 Northshore Council PTSA will be holding online elections for the three (3) positions on its 2021-22 Nominating Committee on Thursday, January 20, 2022.
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 2022-23. The slated candidates are as follows:
The period for self-declared nominations for these positions closed on Friday, January 7th, 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 20, 2022: 1/20 General Meeting Zoom Information Topic: Northshore Council PTSA General Meeting Time: Jan 20, 2022 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81657900888 Meeting ID: 816 5790 0888 Passcode: *Available upon request. One tap mobile +12532158782,,81657900888#,,,,*462403# US (Tacoma) +13462487799,,81657900888#,,,,*462403# US (Houston) Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 720 707 2699 US (Denver) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) Meeting ID: 816 5790 0888 Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kcX2YUWjGJ Information about Northshore Council PTSA online elections procedures is available in its Electronic Voting (E-Voting) Policy. Questions? Please contact Northshore Council PTSA President Jane Chiodo. *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, Rachel Fitzgerald.  Northshore Council PTSA is hoping to hold online elections for the three (3) positions on its 2020-21 Nominating Committee on Monday, November 15, 2021 during our General Membership Meeting.
As of this date, we have NO candidates that have self-declared themselves for nomination. We will continue to seek nominations until Friday, November 12th in the hopes that we will have a slate to present at the Nov. 15th meeting. 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 2021-22. Qualification Requirements:
Information about Northshore Council PTSA online elections procedures is available in its Electronic Voting (E-Voting) Policy. Questions? Please contact Northshore Council PTSA President Jane Chiodo. 11/15 General Meeting Zoom Information Topic: Northshore Council PTSA General Meeting Time: Nov 15, 2021 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88145329623 Meeting ID: 881 4532 9623 Passcode: *Available upon request. One tap mobile +12532158782,,88145329623#,,,,*479874# US (Tacoma) +17207072699,,88145329623#,,,,*479874# US (Denver) Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) +1 720 707 2699 US (Denver) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 558 8656 US (New York) Meeting ID: 881 4532 9623 Passcode: 479874 Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kcYfPTuLVH *A meeting password is required to join. It will be sent to local leaders via email. You can also request the password by emailing Council PTSA Communications VP, Rachel Fitzgerald.  Please join us for our second general membership meeting of the year on Monday, November 15, 2021 via Zoom! In addition to our regular business items, we’ll also be holding elections for our 2021-2022 Nominating Committee (See First Notice of Election post). *UPDATED* Additionally, we will have THREE (3) special guest speakers during this meeting:
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, Rachel Fitzgerald.  Join us for ‘Northshore PTAs Connect’ – an online roundtable discussion for PTA/PTSA leaders to ask questions, share ideas, and connect with one another.
This evening (7pm) roundtable will feature a focused discussion on the topic of PTA Success. Local leaders will have the opportunity to ask questions and get support to make sure their PTA/PTSA is in good standing and on track to meet upcoming deadlines and SOA requirements. While there may be a focus topic, Northshore PTAs Connect Roundtables are an open discussion and there is always opportunity to ask questions and tackle emerging or ongoing areas of interest or concern. Date: Thursday, October 14th Time: 7:00PM Location: Online via Zoom Join Zoom Meeting https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81122278122 Meeting ID: 811 2227 8122 Passcode: Available upon request Questions? Contact Council! Start the school year off right by being sure to check these important tasks off your PTA To-Do list!  This is a busy time of year for PTA Leaders with so many things to get done in order to run your PTA, plan programming for students, and provide support to your school community. Here at Council we want to make sure a few key "to-do" items don't get overlooked so we've created the checklist below. We've included links and resources for these items, but remember, Council is always here to help and support our local Northshore PTA Leaders! Visit our Contact Page to connect with a Council officer. 
 The 2021-2022 school year is upon us and the PTA year is about to get into full swing! By now your PTA has held its summer board retreat and has begun planning a membership campaign. So what's next?
Now it's time to plan your first general membership meeting of the year! While some PTAs may be planning for in person meetings, many will plan for their meeting to be held virtually, which may require a little additional preparation. If you are new to hosting virtual meetings, get to know your virtual meeting tool’s online support – there should be tips for setup for all the features, including screen sharing, enabling closed captioning, and login requirements. TIP: Host one or more practice meetings with a few board members ahead of time to get accustomed to the online meeting tools and platform you'll be using. Whether the PTA meets virtually or in person, the same items of business must be done.
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 – there are lots of things about this school year that are different! 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 1st general membership meeting of the year? Contact Council - We are here to help! Information provided in this blog was originally posted by WSPTA in a 2020 article. Click here to read that article.  Please join us for our first general membership meeting of the year on Monday, September 20, 2021 via Zoom! In addition to our regular business items, we’ll also be voting on updated standing rules, goals and budget, and hearing updates from community leaders. *Update* We'll also be offering breakout rooms for networking and Q&A with Council members. The breakout rooms offered will be (1) elementary level PTAs, (2) secondary level PTAs, and (3) general questions regarding running your PTA.
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, Rachel Fitzgerald.  PTAs are often the target of scammers. It's important for PTA officers to know the red flags to look out for to help keep your PTA safe.
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 Does your PTA have a money handling policy? Has your PTA updated their policy to include online banking? Money handling policies are important to have so that it is very clear how your members and board are handling the funds of the PTA. Having these policies written out, communicated, and followed helps safeguard your PTA from scammers, and mishandled money. They should include how you handle your cash, checks, deposits, withdrawals, any online money access, and more. Need some help putting your money handling policies together or updating them? Council recently updated their own money handling policies, and it is available for you to use as a sample. Still have questions? Contact Council Treasurer, Serena Xu. 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!  All PTA/PTSAs must update their officer information in memberplanet, the membership database used by Washington State PTA (WSPTA). Updating officer information is a requirement for all PTAs per the WSPTA Standards of Affiliation. Doing so gives WSPTA and Northshore Council PTSA the means to contact a PTA/PTSA if a need arises as well as ensuring that all PTA/PTSA leaders are included in important WSPTA and Northshore Council communications.
The way to communicate leader information in memberplanet is through its Committees Module. There are a number of resources to help local PTA leaders use and understand memberplanet. However, because the Committees Module feature is so new, the documentation and support is not yet very extensive. Due to the importance of updating officer information, Northshore Council PTSA has created a guide to help users navigate the process. Download the “Assigning and Updating PTA Leaders in memberplanet” guide to get started! Looking for more help with using memberplanet? Attend Northshore Council's upcoming training! Date: September 9, 2021 Time: 7:00PM Location: Online via Zoom Presenter: Amanda Cabana, WSPTA Membership Director Register: zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tdemgqDsvH9UAZzVDvhbpvGFvlGoqd7HU Additional Resources:
 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! |
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Northshore Council PTSA is a welcoming organization that works to support our Local PTAs and serve the children and youth of our community through advocacy, collaboration, education, engagement, leadership, and mentorship.