Council Business: The meeting kicked off with an approval of minutes from our March 21st general meeting, before moving on to hear the Treasurer’s Report for the month of April from Council Treasurer, Serena Xu. Next on the agenda were updates from Council President, Jane Chiodo, which included:
Our VP of Communications, Rachel Fitzgerald, then shared with everyone the importance of updating the contact information for positions being filled for next year in your PTA. If you are an officer next year, please update your contact information before July 1st, 2022. This information will be used to contact you by council board members that want to support your PTA. It is also how you will be on the list to receive communications from council, including the council newsletter, that will keep you updated on events and happenings in our district. Remember to update officers in memberplanet as well!  The Council business portion of our meeting ended with a farewell for Dr. Michelle Reid who will be leaving Northshore School District at the end of June to serve as the Superintendent of the Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. Jane Chiodo read a letter with messages of appreciation from Council leaders for all that Dr. Reid has done for our district over the years. Click here to read the thank-you letter. District and Community Reports:
After the updates were given by the community partners there was a reminder to the local PTA attendees to please remember to fill out the end of year survey from Council. This survey lets us know how we can better serve your PTA with your valuable feedback. We will be taking survey responses up until midnight on Friday, June 17th.  Last, but certainly not least, the evening ended with our 2021-2022 Spring Recognition Event! This event was hosted by First Vice President and Awards Committee Chair, Mary Khouzam. The event included performances from the Woodinville High School String Quartet and the Canyon Park Middle School Advanced Drama Class. Two of Northshore's Reflections artists were also able to showcase their submissions which received awards from National PTA! The highlight of the event was celebrating all the achievements of our local PTAs/PTSAs that make us #PTAProud. Council would also like to celebrate the local award winners in a future blog. To include your local recipients, please complete this form. During our Spring Recognition, Council was also honored to present this year's Council Recognition Awards. Congratulations to the following eleven (11) individuals: 🌟 Golden Acorn: Diana Christiansen 🌟 Golden Acorn: Jennifer Drury 🌟 Golden Acorn: Rachel Fitzgerald 🌟 Outstanding Educator: Steven Hopkins 🌟 Outstanding Educator: Peter Schurke 🌟 Outstanding Advocate: Clark Combs 🌟 Outstanding Student Advocate: Esther Kim 🌟 Outstanding Service: Jane Chiodo 🌟 Outstanding Service: Melissa Kline 🌟 Outstanding Service: Pauline Wray 🌟 Honorary Life Membership: Tracy Jokisch Click here to learn more about each of our 2021-2022 Council Award Recipients. Special thanks to Council Members Jane Chiodo, Jennifer Drury, Rachel Fitzgerald, Mary Khouzam, and Claudine Miller for their work to make this event a success! Many volunteer hours were spent reviewing nominations, selecting recipients, organizing the slideshow, arranging for student entertainment, and surprising the award winners - all to make our 2022 Spring Recognition Event a memorable one!!  We want to thank all the volunteers, district employees, and community members who attended this meeting and all the previous meetings held this year. We hope you will continue to join us for our General Membership Meetings in the 2022-2023 school year.
For a full list of our upcoming meetings and events, check out our Calendar.  Each year, Washington State PTA recognizes the work of individuals, PTAs and Councils across the state via a variety of awards, including Leadership Academy and the Awards of Excellence Program. Some of our amazing Northshore PTAs submitted applications and were recognized for their efforts at the 2022 WSPTA Annual Convention held May 20th-22nd. Awards work to celebrate the efforts of local PTAs and Councils in a variety of different areas. The criteria reflect a strong knowledge and application of best practices and the submission process can be rigorous. These awards are truly reflective of the dedication and strength of these PTAs and the powerful contributions they make in their communities. This year's recipients included:
Congratulations to our award-winning Northshore PTAs!
