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Hey Presidents...
A HUGE thank you to everyone who stepped up to make our Holiday Baskets event another rousing success! We had plenty of food, teen gifts, and volunteers, and we are grateful for all of that!
Here's our outstanding team!! Still smiling after going full tilt for more than a couple of days...
Things of interest in the City:
City Council looks at homelessness tonight.
The Planning Commission has a public hearing about marijuana on Thursday.
Focus Day
Focus Day is February 3!!
Although the agenda and speakers have not yet been finalized, the registration link is live. Find that here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wspta-focus-day-2016-registration-19893269304
This year's Focus Day is important because of the state of Basic Education funding. This is the time that PTA families show up en force to make a visual statement about how much we care and are paying attention.
This year's Focus Day is on a school day, so it will be up to you about whether to pull your kiddos out to participate or not.
Northshore Council is asking about sharing a bus; if you would like that option, please let me know ASAP!!
To Publicize from Einstein
The Einstein PTSA is testing out a new program in partnership with the Lyon Ski School to provide a Ski Bus leaving from Einstein on Saturdays beginning in January.
We are recruiting interested Shoreline 3rd through 12th graders (and adults!) to sign-up to ride a Shoreline Ski and Snowboard Bus leaving from the school to Stevens Pass starting on January 9, 2016 for a 7-week session. All classes, transportation and payment logistics provided by Lyon Ski School.
We need a minimum of 25 participants (kids or adults) by Friday, December 18th to make this new program happen! See the attached flyer for more information and contact Elaine Ringo (206-817-5079 or elaineben1022@gmail.com) to reserve your spot!
Here's the Flyer!
Thank you!
-Kim
Housekeeping
Please, over the break, do a couple of housekeeping things.
1. Please go over (or delegate this) your websites and remove any information that is stale or flatly out of date. Click all the links and fix or remove broken ones (I'm doing this for Council as well).
Make sure your board information is correct, you have minutes posted if you say you will post them (not from 2011), and your financials are not available unless they are behind a password protected area.
2. Please log into the directory on the Council website and check your rosters. I specifically want to see Reflections, Advocacy/Legislative, and Awards contact information. We've got some stuff coming up in the new year pretty fast that we'll want to push out!
Let us know if you need help recruiting for any of those positions (except Reflections, of course).
Council Immediate Needs
In January, we need to elect a Nominating Committee and identify a mid-year financial review committee. If you can serve on either of those, please let me know.
Leadership Academy
(for your Boards/newsletters)
Did you know that there is an award that recognizes your individual growth in leadership?
The Leadership Academy program was created to encourage, facilitate and recognize the continuous growth of leadership shown by PTA leaders at all levels. Honorees are recognized at four levels ranging from bronze to crystal. The crystal awardees are honored on stage at the annual WSPTA Convention. At each level, awardees receive a certificate and pin.
This program is free to join and is a great way to create a record of your leadership development that can be included on your professional resume as you gain the skills to become a leader in your community. Applicants accumulate leadership points based on the positions held, conferences attended and classes taught. All members are encouraged to apply as points are cumulative over the years submitted. This is a great program for all leaders – those just starting out in PTA and those who have given hours of their time to PTA organizations.
Completed applications are due by March 1 each year.
**New for 2015-2016**
Points will only be accepted for up to two years: the current PTA year (2015-2016) and the prior PTA year (2014-2015).
(for your newsletters)
What is the PTA Men's Essay Contest – Men Making A Difference? This "ready to go"
program is a statewide essay contest that explores the important contributions men make in the lives and education of children – from our children's perspective.
Why participate?
All men involved in a child's life–fathers, uncles, grandpas, brothers, step-fathers, mentors, neighbors, pastors, coaches and friends – impact the children they care about. When male figures are involved with student's schooling, they perform better in and out of school.
Which students can participate?
This statewide essay contest has multiple age divisions. All students can participate!
What do we have to do?
This essay contest is ready to go! All you have to do is:
- Publicize the contest to your students and staff.
- Give them the application and rubric
- Decide who mails in the entries – you or the students.
- Announce the postmark deadline of March 1, 2016!
What happens next?
All entries received by the deadline will be scored by a team of judges. From all eligible entries, winners will be chosen in each age division and announced prior to convention. Winners of each age division will be invited to read their essay at the WSPTA Convention May 20-22, 2016 in Yakima.
Where do I find additional information?
The application includes:
- Contest objectives
- Divisions (grades)
- Scoring rubric
- Entry requirements
Membership Reminders!
