $10.00 Each

3.) Future Kingsmen - $10.00 Each

Orders must be placed online by Friday, September 15th. All orders will be delivered to your student’s school. Please select the school from the dropdown menu and fill in your student’s name (along with grade, teacher / homeroom teacher) information that would be helpful to the middle and elementary schools’ office staff for delivery. Penn High School students can pick their orders up in the bookstore.

Boys in grades 2nd to 8th are invited to participate in "Back to School" Basketball League at Penn High School. The league will give young Kingsmen the opportunity to play basketball and introduce them to the skills and team concepts that are needed to play the game of basketball. League runs Sunday afternoons in September and October. Registration info is on our website. SIGN-UP TODAY!

In this edition of the Archer Update you will find the following information:

1. World's Finest Chocolate Fundraiser is Back!
2. Picture Day is Sept. 12th
3. Welcome Our New Safety Agent to DMS - Officer Wickham
4. DMS PTO INFO!
5. Important Dates
6. Classroom Library Update
7. Arrival and Dismissal Procedures
8. Reporting Student Absences
9. Breakfast and Lunch are not Free - Register on School Café
10. Medication at School
11. PHM Community Connection Fair in October Tailgate

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Friendly Reminders:

• Drop-off begins at 8:50 am and students will be marked tardy if they aren't in their seats by 9:05 am. Dismissal begins at 4:00 pm for car riders and buses depart by 4:08 pm.
• Unless approved by the building principal, no visitors or guests are allowed in the building.

Discovery Middle School is ranked #2 in the State of Indiana for top performing middle schools (this is out of about 300). Our teachers continue to be prepared to provide the most targeted, engaging lessons to help all our students reach their fullest learning potential. Our students are some of the best in Indiana and possibly the world! Thank you for sending us your finest!

Information is coming home with your student!

Sale Begins: 9/6/23

Sale Ends: 9/18/23

Order your pictures and pay online at Inter-State Studios. Use order code

79150SF

Informational brochures will be passed out at school. Every student will have a picture taken even if an order is not placed.

We are happy to share with you the addition of safety and security personnel for the 2023-24 school year. The safety and security of our schools are a priority as we foster optimal learning environments and aim to prepare your child(ren) for college and career readiness. Three (3) certified School Resource Officers (SROs), recently retired from local police departments, have/will join us as P-H-M Safety Agents in our schools. These officers will be housed in each of our middle schools and also serve feeder elementary buildings. The new P-H-M Safety Agents collaborate with our Principals, St. Joseph County School Resource Officers, and other off-duty police officials to further enhance schools as safe learning environments, prepare for emergencies, and ensure that all schools comply with safe school plans and practices as required by law.

New Safety Agents:

Retired St. Joseph County Police - Officer Kent Wickham

Retired South Bend Police - Officer Britton Pratt

Officer TBD (will announce later this fall)

Current Safety and Security Staff:

P-H-M Director of Safety and Security - Officer Tommy Teeter (tteeter@phm.k12.in.us)

P-H-M Lead Safety Agent - Officer Antwon Jones (located at Penn HS)

St. Joseph County School Resource Officer - Officer Mike Reppert

St. Joseph County School Resource Officer - Officer Ben Wilkey

Off-Duty Police Officials: Officer Greg Howard - South Bend Police

Officer Avery Minor - Roseland Chief of Police

Officer Scott Moniz - Osceola Police

Officer Corey Calvert - South Bend Police

VSS Security (contracted service) for Hallway Monitors at Secondary Schools.

Safe School Helpline

If you see something, hear something, say something! The Safe School Helpline is a convenient, confidential way for anyone to report information about situations that might affect safety at any P-H-M school or building. You can call the number any time of the day or night to report concerns about unsafe or potentially disruptive activities or situations including drug or alcohol abuse, weapons, harassment, bullying or threats.

All calls are completely confidential.

• 800-418-6423 (800-4-1-VOICE, ext. 359)

• TEXT: 66746, TIPS

• www.safeschoolhelpline.com

1. Volunteer to work concessions

2. PTO 5 Minute Form

3. Facebook

4. General PTO Meeting - September 11th

5. Direct Donation Drive

6. Scrip - Fundraising for field trips

1. Working the concessions stand for various events is a fun way to be involved at DMS! There are several teams who are currently looking for volunteers. Please click on the desired team's Signup genius link below. Thank you for your time and support!

