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To highlight the importance of membership growth, Washington State PTA recognizes local PTAs for enrolling more members than they did in the previous year. As PTAs achieve incremental increases in membership growth, they are recognized for each milestone they reach. As of May 31, 2019, the following Northshore PTAs/PTSAs have earned 2018-19 WSPTA Membership Growth Awards:  The 100% Staff Membership Award is presented to local PTAs that enroll at least as many school staff members as there are full-time certificated employees at the school. This award recognizes the value of teachers and school staff as stakeholders advocating for all children through PTA membership. The following Northshore PTAs/PTSAs earned a WSPTA 100% Staff Membership Award in 2018-2019: 🏆 100% Staff Membership
Congratulations to our award-winning Northshore PTAs! Northshore Council PTAs/PTSAs welcomed 8,079 members in 2018-2019. We look forward to 2019-2020 to be even stronger!
Many thanks to all of our amazing Northshore PTAs/PTSAs for continually striving for membership growth helping us to have an even more powerful voice for our children!  At the beginning of June, Frank Love Elementary PTA shared photos on their Facebook page of a newly-installed bottle cap mural. The mural, which overlooks the campus entrance, serves as a colorful welcome to all who visit the school. Northshore Council contacted FLE PTA to learn more about the project and how their PTA was involved. The mural began as a 5th grade legacy project in 2017-18 in coordination with local artist, Stephanie Roman-Olvera. Parents, students, staff and community members collected and washed thousands of bottle caps which the artist used to create the colorful image. Then the 2018-19 5th Grade Class and Promotion Team partnered with Frank Love PTA, the artist, school administration and Northshore School District in order to bring the mural to completion. The PTA helped fund the mural project via its School Beautification budget. Frank Love Elementary PTA co-President Sara Lennerblom describes the mural so well: "This community mural is [a] beautiful reflection of our FLE Community and we are thankful to the many hands that provided time, talents, and bottle caps to make this legacy gift to our school a reality. It will have a lasting imprint on our campus for years to come!" It is so inspiring to hear stories about successful community-school partnerships such as this! Thank you so much, Frank Love Elementary PTA, for your part in making this beautiful mural happen and for sharing the story with Council!  Earlier this month, Arrowhead Elementary worked on a school-wide project called "Kindness Connects Us." The goal of the project was to celebrate acts of kindness that happen every day. Teachers and students worked together to nominate each other for kindness 'links' which were then connected to create chains in each classroom. On June 13th, a school assembly was held to combine all of the links-- creating a giant chain that gave a visible representation of how far their kind acts had reached. Arrowhead Elementary PTA provided Otter Pops and organized a group of parent volunteers to help pass those out and assist during a special celebratory all-school recess. The Kindness Connects Us project was created by Arrowhead staff as a way to positively reinforce the ongoing work of Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) and Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS)-- the district-wide framework being used to improve school climate and provide integrated supports for improving social, emotional and academic outcomes for all students. The result of collaboration by Arrowhead's MTSS/PBIS and Equity & Diversity teams, Kindness Connects Us worked to build on the theme of Kindness that the school had been focusing on throughout the year. They also coordinated with Arrowhead PTA to help spread the word to families and organize the culminating celebration-- turning it into a wonderful opportunity for family and community engagement as well. The project was kicked off by having each student create an "Identity Link" to show kindness to ourselves and to celebrate their individual and unique identities. Each class picked from one of three identity link options. Teacher Jessica-Lynn Tompkins (also a project organizer) described this first step, "The identity links are included in our kindness chain to ensure that everyone (staff and student) had a link right away and to symbolize that even though we are different, we are one community." For two weeks, teachers gave out kindness links that included the student's name and a place to mark if they were kind to themselves, to others, or to the school. Each class had a goal of 100 links. Students received links at recess, in their classrooms, and could even nominate peers for links during class meetings. Every student in school wrote messages of how to demonstrate kindness throughout their daily lives. Then they ended the project with an all-school assembly where they connected all of the links and enjoyed some music. Together, the links of paper formed a gigantic chain across the school’s campus! The day of celebration was capped off with a special all-school recess and sweet treats from Arrowhead PTA. This Kindness Connects Us project involved the entire school community and offered an incredible visual reminder of the power of kindness and how kindness can connect us all. Many thanks to Arrowhead PTA co-President Kristie Johnson and Arrowhead teacher Jessica-Lynn Tompkins for sharing information about Kindness Connects Us with Council (and for providing some wonderful photos!). We hope that Arrowhead Elementary's project can serve as an inspiration for more collaborative community efforts in our schools! 
Nutritious free meals are available for children and teens, ages 18 and younger, at a number of locations in the Northshore area throughout the summer while school is out of session:
To find locations in other areas:
Other Food Resources:
Community Meals in North King/South Snohomish Counties:
Food Stability Resources & Food Banks in North King/South Snohomish Counties:
(ID and proof of residence required at all locations)
Northshore Nourishing Networks offers regularly updated printable lists for community meals and food stability resources (food banks) on their website: www.nourishingnetworks.net/networks/northshore/.
