Bittersweet News

Last week Dr. Thacker shared some important information relative to the latest student achievement data in Penn-Harris-Madison. We continue to be proud of our P-H-M Triangle of success connecting students, teachers and parents. We're excited to share with you points of #PHMExcellence from across the district.

Skyward Family Access is an important tool to use to review your student's information. We encourage parents to check this resource regularly and communicate with your child’s teachers with any questions or concerns.

In addition, there are important documents and forms that need to be completed for each student. Once you login to Skyward please review all the documents contained in the Back to School Packet section and any other tiles that are not completed.

Specifically, three important documents need a response from you that are listed below. Please complete these documents before the end of this week.

SEL Curriculum

CLICK HERE to access the lessons and topics for this school year. Lessons are approximately 20 minutes long.

Mandatory Curriculum (indicating whether or not you want your child to participate in age appropriate and research based instruction on child abuse and sexual abuse for students in K-12). Indiana law requires that schools provide this training for students for families who opt-in to the curriculum.

Consent to Publish (indicating whether or not you give permission for PHM to post photographs and student work of your child on PHM school websites or forms of social media)

In addition, remember to review your student's emergency contacts and submit any changes through Family Access. Instructions for how to login to Skyward are included here. https://www.phmschools.org/sites/phmschools.org/files/skyward_and_canvas_information.pdf

The link to enter Family Access is https://skyward.phmschools.org.

To learn more about Family Access, be sure to check out Skyward’s parent toolkit at https://www.skyward.com/parents-and-students/qmlativ-toolkit/parents.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the PHM Help Desk at familyaccess@phm.k12.in.us

Hello Bittersweet Families!

We are kicking off our first fundraiser of the year, with our Walk on the Wild Side Walk-A-Thon! Please see the following fliers that will be sent home with your student. The flier information includes an overview and prize levels. We will have two ways to collect donations; the traditional way with cash and check collection via envelope sent home, and online through 99Pledges. Through this private online platform you will be able to reach out to friends and family by email, Facebook, and Twitter.

If you would like your child to participate in online donations, please follow these 3 easy steps:

1. Go to this link - www.99pledges.com/fund/bittersweetwildside/addme
2. Enter your child’s name (with last initial instead of full last name if you prefer), enter your email(s), and select the group your child belongs to.
3. Click “Add” > this will take you to your newly created pledge page!

All you have to do is make a donation for whatever amount you can, and share your child’s pledge page link with friends and family. We are shooting for 100% participation so no amount is too small.

Here is some sample sharing text:

" NAME is participating in a fundraiser, and would love your support. If you'd like to donate, you can do so online at the following link: YOUR PLEDGE PAGE LINK

Thanks for your support!"

Additional Details:

• When your child's sponsors donate online, at the end of the transaction it will ask if they'd like to submit a tip. This tip goes to 99pledges, not our school. To opt out, select "other" and enter 0.

• Envelopes and donations are due Friday, September 23rd.

We sincerely appreciate your continued support!

Bittersweet PTO

If you would like to come in to volunteer in your child's classroom, there are two steps that you need to follow:

Step 1: You must have a current background check on file. You have two options to complete this step. The background checks are good for 3 years. If you have any questions or need to know if you have a current background check on file, contact our school office.

Option 1 - Pay $12.95 for SafeVisitor to conduct the background search, which Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation will honor for 3 years. Click here to visit SafeVisitor’s website to complete the online electronic search.

Using this link is the preferred method to reduce search time and fingerprinting requirements. If out of state records are located, additional fees may apply.

Option 2 - For those preferring not to pay and/or use SafeVisitor’s expedited electronic background check services, Penn-Harris-Madison Schools offers another option to complete the paper Volunteer Background Check form. Once complete, you can email it or drop it off to the office. Click here to fill out the form as a fillable pdf or download and print it.

Step 2: You must watch the Anti-Bullying video and fill out the google form. The link is below. This is a yearly requirement for PHM Volunteers.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegV4bTvvgLGrcpCxVvPUH2Ek8ph6lmMgRYwTJr06dlCenqQw/viewform

Please check out the link below for this year's Community Connections Fair!