 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 3, 2023. We encourage local PTA/PTSA E-Prep chairs to attend and or Presidents and/or Vice Presidents or delegates. In this meeting we share and obtain updates from the NSD Safety team and discuss opportunities where the PTA can provide support to our schools in the areas of emergency preparedness, safety, and security.
We look forward to seeing you. Feel free to contact Council E-Prep Chair Robin McKenzie if you have any questions at eprep@northshorecouncilptsa.org.
Learn more about E-Prep and how to get involved.  On Monday, May 15th, Council held their last general membership meeting of the 2022-2023 school year. Council members were joined by local leaders, community members, and parents from across the district.
Continue reading below for a recap of the meeting. Parent Education Presentation
The evening started with a presentation from Lake Washington Institute of Technology and Cascadia College titled “Community & Technical College: Preparing Students for Their Future”. This parent education event was organized by Brenae Brix, Council’s VP of Secondary Support, and included a Q&A session. For anyone wanting more information or to bring this presentation to their school community, email Brenae at vpsupportsec@northshorecouncilptsa.org. Council Business Following the presentation, Council business was accomplished. We approved the March 20,2023 General Membership Meeting Minutes, presented the April 2023 Treasurer’s Report, reported that our Annual Corporate Renewal was completed, and updated our membership that we had sent in a donation to the Washington State PTA College Scholarship Fund in accordance with our budget. We also held an election for Council’s 2023-2024 Office of VP of Events. We are excited to announce that Melissa Bennett was elected to this role! We are still looking to elect a Secretary as no nominations were submitted. To find out more about this position and other volunteer opportunities for next year’s Council, visit: http://www.northshorecouncilptsa.org/council-blog/council-volunteer-opportunities-for-2023-2024. Council Co-President, Rachel Fitzgerald, then gave the following updates and reminders to the membership:
The next part of our meeting was our Council Committee Reports. Spring Recognition Celebration: Updates from Mary Khouzam. This event will be held on June 6th from 10:30-12:30 at Brightwater Community Center. Updates included reminding local PTAs to contact their President in order to RSVP and to submit their award recipients for recognition at the Council level. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSekeNRBGfw7qzuQNA1alhcZq4DZkQirh3Ht8vJSgpWIkFVSQw/viewform Special Education Chairs: Laura Staneff reported on their recent meeting with Assistant Superintendent Obadiah Dunham discussing supports for neurodiverse students and gave an update on where they were at in the process of forming of a new Special Education PTSA in NSD. Membership: Kim Ortiz announced that Membership across Northshore PTAs is at 101% of last year with a total of 5521 members! There were special shoutouts to Shelton View PTA, Bothell High School PTSA, and Frank Love PTA for having the highest percent increase of members. We also gave a reminder to local PTAs to utilize the end of the year database checklist provided by WSPTA: https://www.wastatepta.org/pta-leaders/leader-resources/leadership-guides/ Advocacy: Jennifer Drury reported on her recent meeting with fellow Council board member Melissa Kline and School Board Directors Amy Cast and Sandy Hayes where they discussed overcrowding and communication between city and county councils and the school district. There were updates about the upcoming school board elections including working with the incoming Co-VPs of Advocacy on hosting a candidate forum. Jen also let us know that Washington State PTAs Legislative Session Scorecard is available to see what passed and what didn’t and that a draft of the conclusions of the Student Wellness and Safety Task Force from Northshore Schools is available to view. Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Chair: Cherry Holmes gave a recap of our parent ed event “Northshore Panel Discussion: Beyond Black and White” in partnership with RARE. Feedback from attendees was that they really appreciated the event. We ended the meeting with some timely calendar reminders.
