Category Archives: News & Events

Congratulations to All of the Golden Acorn Award Recipients Across Our District!

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Congratulations to the 2019-2020 PTSA Golden Acorn winners! We are so grateful for your service to our school communities. Thank you for all you have done on behalf of students and teachers!

Apollo

Golden Acorn – Danielle Forsythe

Golden Acorn – Christi Schumann

Golden Acorn – Kristi Hammond

Briarwood

Golden Acorn – Lena Wiegering

Golden Acorn – Kiana Coates

Cascade Ridge

Golden Acorn – Susan Ho

Golden Acorn – Paula Koransky

Golden Acorn – AJ Henderson

Golden Acorn – Sandra Vanderzee

Outstanding Advocate – Chandra Polisetti

Lifetime Achievement – Sandy McNees

Challenger

(Challenger plans to award Golden Acorn and Outstanding Advocate when school resumes in the fall)

Clark

Golden Acorn – Lauren Bartholomew

Golden Acorn – Ashley Conner

Cougar Ridge

Golden Acorn – Dorothy Davis

Golden Acorn – Stephanie Sladic

Golden Acorn – Jenne Greene

Outstanding Advocate – Ewelina Hickey

Creekside

Golden Acorn – Marissa Corona

Golden Acorn – Sue Horton

Golden Acorn – Laura Hassel

Discovery

Golden Acorn – Yeon Kim

Golden Acorn – Portia Wilcock

Outstanding Advocate – Michelle Moon

Outstanding Advocate – Craig Sakai

Endeavor

Golden Acorn – Tabitha Gilscarbo

Golden Acorn – Kavitha Naidu

Golden Acorn – Amy Myhre

Golden Acorn – David Keith

Outstanding Advocate – Ashley Dunn

Outstanding Advocate – Hillary Harris

Grand Ridge

Golden Acorn – Nathalie Isensee

Issaquah Valley

Golden Acorn – Ashley Kowallis

Golden Acorn – Cortney Eldridge

Golden Acorn – Ki Lan Black

Golden Acorn – Kitty Morris

Newcastle

Golden Acorn – Heather Ackermann

Golden Acorn – Nicole Anderson

Golden Acorn – Tammy Chin

Golden Acorn – Ram Sarma

Sunny Hills

Outstanding Advocate – Kendra Villasana

Golden Acorn – Shilpa Schuettenhelm

Golden Acorn – Jennifer Marks

Honorary Lifetime Membership – Stephanie Shipley

Sunset

Golden Acorn – Galit Scandrett

Golden Acorn – Meghan Landon

Beaver Lake

Golden Acorn – Khristie Tobler

Golden Acorn – Stefanie Magnuson

Golden Acorn – Tara Farhad

Issaquah Middle

Golden Acorn – Karissa Mobilia

Golden Acorn – Angie Warren

Golden Acorn – Carla Geraci

Maywood

Golden Acorn – Dawn Carr

Honorary Lifetime Membership – Korista Smith-Barney

Pacific Cascade

Golden Acorn – Tracie Jones

Golden Acorn – Jennifer Frederick

Outstanding Advocate – Tracy Drake

Pine Lake

Golden Acorn – Evan Shieh

Golden Acorn – Karen Hoetzel

Outstanding Advocate – Chris Miske

Outstanding Advocate – Caroline Dwyer Sanik

Outstanding Advocate – Amy Saylor

Issaquah High

Golden Acorn – Wendy Marucheck

Golden Acorn – Victoria Evans

Golden Acorn – Wendy Cummins

Outstanding Advocate – Valerie Yanni

Outstanding Advocate – Jennifer Crewe

Outstanding Advocate – Joanne Wrightson

Liberty High

Golden Acorn – Stacy Morford

Golden Acorn – Dawn Peschek

Honorary Lifetime Membership – Shelly Russell

Skyline High

Golden Acorn – Stacie Lacina

Golden Acorn – May Gauvin

Golden Acorn – Nga Selbig

PTSA council Awards

Golden Acorn – Sara Carmichael

Golden Acorn – Valerie Yanni

Honorary Life Membership – Leslie Kahler

Reflections: Fall 2020-2021 Theme

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These days we are looking for silver linings wherever we might find them.  More time at home means more time to create! Each year the National PTSA sponsors an art competition for writers, composers, dancers, photographers and visual artists.  Next year’s Reflections Theme is “I Matter Because…” and with extra time at home, we want to encourage kids passionate in these areas to get to work on a fabulous piece of art to share at your school in the fall.  Directions and guidelines can be found at: 

Reflections

Questions can be emailed to Kristen Allen-Bentsen at kallenbentsen@hotmail.com

VIS Information & THANK YOU!

