 On November 17th, 2022 Northshore Council PTSA held its second General Membership meeting of the school year.
We would like to say thank you to all of the local leaders from across the district, as well as community and school partners for taking the time to join us! Continue reading below for a recap of the meeting. Meeting Recap: 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. Please email Serena Xu if interested in serving on the 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 before December 16th. The election of the Nominating Committee will take place at the January 19 General Membership meeting. Community Partners:
Thank you community partners for joining us! Council Committee Updates:
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 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!
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 prior to the meeting. You can also request the passcode by emailing Council PTSA Communications VP, Jenn Snyder.
 Membership Growth Awards Membership Growth Awards are calculated monthly (no application needed) and announced via the WSPTA website and social media outlets. PTAs that reach each level receive a digital publicity kit containing graphics and ideas for sharing their achievement.
 At the 44th Annual Legislative Assembly members from across the state came together to learn, debate, and vote on the new legislative priorities WSPTA will focus on for the next two years. In addition to the issues the delegates ranked as the top five, an additional eight issues were added to the "also supported" list. Jennifer Drury, Cherry Holmes, and Kim Ortiz represented Council as voting delegates. In addition to Council delegates, there were PTA leaders from across Northshore schools that attended either in-person or remotely as delegates for their PTAs.
In addition to voting on the legislative priority issues, delegates approved one new resolution "4.16 Equitable and Impactful Family Engagement in Education" and amendments to resolutions 2.23, 18.36, and 18.40 that encompass issues on gun violence, highly capable, and students with disabilities. Learn more about the resolutions. Thank you all for advocating for our students! More on Advocacy:
WSPTA Leadership Training Information: Immediately following our General Meeting, we will be offering two Leadership trainings; Volunteers - Find Them and Keep Them and Roles and Responsibilities of the Board. Training is free and will satisfy the WSPTA annual training requirement. Training Descriptions Volunteers - Find Them and Keep Them How can your PTA build the community of volunteers it needs to run a thriving association? How do you attract volunteers and keep them involved? How do you create a balance between your volunteer resources and your needs? Get more volunteers and keep them! We’ll show you how. Roles and Responsibilities of the Board This presentation will help all board members understand the basic responsibilities of their positions – and everyone else’s! It will also cover items such as advocacy, fiduciary responsibility, membership and outreach. Additional Meeting Information:
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, Jenn Snyder.
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
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
Need some help putting your money handling policies together or updating them? Council's money handling policies is available for you to use as a sample. Still have questions? Contact Council Treasurer, Serena Xu. More Online Safety Tips & How to Report Internet Fraud US.gov Online Safety 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!  Last month, on September 19th, Council held its first General Membership meeting of the 2022-2023 school year. We appreciate all the local leaders from across the district as well as all of the community partners who were able to attend!Continue reading below for a recap of the meeting. Meeting Recap:
The General Membership meeting began with the reading of a Land Acknowledgement, a small but important step in showing respect and honor for the Indigenous Peoples of the land that we work and live on, and their truth, stories, and histories, which we commit to protecting and preserving from erasure. Claudine Miller was presented as the nominee for Council’s Secretary, and was then elected into the role after a vote was taken. Region 6’s Area VP, Liz Nord, then officially installed the Council officers for the 2022-2023 school year. Thank you, Council officers, for your commitment to serving our local PTAs and our students! Interim Superintendent Michael Tolley took some time to share with us what his and Northshore Schools’ focuses will be going forward into the 2022-2023 school year. NSD’s mission of “strengthening our community through excellence in education by focusing on our school communities, school climate and welfare, and school systems” will be hopefully be achieved by strategic initiatives such increasing inclusionary practices, and determining the measures that will tell us what we are going to do to help our students be successful in their education. To hear more about these strategic initiatives, and to share your hopes, concerns, and questions with Mr. Tolley, please consider attending a Listen and Learn session. More information can be found at https://www.nsd.org/our-district/leadership/interim-superintendent/listen-and-learn . Council Business:
District and Community Partners:
Lastly, our Council chairs gave us updates on the important work that they are doing to advocate for and support our NSD students and local PTAs. We are very excited for all that they are doing, and we hope that you will join us this school year in advocating for all of our NSD students! Thank you to all who joined us for the first General Membership meeting of 2022-2023, and we hope that you will continue to attend our meetings!  The Great PTA Sign-Up Day is Thursday, October 26, 2022! The goal is to have 5,000 members from across Washington State sign-up on October 26. This is a great day to invite your local community (local business leaders, community members, school board members, alumni of your school, and of course, your school’s family members) to join your PTA. This contest aims to grow knowledge and build membership by spreading the word about PTA, who we are, what we do, and why we do it as well as the knowledge that anyone can be a member of a PTA. How to Participate:
Update 10/17/22 Get ready to frame your ASK for The Great PTA Sign-Up Day (from WSPTA website)
Membership in a local PTA helps build community, gives each member a voice and vote in important matters, and counts towards our state membership numbers that we can use to show our strength when we advocate in Olympia on behalf of all children! Updating Online Join Links: All of WSPTA's communications will direct people to the Find Your PTA webpage, so please double-check to ensure that your PTA’s online join link is listed and correct. If your link isn’t listed or needs to be updated, you can email support@wastatepta.org with the correct information or complete this form. This is also a good time to verify that Council has your updated links on their Northshore PTA/PTSAs webpage. Email VP of Communications, Jenn Snyder to have your links updated with Council. Visit WSPTA for more information about the Great Sign-Up Day. Membership Resources: Visit Council's Membership page for more tips and links to past articles. Questions? Contact Council's Membership Chair, Kimberly Ortiz.  What issues are important to your school community and students across the state? Take this poll to give us some input before Legislative Assembly. Please share with all your local PTA members. We will share results with Northshore PTA Presidents and Advocacy/Legislative Chairs. More on Advocacy:
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