Apply for a Grant Today!

​Is there a speaker your PTA would like to bring in to talk to your membership about a hot parenting topic, but you don't have enough budget for it? Does your PTA have a great community event you would like to put on, but need help getting the word out and covering some of the cost? Apply for a partnership grant through Northshore PTSA's Educational Speakers & Community Events Grant Program!

There are three grant application deadlines throughout the school year, and the first deadline is Friday, September 23, 2022! 

Download Form and Apply Here

Please make sure to read Northshore Council PTSA's Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants Program Policy before submitting your application.

​Grants are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis where applications will be reviewed by the Northshore Council PTSA or until the Council Programs budget is used in its entirety.

Questions? Email ​[email protected]

Click here to learn more about Northshore PTSA's Educational Speakers & Community Events Grant Program.

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:

• Information on Northshore School District's student-led Mental Health Awareness talk at North Creek High School on May 18, 2022 6-7:30pm in the NCHS Commons. Link to RSVP was available in the latest issue of Council's eNews.
• Introduction of the incoming board members and thank you to all the outgoing board members. Click here to see the list of volunteers who were elected to Council for 2022-2023 during our previous membership meeting.
• Reminders about our two open elected positions - Secretary & VP of Events. If you are interested in taking on either of these positions, please email [email protected]. Our board of directors can appoint someone to the position temporarily. The election process will begin in the fall with the goal of holding the election at our first general membership meeting which will take place in September.
• Submitting local award winners to Council for recognition. We would love to highlight local PTA award winners to our communities. Please fill out our google form & let us know who your recipients are.
• Information on connecting with Council over the summer.
  1. Check our calendar and June eNews for summer office hours.
  2. Follow Council on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter for latest updates.
  3. Visit our Contact Us Page to email us any time with questions.

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:

• Marco Garcia, NSD Partnerships and Volunteer Coordinator, reminded us about the 2022 Community Serve Day taking place Sunday, August 21st and let us know about the CP & Dorothy Johnson awards ceremony which the district would be holding on Thursday, May 26th at 6p.m. He also let us know that the Connections newsletter would continue to have a dedicated section for district wide updates from PTA and to email him if there was anything we wanted included in future newsletters.
• School Board President, Jackie McGourty, gave an update explaining the current state of the interim superintendent  search and that they planned to announce by June 1. She also talked about the School Board's refresh of the strategic plan.
• Representing the Northshore Schools Foundation, Hanisha Bakshani, gave updates about the Skills4Life podcasts, their grant program, and encouraged anyone who might be interested to learn more about the foundation and become an ambassador for their school.

​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.

You are invited to join Council's next Emergency Preparedness (E-Prep) Chair meeting!
Anyone in PTA/PTSA is welcome to attend our meetings, and we encourage all local PTA/PTSA E-Prep chairs to attend as well as PTA/PTSA 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.  

Date: Tuesday, June 7th
Time: 11:00 AM to Noon, Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Zoom Link & Passcode: Available upon request

If you would like the zoom link and passcode in order to attend this meeting, or have questions concerning Emergency Preparedness, please email Council's E-Prep Co-Chairs, Tracy Jokisch & Robin McKenzie. We look forward to seeing you!

​This year's Reflections theme was "I Will Change the World By...". National PTA received more than 900 entries from 47 state PTAs. A list of all National award recipients can be found here: https://www.pta.org/docs/default-source/files/programs/reflections/current_reflections-21-22/2021-22-reflections-winners-list.pdf

To learn more about Reflections and how to promote the PTA program at your school, visit our Reflections page.

Parents and students from all communities are invited to join this ZGiRLS workshop, hosted by professional athletes, as they talk about how they learned to navigate stress & anxiety while also maintaining a growth mindset. You will learn a results-driven approach to stress management and concrete steps everyone can take to develop a growth mindset. Help your student step into their confidence and regulate their stress levels in order to prevent feeling overwhelmed and anxious all the time.

Leota PTSA, Skyview PTSA and Northshore Council PTSA are pleased to be partnering with ZGiRLS to bring you this educational event. ZGiRLS, which was founded by Olympic and NCAA female athletes, supports the mental development of girls ages 11-16 years old. All parents and students regardless of gender are welcome to this event.
 
