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. Survey closes on Monday, October 10th. More on Advocacy:
As we wrap up another school year, Council would like to take a moment to recap some of the amazing advocacy work that has been done this year. We also want to thank all of our local PTA Advocacy Chairs, for the work they do at their school and within their community to advocate for all children, and our PTA members, who help strengthen our voice by being a part of the oldest and largest child advocacy organization in the country! In October, PTA delegates came together for the 43rd Annual WSPTA Legislative Assembly. During this event, PTA delegates were able to learn, listen, debate and vote on additions to our grassroots legislative platform. Three new resolutions and two amended resolutions were approved during the 2021 Legislative Assembly! New resolutions:
Amended resolutions:
The 60 day 2022 Washington state legislative session ran from January 10th to March 10th. This included the February 2022 Focus Week where PTA Members advocated to elected officials about WA State PTA's Top 5 Legislative Priorities for the current legislative session. Some key accomplishments from this year's legislative session include:
The end of the legislative session means it’s time to start looking and planning ahead. Here are a few actions you can take before the school year is over:
If you would like to learn more about Council's Advocacy work or how you can get involved, visit our Advocacy page.
Remember to check out our 2021-2022 Reflections Virtual Art Showcase featuring all 267 Northshore artists who qualified for Council!
To learn more about Reflections and how to promote the PTA program at your school, visit our Reflections page. This past weekend, PTA leaders from across Northshore joined alongside those from across the state at the 109th Washington State PTA Annual Convention - three full days of education, networking, inspiration, and fun. Some of the highlights included the keynote presentations. The first featured Northshore students from The Root of Us/Root of Youth founded by longtime Northshore PE teacher, Fernell Miller. In the second keynote, Teacher of the Year, Jerad Koepp, shared his experiences developing a rich Native American education program and support system for North Thurston students. PTA leaders from Northshore taught and attended classes in mental health, diversity, equity and inclusion, family and community engagement, and much more. The knowledge leaders gained over this weekend will help strengthen our goal of "Making Every Child’s Potential a Reality". During the convention, WA State PTA also commended all the amazing work done by dedicated volunteers, many of who are parents and community members here in Northshore. Council, along with several of our local PTAs & PTSAs, received awards in both membership growth and standards of excellence! Visit our awards page to learn more about these. To learn more about this year's convention, visit the WSPTA Convention information page. Save the date for the 110th Annual WSPTA Convention which will be held April 14, 2023 - April 16, 2023 in Bellevue, WA. 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!
PTA is a membership-driven association. Sustaining and growing membership builds PTA's power as advocates and change makers not only in your own school community, but also at district, state, and national levels. WSPTA recognizes PTAs for their work growing membership as well as for achievements in membership. Congratulations to our Northshore PTA/PTSAs that have earned WSPTA Membership Awards in 2021-2022!! Membership Achievement Awards: 100% Staff Membership Award The 100% Staff Membership Award is presented to local PTAs that enroll at least as many school staff members as there are full-time certificated employees at the school. This award recognizes the value of teachers and school staff as stakeholders advocating for all children through PTA.
100% PTA Membership Award The 100% PTA Membership Award is 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. This is the ultimate achievement in PTA membership and recognizes that every child in the school community has a paid PTA member to be their voice.
Membership Growth Awards: To highlight the importance of membership growth, Washington State PTA recognizes local PTAs for enrolling more members than they did in the previous year. As PTAs achieve incremental increases in membership growth, they are recognized for each milestone they reach. Many thanks to all of our amazing Northshore PTAs/PTSAs for continually striving for membership growth, helping us to have an even more powerful voice for our children!
As a grassroots association, Washington State PTA relies on its members to provide the priorities that we will advocate for at the state-level and within our communities. Learn more about our WSPTA legislative priorities here and the history of our advocacy efforts here. Any PTA member is encouraged to submit an issue, resolution, or principle that addresses concerns that affect children on a state-wide level. The 2022 submission process is now open!
Key Deadlines:
To assist you in the process, WSPTA has developed a series of five videos, "The Savvy Submitter's Guide to Issues, Resolutions, and Principles," to walk you through the required steps:
At the 2022 Legislative Assembly, delegates will debate and vote on these submissions and whether to add them to our platform. This year is especially important as we will be voting on a new Top 5 to focus on over the next two years. Questions about submitting or about advocacy? Contact Northshore Council PTSA's Co-VPs of Advocacy, Diana Christiansen and Jennifer Drury. Check out our 2021-2022 Reflections Virtual Art Showcase! This is a multi-media Showcase event! Guests are able to view the dance and film pieces, listen to the music compositions, read the literature pieces, and view the photography and visual arts pieces. We hope that you will be able to celebrate with your student and share this showcase with friends and family! All 267 Northshore PTSA Council Qualifier student artworks are on display and we've indicated if the artwork was either a State Qualifier or a Judge's Choice Award recipient. Click here to view Council's Judging Results. We'd also like to honor and congratulate the following eleven (11) artists for their awards at the state level. The four (4) Outstanding Interpretation winners will advance to the National PTA for the final round of judging!
Does someone in your PTA deserve a shout out? WSPTA has a formal volunteer award recognition program allowing local PTAs to award honors for outstanding educator, advocate, student advocate, and volunteer (Golden Acorn), as well as the honorary life membership award. Awards are a great way for PTAs to show their community how much they appreciate them and to celebrate the dedication of those who support your PTA's mission and goals! Local PTAs should appoint an awards committee who will gather nominations, review them, and choose the award recipients. This can be done during a meeting or some PTAs even choose to have the previous year's award recipients chair this committee. When the awards committee advertises for nomination submissions, it can be done via social media, newsletters, website, email, or even school flyers. To make it even easier for members to submit nominations, the awards committee can create an online submission form using tools like Google Forms or Survey Monkey. For recognizing the award recipients, your PTA can hold a volunteer recognition event or take time during a Membership Meeting to celebrate them. WSPTA offers a variety of items your PTA can order online to celebrate your award recipients including certificates, pins, plaques, and even yard signs! Local PTAs may award the following within their local community:
Click to learn more: WSPTA Volunteer Recognition Awards |
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