 Check out the video below showcasing some of the AMAZING things our local PTAs & PTSAs have accomplished this year! Now's a great time to check in regarding your membership goal for the year! Many PTAs focus their Membership Campaign efforts at the start of the school year. However, Council recommends keeping your campaign going all year long - it's never to late to Join PTA! Washington State PTA is even running a final membership contest of the year as incentive. WSPTA's “Keep those Members Coming” contest just requires your PTA to add seven new members between February 1st and March 14th to qualify. We are also just 3 weeks away from the deadline for 100% Staff and 100% Membership awards. If your PTA has qualified for either of these awards, please make sure to fill out the application form and return it by the deadline of March 15th. See below for more information about these and WSPTA's Membership Growth Awards.  Washington State PTA gives out two types of PTA Membership Awards:
Membership Growth Awards Levels Bronze: Recognizes local PTAs, in good standing, for enrolling at least one more member than their previous year’s total membership. Silver: Recognizes local PTAs, in good standing, for enrolling PTA members equaling at least 105% of their previous year’s total membership. Gold: Recognizes local PTAs, in good standing, for enrolling PTA members equaling at least 110% of their previous year’s total membership. Platinum: Recognizes local PTAs, in good standing, for enrolling PTA members equaling at least 120% of their previous year’s total membership. Membership Achievement Awards 100% Staff Membership Award: Recognizes local PTAs that have at least as many school staff members enrolled in their PTA as there are full-time, certificated staff members employed at the school associated with that PTA. Check out our previous blog for to learn about achieving 100% Staff Membership – it’s easier than you think! Many of our local PTAs earned this award last year - view the recipient list here! 100% PTA Membership Award: Presented to local PTAs that enroll at least as many members as there are full-time enrolled students at the school associated with that PTA. Our very own Sunrise Elementary PTA earned this award in 2019-2020! Membership Achievement Awards require a local PTA to complete a simple form (available from WSPTA here), get it signed by the principal of the school associated with that PTA, and submit it to WSPTA by March 15th. Submissions can be done by mail or scanned and sent via email. Once forms are received and approved, your PTA will receive a digital awards kit to help celebrate your achievement and be recognized at the WSPTA Convention in May. Questions about these different awards or need help with your membership campaign? Contact Council's Co-Chairs of Membership, Hanisha Bakshani & Melissa Kline!
CONGRATULATIONS to all our local PTAs/PTSAs! As of Thursday, November 18th, as a combined group, Northshore PTAs had officially passed their membership total from last year! All the hard work on your membership campaigns this year is paying off. Here at Council, we are #PTAProud and so impressed by everything you have done!
Council's goal for our combined Northshore PTAs is to have 6,000 members this year. We encourage all of our local PTAs/PTSAs to continue to promote the value of membership. For tips and resources in doing so, visit our Membership page. Additionally, you can always reach out to Council's Co-Chairs of Membership, Hanisha Bakshani and Melissa Kline.
 Today we celebrate Northshore PTAs & PTSAs!! We know Local Leaders have been working hard on their membership campaigns this year. And that hard work is paying off! So many of our Northshore PTAs/PTSAs have surpassed their membership numbers from last year and many more are not far behind. Watch the video below to share in the celebration of the membership growth all across the district! Additionally, several of our local PTAs & PTSAs have already earned a Washington State PTA Membership Growth Award for this year.   Every year PTAs start their membership campaign and every year families ask the same question: "Why join the PTA?" After over a year of being at home, many families may feel discounted and be asking why they should support PTA. It can be hard to communicate your PTA's value with programs being offered virtually when families are used to attending PTA events in person or seeing the support your PTA does in the classroom. That's why it's more important than ever to answer the question "Why PTA?" One great way of doing that is sharing with your families the reason why you support the PTA. Knowing WHY those leading your PTA serve is a great way to inspire other families to support your PTA by joining or donating. Check out all the reasons that inspire your Northshore Council Leaders to PTA below! Interested in making your own "Why I PTA" slides but need help? Contact Council's Co-VP of Membership, Melissa Kline. As this school year comes to an end, Council President, Jane Chiodo, would like to leave our local PTA leaders with this end of year message: This year forced our PTAs to rethink how we serve our communities and, I have to say, that our PTAs met that challenge head on. From pivoting to hold cherished events virtually, holding meetings over Zoom, appreciating our school staff members from afar, and gathering members when you couldn’t even reach out a hand to shake and say hi…. We’ve seen so many incredible things come out of this challenge to our PTA norms! There has been renewed work on supporting our community through the creation of services such as new food banks as well as highlighting the importance of mental health while helping to give our families tools and tips to help them through the anxiety and weather the changes brought about this year. Many advocacy issues took a center stage with major strides made in making sure that everyone is heard and seen. We saw more PTAs than ever before partner together to bring education events and fun to their communities. We also saw PTAs buckle down and weather the storm. Everyone knows how important PTA is – you did what you had to do. You’ll come out on the other side of this ready to rock. I am so proud to be part of the Northshore School District family of PTAs! Thank you to our hardworking local PTAs for everything they have done for their schools, their families, their students and their communities at large. Thank you to the PTA officers who held the ship together, the PTA board members who continued to push the mission and hold to the goals, and to all of the PTA volunteers who found ways to help when we couldn’t physically be together. You are all amazing and what you do is amazing. I also want to take a moment to thank the Northshore Council PTSA team. Through the personal ups and downs, your work at your local PTAs, your 9-5 jobs, taking care of your families, and everything in between you were able to continue to work to support our local PTAs through your selfless dedication and incredible work ethic. I am humbled and constantly amazed by this team and their ingenuity in the face of adversity and their unwavering care for their community. As a council, we worked hard to figure out how to support our local PTAs as best we could. We’re hoping that we did a good job. But, in order to know if we did, we need YOU to let us know! Please take a minute to fill out our survey and let us know how we can support you better as we move into the next school year. We will be taking survey responses up until midnight on Friday, June 25th. Please take time this summer to rest, relax, and rejuvenate – and, don’t forget the sunscreen! Thank you and have a great summer!! 