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Ballot results were posted by King County Elections Tuesday Feb. 11th at 8:15pm. We passed with a 61.52% approval rate!  There are still ballots to be counted in the next couple of days, so each day there will be an update on ballots and percentages.

Hurrah! Such good news to see it pass! A huge thank you to ALL OF YOU – Our PTAs who sent postcards to their school community, shared the messaging and Facebook posts, hosted VIS speakers at your PTA Meetings, sent out information via Enews to their membership. Another Thank you to everyone who came out to Honk and Wave in support of our students! Thank you also to our PTSA Council for sharing the information on their Facebook page and support!

All of this work together made a HUGE difference to “Get out the vote” to our community!

Note on Yard Signs:  For those of you who helped with Yard Signs – THANK YOU! They were everywhere during the campaign. We need to have them all down by next Sunday 2/16.  If you see one, please take it down and recycle the sign, but KEEP the metal stake – we are keeping the metal stakes for the next campaign. Please bring your metal stakes to the March Council meeting and we will pick up!

Thank you all for helping make this Levy Campaign a success!

We will be at the March Council meeting to give wrap up statistics on the campaign. See you then!

Thank you all again for your great work!
Dawn Peschek & Alicia Veevaert
dawn@visvote.org & alicia@visvote.org

October 2018 Best Practices

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  • Make sure all of your elected officers are trained, and at least one of your elected officers has attended PTA and the Law.
  • Print these documents from the WSPTA website and become familiar with them. They will help remind you of the items you need to gather and complete to keep your PTA in good standing, and will help you keep your timeline on track.
  • Standards of Affiliation – This sheet should be filled in and complete by the end of November, with the possible exception of your PTA’s corporate renewal, which will be filed during the month that your PTA was first incorporated.
  • Standards of Excellence – Show your membership that your PTA is following best practices by applying for the Standards of Excellence Award (due March 1st). Refer to the timeline checklist each month to see what your PTA should be doing during this time, and gather/create documents as you go. If you put your notebook together a bit at a time over the course of the year, it’s quick and EASY!
  • Make sure your voting delegates have been turned in to the Council secretary, and that you or one of your delegates is planning to attend each Council membership meeting.
  • Register for Legislative Assembly here: https://www.pt-avenue.com/conference/  (October 21-22, Green River College, Auburn). Encourage your board members to attend. Make sure you have submitted the names of your PTA’s voting delegates to WSPTA (due Oct. 12).
  • Send the Legislative Principles, Issues and Resolutions Survey to your membership. Share the data with your Legislative Assembly delegate(s), so their vote will properly represent your membership at Leg. Assembly.
  • Brand and Market your PTA! Educate EVERYONE in your school community (not only your membership) about each and every program and event that your PTA supports. Show them how your PTA benefits your students. If you sponsored it, put a sticker on it! If you have an event, hang a banner! This is how you attract members and encourage donations. 🙂

Issaquah PTSA Council Elected Executive Board for 2018-2019

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Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Board for 2018-2019:

President:  Leslie Kahler
Secretary:  Sara Carmichael
Treasurer:  Laila Collins
VP Elementary North:  Ina Ghangurde
VP Elementary Central:  Wendy Shah
VP Elementary South:  Korista Smith-Barney
VP Middle Schools:  Open
VP High Schools:  Dawn Peschek

 

We are still seeking a VP of Middle Schools.

2018-2019 Issaquah PTSA Council Executive Board Slate

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2018-2019 Issaquah PTSA Council Nominating Committee Report

The 2017 – 2018 Issaquah PTSA Nominating Committee places the following names in nomination:

For office of President: Leslie Kahler

For office of Secretary: Sara Carmichael

For office of Treasurer: Laila Collins

For office of VP Elementary North: Ina Ghangurde

For office of VP Elementary Central: Wendy Shah

For office of VP Elementary South: Korista Smith-Barney

For office of VP Middle Schools: Open

For office of VP High Schools: Dawn Peschek

The nominating committee has confirmed that all nominees have been a member of a PTA for at least 30 days prior to the election, and meet other requirements as state in the Washington State PTA Uniform Bylaws.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Laila Collins

Wendy Shah

Valerie Yanni

Laurelle Graves

Lunch For The Break – Midwinter Break Edition

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Lunch For The Break

Help families in the Issaquah School District during Midwinter Break when free/reduced lunches aren’t available. YOU can help make the vacation fun for kids and lower stress for parents!

