 "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." - Helen Keller In May 2023, over a dozen Northshore parents and community members voted to form a new organization and to apply for PTA affiliation. Washington State PTA has approved their application and the Steering Committee is working over the summer to get the organizational needs in place and ready for their Charter Meeting. The new, district-wide organization will be known as the Northshore Special Education Community PTSA, or NSEC PTSA. Their purpose is to enrich the lives of students with disabilities in NSD by providing Special Education focused resources and supports for our community, including students, families, teachers, and specialists. Be a Charter Member! The opportunity to join the NSEC PTSA as a Charter Member opened on August 10th, 2023, and will close on September 21st, the date of their Charter Meeting. They need a minimum of 25 Charter Members to create the new PTSA. Join as a charter member today! Save the Date: NSEC PTSA Charter Meeting will be held on September 21, 2023 at 7pm, when they will vote in the first leadership team. Questions? Want to know how to get involved? Watch for upcoming posts on Facebook or email [email protected].   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:
Northshore Council PTSA is offering a FREE Parent Education Webinar.
 Northshore Council PTSA is offering a FREE Parent Education Webinar Series in partnership with PAVE (Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment). Special Education: Student & Family Support Date: Tuesday, June 7th Time: 6:00PM Focus Topic: Caregiver Self-Care Registration*: https://www.tfaforms.com/4970917 This webinar series will be presented by Jerri Clark, Parent Resources Coordinator of Partnerships in Action/Voices of Empowerment (PAVE). Each webinar in the series will have a different focus topic and a separate registration link. This fourth (and final for this school year) webinar in the series will take place on June 7th and be focusing on Caregiver Self-Care. This webinar will discuss mindfulness to support resilience, why a checklist can calm your brain, and access to a video library with more self-care content. Check out the flyer below for more information. *Deadline to register is 6pm on Monday, June 6th. Questions? Email Council's Special Education Representative, Laura Staneff. For more information about PAVE, visit their website at https://wapave.org. We look forward to seeing you at this and future Special Education: Student & Family Support events!  
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!!
*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 [email protected]. District Updates:
Council Reports:
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 offering a FREE Parent Education Webinar Series in partnership with PAVE (Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment). Special Education: Student & Family Support Date: Tuesday, May 10th Time: 6:00PM Focus Topic: IEP Transition (Planning for Life after High School) Registration*: https://www.tfaforms.com/4970890 This webinar series will be presented by Jerri Clark, Parent Resources Coordinator of Partnerships in Action/Voices of Empowerment (PAVE). Each webinar in the series will have a different focus topic and a separate registration link. This third webinar in the series will take place on May 10th and be focusing on IEP Transition. This webinar will discuss planning for life after high school including information on tools to help students with disabilities prepare for adult life. Check out the flyer below for more information. Save the Date for Our Next Special Education Webinar:
*Deadline to register is 6pm on Monday, May 9th. Questions? Email Council's Special Education Representative, Laura Staneff. For more information about PAVE, visit their website at https://wapave.org. We look forward to seeing you at this and future Special Education: Student & Family Support events! 
 Northshore Council PTSA is offering a FREE Parent Education Webinar Series in partnership with PAVE (Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment). Special Education: Student & Family Support Date: Wednesday, April 20th Time: 6:00PM Focus Topic: Early Learning (Birth-3 and transition to IEP at age 3) Registration*: https://www.tfaforms.com/4970013 This webinar series will be presented by Jerri Clark, Parent Resources Coordinator of Partnerships in Action/Voices of Empowerment (PAVE). Each webinar in the series will have a different focus topic and a separate registration link. The second webinar in the series will take place on April 20th and be focusing on Early Learning: Birth-3 services and transition into preschool for children with disabilities. Check out the flyer below for more information. Future webinars will include:
*Deadline to register is 6pm on Tuesday, April 19th. Questions? Email Council's Special Education Representative, Laura Staneff. For more information about PAVE, visit their website at https://wapave.org. We look forward to seeing you at this and future Special Education: Student & Family Support events! 
Check out our new Special Education Representative Facebook Group! This group has been created to provide a forum for Northshore PTA/PTSA leaders to ask questions and share ideas, resources and stories about Special Education and is open to all local PTA/PTSA Special Education (SpEd) Representatives and Presidents. While Council still plans to communicate to our local leaders via email and our other social media pages, we hope that you find this group a useful tool when it comes to communicating between our SpEd Reps across our district.  Meet Council's Special Education Representative, Laura Staneff!  Laura Staneff was appointed at the February 7th Council Board Meeting to fill the role of Special Education Representative for Northshore Council PTSA. Laura and her family have lived in Kenmore since January 2019; they had previously lived within Lake Washington School District, having moved to Washington from Massachusetts in 2017.
In her new role at Council, Laura hopes to help to build a culture of collaboration for Special Education within NSD. She wants to improve communication within our current decentralized model for Special Education PTSA Representation, providing new opportunities for Representatives to consult with each other and to support the wider Special Education membership. She is also working on Parent Education opportunities, including the upcoming spring webinar series, Special Education: Student & Family Support, presented by PAVE (Partnerships in Action/Voices For Empowerment). If you are the Special Education Chair for your local PTA/PTSA, or are on your local PTA's board and looking for more information on how to bring this position to your PTA, please reach out to Laura by emailing [email protected].  Northshore Council PTSA is offering a FREE Parent Education Webinar Series in partnership with PAVE (Partnerships for Action, Voices for Empowerment). Special Education: Student & Family Support Date: Tuesday, March 22nd Time: 6:00PM Focus Topic: Student Rights - IEP, Section 504, and more! Registration*: https://www.tfaforms.com/4969578 This webinar series will be presented by Jerri Clark, Parent Resources Coordinator of Partnerships in Action/Voices of Empowerment (PAVE). Each webinar in the series will have a different focus topic and a separate registration link. The first webinar in the series will take place on March 22nd and be focusing on Student Rights: IEP, Section 504, and more! Check out the flyer below for more information. Future webinars will include:
**Deadline to register is 6pm on Monday, March 21st. Questions? Email Council's Special Education Representative, Laura Staneff. For more information about PAVE, visit their website at https://wapave.org. We look forward to seeing you at this and future Special Education: Student & Family Support events! 
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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.