Walt Disney School Update
October 28, 2022
Points of #PHMExcellence
P-H-M prides itself in offering academic excellence at every level, to every student. With a 97% graduation rate, Penn High School is a state and national academic leader helping students with college and career readiness. Penn High School offers everything from vocational to advanced biomedical courses, to the fine arts, to robotics, even providing one of the finest and most complete health and athletic training programs in Indiana.
Welcome Message from Mr. Towner
Dear Parents,
Wow - we just finished our first ever Trunk or Treat event at Walt Disney. The turnout was incredible! I want to thank the many teachers and staff who decorated a trunk and handed out candy. We thank our parents and PTO for generous candy donations. And thank you to all the families who came and joined us! We had several hundred families join us tonight, and we couldn't be more grateful!
Schools are powerful communities, especially when we come together. I speak for the staff in sharing how appreciative we are to have this community, and to partner with you. When we all contribute, we all benefit. Seeing the many smiles tonight, it was a great example of the positive power of our school community.
Wishing all Dolphins a restful and fun weekend,
Mr. Towner
PTO Update
We are working through collecting remaining funds from our World's Finest Chocolate fundraiser, and will announce a date for the prize day soon! Thank you to all the families who participated!
We look forward to our next PTO event, "Donuts with Dolphins", spread over three mornings on December 19th, 20th, and 21st. More information to come!
Lunchtime Visitors
With Covid restrictions eased, PHM schools are again accepting parent visitors during lunch periods. Please note that space is limited, so we are using the following sign-up genius. It can be accessed via this link.
Our process will be subject to change as we evaluate this rollout. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
Outstanding Academic News
- As reported by the IDOE similar schools summary, Walt Disney is in the top 6.7% of schools that are similar in size and demographics, as measured by ILEARN. Of 127 similar schools, we outperform 118 of them. Our focus is of course on outperforming everyone, and being the best!
- Walt Disney continues to beat state averages on the IREAD-3 assessment, and we have returned to pre-Covid performance for our students in third grade. Walt Disney is the only school in the state where minority subpopulations and ENL subpopulations have outperformed the overall school performance on IREAD-3 (as well as beating the state overall passing percentage!) Our free/reduced subpopulation always outperforms the state for that category by nearly 10%.
- PHM is in the top 3.67% of school corporations in the State of Indiana!
Skyward Family Access
If you have questions about Skyward Family Access, please email them to familyaccess@phm.k12.in.us and we will be glad to assist you!
Pictures from Around the Pod
Free/Reduced Meals and Textbook Assistance
We want to remind all parents that free/reduced meals and textbook assistance is available for eligible families. An application can be completed for this program online, by following the link below. As well, we are happy to provide a paper copy upon request.
School Fees are Due March 31st
For information on school fees, or to proceed with paying your child's school fees, please follow the button below.
Food Services
To access accounts digitally, go to https://www.phmschools.org/pay-meals-online to access our School Cafe program online.