We are grateful to all who were able to attend our General Membership Meeting on Monday, November 18, 2019.

News of interest from the November 18th PTSA General Meeting included Dr. Reid’s report that the innovation lab high school located in Canyon Park will open next fall.  Peter Schurke is the planning principal and registration will likely coincide with that for Northshore’s other high schools.  Also, EAP Placement sites should be announced the week of November 25th.  Northshore Schools Foundation is partnering with NSD for Hour of Code again this year, December 9 – 16, with activities for families and awards for participation.  NSD Partnerships Coordinator Natalie Campbell reported that the district is partnering with local PTAs to bring the Northwest Art Project, a tour which includes eight original works of Northwest artists and supporting curriculum, to twice as many schools as last year.

Reflections Entries are due by November 26. Cindy Jensen will be collecting pieces at the Starbucks by Kenmore Lanes November 25 and 26th from 7 – 8:30pm.

Council's co-VP of Advocacy, Nancy Chamberlain, gave a brief summary on Washington State PTA's Legislative Assembly (October 26-27, 2019), noting that delegates adopted Family and Community Engagement as a new principal as well as  four new Resolutions including: the Vital Impact of Membership on PTAs Sustainability, Mission-Focused Fundraising, Equitable Education Opportunities to Close Gaps Across the Achievement Spectrum, and Gun Violence Prevention and Safety. She urges all members to sign up for Advocacy Action Alerts  and to mark calendars for Focus Day in Olympia on January 20, 2020. Kids are welcome! Sign up for free Focus Day transportation to Olympia with Council.

During the Emergency Preparedness Presentation, Council's E-Prep co-Chair, Robin McKenzie, urged families to make sure their contact information is correct in ParentVue, develop an emergency plan at home, and sign-up for King County/Snohomish County Alerts.  He suggested PTAs engage with their school on the Reunification Process plan.  He noted that the District will be doing a Reunification Exercise in March.

The Council also approved new goals, elected a Nominating Committee (many thanks to Jane Chiodo, Carmin Dalziel, and Tricia Woods for serving on the committee!), celebrated our 6840 members and discussed ways to boost membership. We are also thrilled to report that Tricia Woods has decided to continue on as our Treasurer. (Note: we are still seeking interested candidates to serve in other key roles, including VP of Events and Membership Chair. Contact Grace Jurado if you would like to learn more!)

After the meeting adjourned, members could choose between four training class options including:

✔️ Lining Up Your Leaders: How to Have a Successful Nominating Committee and Election
✔️ How to Use WSPTA Positions for Local Advocacy
✔️ Keep Your A$$ets Out of Trouble: Managing a Non-Profit
✔️ Emergency Preparedness: What Your PTA Needs to Know

Many thanks to Stacey Meyer, Nancy Chamberlain, Grace Jurado and Robin McKenzie for leading the classes and sharing their knowledge and experience with attendees.

The next General Membership meeting will be January 23, 2020 at the NSD Administration Building. Meet and Greet at 6:30 pm. Call to order at 7pm. We hope you will join us!

Please join us at our next Northshore Council PTSA General Membership meeting on Monday, November 18th at the Northshore School District Administration Building. There will be a meet and greet at 6:30 p.m. and the meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m.

We will be electing a Nominating Committee, hear from district and community leaders, and there will be a special presentation from Council E-Prep Chair Robin McKenzie about emergency preparedness.

Northshore Council PTSA held its first general meeting of the 2019-2020 on Monday, September 16, 2019 at the NSD Administration Building. Co-Presidents Grace Jurado and Stacey Meyer called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. and took a few moments to introduce this year's Council board members before diving into the agenda.

Council business included a review of the minutes from the May meeting, updating Council's Standing Rules for 2019-2020 (link available soon!) and a review of the end-of-year financial report for 2018-2019 as well as financial reports from July and August. Vice-President Jane Chiodo encouraged local PTAs to apply for an Educational Speaker and Event Grant (the first application deadline is coming up on October 11th!). Cindy Jensen, our Council Reflections Chair, then spoke briefly about the Reflections program and the value of sharing this opportunity in our local PTAs that encourages students to express themselves creatively through this national arts recognition program. Co-VP of Advocacy, Nancy Chamberlain, took some time to promote the upcoming WSPTA Legislative Assembly, taking place October 26-27 at Bellevue College. Then the floor was opened for nominations for the Council Treasurer position, but there were no takers. We are grateful to Tricia Woods for continuing to serve in the role as we work to find a new Treasurer (contact  Grace Jurado and Stacey Meyer if you are interested in learning more).