We want to thank all the volunteers, district employees, and community members who attended this meeting and all the previous meetings held this year. We hope you will continue to join us for our General Membership Meetings in the 2023-2024 school year.  Northshore Council PTSA will be holding online elections for the three (3) positions on its 2022-23 Nominating Committee on Thursday, January 19, 2023. The Nominating Committee is a special committee that holds the key to a successful PTSA. It is responsible for presenting the best-qualified candidates to serve as the elected officers who will lead Northshore Council PTSA in 2023-2024. The slated candidates are as follows: Jane Chiodo Cherry Holmes Laura Staneff The period for self-declared nominations for these positions closed on Friday, December 16, 2022. Qualification Requirements:
Election Information: As there are only three candidates, the election will be conducted via voice vote at the next General Membership Meeting, on Thursday, January 19, 2023. Northshore Council PTSA General Meeting Information Thursday, January 19, 2023 6:30 PM Meet & Greet 7 PM Meeting Begins Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88665634062 Meeting ID: 886 6563 4062 Passcode: Available Upon Request Information about Northshore Council PTSA online elections procedures is available in its Electronic Voting (E-Voting) Policy. Questions? Please contact Northshore Council PTSA Co-Presidents, Rachel Fitzgerald and Mary Khouzam. *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, Jennifer Snyder.  On November 17th, 2022 Northshore Council PTSA held its second General Membership meeting of the school year.
We would like to say thank you to all of the local leaders from across the district, as well as community and school partners for taking the time to join us! Continue reading below for a recap of the meeting. Meeting Recap: Council Business: After reviewing and approving the meeting minutes from our September General Membership meeting, Council Treasurer Serena Xu presented the October 2022 financial report for review, as well as requesting volunteers for the Mid-Year Financial Review Committee. Please email Serena Xu if interested in serving on the committee. Next on the agenda, Communications VP Jenn Snyder proposed changes to our social media policy by adding Instagram, as well as removing our inactive YouTube account, which were then approved by vote. Co-President Mary Khouzam asked for volunteers to serve on the Nominating Committee. If you would like to serve on the Nominating Committee, please email the Council Co-Presidents at before December 16th. The election of the Nominating Committee will take place at the January 19 General Membership meeting. Community Partners:
Thank you community partners for joining us! Council Committee Updates:
Before adjourning the meeting, Co-President Mary Khouzam gave a thank you to those who planned and coordinated the Presidents and Principals Event, and reminded everyone to complete and submit the Presidents and Principals Event survey. Mary also shared that Council is looking for someone to volunteer as VP of Events, and another volunteer is needed to serve as Council’s Family and Community and Engagement (F.A.C.E.) Chair. If you are interested in volunteering, please email the Co-Presidents as soon as possible. After adjourning our meeting, attendees were given an opportunity to join two training sessions (“Volunteers and How to Find Them”, and “Roles and Responsibilities of the Board”). Please join us for our next General Membership Meeting on January 19th at 7pm via Zoom!
Council Business: The meeting kicked off with an approval of minutes from our March 21st general meeting, before moving on to hear the Treasurer’s Report for the month of April from Council Treasurer, Serena Xu. Next on the agenda were updates from Council President, Jane Chiodo, which included:
Our VP of Communications, Rachel Fitzgerald, then shared with everyone the importance of updating the contact information for positions being filled for next year in your PTA. If you are an officer next year, please update your contact information before July 1st, 2022. This information will be used to contact you by council board members that want to support your PTA. It is also how you will be on the list to receive communications from council, including the council newsletter, that will keep you updated on events and happenings in our district. Remember to update officers in memberplanet as well!  The Council business portion of our meeting ended with a farewell for Dr. Michelle Reid who will be leaving Northshore School District at the end of June to serve as the Superintendent of the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. Jane Chiodo read a letter with messages of appreciation from Council leaders for all that Dr. Reid has done for our district over the years. Click here to read the thank-you letter. District and Community Reports:
After the updates were given by the community partners there was a reminder to the local PTA attendees to please remember to fill out the end of year survey from Council. This survey lets us know how we can better serve your PTA with your valuable feedback. We will be taking survey responses up until midnight on Friday, June 17th.  Last, but certainly not least, the evening ended with our 2021-2022 Spring Recognition Event! This event was hosted by First Vice President and Awards Committee Chair, Mary Khouzam. The event included performances from the Woodinville High School String Quartet and the Canyon Park Middle School Advanced Drama Class. Two of Northshore's Reflections artists were also able to showcase their submissions which received awards from National PTA! The highlight of the event was celebrating all the achievements of our local PTAs/PTSAs that make us #PTAProud. Council would also like to celebrate the local award winners in a future blog. To include your local recipients, please complete this form. During our Spring Recognition, Council was also honored to present this year's Council Recognition Awards. Congratulations to the following eleven (11) individuals: 🌟 Golden Acorn: Diana Christiansen 🌟 Golden Acorn: Jennifer Drury 🌟 Golden Acorn: Rachel Fitzgerald 🌟 Outstanding Educator: Steven Hopkins 🌟 Outstanding Educator: Peter Schurke 🌟 Outstanding Advocate: Clark Combs 🌟 Outstanding Student Advocate: Esther Kim 🌟 Outstanding Service: Jane Chiodo 🌟 Outstanding Service: Melissa Kline 🌟 Outstanding Service: Pauline Wray 🌟 Honorary Life Membership: Tracy Jokisch Click here to learn more about each of our 2021-2022 Council Award Recipients. Special thanks to Council Members Jane Chiodo, Jennifer Drury, Rachel Fitzgerald, Mary Khouzam, and Claudine Miller for their work to make this event a success! Many volunteer hours were spent reviewing nominations, selecting recipients, organizing the slideshow, arranging for student entertainment, and surprising the award winners - all to make our 2022 Spring Recognition Event a memorable one!!  We want to thank all the volunteers, district employees, and community members who attended this meeting and all the previous meetings held this year. We hope you will continue to join us for our General Membership Meetings in the 2022-2023 school year.
