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Welcome to the new school year!

We're thrilled to kick off another Reflections program with all of you! This year's theme, "Accepting Imperfection," is bound to inspire some truly unique works of art from our students. We can't wait to see their creativity shine! 🎨

Our Council is here to support you every step of the way as you lead your school's Reflections program.

📌 Be sure to bookmark our Northshore Council Reflections page where you'll find everything you need—program details, next steps, and important timelines!

📧 You'll also receive periodic email updates from us with reminders and helpful tips along the way.
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🙋‍♀️Got questions? Feel free to reach out to Laura Templeton, our Reflections Chair, at ​[email protected]. She's here to help!

You are invited to join our Council Emergency Preparedness (E-Prep) Chair meetings. Anyone in the PTA/PTSA is welcome to attend. The online meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month starting on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

We encourage local PTA/PTSA E-Prep chairs to attend, as well as Presidents and/or Vice Presidents or delegates. In these meetings we share and obtain updates from the NSD Safety & Security team and discuss opportunities where the PTA can provide support to our schools in the areas of emergency preparedness, safety, and security. 
 
​E-Prep Chair Meetings are the first Tuesday of each month
Time: 11 am - 12pm
Click here to register for Zoom link for the meetings!

2024 Meetings

• October 1
• November 5 
• December 3 
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2025 Meetings​

• January 7
• February 4
• March 4
• April 1
• May 6
• June 3

New to your PTA Emergency Preparedness position? We've got you covered!
Please attend our E-PREP CHAIR TRAINING on Thursday, October 10th at 3:30-4:30pm on Zoom. 
Click here to register for the training!

Feel free to contact Council E-Prep Chair, Robin McKenzie, if you have any questions at [email protected].

Learn more about E-Prep and how to get involved! ​

Virtual self-nominations for these positions closed at midnight on Thursday, September 5, 2024.
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Election Information:
Qualifications for office have been verified for each candidate. Since the positions were not contested, the election will be by voice vote at the next General Meeting on Monday, September 16, 2024, at 7 PM.
Questions? Email Council President, Grace Jurado.

PTA Back-to-School Checklist for 2024-2025:
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Complete Council’s Contact Form
Each member of your PTA/PTSA should complete this form including positions such as the executive committee (aka: elected positions), board members, committee chairs, etc.

Update Leaders in Givebacks

• ·Requirement of the WSPTA Standards of Affiliation
• ·Givebacks Resources

Enter 25 Members into Givebacks by October 31st, 2024

• Any membership received must be entered into Givebacks no more than 30 days after the person joins.
• Membership Updates & Tips to help with your campaign.
• Remember to pay membership dues - MORE INFORMATION TO COME! Check back for an update SOON!

Update your PTA’s Website and Social Media Pages
These are often the first places people in your school community go to learn about your PTA. Make sure that contact information and the calendar is up-to-date and your landing page highlights membership. Remember to also update your website and join links with your school principal and office staff as they may be linked on a NSD page and check to make sure Council has the most up-to-date links for your PTA. Learn about the importance of having an online join link.

Hold a General Membership Meeting
The first Membership Meeting of the year includes important items of business. Check out Council’s blog post with more tips & resources to help plan yours.

Connect with Council
Council is here to support you! Join us for our first Membership Meeting on Sept. 16 at Woodinville HS Library at 7pm. Bookmark our calendar page so you always know when our meetings, meet-ups, and office hours are being held. Need support now? Send us an email anytime!

​The new school year is upon us and the PTA year is about to get into full swing! Now is the time to plan your first general membership meeting of the year! 

Whether your PTA meets virtually or in-person, the same items of business must be done.

1. Approve the 2024-2025 budget – Even if your membership approved a 2024-2025 budget in the spring, adjustments may need to be made. The board of directors should review the approved budget before the meeting and make recommendations to the membership for any necessary changes. Even if there are no recommendations by the board, the budget must be reapproved by membership.
2. Present and approve your mission statement and goals - A mission statement is a concise summary of an PTA's purpose, goals, and the methods to achieve them. To ensure your PTA's budget and programs align with your mission, it's important to review it annually with your board members and present it to the membership for approval.
3. Approve the standing rules – Standing rules are the set of conditions the members impose on the running of the PTA, and they must be approved annually. They should be reviewed by the board prior to the meeting to ensure they are up to date with all requirements. The Leadership Guides section of the WSPTA website has standing rules templates. There were MANY updates to the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws this past spring that will impact your local PTA!  Read more on WSPTA’s blog.
4. Present the 2023-2024 financial review – Results of the end of year financial review should be presented to the members of your PTA. The annual Financial Review is a requirement of the PTA/PTSA’s insurance. It is also a helpful tool meant to assist the Treasurer and the rest of the Board of Directors in establishing and refining best practices. During a Financial Review, the policies and procedures are being reviewed, and the committee’s feedback is important in providing insight to those policies.
5. Hold elections – If you have vacant positions, you'll want to hold elections. Washington state nonprofit laws require a President, Secretary, and Treasurer to be elected by the members. Check if your standing rules include other positions that must be elected. Some PTAs may not have elected a complete slate of officers in the Spring. If your PTA falls into this category, you will need to take several steps to make sure you can hold a legal election by virtual meeting. View Council’s Voting Policy as an example.
6. Elect a nominating committee – This is required by the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws and is part of the WSPTA Standards of Affiliation. A nominating committee elected in 2024-2025 is tasked with presenting the slate of 2025-2026 candidates. Three members must be elected to a nominating committee at least 30 days prior to the election. Electing this committee early in the year means that they have all year to do the work, you are asking for volunteers at one of the best-attended meetings of the year (hopefully, before people are over-committed), and if you are unable to get three nominees at this meeting you will have additional meetings at which you can continue to work to get three nominees.
7. Select delegates to attend WSPTA’s Legislative Assembly. – PTA delegates from all over Washington meet to discuss, debate, and vote on new issues and resolutions, including the adoption of WSPTA’s 2024-2026 Legislative Platform and Top Five Issues. Check your PTA's standing rules to see the guidelines and priority order for selecting delegates. This may include the number of delegates allowed and any specific positions (e.g., advocacy chair, president, etc.) that have priority to attend. Confirm in your budget how much is allocated to attend Legislative Assembly.
   