We also heard from district leaders, including School Board Director Jackie McGourty and NSD Partnerships Coordinator Natalie Campbell, each of whom shared information, updates and answered questions about recent projects and current initiatives.

The last part of the meeting was focused on outreach and advocacy.

Kelly Hennessey is the Coordinator of Threads & Treads, a clothing resource for Northshore families that is operated by Canyon Park Middle School PTSA. She came forward to share information about the work they are doing to serve the community and asked for the support of Northshore PTAs as they work to expand their outreach to include Saturday hours. An exciting moment came as Northshore Schools Foundation (NSDF) Executive Director Carmin Dalziel committed the foundation's financial support to help ensure those Saturday hours through the end of the school year! Thank you NSDF!!!

Finally, the membership of Northshore Council PTSA voted to adopt a Furniture Tip-Over Prevention Resolution. The idea to make this a PTA resolution came from Moorlands PTA member (and librarian) Crystal Ellis. Crystal lost her two-year old son to a tragic accident involving an unsafe dresser. She has turned her grief into action, founding Parents Against Tip-Overs and advocating with members of Congress for legislation that would lead to safer furniture. Northshore Council PTSA will now submit the Furniture Tip-Over Prevention Resolution for adoption at the National PTA Convention in 2020.

The meeting closed with some fun door prize drawings followed by Fall Training classes on a variety of topics, including Treasurer Basics, How to Be a Membership Chair, Volunteers: Find Them and Keep Them,  as well as Secretary: More than Just Minutes.

Council meetings are a great way to network with other PTA leaders and learn about what is happening in the district and PTA. We hope you'll join us at our next general membership meeting on Monday, November 18th!

The first Northshore Council PTSA General Membership meeting for 2019-2020 is on Monday, September 16th at the Northshore School District Administration Building. There will be a meet and greet at 6:30 and the meeting will begin at 7:00 p.m. We'll discuss and vote on standing rules, goals, a budget, and a resolution on furniture tip-over accident prevention (see below for more details).

Note: this meeting isn't just for presidents-- ALL are welcome. We'd love to have more PTA voices from across our district in attendance! Each PTA may send up to 4 voting representatives-- but we encourage ALL who are interested to attend.

Immediately after the meeting, beginning at 8:00 p.m., we will be offering training for PTA officers, board members, committee chairs and interested members. Many thanks to all who offered feedback regarding which classes should be offered! As a result of your input, classes will include:

• Volunteers: Find Them and Keep Them
• Secretary: More than Just Minutes
• Treasurer Basics
• Membership

Northshore Council PTSA membership will be considering the adoption of a Furniture Tip-Over Resolution at the membership meeting on Monday, September 16 at 7pm.

The idea to make this a PTA resolution comes from Moorlands PTA member (and librarian) Crystal Ellis. Crystal lost her two-year old son to a tragic accident involving an unsafe dresser. She has turned her grief into action, founding Parents Against Tip-Overs  and advocating with members of Congress for legislation that would lead to safer furniture.

Furniture tip-overs are killing children in the U.S. at the rate of one child every 11 days. One child visits the ER every 37 minutes for a tip-over related injury. Currently, there is proposed national legislation that will work to stop the problem with newly manufactured clothing storage units. It is called the STURDY Act. It has been proposed in both the House and the Senate. There is also a State law recently passed in New York that requires public facilities that are responsible for the care of children, such as foster care facilities, daycares, and schools, that requires them to anchor any heavy furniture and televisions, to prevent the deaths and injuries of children from furniture tip-over incidents.

PTA can help solve the furniture tip-over problem by speaking out and supporting first, the STURDY Act, secondly the creation of State by State legislation to require anchoring of furniture in public facilities to protect children in their care and, finally, educating local leaders to share information with their schools and communities about anchoring the furniture in their own homes.

The proposed resolution is available for download below.

If Northshore Council PTSA members adopt this resolution, it will officially be submitted by Northshore Council for consideration by National PTA at the National PTA Convention in 2020.

If you would like to learn more about this resolution or have questions, Crystal Ellis will be available at the meet & greet before the meeting, from 6:30 - 7:00pm.

Questions? Contact Council co-Presidents Grace Jurado & Stacey Meyer.

Our final Council Membership Meeting of the year took place on May 6, 2019 at Woodinville High School! It was a lively meeting full of great energy and information. After co-Presidents Carrie McKenzie and Grace Jurado called the meeting to order, we welcomed incoming Washington State PTA President, Janice Kutzera, who, with humor and grace, led the ceremonial installation of our incoming 2019-20 Northshore Council Officers.

