Council's VP of Advocacy, Jennifer Drury is scheduling virtual appointments with our legislators leading up to Focus Week. Please indicate your interest in participating in any or all of these activities by completing this short survey by February 5, 2023. Focus on Advocacy Week is scheduled for February 6 - 10, 2023. During this week, members can participate in daily calls to actions. Subscribe to WSPTA Action Network. Focus Day will be Monday, February 20, 2023 (Presidents Day), in Olympia and members are encouraged to meet with their legislators about our 2023-2024 Legislative Priorities. Washington State PTA is planning speakers and tours. 2023 Legislative Panel Preview Key leaders of the Washington State Legislature provided a preview of priorities for the 2023 Legislative Session. You can watch the 2023 Legislative Panel Preview on WSPTA's YouTube page. Focus on Advocacy - Q&A "Office Hours" is being offered by WSPTA. This is an open opportunity to have your questions answered by experienced WSPTA Advocates and learn how to best hold effective meetings with legislators. There is no formal program, please just come by and let us help you. Register to receive meeting link. Would you like to discuss more on how your PTA can participate this year? Please contact Northshore Council's VP of Advocacy, Jennifer Drury. More on Advocacy:
Insurance renewal notices from AIM insurance have started to arrive! ![]() Remember to review coverage with your board before paying the premium. Please note that premium payments are due before the end of November. WSPTA Recommendations for Insurance include:
Also be sure to add Northshore School District as an additional insured and request the endorsement from AIM when you renew - they do not automatically send that each year. NSD requires an updated copy of the form each year by December. If your PTA does not submit the updated endorsement, you risk cancellation of existing facility reservations and will be unable to make new requests until they have updated insurance paperwork. Renewing with Additional Insured and Endorsement There are two ways to request an Additional Insured with endorsement: (1.) If you have not yet renewed, when applying for insurance online, choose to add the Additional Insured and add: Northshore School District 3330 Monte Vista Parkway Bothell, WA 98021 In the description request put: “Please send Endorsement with certificate.” You will be emailed a copy of your Insurance and the Additional Insured certificates. A copy of both of these then need to be forwarded to Vanessa Greek at the NSD office. (2.) If you have already renewed but did not submit the request with the AI information at renewal, fill out the Additional Insured Request Form. Make sure you put on the request that you need an “Endorsement with certificate”. Then send the form to [email protected]. Once you have both certificates, send a copy of each to Vanessa Greek at the NSD office. For questions, contact AIM toll free at 1-800-876-4044. ![]() 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:
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 [email protected] 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!
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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.