We have three options for donating to Lunch for the Break, including one very exciting new option:

  1. Download the shopping list at lunchforthebreak.com, shop for the food, pack your boxes and deliver to your chosen drop off location. Register as a donor for this option here. This is a great option for families and groups to get involved for the Lunch for the Break!
  2. Donate money to help us purchase produce, bread and other items for Lunch for the Break.
  3. **New!!** We have a new partnership with Supply All Kids – purchase a food box online and it will be packed and delivered for you! This is a great option if you don’t have time to shop, pack and deliver a box, but want to give something tangible. Click here to donate via the Supply All Kids special Lunch for the Break site.

450 boxes are needed by February 14! Which donation option will YOU choose? 

Contact Rebecca with questions: rebecca@issaquahfoodbank.org or 425-392-4123 x11.

ISD Levy Info

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Hello to my fellow PTSA Council Members!

I wanted to give you a follow up on what is going on with the ISD Levy and VIS since we aren’t meeting this month.

After the Levy Committee completed their review and recommendation to the Superintendent back in the Spring 2017, the Washington State Legislature passed HB 2242 – funding basic education. This resulted in some funding uncertainty, but ultimately a positive outlook for what our state and local dollars can provide our students and Issaquah School District committee.

The Issaquah School District and School Board has put together a final ballot measure to go before the voters on Feb. 13th, 2018:

  • Educational Programs & Operations (EP&O) Renewal Levy (2 years)
  • Technology and Critical Repairs Capital Renewal Levy (4 years)
  • School Bus Renewal Levy (1 year)

The primary changes from what the committee reviewed last spring, is to reduce the EP&O Levy renewal from 4 years at full $1.50/$1,000 authority to 2 years at $1.13/$1,000 (in 2019) and $1.33/$1,000 (in 2020). At which time ISD will reassess what levy dollars will be needed to continue funding programs and will run another replacement EP&O levy.

Click here to see what these 3 renewal levies fund and why it is so important for all 3 levies to be approved: https://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/levy-issues-february-2018

The Issaquah PTSA Council has traditionally always been a strong supporter of our ISD bonds and levies, since we see each day how bonds and levies directly benefit all of our schools, teachers and students. As Issaquah PTSA Council Board members, VIS would appreciate if you would:

  • Personally endorse the (3) replacement levies here on the VIS website  (Endorse Here)
  • Make a motion to endorse the (3) renewal levies as a PTSA Council Board at our next meeting
  • Help share this information and encourage others to Vote Yes!
  • Request a speaker to present Levy information to a community group to which you belong
  • Donate to the “Yes for Issaquah Schools Feb 2018” campaign here: http://www.visvote.org/
  • “Like” us on VIS Facebook
  • Volunteer at a Local Honk & Wave event – Sign Up Here:

        www.SignUpGenius.com/go/60B0F4DA9A829AAF49-2018

You can endorse, donate, like, volunteer, or request info at http://www.visvote.org/

SAVE THE DATE!  You’re invited to a Community Information Night Event on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 7:00-8:30pm at the Issaquah Swedish Hospital Conference Rooms. Please invite and share this with anyone who may have questions about the Levy and would like to learn more information about these 3 ballot measures.  The Superintendent, School Board members and VIS will be on hand to answer questions all evening!

**One more thing to note, VIS has prepared a district approved “PDC Guidelines for PTAs” which we have sent out to all of our PTA Presidents to help with questions of what you can email out, have on websites, etc. It is linked on the Council website under VIS and also on the VIS website here: http://www.visvote.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/PDC-Rules-for-PTAs.pdf

If you or others you know have questions about any of the replacement levy measures, please contact us at VIS info@visvote.org  or ISD at Levy2018@issaquah.wednet.edu

Visit the ISD website with levy information and tax impact facts: https://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/levy-issues-february-2018

Thank you for your support!

Dawn Peschek
Issaquah PTSA Council VIS Chair
Volunteers for Issaquah Schools (VIS) Campaign Co-Chair
dawn@visvote.org