Speakers: Prior to becoming the co-founder and executive director of ZGiRLS, Jilyne Jarvis, spent a year traveling the world with the US Ski & Snowboard team. Jilyne graduated from the University of Vermont with a bachelors in public communications.  Helena Scott was on the US Sailing Team for 5 years in which the US team placed 9th at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Helena went on to earn a bachelors in biomechanical engineering and a masters in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. She is now working as a mechanical engineer.

Questions? Email [email protected].

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!!

• For the Office of Co President: Rachel Fitzgerald and Mary Khouzam
• For the Office of First Vice President: Grace Jurado
• For the Office of Secretary: Open*
• For the Office of Treasurer: Serena Xu
• For the Office of VP of Events: Open*
• For the Office of VP of Advocacy: Jennifer Drury
• For the Office of VP of Communications: Jennifer Snyder
• For the Office of VP of Elementary Support: Diana Christiansen
• For the Office of VP of Secondary Support: Brenae Brix

*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 [email protected].

District Updates:

• NSD Partnerships & Volunteer Coordinator Marco Garcia informed us that everything related to becoming a Northshore volunteer or being a campus visitor can now be completed on the Safe Visitor website for volunteers. He also let us know that the vaccine requirement has not been lifted. Finally, Community Serve Day will be August 21st 2022 with more information to come. Learn more about becoming a NSD volunteer.

 

• NSD School Board Updates: Director Amy Cast reviewed the technology parameters with us, reviewed strategic goals and indicators of progress as it has been five years, and reviewed the use of the Levy money including safety grants, work towards more school mental health professionals, nurses, as well as fewer portables etc. Learn more about NSD's School Board.

 

• Northshore School's Foundation: Hanisha Bakshani/NSF Ambassador North Creek High School let us know that the NSF All in For Kids event is March 31st, 2022 at 4pm at the Evergreen Church. Learn more about the Northshore School's Foundation.

Council Reports: 

• Staff Appreciation: Rachel Fitzgerald informed us that we will have a virtual staff appreciation for district staff. Currently collecting thank you notes from the community to put together for the staff. There will be a different piece for the council to do as well. The deadline to collect notes  and gather all the information is April 22nd. Learn more...

 

• Council Recognition Awards: Mary Khouzam updated us on Council recognition awards. This year we have an online form for nominations again which can be found here. If you would like to help with the awards recognition, please contact Mary at [email protected].

 

• Speaker and Events Grants Program: Mary Khouzam let us know that grant program has closed for this year. Click here for Round 3 Recipients.

 

• Reflections: Jasmine Lee Fry updated us that we had 267 entries that were submitted to the council. 59 submissions were forwarded to the state. 4 entries won awards at the state level. Click here for judging results from both Council & WSPTA as well as a link to our Virtual Art Showcase. 

 

• Special Education: Laura Staneff let us know that Council will hold a series of 4 webinars scheduled for free through PAVE. The first one was about IEPS and took place on March 22nd. There will be three other webinars in April, May and June. Learn more...

 

• Mental Health Committee: Melissa Kline & Pauline Wray updated that the Mental Health Committee's Digital Safety Event with Jo Langford happened on March 14th and was well attended. Currently the committee is working on getting Mental Health resource posters up in secondary schools. Finally, an anti-bullying article is currently up on our website and ask that you please share it with your communities. 

 

• Membership: Hanisha Bakshani & Melissa Kline updated us that 21 PTAs are over their membership numbers from last year and we have a total of 5,337 members to date.   

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.

You are invited to join Council's next Emergency Preparedness (E-Prep) Chair meeting!
Anyone in PTA/PTSA is welcome to attend our meetings, and we encourage all local PTA/PTSA E-Prep chairs to attend as well as PTA/PTSA 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.  

Date: Tuesday, May 10th
Time: 11:00 AM to Noon, Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Zoom Link & Passcode: Available upon request

If you would like the zoom link and passcode in order to attend this meeting, or have questions concerning Emergency Preparedness, please email Council's E-Prep Co-Chairs, Tracy Jokisch & Robin McKenzie. We look forward to seeing you!

This is a multi-media Showcase event! Guests are able to view the dance and film pieces, listen to the music compositions, read the literature pieces, and view the photography and visual arts pieces.

We hope that you will be able to celebrate with your student and share this showcase with friends and family!

All 267 Northshore PTSA Council Qualifier student artworks are on display and we've indicated if the artwork was either a State Qualifier or a Judge's Choice Award recipient.

Click here to view Council's Judging Results.

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 or view our previous award recipients. Questions? Contact Council Awards Committee.