Region 6 has a new Membership Chair!
Stacey Meyer has joined the Region 6 team officially!!
"Stacey has a good amount of experience with membership in her Bothell area local PTAs and I know she's passionate about it too. She has worked with Northshore Council as an Area VP for the last 1.5 years, so she has that level of experience as well. Teri Davis, WSPTA Membership Director, has been helping us recently with our PTAs with no members enrolled, and it's helped tremendously as you can see below. There's still a lot of work to do and Stacey will be working with Teri and the other region membership chairs to help us get moving towards our goals. Remember, though, that membership is ALL of our jobs, so please do what you can to help out." - Janice Kutzera, Region 6 Director
Message from Teri:
Hi All,
Just thought I'd share....
Last month, at the Nov. 12, 2015 Membership conference call, Region 6 had 18,267 members, 68.6% to last year.
Today, Dec. 10 there are 22,612 members in Region 6 - up 4345 members in one month!! And up to 84.9% compared to last year!
So even though there are still several PTAs with 0 members, it is improving!
IMPORTANT DATES
January 25
Make sure all member forms are entered into PT Avenue. This determines the number of your PTA's voting delegates for Convention!
March 1
Deadline to apply for Membership Awards:
- 100% Teacher
- Seedling
- Sapling
- 100% Membership
May 20-22
2016 WSPTA Convention
Yakima, WA
From National PTA
PTA Leaders,
Today is momentous for our nation’s students, families, educators, PTAs and schools as President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law. This landmark legislation reauthorizes the long overdue Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind (ESEA/NCLB).
This new law brings much needed improvements to K-12 education, provides greater flexibility to states to meet the needs of all students and acknowledges the essential role of family engagement in student achievement.
We would like to take this time to thank National PTA’s officers, board of directors, past national presidents, state presidents, legislation committee members and federal legislative chairs for their tremendous leadership and advocacy efforts to get us to this historic day.
We also applaud the National PTA Government Affairs staff—Elizabeth Rorick, Jacki Ball, Joshua Westfall and Lindsay Kubatzky—for keeping our membership informed and engaged so we could advocate at critical points throughout this process.
The bipartisan, bicameral passage of this bill and its enactment into law was a long-time coming—and it was essential that PTA get it right. And we have, thanks to all of you.
None of this would have been possible without our past governance and every single member who sent emails, made phone calls, posted on social media and conducted in-person meetings over the last eight years urging a comprehensive, bipartisan reauthorization of ESEA/NCLB with robust family engagement provisions.
We have demonstrated our influence together and the power of our collective voice. This is a success for students, families and PTA. You should be proud of the contributions you made to get this bill signed into law. This is a recognition of our value as stakeholders and key advocates.
The responsibility for implementation and accountability now lies with state and local education authorities. We will continue to call on you to make sure implementation is successful at the state and local levels for our nation’s children. During this next phase, we will be even more reliant on the clear, collective, and most importantly, unique parent voice.
As consumers of our public education system we cannot afford to be complacent in this next step of educational advancement and innovation. We must keep in sharp focus that our primary motivation is to make a difference and speak with a unified voice for every child. Every Child. One Voice.
There are moments when we need to stop and celebrate and this is one of them. Congratulations and thank you for all your advocacy efforts!
We look forward to working with all of you as we continue to use our collective voice and maximize our impact in service to our nation’s students and families.
Sincerely,
Laura Bay Nathan R. Monell, CAE
President Executive Director
National PTA National PTA
How can Council help you? Give us your ideas, your feedback, your needs, concerns, and triumphs.
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UPCOMING EVENTS
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No Council Meeting in December! |
Important to know:
FedEx discount code: 0520882103!
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Mark Your Calendars
December 21-Jan 1: Winter Break
January
Thursday 1/7, 6:30-8 pm: Reflections Reception, Shoreline Room
Monday 1/11, 7 pm: School Board Meeting
Thursday 1/14: Superintendent Coffee, Sherrick Room
Monday 1/18: Martin Luther King Jr Day
Wednesday 1/20: Reflections artwork due to State
Monday 1/25, 7 pm: PTA Council Meeting, Alumni Room
Monday 1/25, 7 pm: School Board Meeting
Training Opportunities
Other training opportunities (you can attend in any Region, if there is a location and date that is more convenient for you):
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MID-WINTER CONFERENCE
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2/23 | Bellevue | TBD | TBD
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PTA & THE LAW
1/30 | Arlington area | TBD | TBD
Region 10
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Other Events
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