For a full list of our upcoming meetings and events, check out our Calendar.
Guest Presentation by Northshore School District Ethnic Studies Framework: NSD Assistant Director of Equity and Pedagogy, Melissa Riley, and Northshore students shared a presentation on ethnic studies in the Northshore School District. This presentation answered the questions "What is ethnic studies, why is it important, and what will it look like for kids?" The curriculum will be for grades Pre K-12 and more information can be found here: https://bit.ly/pesbccdei.
Council Business: Approval of the January 20th, 2022 Meeting Minutes which were accepted with minor changes. Approval of the preliminary budget for the 2022-2023 school year. Election of our 2022-2023 officers: Thank you to our hardworking Nominating Committee, Diana Christiansen, Cherry Holmes, and Jasmine Lee Fry, for putting together the slate of candidates! Diana Christiansen read the Nominating Report. The self-nomination period was held in accordance with our e-voting policy with no others submitting their names for nomination. The election script was followed with a reading from the WSPTA bylaws. A motion was cast to accept the slate as presented, seconded, and approved by a voice vote. Congratulations to our incoming 2022-2023 officers!!
*Please be advised that by the time the self-nomination period closed, no candidate had come forth for either Secretary or VP of Events. Council will continue to seek volunteers for these positions with the goal of holding elections for them at a future General Membership Meeting. If interested in serving in either of these roles on an interim basis, please contact us at president@northshorecouncilptsa.org. District Updates:
Council Reports:
We hope you will join us for our next General Membership Meeting on May 16th, 2022 @ 7pm. This meeting will also include our annual Spring Recognition Event! For a full list of our upcoming meetings and events, check out our Calendar.  It's April, and with only 2½ months of school left this year, it may be surreal to think that we are nearing the end of our 3rd school year affected by the pandemic. We may have lost things and we may gave gained things, but life is starting to emerge as something somewhat familiar. Some of us may feel abuzz with possibility. Some of us may feel trepidatious or overwhelmed. How do we slow down, collect ourselves, and progress with more purpose and less stress after such a wild ride? By practicing self-care. By definition, self-care means doing what is best for us, like increasing our emotional and physical stamina, improving our self-esteem, and building resilience towards stressors that we can’t eliminate. Basically, the term describes a conscious act we take in order to promote our own physical, mental, and emotional health in order to be better equipped to live our best lives. Self-care isn't just about finding ways to relax. It's about taking care of yourself:
 Carve out time each day to deliberately focus on self-care. At first, this may seem like a luxury or selfish. However, proper self-care is something we all need AND deserve. It is never selfish to make your mental health and well-being a priority. Remember, you have to be okay before you can help others be okay!
This article was brought to you by Northshore Council's Mental Health Committee.
Check out our new Special Education Representative Facebook Group! This group has been created to provide a forum for Northshore PTA/PTSA leaders to ask questions and share ideas, resources and stories about Special Education and is open to all local PTA/PTSA Special Education (SpEd) Representatives and Presidents. While Council still plans to communicate to our local leaders via email and our other social media pages, we hope that you find this group a useful tool when it comes to communicating between our SpEd Reps across our district.   Be a part of Northshore Council's spring committees! We are searching for members to be a part of two committees this spring; one for our Spring Recognition Event and the other for our Council Recognition Awards. Read more about each of these committees below and find out how you can get involved!