 Northshore Council PTSA held its annual Spring Recognition Breakfast on Thursday, June 6, 2019, at McMenamin's Anderson School in Bothell. The event celebrates the work of PTAs throughout Northshore as well as this year's amazing volunteers and award recipients district-wide. Guests included representatives from Northshore PTAs, their award recipients and honored guests, district officials, school board members, and community partners. Many thanks to North Creek High School's instrumental music program students and director Deborah Montague for providing wonderful performances during breakfast. Special thanks to keynote speaker, Janet Harvey, MCC, who offered an inspiring presentation about leadership and the power and value of staying true to one self. Northshore Council PTSA was also honored to present awards during the event. Many congratulations to this year's award recipients, each of whom has worked to promote the well-being and education of children in our district and beyond:  🌟 Outstanding Advocate: Corina Pfeil The Outstanding Advocate Award recognizes an individual for his or her advocacy and commitment in helping to create strong policies relating to the health, welfare, safety and education of children and youth.  🌟 Outstanding Student Advocate: Ayden Harris (7th grade, Leota Middle School) 🌟 Outstanding Student Advocate: Cami Brix (12th grade, Inglemoor High School) This is the first year Northshore Council PTSA has given this award. The Outstanding Student Advocate Award recognizes student PTA members who have made significant contributions through leadership and service in their school and community.  🌟 Outstanding Educator: Dr. Michelle Reid The Outstanding Educator Award is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions in their community to enhance the educational outcomes of all children or youth. An educator is not limited to a teacher and may be defined as a teacher, assistant, specialist, support staff, administrator or community member.  🌟 Outstanding Service: Wendy Reynolds The WSPTA Outstanding Service Award was added in 1962, building on the success of the Golden Acorn Award program. This award recognizes statewide service to children. It is awarded to an individual who has given dedicated and long-term volunteer service that positively impacts every child throughout the community while demonstrating the WSPTA core values. We are grateful to all who were able to join us for this wonderful morning of food, music, community, and celebration!  The Northshore Council PTSA Emergency Preparedness Team, composed of E-Prep Chairs from schools across the district, meets monthly to discuss and support important school safety and preparedness initiatives. Topics have included NSD Emergency Management, Safety Policies, Emergency Containers, Safe School Emergency Operations Plans, Safe Schools Advocacy in Olympia, Student/Parent Reunification, School Active Threats, Security Cameras, Door Locks, Stop the Bleed Kits and much more. At the June 3rd, 2019 E-prep meeting, three individuals were recognized for outstanding contributions to Emergency Preparedness this year:
 Northshore Council PTSA 2019 E-Prep team picture, taken at the June 3, 2019 meeting. (Photo courtesy of Robin McKenzie.) Next year we hope to expand our team to include every school PTSA in the district and create even more collaboration with the School District Safety, Security and Emergency Preparedness group. Robin McKenzie and Tracy Jokisch will be serving as our Northshore Council E-Prep Co-Chairs for 2019-20. Please contact Tracy and Robin if you would like to be a part of our PTSA E-Prep team and join our Facebook group.
 The Northshore School District has established a consistent emergency Reunification methodology for all schools to ensure efficient and safe release of students to parents in the event of a crisis or emergency situation. It conducted a drill of the process in May 2019 that included district administrators, students, parents, and community members. As a part of the drill, students were bused from Woodinville High School to Pop Keeney Stadium and then were successfully reunited with their parents after a mock crisis/emergency. More drills are being planned for next year. Here is a list of things parents should know:
If you are interested in learning more about the process and methodology of parent-student reunification, here are a couple of resources: Northshore School District "Reunification Process" page: Standard Reunification Method handbook by The "I Love You Guys" Foundation:  Reunification drill organizers gathered outside of Pop Keeney stadium. (Photo courtesy of Robin McKenzie.)  Hollywood Hill PTA expanded the Art Docent program of their school to include an Artist in Residence program. For 2018-2019, the PTA partnered with Kevin Creekmore, owner of MoltenWorks and President of the Woodinville Arts Alliance, who helped students create some whimsical garden art using fused glass techniques.
Kudos to Hollywood Hill PTA for their work on enriching their docent program and for developing a wonderful bridge between school and community as well as between student work in the classroom and the work of a professional artist. It is a wonderful example of how a PTA can leverage community partnerships to help provide amazing experiences for students! #PTAProud To learn more about Kevin and MoltenWorks, you can visit his website at www.moltenworksglass.com. To learn more about the non-profit Woodinville Arts Alliance, go to www.woodinvilleartsalliance.com. Check out some examples of the glass pieces located throughout the Hollywood Hill campus in the photos below. Many thanks to Hollywood Hill PTA President Diana Christensen and their Artist in Residence Chair, Torrey Edwards, for sharing information about their Artist in Residence program with us!
 Each month this year, Washington State PTA posted a checklist on their blog to help local PTA leaders run their PTA. The posts offered at-a-glance lists of important to-dos, key dates, as well as regular reminders about ongoing tasks. With their June post, they suggested compiling the checklists and sharing them as a "gift" for incoming board members. We thought that was such a great idea, we've done the work for you so this resource can be shared easily! It is available as a .pdf or as a Word document (in case you want to customize it for your PTA!). Below, download your copy of: Checklist for Running Your PTA: A Month-By-Month Board To-Do List!
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