During our March 25th roundtable, PTA leaders discussed the upcoming return to classrooms and how to support students, teachers, and staff during this transition. We've included a list of the ideas that were discussed below. We want to remind each PTA that every school is different and that it is essential to check with your school administration before planning anything to get their okay. Also, we urge each PTA to keep in mind students choosing to stay 100% remote when planning events or celebrations so that they can be included as well.

• Welcome kits for all kids - items could include PTA branded sanitizer, lanyards, stickers, etc.
• Tears & Cheers handouts for parents - baggies could include tissues, single serve coffee/tea packet, PTA info, etc. Hand out via a table at the entrance/exit to campus, if allowed.
• Vinyl Banners or Yard Announcement signs to welcome back students and staff
• Signs with Inspirational Messages - examples being "You Got This, Jags!", "Woodmoor Dolphins Can Do Anything!", "Leota Strong!", or "Shelton View Sharks are Amazing!"
• Balloon Arches
• Back to School Drawing/Contest - prizes could include headphones, charging cords, blue light glasses, other school supplies, etc.
• Single Use Water Bottles - could purchase from places like Costco for classrooms to have available in case a student forgets to bring one from home or needs to refill water and can't use the water fountains.
• Classroom Grants for Teachers - if budget allows, split up remaining grant money and give some to each teacher. Note: There may be limits as to what PTAs can reimburse for, like PPE or sanitizer, as these are supplied by the district. Council is working to get clarification on this and will update once known.
• Post Amazon Wishlists for Staff - if teachers have them, consider sharing them out via your website or parent social media groups.
• First Aid Kits - small kits purchased for each classroom to limit the visits to the nurse for "little things" like Band-Aids or icepacks. Check with school nurse on needs.
• Virtual Gift Card Drive - Have a card for each teacher. NOTE: PTA does not purchase the gift cards, only organizes the collecting/distribution of them and must keep close track of gift cards.
• Partner with School Counselors to put the word out about Social/Emotional Health Tools for students and families during this transition.

💡 Helpful Tip: Shop PTA offers many options for signs, banners, goodie bag items, etc. for PTAs to purchase.

Questions about how to make these or other PTA ideas happen for your school? Council is here to help!
VP of Secondary Support - Nancy Chamberlain
VP of Elementary Support - Grace Jurado

Is your PTA/PTSA planning a Welcome Back Event or showing your support for your school in a way not listed above? Let us know!

Congratulations to the 30 Northshore PTAs/PTSAs that participated in this year's Reflections program and to the artists who made it to Council-level judging!! It was fun celebrating you all on our 2020-2021 Reflections Virtual Art Showcase website where we displayed 229 pieces of artwork! We hope you were able to share this with friends and family! The Virtual Art Showcase will be available until March 31st, 2021 for viewing.

Judging Results: There were 55 State Qualifiers (SQ) who continued on to Washington State PTA for further judging.  There were also 59 pieces that received the honorable Judge's Choice Award (JC). Congrats to all the students who made it to the Council Level for judging!

We'd also like to honor and congratulate the following six (6) artists for their awards at the state level. The three (3) Outstanding Interpretation winners will advance to the National PTA for the final round of judging! ​

Sistema Escolar USA presenta "Guía para ayudar a sus hijos a tener exito en la primaria y más allá".

Abril 6, 6:30 PM en español a través de Zoom

¡Pulse aquí para registrarse!

Los invitamos a una charla para aprender cómo puede ayudar mejor a sus hijos desde la primaria y las oportunidades que existen en el distrito escolar, para obtener lo mejor que la educación pública tiene a su servicio.

En esta charla también conocerá un poco del sistema escolar y sabrá a quien recurrir cuando tenga preguntas o necesite ayuda académica, tecnológica o emocional para su hijo o hija.

La escuela tiene muchos recursos y queremos que usted conozca cuales son y lo mas importante, que usted sepa que es parte esencial de nuestra comunidad escolar.

Este evento es copatrocinado por Northshore Council PTSA y Woodin Elementary PTA.

Habrá interpretación al inglés disponible para quienes lo soliciten.

National PTA hosted the 2021 Legislative Conference (LegCon) March 9-11. This year’s LegCon was held virtually, making it possible for over 50 WSPTA Members to attend, including Northshore Council PTSA Leaders Nancy Chamberlain, Diana Christiansen, and Rachel Fitzgerald.
 
LegCon attendees were able to participate in a variety of PTA Advocacy Spotlights and Workshops. Some of these included “Driving Digital Equity”, “Advocating for Federal Resources”, “Keeping Students Safe at Home & School”, and “Supporting and Educating Families During the Pandemic”. One of the highlights of LegCon 2021 was the Mental Health Panel that provided attendees with a spirited discussion of the importance of mental health.
 
