 Attend this FREE parent education event from PathLight Counseling in partnership with your Northshore Council PTSA. Journey to College: A Timeline for Students & Parents Date: Wednesday, March 16th Time: 7:00PM Registration*: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUrc-6prTooG9BTBlTrMtMvuTas66t9OjbC This event will provide grade specific timelines to help students prepare for the college admissions process. A short Q&A session focused on the timeline will follow the presentation. *Deadline to register is 4pm on Wednesday, March 16th. Council hopes to offer a series of informational college prep sessions, each focusing on a different topic. Please keep your eye out for future communications with more details and dates. Future sessions will be posted to our Parent Education Opportunities page and shared on our social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). Questions? Email Council's VP of Secondary Support, Brenae Brix. We look forward to seeing you at this and future Journey to College events!  The Final Deadline has been Extended for Council's Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program!  The Northshore Council PTSA’s Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program is designed to help support local PTAs in hosting relevant and timely speakers for our district families and to encourage them to create engaging events for our community.
ALL local PTAs, within the Northshore School District and in good standing, may apply for a grant through a simple application process. EXTENDED Final deadline is February 1, 2022! Not sure what to apply for? Check out some of the programs supported through this grant program on our past recipients page. Learn more about our grants program by clicking here. Download & Print the 2021-2022 Grants Application Form. Questions? Email us!  You are invited to an upcoming FREE Parent Education event, "Laying the Groundwork for a More Supportive and Aware Community Around Gender Diversity"
These sessions are intended for families, caregivers, educators, and community members. Students are welcome to attend, however content (and terminology used) may be more suited for middle & high school students. Registration is required to attend. Deadline to register is Wednesday, February 2nd at 4pm. There is NO requirement to attend both sessions, however only Session 1 will be recorded and shared. Information Regarding Session 1: Join gender education specialist Aidan Key with Gender Diversity in examining the topic of gender diversity in children and teens, the challenges faced by these children youth and their families, exploring current research and identifying the best approaches for creating inclusive, supportive environments for these children. In our TWO PART WEBINAR, Aidan Key will address several key objectives (as well as several more):
Information Regarding Session 2: Kids have questions. Adults have questions. We can get them answered in Session 2! NOW IS THE TIME to get clarity from a reliable source. Questions may arise like these:
If you already have questions, please include them in your registration so the presenters can prepare in advance. This event is co-hosted by Arrowhead Elementary PTA, Canyon Creek Elementary PTA, Canyon Park Middle School PTSA, Cottage Lake Elementary PTA, Hollywood Hill Elementary PTA, Kenmore Elementary PTA, Lockwood Elementary PTA, Northshore Council PTSA, Northshore Middle School PTSA, PACE @ Lockwood Elementary, PACE @ Wellington Elementary, Ruby Bridges Elementary PTSA, Shelton View Elementary PTA, Skyview Middle School PTSA, Sunrise Elementary PTA, Wellington Elementary PTA, Westhill Elementary PTSA, and Woodin Elementary PTA. 
 Don’t Wait - Applications are now being accepted for Council's Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program!  The Northshore Council PTSA’s Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program is designed to help support local PTAs in hosting relevant and timely speakers for our district families and to encourage them to create engaging events for our community.
ALL local PTAs, within the Northshore School District and in good standing, may apply for a grant through a simple application process. Next deadline is January 21, 2022! Not sure what to apply for? Check out some of the programs supported through this grant program on our past recipients page. Learn more about our grants program by clicking here. Download & Print the 2021-2022 Grants Application Form. Questions? Email us!  Last month Council held their 2nd General Meeting of the 2021-2022 school year. We appreciate all the local leaders from across the district as well as community and school partners who took the time to attend! Continue reading for a recap of this meeting.
General Updates from President Jane Chiodo:
Council Business: The minutes from the September 2021 meeting were approved as written. Council's AIM insurance for the year was renewed and paid for in October. The mid year financial review committee was appointed while the election for the Nominating Committee was postponed until the next membership meeting. Guest Speakers:
Council Reports:
We hope you will join us for our next General Membership Meeting on January 20th, 2022 @ 7pm. For a full list of our upcoming meetings and events, check out our Calendar.   As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, Council would like to take time to give thanks and we hope that you will as well. We also would like to recognize that November is Native American Heritage Month and as part of PTA's mission of inclusivity, we honor and stand with our Native American neighbors. We hope that as you spend time with friends and family this holiday weekend giving thanks, that you will also take time to support Indigenous American communities.
