The schools as they stand

THE 2026–27 SCHOOL YEAR, AS OF NOVEMBER 2026

The public ladder: Granger's children in the Penn-Harris-Madison corporation climb a ladder of five buildings on this ground — Mary Frank Elementary (1958, renovated whole in 1982), Prairie Vista (1989), Horizon (1995), Discovery Middle School (1996), and Northpoint (1998) — Mary Frank, Horizon, and Northpoint feeding Discovery, Prairie Vista feeding Schmucker Middle School across the township line, and all of it feeding Penn High School in Mishawaka: the place has no high school of its own, and its corporation is seated outside it. The corporation is led, verified this month against its own releases, by Superintendent Dr. Heather Short, in office since July 1, 2025 after nineteen years of Dr. Jerry Thacker; its board approved the 2026–27 teachers' agreement on October 12, 2026, and the district prints itself in the state's top five percent on the spring 2026 assessments, with a 94.7 percent third-grade reading pass rate published in August 2026. The place's western, Clay Township edge answers to a second corporation, South Bend's: Darden Elementary since Tarkington Traditional's 2021 closure, and John Adams High School since Clay High School closed after the 2023–24 year — assignments that stand as the Schools section leaves them.

The independent seats, and the one that ended: St. Pius X Catholic School stands open on Fir Road beside its parish, the parish school of 2008 in its second decade. Peace Lutheran School on Cleveland Road, Calvary Christian School on Fir Road, and the Michiana Covenant Academy homeschool seat on Cleveland Road stand as the Schools section's roll prints them. One seat on that roll is closed, and its closing is the school story of this place's year: Granger Christian School, the independent school of 1972 on Gumwood Road, announced its closure to families on July 22, 2026 and confirmed it to the press on July 23 — its recently hired principal had resigned days before, other administrators followed, a significant number of parents unenrolled, and the school that had run fifty-four years did not open for 2026–27, its families placed elsewhere before the year began and its Knights' teams ended with it. The church it belonged to stands; the school does not. Its whole course is the Schools section's; what belongs here is its present state: as of November 2026 the roll of Granger's schools is one shorter than it was in June, and the closure — not a boundary change, not a district plan — is the only closing the PHM era's building record and the independent record together have set on this ground in the building generation.

Sources:

1. The Schools section of this build (sch-ladder and the school entries; PHM directory and IDOE/NCES records as of November 2026) and the Sports leg (the Knights' ended seasons).
2. Fresh verification, November 11, 2026: Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation releases — October 13, 2026 (the board's October 12 approval of the 2026–27 teachers' agreement, quoting "P-H-M Superintendent Dr. Heather Short"; the top-five-percent standing) and August 12, 2026 (the 94.7 percent IREAD-3 rate, Dr. Short speaking for the district) — Short holds the superintendency this month; South Bend Tribune, July 23, 2026 (Granger Christian School's closure confirmed that day; the announcement to families the night before; the principal's resignation and the unenrollment that followed; transcripts and placement assistance under way).