 At the 44th Annual Legislative Assembly members from across the state came together to learn, debate, and vote on the new legislative priorities WSPTA will focus on for the next two years. In addition to the issues the delegates ranked as the top five, an additional eight issues were added to the "also supported" list. Jennifer Drury, Cherry Holmes, and Kim Ortiz represented Council as voting delegates. In addition to Council delegates, there were PTA leaders from across Northshore schools that attended either in-person or remotely as delegates for their PTAs.
In addition to voting on the legislative priority issues, delegates approved one new resolution "4.16 Equitable and Impactful Family Engagement in Education" and amendments to resolutions 2.23, 18.36, and 18.40 that encompass issues on gun violence, highly capable, and students with disabilities. Learn more about the resolutions. Thank you all for advocating for our students! More on Advocacy:
 This year's International ShakeOut Day is October 20, when millions of people worldwide will participate in earthquake drills at work, school, or home! At 10:20 am (local time) on 10/20, you can join millions of people across the world practicing earthquake safety. While we encourage you to participate with everyone, you can register your ShakeOut drill for any day of the year, and drill at a time of your choice. More information is available at shakeout.org. Washington State now has an Earthquake Early warning application you can put on your phone. The MyShake App sends a warning to mobile phone users that shaking is about to occur. The system uses ground-motion sensors to detect earthquakes that have already started and estimates their size, location, and impact. When it detects a significant magnitude, the system issues a ShakeAlert® Message, providing a warning a few seconds before shaking begins. NOTE: The MyShake App will be sending a test alert at 10:20 a.m., Oct. 20. The test alert should include test audio telling people that this is a system test, and no action is required. More information about the app is available at https://mil.wa.gov/alerts#shakealert. Resources in Multiple Languages: Earthquake Country Alliance (ECA), an organization in California, has pertinent earthquake safety informational resources available to download in multiple languages. These resources are useful in any area prone to earthquakes, including Washington. Download resources in multiple languages. Visit our E-Prep webpage or contact Council's Emergency Preparedness & Safety (E-Prep) Chair, Robin McKenzie for more information about the E-Prep committee.
If you are a PTA/PTSA President who cannot attend this event, please consider inviting a representative from your PTA/PTSA. We would like to ensure that every Principal has a local PTA/PTSA member to connect with.
 You're invited to join Council's VP of Advocacy, Jennifer Drury for coffee. It's a great time to connect and discuss Legislative Assembly and WSPTA's legislative priorities for the upcoming year. Thursday, October 20th at 1 PM Sidekick Coffee 17255 135th Ave NE Ste 1020, Woodinville & Wednesday, November 2nd at 7 PM The Pizza Coop 13317 NE 175th St., Woodinville There's no formal agenda; just casual conversation.
Come to one or both. Please RSVP to Council's VP of Advocacy, Jennifer Drury.
WSPTA Leadership Training Information: Immediately following our General Meeting, we will be offering two Leadership trainings; Volunteers - Find Them and Keep Them and Roles and Responsibilities of the Board. Training is free and will satisfy the WSPTA annual training requirement. Training Descriptions Volunteers - Find Them and Keep Them How can your PTA build the community of volunteers it needs to run a thriving association? How do you attract volunteers and keep them involved? How do you create a balance between your volunteer resources and your needs? Get more volunteers and keep them! We’ll show you how. Roles and Responsibilities of the Board This presentation will help all board members understand the basic responsibilities of their positions – and everyone else’s! It will also cover items such as advocacy, fiduciary responsibility, membership and outreach. Additional Meeting Information:
Council meetings will build your PTA knowledge, give you the opportunity to network with other PTA, school district and community leaders, and they can be a lot of fun, too. Each PTA may send up to 4 voting representatives - but we encourage ALL who are interested to attend. We look forward to seeing you there! *A meeting passcode is required to join. It will be sent to local leaders via email. You can also request the passcode by emailing Council PTSA Communications VP, Jenn Snyder. *PTA Leaders can find the meeting links in the emailed issues of the Council eNews. Please contact Jenn Snyder, Council's VP of Communications if you are not receiving the eNews via email.
Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants Program Policy
Please make sure to read Northshore Council PTSA's Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants Program Policy before submitting your application. Need Ideas? View the list of past recipients. More Information Learn more about Northshore PTSA's Educational Speakers & Community Events Grant Program. Questions? Email grants@northshorecouncilptsa.org
Scam Emails Some scams may spoof the email of another officer to help make the request look legitimate. But there are things to check for before you reply:
Common Scams
Protecting Your PTA There are a few things you and your board should be doing in order to protect your PTA:
Money Handling Policy
Need some help putting your money handling policies together or updating them? Council's money handling policies is available for you to use as a sample. Still have questions? Contact Council Treasurer, Serena Xu. More Online Safety Tips & How to Report Internet Fraud US.gov Online Safety Remember: There is nothing more urgent for your PTA than to follow best practices and policies to ensure you don't get caught in a scam!  Last month, on September 19th, Council held its first General Membership meeting of the 2022-2023 school year. We appreciate all the local leaders from across the district as well as all of the community partners who were able to attend!Continue reading below for a recap of the meeting. Meeting Recap:
The General Membership meeting began with the reading of a Land Acknowledgement, a small but important step in showing respect and honor for the Indigenous Peoples of the land that we work and live on, and their truth, stories, and histories, which we commit to protecting and preserving from erasure. Claudine Miller was presented as the nominee for Council’s Secretary, and was then elected into the role after a vote was taken. Region 6’s Area VP, Liz Nord, then officially installed the Council officers for the 2022-2023 school year. Thank you, Council officers, for your commitment to serving our local PTAs and our students! Interim Superintendent Michael Tolley took some time to share with us what his and Northshore Schools’ focuses will be going forward into the 2022-2023 school year. NSD’s mission of “strengthening our community through excellence in education by focusing on our school communities, school climate and welfare, and school systems” will be hopefully be achieved by strategic initiatives such increasing inclusionary practices, and determining the measures that will tell us what we are going to do to help our students be successful in their education. To hear more about these strategic initiatives, and to share your hopes, concerns, and questions with Mr. Tolley, please consider attending a Listen and Learn session. More information can be found at https://www.nsd.org/our-district/leadership/interim-superintendent/listen-and-learn . Council Business:
District and Community Partners:
Lastly, our Council chairs gave us updates on the important work that they are doing to advocate for and support our NSD students and local PTAs. We are very excited for all that they are doing, and we hope that you will join us this school year in advocating for all of our NSD students! Thank you to all who joined us for the first General Membership meeting of 2022-2023, and we hope that you will continue to attend our meetings!
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