In addition to sharing great PTA ideas, members participated in NPTA’s first ever Virtual Hill Day. Hill Day provides the opportunity for PTA Advocates to meet with national congressional officials. In the pre-Covid times, this would have involved traveling to Washington D.C. to meet in person with elected officials. This year, however, advocates met virtually allowing a lot more members to participate in the meetings with our Senators and Representatives.

Highlights from Hill Day

During the Virtual Hill Day visits, PTA called upon our Members of Congress to:

1. Make meaningful, robust investments in education in the next COVID relief package.
2. Increase funding for the Statewide Family Engagement Centers to $20 million.
3. Include schools in any comprehensive infrastructure package. 
4. Improve the federal school meal program through Child Nutrition Reauthorization
5. Support policies which protect all students, including students from historically marginalized   populations and communities.

Learn More: National PTA 2021 Hill Asks
 
Advocates representing Northshore PTAs were able to meet with staff members from the offices of both Senator Cantwell and Senator Murray as well as Representative DelBene. During these meetings, attendees were given exciting updates about the COVID Relief Bill which will have over $100 billion for K-12 education. Washington is expected to receive $1.8 billion of that funding. Some of the big features this bill is addressing include childcare issues, after school and summer learning, head start, and higher education.


PTA Members Speak Their Own Truth to Advocate for Every Child

Many members shared personal stories and related them to our asks from congress. One of the most memorable stories was when former Seattle student, Aneesa Roidad, spoke on the importance for students to have access to nutritious food to be able to be focus on learning during the school day. She explained that it is important to improve and fully fund the Child Nutrition Reauthorization. She also emphasized the need for students to feel safe in their schools and how this especially impacts students of color and marginalized students. She asked Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell to support infrastructure funding for schools in the Reopen and Rebuild American’s Schools Act of 2021 so that buildings are clean, safe, and healthy.

Another powerful Hill Day testimony came from Olena Bedendo who shared how difficult it was for her children to keep up in school this year due to a pause in the ESL and reading programs that her children are eligible for. Her story emphasized how important Family Engagement is in a child’s education. One of National PTA’s asks is to increase federal funding for Statewide Family Engagement Centers to $20 million. Currently only 13 states have these programs because they are not fully funded (WA State is not one of them). We know that students whose families are involved in their education attend school more regularly, earn better grades, enroll in more challenging academic programs, and have higher graduation, which makes it even more important to advocate for!

Shannon Otto also provided moving testimony when she spoke on supporting policies which protect all students, including those from historically marginalized populations and communities. Shannon is part of the View Ridge Elementary community, a school which made the news this year because staff members locked a student in a cage on the playground routinely.  (Click here to read an article published by KUOW Public Radio about the incident.)  Shannon, along with the other advocates from Washington State PTA, asked Senator Murray to reintroduce the Keeping All Students Safe Act, which she has sponsored in past years. Senator Cantwell’s assistant said she would speak to the senator about our concerns.

It was inspiring to hear the personal testimonies as PTA members were advocating for every child. The many events of LegCon 2021 gave advocates a voice nationally and strengthened their PTA knowledge in many different areas. If you want to learn more about how you can increase your advocacy efforts – locally, state-wide, or nationally – visit our Advocacy Page or contact Council’s VP of Advocacy, Diana Christiansen.

Does someone in your PTA deserve a shout out?
​WSPTA has a formal volunteer award recognition program allowing local PTAs to award honors for outstanding educator, advocate, student advocate, and volunteer (Golden Acorn), as well as the honorary life membership award.

Awards are a great way for PTAs to show their community how much they appreciate them and to celebrate the dedication of those who support your PTA's mission and goals!

Local PTAs should appoint an awards committee who will gather nominations, review them, and choose the award recipients. This can be done during a meeting or some PTAs even choose to have the previous year's award recipients chair this committee. When the awards committee advertises for nomination submissions, it can be done via social media, newsletters, website, email, or even school flyers. To make it even easier for members to submit nominations, the awards committee can create an online submission form using tools like Google Forms or Survey Monkey.

For recognizing the award recipients, your PTA can hold a volunteer recognition event or take time during a Membership Meeting to celebrate them. WSPTA offers a variety of items your PTA can order online to celebrate your award recipients including certificates, pins, plaques, and even yard signs!

Northshore Council PTSA is excited to offer this Parent Education Event on the conversation of screens & teens. This event is FREE for all Northshore parents and guardians.

Join us for a virtual movie* presentation of the film "Screenagers NEXT CHAPTER: Uncovering Skills for Stress Resilience". Filmmaker and physician Dr. Delaney Ruston takes the conversation around screens and teens to the next level with a film that examines the science behind teen’s emotional challenges, the interplay of social media, and most importantly, what can be done in our schools and homes to help them build crucial skills to navigate stress, anxiety, and depression in our digital age.