Both of these committees play an important role in celebrating the accomplishments and dedication of our local PTAs and PTA Leaders. Volunteers are able to serve on both committees if interested!
Our Spring Recognition Event is scheduled to take place in June.  Almost all of our kids will be bullied, or be a witness to bullying, to some degree in their schooling years. The studies vary on how often, how many kids, and who gets bullied, but the fact is that too many kids are victims of this phenomenon. The consequences of bullying can be disastrous. It can lead to physical injury, social and emotional scarring, lower academic achievements, self-harm, mental health struggles, and even death. Kids who bully others and are bullied themselves are at the greatest risk for mental health and behavioral problems. What is bullying? According to Psychology Today, bullying is a distinctive pattern of repeatedly and deliberately harming and humiliating others, specifically those who are smaller, weaker, younger or in any way more vulnerable than the bully. The deliberate targeting of those of lesser power is what distinguishes bullying from garden-variety aggression.
  Who Gets Bullied and What to Look For The statistics are all over the place with bullying. Some things we do know are that a higher percentage of males than females report being physically bullied, whereas a higher percentage of girls report being the subjects of rumors and exclusion. As far as cyberbullying, it is reported the most among middle schoolers. Those that are cyberbullied are likely to be bullied offline as well. Students with specific learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, emotional and behavior disorders, and speech or language impairments are more often victims of bullying than their peers without disabilities. Also, students of color, and those who identify or are perceived as LGBTQ are at a higher risk. Not all kids who are bullied ask for help. It is estimated that less than half of bullied students notify an adult at school. There are some signs to look for but understand that not all kids show signs. Another thing to note is that simply observing bullying can lead to a negative impact on mental health. When school-age kids are victims of bullying, they are much more likely to have headaches and stomachaches, depression, anxiety, and behavioral problems. They might even experience sleep issues and nightmares, dropping grades, and may even drop out of school. They may come home from school with unexplained injuries, destroyed or lost personal belongings, and may also start showing discipline problems, as well as becoming increasingly more aggressive. Not surprisingly, there is also a strong association between bullying and suicide-related behaviors.  Who Bullies and What to Look For Children who feel secure and supported at home, school, and among their peers are less likely to bully. There are several factors that may contribute to youth that bully, but every individual is unique. Those who bully chronically tend to have strained relationships with parents and peers, and may also have school factors and emotional factors to consider. Due to these struggles, bullying can be a way of establishing social dominance. This can lead to a downward spiral if not addressed properly. Some of these behaviors may actually be cries for help. Research shows that long-term bullies lack prosocial behavior, are not troubled by anxiety, do not understand others’ feelings, and often do not accept responsibility for their actions. They often misread the intentions of others and tend to have a kind of paranoia. As with kids who get bullied, kids who are the bullies have a higher risk of suicide-related behaviors. What Can Be Done The good news is that bullying is a behavior that can be changed. Those that bully or are bullied can benefit from support from school, the community, and trusted adults. These adults can teach new social and emotional skills, as well as healthy peer connections. At the onset, the best defense against bullying is teaching kids social skills and helping them develop confidence in their own abilities. The second-best defense against bullying is to walk away and not fight back. As parents, we can regularly inquire about challenges our kids are having, and maybe even role-play some solutions. It's also beneficial to understand safety while using technology. Cyberbullying is a real thing. It's important to teach kids to use social media responsibly, respectfully, and safely and to keep their passwords private. If you are the victim or a witness in cyberbullying, don’t engage in any conversation online where bullying is occurring. Bullying should never be ignored. For issues that are severe, persistent, or unresolved, the individual(s) who has(have) been the target of bullying or who has observed bullying should report the incident in writing or verbally to a staff member at that school. Northshore School District is committed to a safe environment for its students where everyone is treated with respect, and no one is physically or emotionally harmed. NSD makes it easy to report tips on bullying, harassment, or any safety issue through SafeSchools Alert. Reporting can be done online, through an app, or by calling, texting, or emailing. NSD's SafeSchools Alert can be used by students, families, or staff to report the incident and can also be done anonymously.
This article was brought to you by Northshore Council's Mental Health Committee. Visit our Mental Health Awareness Resources page to learn more about this committee and the other resources they have provided.
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