Northshore Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid took some time to address 'suburban legends, ' including questions about implementation of the new 7-period day in the high schools (starting Fall 2019) and study hall, start times, NSD's commitment to mental health supports in our schools, 5th grade camp, the district budget outlook and more. Fun fact: Dr. Reid was this year's recipient of Washington State PTA's Outstanding Educator Award, which was presented to her at the WSPTA Convention in April!

Council business included  Treasurer Tricia Woods's review of recent budget reports as well as a vote to approve the proposed 2019-20 Council budget. Financial Review Committee member Nancy Chamberlain reported the results of the completed mid-year financial review. Then our VP of Communications Robin Zaback, encouraged local leaders to take our Council Survey-- please let us know how we are doing by taking the survey before Friday, May 17th! She  also reported on the upcoming membership database change to memberplanet, encouraging PTAs to be sure to enter their incoming officers into PT Avenue in order to help facilitate the transition. If you want to share your feedback regarding National PTA's proposed dues increase, be sure to respond to WSPTA's survey before May 15th.

School Board Director Jackie McGourty shared some updates regarding the recently completed NSD audit, end-of-year district events, as well as a few legislative updates. This led into a brief legislative update from a PTA perspective from Council's co-VP of Advocacy, Nancy Chamberlain.

The Art Docent program is celebrating 50 years in Northshore and NSD Partnerships Coordinator Natalie Campbell shared some of the exciting updates they are making to the program. You can learn more about the changes on the Art Docent Program 50th Anniversary Update page on the NSD website. New materials are password protected, but interested leaders and art docents can email partnerships@nsd.org to request access. Natalie also shared some exciting upcoming district events including:

• May 16 - Northshore Speaks
• May 23 - C.P. & Dorothy Johnson Humanitarian Award Ceremony
• May 27 - Dedication of the NSD Veteran's Memorial

Northshore Schools Foundation Director Carmen Dalziel encouraged us to spread the word about their upcoming Family Fun Day on June 8th-- a free, family friendly event with activities, music and more! She was also excited to announce that they are also currently reviewing grants submitted in their Spring Classroom Grant cycle-- be on the lookout for announcements of grant recipients soon!

To cap off the final meeting of the year, Council First VP Cindy Jensen and co-President Carrie McKenzie presented this year's Golden Acorn awards to Robin Zaback and Robin McKenzie. Both of this year’s awardees raised the bar for their positions. Their engagement and impact can be seen and felt across the entire district and beyond, and still they are extremely active in their local units. They are an inspiration to all of us! Congratulations to Robin and Robin!!! ;)

After the meeting adjourned, local leaders broke up into groups to attend spring training classes, including:

• Secretary: More than Just Minutes - taught by Sue Freeman
  
• Treasurer Basics - taught by Nancy Chamberlain
  
• Tackling Transitions - taught by Grace Jurado
  
• Navigating a Meeting - taught by Janice Kutzera
  

Many thanks to all who attended our final Council meeting of 2018-19. And thank you to our instructors as well as to the local leaders who took the time to join us for Spring training!

Mark your calendars for our final Northshore Council PTSA General Membership Meeting of 2018-19! It will be on Monday, May 6th at the Woodinville High School Library. We'll be hosting a meet and greet starting at 6:30pm and the meeting will begin at 7pm.

In addition to all of the normal updates and information sharing, we'll be voting on a new budget, awarding our Golden Acorn, and there will be some Spring training opportunities! Training will begin at 8pm. Classes options will include:

• Secretary: More than Just Minutes - find out what you need to know to about the role of secretary, including the various responsibilities, taking minutes and keeping organized.
  
• Treasurer Basics - get the nitty gritty on the role of treasurer, including best practices, legal requirements and more.
  
• Tackling Transitions - learn about best practices and how to make the transition from outgoing board to incoming board a smooth one.
  
• Navigating a Meeting - participate in a mock meeting and learn all the ins and outs of running a meeting, including how to make Roberts Rules of Order work for your PTA.
  

Each of these WSPTA-approved training classes can be used to meet the 2019-20 officer training requirement as mandated by the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws.

Each PTA may send up to 4 voting representatives-- but we encourage ALL who are interested to attend.

We hope you join us!

Questions? Contact Carrie McKenzie & Grace Jurado.

Many thanks to all who joined us for Northshore Council PTSA's March 18, 2019 General Membership Meeting. It was a full meeting with a wealth of information and inspiration!

The meeting began with a report from Sue Freeman about the Northshore Community Kitchen. After 7 years of serving meals-to-go to Northshore School District families in need, the Kitchen was packing its final meals on March 19, 2019. Sue shared some inspiring statistics about the work the Kitchen has done, including the fact that they served 14,023 meals to 67 families in NSD over the years. A big thank you to Sue for her many years of organizing and managing operations of the Northshore Community Kitchen. We are so grateful for her dedication and service.