​Click here to register and view a trailer for the film!

*Once registered, you will be given access to view the film virtually from home. This can be done "On Demand" anytime between the viewing period of March 8th-23rd.

Northshore Council PTSA will be holding online elections for the eleven (11) positions on its 2021-22 Executive Committee on Monday, March 15, 2021. 

Slate of Candidates:

In the 2021 Nominating Committee Report, the following slate of candidates were put forward for 2021-2022:

• For Office of President: Jane Chiodo
• For Office of First Vice President: Mary Khouzam
• For Office of Co-Secretary: Pauline Wray
• For Office of Co-Secretary: Cheri Hardin
• For Office of Treasurer: Serena Xu
• For Office of VP of Events: Karrie Palis
• For Office of Co-VP of Advocacy: Diana Christiansen
• For Office of Co-VP of Advocacy: Jennifer Drury
• For Office of VP of Communications: Rachel Fitzgerald
• For Office of VP of Elementary Support: Grace Jurado
• For Office of VP of Secondary Support: Brenae Brix​

The period for self-declared nominations for these positions closed on Friday, March 5, 2021.

Qualification Requirements

Per the 2020-2021 Council Standing Rules:

All Candidates:

• Any position may be held jointly by two (2) people, except the role of Treasurer. 
• Nominees must be at least 18 years of age.
• Nominees must be a current member of at least one local PTA that falls within the Northshore Council PTSA membership area. 

Candidates for the office of President and First Vice President shall also:

• Have two years of elected officer experience on Northshore Council PTSA; 

-OR -

• Have served as President of a local PTA for at least one year and have one year of serving in an elected position on Council or higher.

Candidates for the offices of VP of Elementary Support and VP of Secondary Support shall also:

• Have served in PTA a minimum of 2 years, with one year as a local PTA President and one year in a board position at the educational stage that they are going to support.

Each of the slated candidates meets all qualification requirements.

Election Information:
As there is only one candidate per position, the election will be conducted via voice vote at the next General Membership Meeting, on Monday, March 15, 2021:

Topic: March 15, 2021 - Membership Meeting - Northshore Council PTSA
Time: March 15, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
​
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/95442068687

Meeting ID: 954 4206 8687
Passcode: *Available upon request.

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Meeting ID: 954 4206 8687
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/adRhsyzKXK

Information about Northshore Council PTSA online elections procedures is available in its Electronic Voting (E-Voting) Policy.
Questions? Please contact Northshore Council PTSA President Jane Chiodo. 

​*A meeting password is required to join. It will be sent to local leaders via email. You can also request the password by emailing Council PTSA Communications VP, Rachel Fitzgerald.

As a Council, one of our main jobs is to support our local PTAs/PTSAs. We can do this in many ways, such as informing of best practices, giving advice, answering questions, providing leadership training, building connections, and encouraging local leaders.

Please let us know what we can do to help YOU & YOUR PTA! Is there something that your PTA is struggling with? Do you have any burning questions or concerns? Answer the questions in this survey to let us know.

As always, remember that Council is here to help. You can always reach out to Council members at any time.
Click here for Council Contact Information.

Deadline to complete the survey is Friday, March 19, 2021.

Every year, we look for nominations for the following awards:

1. Outstanding Educator – Honors individuals who go beyond the normal expectations of their jobs to make the learning environment fun, beneficial and challenging. An educator is not limited to a teacher and may be defined as a teacher, assistant, specialist, support staff, administrator, or community member.
2. Outstanding Advocate – Honors individuals for their continued and dedicated service to ALL children demonstrating a commitment to speaking up for children in the areas relating to health, welfare, safety, and education of children and youth.
   
3. Outstanding Service - This is the highest volunteer award given by the Washington State PTA.   It is awarded to someone who has gone beyond his or her own school community, job, or PTA in order to give dedicated volunteer service to children. Note: This award may only be given by a council. Local PTA members are encouraged to nominate deserving volunteers to the council for this recognition.
4. Honorary Life Membership – Recognizes an individual who has contributed significantly to a PTA at the local unit, council, or state level. This special award can be given by a PTA unit, council, or region.
5. Outstanding Student Advocate Award - Recognizes students who have made significant contributions through leadership and service in their school and community.
   
6. Golden Acorn – A Golden Acorn Award is presented by a local PTA or council to a school or community volunteer in recognition of her or his dedication and service to children and youth.

Multiple submissions can be completed for multiple nominees!
Awards will be presented during our Spring Recognition Event.

​Learn more about Council Awards and see previous recipients. Questions? Contact Council Awards Committee.

In response to the horrific attack on one of our Northshore School District teachers, the Northshore Council PTSA Board of Directors sent the following letter of support to District Admin earlier today.

View the letter below or click here to print a copy.