Resources to learn more about Native American Heritage Month and Supporting Indigenous Peoples
 Applications* are now being accepted for Northshore Council PTSA's 2021-2022 Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program!
This program is designed to help support Northshore PTAs in hosting relevant and timely speakers for our district families and to encourage them to create engaging events for our community. ALL local PTAs, within the Northshore School District and in good standing, may apply for a grant through a simple application process. Learn more about our grants program by clicking here. Download & Print the 2021-2022 Grants Application Form *2021-2022 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. Submission Deadlines for Applications September 24, 2021 (Review by Council on Oct. 4th) November 26, 2021 (Review by Council on Dec. 6th) January 21, 2022 (Review by Council on Feb. 1st) Looking for a speaker or event to bring to your community? Check out our past Grant Recipients and our Community Resource Page for inspiration. Questions? Email us!  Join us for ‘Northshore PTAs Connect’ – an online roundtable discussion for PTA/PTSA leaders to ask questions, share ideas, and connect with one another.
Northshore PTAs Connect Roundtables are designed to support our local PTA/PTSA leaders as we navigate membership, programs, and managing our organizations in an uncertain and ever-changing landscape. This noon (12pm) roundtable will feature a focused discussion on the topic of F.A.C.E. (Family and Community Engagement) and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). Local leaders will have the opportunity to discuss what they learned and ask questions following the F.A.C.E. and DEI offerings at the upcoming WSPTA Convention (May 18-23, 2021). Local leaders are welcome to attend the Roundtable discussion even if they did not attend the WSPTA Convention. Date: Thursday, May 27th Time: 12:00PM Location: Online via Zoom Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/97945642459 Meeting ID: 979 4564 2459 Passcode: *Available upon request For more information or to register for the Washington State PTA Annual Convention, visit https://www.wastatepta.org/convention/. Registration ends May 3rd, 2021. To view the schedule of F.A.C.E. and DEI trainings, workshops, and roundtables being offered during this year's convention, visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fvFXzlRE2-J4Aqdzrv2PrBaqi-tGd2nGD1dtFmdhjSo/edit?usp=sharing. Questions? Contact Council's Family Engagement Chair, Lauren Lewis.  Thank you to all that attended our fourth membership meeting of the school year! Each general meeting provides us with an opportunity to connect with our wonderful local PTA leaders and community partners and learn more about the great things happening across our district.
A little bit of fun: We started off our meeting with a 30 minute “social” time. We invited all to join us to chat with Council and other local PTA leaders. We had great conversations and learned that “Flight” was the most desired superhero power in our fun poll! Guest Speaker: Our guest speaker this month was Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid who graciously answered questions regarding the upcoming shift to hybrid learning in NSD. A great range of questions were asked including but not limited to: how PTAs can support the return to classrooms, the thinking behind the hybrid model, vaccination progress for teachers, when the learning model will be decided for Fall, what hybrid will look like for those 100% remote, and the latest updates on SBAC testing. We thank Dr. Reid for taking the time to join us during such a busy and stressful time. Council Business: After approving our minutes from our January general meeting, we moved on to hearing the Treasurer Report for the month of February. We then moved on to learning about our 2021-2022 preliminary budget. Our budget committee worked along with our Treasurer, Liz Nord, to evaluate what our needs would be for next year taking into consideration the decrease in memberships that we had experienced in 2020-2021 possibly continuing next year. A few changes were recommended, such as lowering our income expectations and cutting costs where we could (obtaining a smaller PO Box, lowering line items such as hospitality, grants, office supplies, etc.). We also added line items for our new DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) position and our new Mental Health committee. The preliminary 2021-2022 budget was approved by a unanimous voice vote. Next up on the agenda was electing our 2021-2022 officers! Thank you to our hardworking Nominating Committee, Grace Jurado and Liz Nord, for putting together a rocking slate for next year! Liz Nord read the Nominating Report. The self-nomination period was held 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 unanimously approved by a voice vote. Congratulations to our incoming 2021-2022 officers!!