7th grade football

8th grade football

Cross Country

Volleyball

2. Please take a few minutes to fill out this quick "5 minute form". This helps us get to know you and your areas of interest/involvement in the PTO.

3. Once you have filled out the 5 minute form, please join us on our closed Facebook page at “Discovery Middle School PTO” to stay up to date with PTO and school events. You must fill out the 5 minute form in order to be approved into the group.

4. General PTO Meeting - Everyone is invited to join us for our first general PTO meeting on Monday, September 11th at 6:00 pm. Location is TBD. We look forward to seeing you there!

5. PTO Direction Donation drive will be coming soon! This one-time donation is an easy way to help fund programs throughout the 2023/2024 school year. Be on the lookout for more info in upcoming newsletters and the Facebook group page!

6. Scrip is a national fundraising program for non-profit organizations. The PTO runs this program at DMS to help families save money toward their student’s trip(s) while at Discovery. The way it works is you buy physical or eGift cards at regular face value and earn a rebate between 2% and 20%. Of that rebate, 90% goes into your child’s DMS Trip Account and 10% goes to the PTO. It’s like earning free money! It’s a great way to save money without much hassle. Please see the attached form on how to get started.

School Trips for Free (23-24) info sheet. https://bit.ly/ScripInfo23-24

Sept. 4

Labor Day - No School

Sept. 12

Picture Day

We wanted to share that legislation was passed (HB 1447, effective January 1, 2024) that all schools prepare a catalog of materials found in the school library Alexandria and a response and appeal procedure for materials parents find questionable.

We have that process in place already and it is posted on all school websites Instructional Material Feedback. In addition, secondary teachers will provide their syllabus to you with listed materials and classroom teachers have been asked to create a master list of titles in their classroom libraries. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact your classroom teacher or me.

Our goal is to support teachers as we move toward classroom libraries being cataloged. We believe classroom libraries are within the scope of recent legislation, and that providing parents with a list of classroom library books provides an opportunity for greater transparency and partnership and is a proactive measure. Teachers do not need to have a completed inventory by the start of school. We ask that they be completed prior to Winter Break.

Arrival & Dismissal

Drop-off begins at 8:50 am and students will be marked tardy if they aren't in their seats by 9:05 am. Dismissal begins at 4:00 pm for car riders and buses depart by 4:08 pm. Students entering the school from a bus will enter Doors C, D and E. Car riders will enter the building at Door A. Dismissal for Car riders will be in the front lot at Horizon Elementary School.

Please take a look at the video below.

If your child will be absent for any reason, please notify our office as soon as possible! Our office staff records all absences beginning at 8:00 am and must phone any student's home who does not report to school without notice.

Another option is to go to your Skyward Family Access Account and follow these steps:

• Click on the Attendance Tile for the child who will be absent.
• Click on the Absence Requests Tab
• Click Add Absence Request on the right side of the screen
• Enter Start and End Date
• Check All Day if the absence will be the entire school day
• Attendance Reason - Choose from the drop down menu
• Comment - Add any information regarding the absence reason
• Click SAVE in the upper right hand corner

Register at: www.schoolcafe.com if they think they may qualify for free or reduced lunches for your children. You can also use this same site to add money to your children's accounts.

If your child needs our Health Aide to administer medication to your child at school, a parent or guardian must bring the medication to our health office with a written note from the doctor listing the medication, dosage, and frequency for administering. Our health aide is not permitted to administer any over the counter medication without a written doctor's note.

If you have any questions about procedures, please feel free to call the office and speak with Nurse Largen or email her at: slargen@phm.k12.in.us

Get ready for the annual PHM Community Connections Fair. This will be the 7th year PHM has hosted this event. The fair is coming up in October!

The fair will also include cultural performances from P-H-M students and families. If you or any students would want to perform you can sign up at https://forms.gle/CB3Kxa5j85i2G1hw5

Website: https://discovery.phmschools.org/
Location: 10050 Brummitt Road, Granger, IN, USA
Phone: 574-674-6010