Meeting Recap: 
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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. 

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 president@northshorecouncilptsa.org before December 16th.

Community Partners:

• Northshore School District - Community Partnerships and Volunteer Coordinator Marco Garcia announced that COVID vaccine requirements have been lifted for volunteering in NSD schools, and will no longer be required. He also shared that Parent Square (district communication tool) will launch for all staff in January 2023, and for all paraeducators in February 2023. The NSD Communications newsletter will now be sent out to families on Mondays, with submissions due the Wednesdays before. 

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• NSD School Board - School Board member Amy Cast (shared via Council Co-President Rachel Fitzgerald, as Ms. Cast was unable to join us) let us know that the superintendent search has been awarded to GR Recruiting, who will now move forward with developing a profile of what staff and families are looking for in a superintendent. The search is to be completed by Spring 2023. 

Thank you community partners for joining us!​

​Council Committee Updates:

• Advocacy - Jennifer Drury let us know that Coffee Conversations with NSD families has been a success, as well as ongoing conversations with the NSD School Board. Focus Day will be held on President’s Day (February), and we are encouraged to email our legislators rather than send postcards, since the cards are not read anymore due to a lack of storage space in the legislative offices. Jennifer also shared that we would like to have more conversations with NSD students to give them an opportunity to share their ideas and thoughts regarding advocacy work in our schools. Legislative Assembly took place in October, and the Top 5 Priorities to focus on this year were determined to be 1) Addressing the Student Mental Health Crisis, 2) Addressing critical gaps in Education Funding, 3) Preventing and reducing gun violence and suicides, 4) Addressing funding, inclusion, and supports in Special Education, and 5) Building and maintaining safer school facilities. 

 

• ​Membership - Kim Ortiz shared that we are now at 99.9% of last year’s membership numbers, with several schools above 100% of their last year’s membership numbers. Those schools are Cottage Lake Elementary, Frank Love Elementary, Sorenson Early Childhood Center, Shelton View Elementary, Westhill Elementary, Kenmore Middle School, Timbercrest Middle School, Bothell High School, and Woodinville High School. 

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• Reflections - Jasmine Lee Fry (via Rachel Fitzgerald, as Jasmine was unable to join us) shared that the deadline for local submissions is on December 2nd. 

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• Speaker and Events Grants Program - Grace Jurado shared that Northshore Council is the only Council that has all members in good standing, and only one grant request has been received for this grants quarter. The deadline for the second round of grants was November 25th. More information about the Council's next round of Educational Speakers and Community Events grant requests can be found on our blog. 

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 at president@northshorecouncilptsa.org 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!

​Northshore Council PTSA is proud to announce the recipient of our first round of Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants for 2022-2023!
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Woodin Elementary PTA 
Adult English Language Learner (ELL) Series
Registration information coming soon! 

Local PTAs/PTSAs interested in partnering with Northshore Council PTSA to host speakers or events are invited to apply for a Northshore Council PTSA Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant. 2022-2023 grants are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and applications are reviewed by the Northshore Council PTSA. The submission deadline for the next round of Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants is November 25, 2022. 

For more information about the grants program, visit our Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program page.

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

Need Ideas?
View the list of past recipients. ​

More Information
Learn more about Northshore PTSA's Educational Speakers & Community Events Grant Program.

Questions? Email ​grants@northshorecouncilptsa.org

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 ​grants@northshorecouncilptsa.org

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

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 president@northshorecouncilptsa.org.

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 awards@northshorecouncilptsa.org.

 

• 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.

​Northshore Council PTSA is proud to announce the recipients of our third round of Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants for 2021-2022!

• Northshore Council PTSA's Mental Health Committee - "Digital Safety 101: The 3 Big Bads (Sexting, Cyberbullying, and Porn)" presented by Jo Langford - March 14, 2022 (Open to the Northshore community - Registration here.)
• Kenmore Middle School PTSA - "Angst Virtual Screening" - April 2-8, 2022 (Open to the Northshore community - Registration here.)
• Leota Middle School PTSA - “Helping Your Student Manage Stress" presented by zGirls - Spring 2022 (Open to the Northshore community - Registration Link Coming Soon!)

Local PTAs/PTSAs interested in partnering with Northshore Council PTSA to host speakers or events were able to apply for a Northshore Council PTSA Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant. 2021-2022 grants were offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and applications were reviewed by the Northshore Council PTSA. Submissions are no longer being accepted for the 2021-2022 school year, but this program will return in the Fall of 2022. 

For more information about the grants program, visit our Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program page.

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!

​Northshore Council PTSA is proud to announce the recipients of our 2nd round of Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants for 2021-2022!

• Moorlands Elementary PTA, Sunrise Elementary PTA, and Wellington Elementary PTA - "Communications Counts - Talking about Sex and Sexuality" presented by Robin Wright - February 17, 2022

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Local PTAs/PTSAs interested in partnering with Northshore Council PTSA to host speakers or events are able to apply for a Northshore Council PTSA Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant. 2021-2022 grants are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis and applications will be reviewed by the Northshore Council PTSA until the Council Programs budget is used in its entirety. The submission deadline for the final round of Educational Speakers & Community Events Grants has been extended to February 1st, 2022.

For more information about the grants program, visit our Educational Speakers and Community Events Grant Program page.

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!