   

Bonus Tip: Plan on having something additional to offer your members once the business is complete. The first meeting is a great opportunity for your principal to give an update on the start of the year. Plan ahead with your principal and make sure you know what format for taking questions they are comfortable with. During the meeting, act as the moderator by setting ground rules and expectations for how members will participate and ask their questions.

Questions about planning your first general membership meeting of the year? 
Contact Council - We are here to help!

Over the past five years, we have seen Northshore PTAs continually adapt to unforeseen challenges, changing the ways we can fulfill our missions. Council leaders continue to be impressed and inspired with the way we have seen our local PTAs adapt, come up with new ideas and build stronger PTAs and communities. This year presents a new set of challenges as we all learn to master a new membership database and as our schools reel from budget cuts, creating more requests from PTAs. One thing we on Northshore Council know is that our local PTAs are masters at being #PTAFlexible and we will continue to strengthen our connections with our communities and with each other.

We also know that no one has all the answers, nor is there only one way to do things. For this reason, we want to let you know that Council is always here for you. Our mission as your Northshore PTSA Council is to support the work you do at the local PTA level. Our Board of Directors consists of PTA leaders with a wealth of experience at schools across the Northshore School District with a variety of PTA experience at the local, council, regional and state level. As such, we have many resources that can help you navigate the day-to-day PTA work, as well as the unexpected, including:

• A Facebook group for Northshore PTA leaders as well as a group specific to Presidents to make connections and ask questions;
• Office Hours & Roundtables so that we can share and learn from one another;
• A newsletter, website, Facebook, and Instagram to help keep you informed;
• Trainings so you can learn how to run your non-profit and become a stronger PTA leader;
• Meetings to share information and connect you with district and community leaders;
• Grants to support your PTA’s next educational speaker or community event; and, of course;
• Personalized, one-on-one support - we’re just an email or zoom meeting away!

 
Our 2024-2025 Council team is ready to help you continue to do amazing things for our students, families, schools, and communities.

Wishing you a fantastic school year!
Grace Jurado
President, Northshore Council PTSA 6.10
[email protected]​

About Legislative Assembly:
The Washington State PTA legislative platform is a two-year platform to mirror the Washington state legislative cycle. On the even-numbered years, the new platform is voted on by members at the legislative assembly in the fall. The top five issues become our short-term platform and consist of our priority issues when advocating throughout the year. Other issues are placed on an “also supported” list. ​Learn about WSPTA's current legislative priorities and other supported issues.

Looking for more information about Advocacy? Check out Council's Advocacy Page!
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Questions? Email Council's Co-VPs of Advocacy, Terra Droney & Holly Muenchow.

​Can't make it to the roundtable but still have questions? Check out these additional resources for help!

• Email Council's Membership Chair at membership​@northshorecouncilptsa.org.
• Check out Council's Membership page, WSPTA Membership website, and these handy Givebacks "How To" Videos.
• Connect on Facebook by joining Council's Local PTA Leaders Hub group.

Northshore Council PTSA General Meeting
Monday, September 16, 2024
In-Person @ Woodinville HS Library
6:30 PM Meet & Greet
7 PM Meeting Begins
Info Sessions after the meeting! See below for more info!

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. 

Just like your PTA, we need members - you, our NSD PTA leaders - present to vote on important business. 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!

Meeting Agenda:
In addition to our regular business, we will hold an election for the open positions of VP of Communications, VP of Elementary Support and VP of Secondary Support. Self-nominations for these positions are open now and close on Sept. 05, 2004. More information on how to self-nominate is posted here on our website. 
*UPDATE: Self-nominations for these positions closed at midnight on Thursday, Sept. 5th. Please see our "Second Notice of Election" blog for more information on the slated candidates for election at this meeting.

​After the meeting we will be hosting three informational sessions! 
Standing Rules Workshop - Let's take a look at your Standing Rules! Bring them along and we can work together to make sure they are up to date for your membership to approve.
Reflections Overview - Get an update on what this year's program will look like - including important deadlines and information on processes.
President's Roundtable - Connect with other NSD PTA Presidents to share and ask questions.

Meet & Greet:
​​Join us before the meeting, at 6:30PM, to chat with Council and other local PTA Leaders! Come say hi, ask questions, or just hang out for social time before the meeting.

Questions? Email Council President, Grace Jurado, at [email protected].

Save the Date - View calendar of future meeting dates!

*This post was updated on 9/9/2024 to include the link to view slated candidates for election at meeting.