February 2017 – Agenda Notes

February Agenda
January Draft Minutes
January Treasurer Report
Council Awards Information
K12 Funding Side by Side Comparision
Local Levies – Frequently Asked Questions
VIS Levy Information Flyer
Membership Report (updated post-meeting, 2/9/17)

REMINDERS

Outreach Donation Ask for Council meeting:   Books for all ages, especially older kids to add to Lunch for the Break boxes. Thank you!

Council Award Nominations are being accepted now through February 15th: http://www.issaquahptsa.org/council-awards

 

TREASURER

.

ADVOCACY

FOCUS DAY

WSPTA Focus Day had an amazing turnout – around 6,500 people came to Olympia to advocate for education! Issaquah was well-represented by parents, teachers and students, as well as Superintendent Thiele, School Board President Lisa Callan, and Director Anne Moore. We had the opportunity to meet privately with legislators to talk about priority issues for Issaquah students. THANK YOU to all who filled out about 250 blue postcards with comments to legislators! Please keep them coming! This legislative session is just beginning and Olympia needs to hear from us. No doubt, our legislators are feeling the weight of great responsibility during this session. They also appreciate hearing “thank you” for a job well done. 😊

HB 1059 – Delaying revisions to the school levy lid

This bill would allow a 12 month reprieve from the “levy cliff”. If it passes, this would give legislators another year to figure out how to fully fund education without relying on levies. In 2010, school districts were given authority to temporarily increase property tax levies by 4%. That allowance will expire at the beginning of 2018, in the middle of the next school year. That would mean a loss of about $7.5M to Issaquah schools next year. The good news is that the House has already voted to pass HB 1059. However, the Senate has not yet voted and there are some Senators that are expected to vote against this bill. They are listed below along with contact information. If you have friends or family in their districts, please urge them to contact these legislators!

Sample Letter:

I urge you to support HB 1059. Students are counting on you to keep teachers in classrooms next year. Our schools are trying to devise an operating budget for next year before April 1st. They are faced with the stress of uncertainty, and the possibility of having to RIF teachers. Levy dollars are voter approved. We cannot afford to lose teachers or funding in our schools. Thank you for taking care of our students by voting to pass HB 1059.

Email your Legislatures by on clicking your district:
41st District (link includes Lisa Wellman, Judy Clibborn, Tana Senn)

5th District (link includes Mark Mullet, Jay Rodne, Paul Graves)

 

.

ART IN THE SCHOOLS

BEST PRACTICES

Best Practices Checklist

.

FACE/Family And Community Engagement

Family partnership and Cultural Bridges are going to support the Kindergarten registration event at Apollo, Issaquah Valley Elementary School and Clark.  We will provide volunteers to translate flyers, help ELL families fill out the Kindergarten registration forms, answer questions.  We will make robo-calls to remind the families about the event and anything else the schools need to welcome the new families.     

We are also going to provide the same help for Issaquah Middle School at the transition event on March 6th.

.

HEALTHY YOUTH NETWORK

State of Mind Conferences (remaining). Flyers: JPG | PDF

  • Saturday, March 11, Liberty High School in Renton
  • Saturday, April 29, Issaquah High School in Issaquah

All Events will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.


Influence the Choice Video Contest is up and running. Deadline to submit is March 10th at 5pm.

High School Flyer: JPG | PDF
Middle School Flyer: JPG | PDF
.

ISSAQUAH SCHOOLS FOUNDATION

.

MEMBERSHIP

Washington State PTA Membership Leadership Guide

Membership Report

OUTREACH

Outreach Notes -UPDATED.  Please click the link to read the Outreach page. 

This month’s Outreach Ask for Council meeting:  new or gently used books, especially for older students, to add to Lunch for the Break boxes.  Thank you!

.

PARENTWISER (formerly Parent Education)

The following message was sent out to all parent ed reps, communication chairs, and copied to presidents on 1/31st.

Please ensure it is advertised in YOUR school ENews and PTSA news in February.

For ENews:

ParentWiser presents…

Feb 28th Creating a High Performing Mindset in our Kids by John O’Sullivan, 6:30pm  at Issaquah High School Theater.  Hear from the author of Changing the Game how to motivate kids to take ownership; to help, not hinder their performance by things parents say and do;  and how to give your child a healthy competitive edge.  For parents of K-12.  FLYERS: DOC | PDF

April 25th The Gift of Failure: Fostering Intrinsic Motivation and Resilience in Kids by national keynote and author, Jessica Lahey, 7pm at Issaquah High School Theater.  In today’s culture, do we coddle our kids enough?  Too much?  Jessica Lahey summarizes the current research on autonomy-supportive parenting and teaching, competence, rewards, praise, and failure, and gives us advice on how to allow students to succeed over the long term.  Join our community book read, and help bring about this cultural change! For parents of K-12. FLYERS: PDF 

Register for these and future events at http://ParentWiser.org.
These ParentWiser events are FREE for Issaquah school district PTSA members, donations requested for non-members at registration or at the door; sponsored by Issaquah PTSA Council, Issaquah Schools Foundation and Swedish Medical of Issaquah.

 


Quarterly ParentWiser Committee Meeting (attn Parent Ed Reps!)

Our next quarterly Parent Ed Rep committee meeting is  Thurs Feb 9th 6:30-7:30pm at the big Starbucks on Gilman Blvd (in QFC/Meadows Shopping Center).   We rely on your participation to continually improve to meet your school community needs.  Agenda for this meeting will be feedback/value of current offerings, and suggestions for next year. We also seek a few volunteers: Social Media, Marketing Communications, Grant Writer, and Events.  Please reply to parentwiser@issaquahptsa.org if you are interested.

ParentWiser Logo.

REFLECTIONS

STAR/SPECIAL EDUCATION

.

VICE PRESIDENTS

.

VOLUNTEERS FOR ISSAQUAH SCHOOLS (VIS)

Here is an informational flyer which shares the basic information about levies – what is a levy, what is a levy rate, what is a levy cliff, etc. to share with your membership. Volunteers for Issaquah Schools will handout a paper copy of this flyer at the Council meeting on Thursday. FLYER
Want even MORE information about our Local Levies and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions? Please refer to this document that was put together by the League of Education Voters:  http://educationvoters.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-Levy-FAQs.pdf
.

WEBMASTER/DIRECTORY

SURVEYS – Surveys are great for many things, including collecting nominations for awards! Contact Cindy to set yours up.


Other

Council Awards

Every year the Issaquah PTSA Council awards those in the community that show extraordinary commitment to ensuring every student in our district gets an outstanding education.
Click HERE to submit your award nomination online. Award Nominations must be submitted by Wednesday, February 15th by Midnight. Entries will be submitted to the Awards Committee.
Award Guidelines and Award Rubric can be found HERE.

The 2016-2017 district-wide PTA/PTSA Awards Reception:

April 4th
7-8:30pm
Issaquah Middle School Commons

This reception is to honor all Golden Acorn and Outstanding Advocate Award Winners from all of our schools in the Issaquah School District.


Mid-Winter Conference Webinar Training:

Money Matters – Feb 11th: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/region-2-money-matters-webinar-tickets-30891767107

*There is a 100 participant limit statewide for each of the webinars.


ESSA CONSOLIDATED PLAN TO BE SUBMITTED IN SEPTEMBER

State Superintendent, Chris Reykdal, announced on January 10 that Washington State’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Consolidated Plan will not be submitted to the Federal Department of Education until September 18, 2017.  Public comment on the plan can be submitted here; closes February 13.