Council Membership Meeting Recap: March 17, 2025

On March 17, 2025, Northshore Council PTSA held a virtual General Membership Meeting. We would like to say thank you to the local leaders from across the Northshore School District, as well as community and school partners, for taking the time to join us!
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Continue reading below for a recap of the meeting. ​

Community Partners 

• Marco Garcia – Community Partnerships & Volunteer Coordinator
  Delays are being experienced for Level 2 volunteer clearance due to court delays. Please share that anyone wishing for Level 2 clearance should apply as soon as possible. On April 24th the NSD Family Engagement and Resource Center will be hosting a Family Symposium at the North Creek High School Commons from 5:30-8pm. The evening will feature educational classes of various topics as well as an address from Superintendent Tolley. Register to attend here!
• Han Tran – School Board Director  
  The School Board is very focused on the new superintendent search effort. Please tell your communities to look for key dates regarding the search (ex. surveys, town hall events) in NSD communications and on the Superintendent Search website.
• Robbie Reed - President of the Northshore Education Association
  The Northshore Education Association (NSEA) is a labor union that represents most of the educators in NSD.  NSEA would love to work together to push for funding at the state level as well as to push back at the federal level to get more support for our district.  They very much want to strengthen partnerships with the community and with parents and caregivers.
   

Council Business

• After the minutes for the January 2025 Membership meeting were presented for review, Council Treasurer, Brenae Brix, presented the February 2025 Treasurer's Report, the findings of Council's mid-year 2024-2025 Financial Review, and asked for volunteers for Council's Budget Committee.
• Council President, Grace Jurado, proposed updates to our Council Standing Rules. Updates included language to allow the Council Board of Directors to take action without a meeting only for matters that are under the Board's purview and changing language to allow more flexibility around when financial reviews need to be completed.
• Elections were held for Council's 2025-2026 Officers – The chair of the nominating committee read aloud the report of the committee and announced that all candidates meet the requirements of the WSPTA Uniform Bylaws. A vote was taken to elect the officers. Our new Council Executive Board for the 2025-2026 school year is as follows: 
  • President – Grace Jurado
  • First Vice President – Diana Christiansen
  • Secretary – Liz Wong
  • Treasurer – Abby Polasko
  • VP of Events – Ashley Russell
  • Co-VP of Advocacy – Brenae Brix
  • Co-VP of Advocacy – Stephanie Sullivan
  • VP Communications – Manognya Murukutla
  • Co-VP Elementary Support – Jennifer Drury
  • Co-VP of Elementary Support - Jennifer Snyder
  • VP Secondary Support – Christine Roehnelt (Christine would LOVE to have a partner! Reach out to [email protected] if you are interested!)
    
    

Council Committee Updates 

• Advocacy Update – Three school board directors as well as a few members of Council are going back to Olympia to advocate on Thursday 3/20. There are meetings scheduled with legislators. The next meeting of the Advocacy Coalition is in April. Regarding the superintendent search, the Advocacy Coalition has started a form to start collecting questions to ask candidates for superintendent.   

• Grants Update – There is one last chance to get in a grant application! The deadline is Monday, March 24th. We have had a few PTAs awarded grants this winter that have events coming up - Bothell HS PTSA | Mental Health Event | March 20th at 6:30pm in the library, Inglemoor HS PTSA | Substance Use Information Event | March 27th at 6pm in the Inglemoor Concert Hall, and a Positive Discipline event hosted by a few elementary PTAs happening in May at Kokanee Elementary.
• Council Awards Update - Nominations are now being accepted for Council awards!! Nominations are due on Monday, April 28th. Nominate an amazing person HERE!  
• Reflections Update – There were two (2) NSD students who qualified for the national competition and about eight or nine (8-9) that came in 2nd and 3rd at the state level. The theme for next year is “I Belong.”  

• Events Update – Our Spring Recognition event is coming up in June. Please RSVP! We will need a couple of volunteers - one audio/visual person and the other handling booking entertainment (ex. finding student performances).

• Emergency Preparedness Update – The district is looking for parent and adult caregiver volunteers for their 4/23 reunification drill. The drill will be done in the afternoon, and no children will be involved. Please register to help NSD practice this important drill! PTA leaders, please share this volunteer opportunity with your communities. The next E-Prep Chair meeting is on 4/1 at 11am via Zoom. Council is looking for an E-Prep chair or co-chairs for next year. 

• Elementary and Secondary Support Update – A leader meet-up was held at The Texan and had a good turnout. It was great to meet leaders from around the district! The drawing for the DONUT Forget Your SOA contest was held. Northshore Special Education Community PTSA was the winner and will get donuts for their next board meeting. 

• Inclusion Update - The committee has been in communication with the district about purchasing more translation equipment and they are looking into booking a speaker. Council will need to have a chair or co-chair to lead this committee so that it may move forward.
  
  

Calendar Reminders

• Our last Council membership meeting will be in-person on May 19, 2025, in the Bothell High Library at 7 pm! We'll have a meet & greet starting at 6:30pm.

 
We hope to see you at our next membership meeting on May 19, 2025, in-person at 7PM at the Bothell High School Library. 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!