NSD Superintendent Dr. Reid shared updates regarding school schedule adjustments to make up for winter weather closures. She also answered questions on a variety of topics, including next year's school calendar, the change to a 7-period day in high school and its impact on bell times and scheduling, the need for mental health specialists at all high schools, Camp Cedar Springs, summer school registration, and more! We are grateful to Dr. Reid for taking time to join us and answer questions!

General business items included approval of the minutes, review of financial reports, and formation of a Mid-Year Financial Review Committee and Budget Committee. Then we held Council elections for the 2019-2020 Executive Board. The following individuals were elected to office for next year and will begin their term on July 1, 2019:

Congratulations to our incoming officers!!!

Membership voted to approve some changes to Northshore Council PTSA Standing Rules, removing the VP West and VP East officer positions and adding two new roles, Vice-President Local PTA Support: Secondary and Vice-President Local PTA Support: Elementary, as well as detailing experience requirements for individuals entering into those roles.  A vote was also taken to name Council's delegates to this year's WSPTA Convention, including Grace Jurado, Carrie McKenzie, Stacey Meyer, and Tricia Woods.

Nominations are being accepted for Council's Awards program now! Please submit your nominations for Outstanding Educator, Outstanding Advocate, Outstanding Service, Honorary Life Membership, Outstanding Student Advocate, and Golden Acorn by Monday, April 22, 2019.

NSD School Board representative Jackie McGourty shared updates on work they are doing, including the possible purchase of a new building for high school programs. Then NSD Partnerships Coordinator Natalie Campbell shared information on upcoming district-sponsored events, including Project VOICE and the CP and Dorothy Johnson Award, as well as the refresh of the Art Docent program.

Tim King from Northshore Community Church invited PTAs for their support and participation in this year's Community Serve Day, on Sunday, August 25, 2019. This year, 26 Northshore schools are participating! Find more information and sign-up to volunteer at http://www.communityserveday.org/.

The meeting ended with a PTA Spotlight focused on Membership! Sorenson PTA President Amber Rosenquist shared their approach to membership, offering some great examples of what they do to grow membership each year. Then Canyon Park Middle School PTSA co-President Jane Chiodo gave an overview of how they are able to grow membership at the secondary level. Many thanks to both Amber and Jane for presenting at the meeting! 

Our final General Membership Meeting of the year is
Monday, May 6, 2019 at Woodinville High School.
There will be a meet-and-greet beginning at 6:30pm with the meeting beginning at 7pm. We will have more great sharing of information, presentation of our Golden Acorn Award, as well as WSPTA Approved Training classes.
We hope you join us!

March 2, 2019

The Northshore Council PTSA Nominating Committee hereby places the following names into nomination for the 2019/2020 Northshore Council PTSA Executive Committee:

• For the Office of Co President - Grace Jurado
  
• For the Office of Co President - Stacey Meyer
• For the Office for First Vice President - Jane Chiodo
• For the Office of Secretary - Open
• For the Office of Treasurer - Tricia Woods
• For the Office of VP East - Melissa Kline
• For the Office of VP West - Cindy Jensen
• For the Office of Co VP Advocacy - Nancy Chamberlain
• For the Office of Co VP Advocacy - Charla Griffy-Brown
• For the Office of VP Communications - Robin Zaback
• For the Office of VP Events - Carrie McKenzie

The Nominating Committee has confirmed that all nominees meet the eligibility requirements as stated in the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws and the Northshore Council PTSA Standing Rules.

Respectfully submitted,

Sue Freeman (Chair.)
Nancy Chamberlain
Stacey Meyer

Mark your calendars for our next Northshore Council PTSA General Membership Meeting on Monday, March 18th at the NSD Admin Building. We'll be hosting a meet and greet starting at 6:30pm and the meeting will begin at 7pm. Each PTA may send up to 4 voting representatives-- but we encourage ALL who are interested to attend.

In addition to all of the normal updates and information sharing, we'll also be electing our 2019-20 Executive Board! We hope you join us!

Questions? Contact Grace Jurado.

The Region 6 Winter Conference has been rescheduled to take place on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at Dearborn Park International Elementary School (2820 South Orcas Street, Seattle, WA 98108). The event is 10:00am - 3:30pm and includes classes (including PTA & the Law), roundtable discussions, and more! This FREE training and leadership development event is for all PTA leaders! Come learn, network with your fellow PTA leaders, and meet part of your PTA support team. Learn more and register online...