 Thank you to everyone that attended our fifth and final membership meeting of the school year! This meeting was especially impactful as there were over 55 attendees from our local PTA’s and community partners in attendance. Council Business: The meeting kicked off with an approval of minutes from our March general meeting, before moving on to hear the Treasurer’s Report for the month of May from the Council Treasurer, Liz Nord. May’s report reflected income from membership service fees, as well as expenses related to the Spring Recognition Event, Moneyminder software renewal, WSPTA scholarship funds, WSPTA convention registration fees and awards. Next on the agenda was an update to the Northshore Council PTSA Standing Rules. Changes recommended were:
Our VP of Communications, Rachel Fitzgerald, then shared with everyone the importance of updating the contact information for positions being filled for next year in your PTA. If you are an officer next year, please update your contact information before July 1st, 2021. This information will be used to contact you by council board members that want to support your PTA. It is also how you will be on the list to receive communications from council, including the council newsletter, that will keep you updated on events and happenings in our district. Remember to update officers into memberplanet as well! District and Community Reports: School Board Director David Cogan shared an update in regards to Northshore School District that included, but was not limited to:
Lauren Lewis, acting NSD Partnerships and Volunteer Coordinator, reported the following:
After the updates were given by the community partners there was a reminder to the local PTA attendees to please remember to fill out the end of year survey from Council. This survey lets us know how we can better serve your PTA with your valuable feedback. We will be taking survey responses up until midnight on Friday, June 25th. Our Council President, Jane Chiodo, then shared a personal message of thanks to the council as well as the local leaders and community partners. Click here to read that message.  Last, but certainly not least, the evening ended with our 2020-2021 Spring Recognition Event! This event was hosted by our Co-VP of Events, Mary Khouzam and Karrie Palis. The theme was "Thank You for Making Lemonade". This was such a fitting theme since all of our local PTA’s did exactly that this year, when handed lemons, they made some lemonade! The event included performances from Skyview Middle School's symphonic band, orchestra, and choir as well as a performance from the Bothell High School Bel Canto Choir. The highlight of the event was celebrating all the achievements of our local PTAs/PTSAs as well as the recipients of their Recognition Awards. Council was also honored to present this year's Council Recognition Awards. Congratulations to: 🌟 Outstanding Educator: Natalie Campbell 🌟 Outstanding Advocate: Cathi Davis 🌟 Outstanding Student Advocate: Diya Gupta 🌟 Outstanding Service: Melissa Kline 🌟 Golden Acorn: Lauren Lewis 🌟 Golden Acorn: Liz Nord 🌟 Honorary Life Membership: Nancy Chamberlain Click here to learn more about each of our 2020-2021 Council Award Recipients. Thank you to our Council Awards Committee Members Diana Christiansen, Rachel Fitzgerald, and Karrie Palis for the beautiful awards presentation and speeches given during the event! Thank you to all that attended this fun evening! It was a fun night with lots to celebrate for making it through this unprecedented school year! Looking forward to our next membership meeting in the fall. Have a wonderful summer and enjoy this much deserved time to relax with your families.
 Our local PTAs/PTSAs have been doing amazing things this school year that make us #PTAProud! And we think you should share that success with your community!! Sharing ways your PTA has supported students, staff, and your school community is a great way to increase your PTA/PTSA's visibility in the community as well as increase your membership. Check out just a few of the different ways our local PTAs/PTSAs have been supporting their school community while adapting to the changes a virtual setting brings:
It's clear that our local PTAs/PTSAs have put in amazing volunteer effort and work to make the first half of this school year a success for students, which we know was no easy feat in a virtual environment. We can't wait to see what new events, programs, and ways to support our schools our local PTAs/PTSAs come up with the 2nd half of this school year. Whatever they are, we are sure they will make us #PTAProud! Know a local PTA/PTSA doing amazing things for their students, staff, or school community? Email Council to Share Their Success with us!
Remember, when your community knows the great work you do, they will want to be a part of it! Supporting our students and schools is a great reason WHY Join PTA! |
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