1/20/22 General Membership Meeting Recap

​Last month Council held their 3rd General Meeting of the 2021-2022 school year.

We appreciate all the local leaders from across the district as well as community and school partners who took the time to attend!

Continue reading below for a recap of this meeting.

Council Business:

• November 15th, 2021 meeting minutes were accepted as presented.
• Serena Xu, Northshore Council PTSA Treasurer, reported that the mid year financial review will take place on Monday January 24th.
• The Nominating Committee was elected and includes: Diana Christiansen, Jasmine Fry, and Cherry Holmes. Click here to learn more about serving on Council in the 2022-2023 school year or to make a nomination.

Bond & Levies Support/Opposition Vote:
Council's Board of Directors put forward the issue of supporting the bond and levies that are on the February ballot.
During this meeting, both the pro and con positions on the issue were presented before calling for a motion to determine our PTSA’s support of or opposition to the bond and levies. Council would like to announce that the motion to support the Northshore School District Bond & Levies on the February 8th Ballot was passed unanimously. Learn more...

District Updates:

• We heard form NSD Partnerships & Volunteer Coordinator Marco Garcia who discussed how he organized a COVID testing clinic and food donations packages.
• NSD School Board Updates were provided by Director Amy Cast which included reviewing the monitoring report and the budget.

Council Committee Reports:

• Advocacy: Diana Christiansen & Jen Drury provided updates regarding the recent Focus on Advocacy Week as well as information on signing up for the action alerts which can be found here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/subscribe-to-wsptas-action-network-group
• Educational Speakers and Community Events Grants Program: Mary Khouzam, Grants Committee Chair, reminded us that there was still time to submit grant applications for the Jan 21st deadline. She also announced that the date may be pushed but that this decision is still pending. If you have further questions, please reach out to the Grants Committee.
• Reflections: Jasmine Lee Fry, Reflections Chair, reported that the online showcase will be up and running at a later date as it is still be worked on. Council's Reflections Results now available!
• Mental Health Committee: Melissa Kline, Co-Chair for the Mental Health Committee, provided an update regarding what the committee has been working on including advocating for more resources, putting out articles, and working with counselors on flyers and communication materials. The committee also put out a call for action - asking local PTA leaders to check how accessible mental health resources were at their school. Learn more about that here.
• Membership: Co-Chairs, Hanisha Bakshani and Melissa Kline, provided an update that we have 5181 members across the district with many of our local PTAs already earning a WSPTA Membership Growth Award. The more members we have the stronger our voice is in the district!
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: DEI Chair, Cherry Holmes, hosted a DEI roundtable meeting early in the school year. Cherry asked for feedback on "What does DEI mean in your PTSA/School?" - send your response here.
• PTA Support: VP of Elementary Support, Grace Jurado, asked that you please reach out with any questions or concerns or if you need any help. VP of Secondary Support, Brenae Brix, discussed that families are looking for more information on preparing around college and a local parent has volunteered to provide this information. This parent is partnering with Council to provide an info night on March 16th about preparing for college. More information will be coming soon. Middle school career days are being worked on at several middle schools. It will be a half day and presented within the students classroom.
• Emergency Preparedness: Co-Chairs, Tracy Jokisch and Robin McKenzie, reported to us that an additional 117 Stop the Bleed! kits were obtained this round. That is a total of 862 kits in the district. The next meeting for E-Prep is Feb 1st at 11am and the guest speaker will be Deb Fuller. Learn more...
• Special Education: Laura Staneff will soon be joining council as our new Special Education Chair.

We hope you will join us for our next General Membership Meeting on March 21st, 2022 @ 7pm.
For a full list of our upcoming meetings and events, check out our Calendar.