Council Reports: Tracy Jokisch, our Emergency Prep and Safety Co-Chair, gave us an update regarding the bulk purchase of Stop the Bleed kits for district schools. There will most likely be over 500 kits ordered in total, which will include 2 kits per school contributed by Council. In conjunction with the Stop the Bleed effort, Clark Combs, district Eprep specialist on the district Safety and Security team, has been offering virtual ACT training to staff. Diana Christiansen, our Council Vice President of Advocacy, gave us an update regarding the exceptional attendance by WA State PTA members at this years National PTA Legislative Conference. It was great to see big representation especially at “Hill Day” when attendees met directly with legislators and their staffers. Check out our NPTA LegCon recap here! We got an update on the Reflections program. 55 pieces were forwarded to the state competition and we were waiting to hear results. (Results now in - check them out here!) The Council Reflections Celebration website was a big hit allowing many families – as well as family and friends around the country! - to experience all the works of art from artists all over the district. Next year’s theme was announced as, “I Will Change the World By…”. Diana Christiansen and Karrie Palis announced that our Council Recognition Awards Nominations were open. They are looking for nominations for the following awards: Outstanding Educator, Outstanding Advocate, Outstanding Student Advocate, Outstanding Service, Golden Acorn, Honorary Life Membership. They are also looking for members to join their committee to review nominations and select winners. Melissa Kline gave an update regarding membership. Three (3) PTAs had reached 100% staff membership and, in total, we have reached 4,826 members which is 62% of last year’s number. Melissa also gave an update about the newly formed Mental Health Committee. The committee had their first meeting recently, at which they discussed goals and things they would like to work on which included communicating about mental health awareness programs. Lauren Lewis, our Council F.A.C.E. (Family and Community Engagement) Chair, talked about the Equity Inventory Committee, which was established to assess where our Council stood in regards to equity and diversity. The goal of the committee was to look at all facets of our operation through a DEI lens and then to make suggestions on areas that we could improve on. Lauren was also working on finding a presentation about how to navigate the US high school system that could be offered to families in our district that speak other languages or who have moved here from other countries. Natalie Campbell, the District Partnerships and Volunteer Coordinator, said that we could partner with her and Elizabeth Meza to bring something like this to the district. It was also noted that through the Council Educational Speaker and Community Events Grants program, Woodin Elementary was offering "Guide to Helping Your Children Succeed in Elementary and Beyond", presented by Sistema Escolar, USA, to district parents. District and Community Reports: School Board Director David Cogan presented an update in regards to Northshore School District that included, but was not limited to:
Natalie Campbell, NSD Partnerships and Volunteer Coordinator, reported the following:
Carmin Dalziel of the Northshore Schools Foundation gave updates regarding her organization and their work to support NSD:
Our last guest was Patsy Treece of the Citizens for Northshore Schools group to talk about Bond and Levy support. Her group’s purpose is to give citizens information about the bond and levies on the ballot and to urge them to vote. Bond and levy votes only happen every four years. Bonds need 60% to pass and levies need 50%. She was looking for volunteers to serve the group and was particularly interested in adding diversity so that all voices could be heard. She also asked if PTAs could add a line item to their budgets to help support the Citizens group. Learn more about Citizens for Northshore School here. Our next membership meeting will be held on Monday, June 7th. We hope to see you there!  Sistema Escolar USA presenta "Guía para ayudar a sus hijos a tener exito en la primaria y más allá". Abril 6, 6:30 PM en español a través de Zoom ¡Pulse aquí para registrarse! Los invitamos a una charla para aprender cómo puede ayudar mejor a sus hijos desde la primaria y las oportunidades que existen en el distrito escolar, para obtener lo mejor que la educación pública tiene a su servicio. En esta charla también conocerá un poco del sistema escolar y sabrá a quien recurrir cuando tenga preguntas o necesite ayuda académica, tecnológica o emocional para su hijo o hija. La escuela tiene muchos recursos y queremos que usted conozca cuales son y lo mas importante, que usted sepa que es parte esencial de nuestra comunidad escolar. Este evento es copatrocinado por Northshore Council PTSA y Woodin Elementary PTA. Habrá interpretación al inglés disponible para quienes lo soliciten. "Guide to Helping Your Children Succeed in Elementary and Beyond" presented by Escuela Sistema USA.
April 6, 6:30 PM in Spanish via Zoom Click here to register! We invite you to a talk to learn how you can better help your children from elementary school and the opportunities that exist in the school district, to get the best that public education has at your service. In this talk you will also learn a little about the school system and know who to turn to when you have questions or need academic, technological or emotional help for your son or daughter. The school has many resources and we want you to know what they are and most importantly, that you know that you are an essential part of our school community. This event is co-sponsored by Northshore Council PTSA and Woodin Elementary PTA. English interpretation will be available for those who request it. |
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