Leadership Information
Council information
support and strengthen our local units through the adoption of best practices and leadership development. We train, mentor, and
facilitate information exchange between and among our local units, school district, and community organizations. We promote
parent involvement by providing a district wide forum for discussion and action on issues that affect our children. Bellevue PTSA
Council works in partnership with the Bellevue School District, Bellevue Schools Foundation, and the community at large to
promote the welfare of children and families in the home, school and community.
Invite relevant speakers to meetings.
Provide opportunities for leadership training and at least 2 roundtable sessions to facilitate the exchange of ideas.
Strengthen the partnership between PTSA, the school district and our community by instituting a periodic
Council newsletter and increasing communication channels to local units.
Provide a “best practice” moment in each General Council Meeting to assist our local units in meeting the
Standards of Excellence as set forth by the Washington State PTA.
Host parent education programs during the year focused on issues specific to elementary, middle and high school parents.
Support our local units in their efforts to outreach to their school communities and broaden their membership base.
Greater involvement of a more diversified community to better reflect our community at large.
Create better collaboration between all PTSA’s as a unified group on funding resources and knowledge.
reflections
scholarships (include last year’s winners)
spring celebration (include date)
Advocacy –
McCleary
school board meetings
at school level, district, state & national
#s count, largest child advocacy organization
Membership – Carolyn, fees this year
Family & Community Engagement: School & Family Fair
delegate sheets
signing in at council meetings and when meeting at district
Using the district copy center -- The easiest way is to mail a PDF to copy@bsd405.org. You can bring hard copy to the copy center which is the basement of the ESC building. A map to the district offices can be found here: http://www.bsd405.org/about-us/contact-us.aspx. Their phone number is: 425-456-4171
If you need to schedule rooms in district buildings, fill out this form and email it to Debbie Mainwaring at
mainward@bsd405.org. PTSAs are encouraged to have meeetings for elementary school in the first 2 weeks of the
month, middle school the 3rd week, and high school the 4th week.
don’t lose out on matching hours/dollars – throw into fees -- lms
communications -- lms
Region 2, Washington State PTA and National PTA Information
As part of National PTA, we have access to lots of resources. Check out the National PTA website (http://www.pta.org). It has information and inspiration on advocacy, reflections (including a very specific toolkit), e-learning (this doesn't count as training, but is very useful), and lots of programs to engage your community (take your family to school week, male engagement) and support your child (parents guide, special needs, common core, etc.).
There's a piece in the here about fundraising using Amazon, but please leave this for BSF. It's on a sliding scale, so the more people who use one BSF, the more total dollars to Bellevue students.
Washington State PTA also has a wealth of information (http://www.wastatepta.org). The username/password for the membership portions is: Growing/Together. It includes:
Another great benefit is the support we get from the state PTA office. Email support@wastatepta.org for help or call them at 1-800-562-3804. If council can help you first, please contact Jennifer Karls at bellevueptsacouncil@gmail.com.
Instructions for membership enrollment can be found here: http://www.wastatepta.org/member/Membership_Enrollment_Instructions_2014-15.pdf I have NO idea how add members or check to see if someone is a member!
Some of the key sections are:
A very important part of WA State PTA is the wide variety of training classes offered. All PTAs are non-profits and subject to federal and state law. PTA and the Law is required for at least one of your elected officers. This class will help you understand how to avoid stay legal AND how to keep your insurance policies in force. This class is also very helpful in understanding the rules and regulations regarding the relationships between booster clubs, PTAs, and ASB.
Bellevue PTSA Council is part of Region 2 (http://www.wastatepta.org/regions/region_2/). WSPTA's Region 2 covers eastern King County and consists of the Bellevue, Issaquah, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Riverview, and Snoqualmie Valley School Districts. PTA and The Law Classes with Region 2 will be listed in the calendar section.
Some of the other councils in our region have great information on their websites. Lake Washington PTSA Council (http://www.lwptsa.net/) has brown bag lunch topics which might be of interest to you. They often have good training classes where they welcome members from other councils.
Bellevue School District Information
The Bellevue School District (BSD)'s website is http://www.bsd405.org. http://www.bsd405.org/about-us/administration.aspx describes the organization; our superintendent, Dr. Tim Mills, and his cabinet. There is information on the school board members and board meetings at http://www.bsd405.org/about-us/school-board.aspx. Board meetings are twice a month on Tuesdays, usually at 4:30. Written minutes and audio are up on this site. Audio is usually posted within 24 hours of the meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Here is a presentation on the BSD instructional initiatives which was given to the Bellevue Council on February 3rd, 2014. They are: academic success (3rd grade: reading, 5th grade: math, 7th grade: writing, 8th grade: STEM), College and Career Ready, and A Positive and Productive Life.
Other key pages on the website are:
The district works very closely with the Bellevue PTSA Council. Dr. Mills regularly attends our General membership meeting and is very generous with his time answering questions. Our president, Jennifer Karls (bellevueptsacouncil@gmail.com), meeting monthly with him and invites local unit presidents to join her when they have concerns they'd like discuss with him. She also meets monthly with our PTSA liaison, Elizabeth Sytman (sytmane@bsd405.org) who has provided a great deal of support to PTSA.
My-Linh Thai (thaim@bsd405.org) is the school board liaison. She's a form Bellevue PTSA council board member and a huge PTA supporter. BSF also always sends a representative or two and BEA (Bellevue Education Association, the teachers' union) is invited and will be meeting regularly with Jennifer.
There's also presentations every month at the general membership meeting. Last year these included Silvia Honores, Carl Sweetland, Michelle Proulx, Melissa DeVita, Deb Kraft, and Eva Collins.
Community Partners
The Bellevue Schools Foundation is a very important partner. Their website is:
http://www.bellevueschoolsfoundation.org/SitePages/Default.aspx. A list of the programs this wonderful organization funds is located here: http://www.bellevueschoolsfoundation.org/sitepages/allinvestments.aspx.
Help Megan Elmer (Megan@bsfdn.org ) find ambassadors for your school. Ambassadors facilitate two-way conversations between individual schools and the Foundation that serves them all.
Enter Amazon.com through their website, and Amazon will donate 8% of every purchase you make to support Bellevue students! Share the link and spread the word to family and friends anywhere.
Look for information about Education Connections. This is a series of guest lectures on a variety of topics important to our students' education.
Attend the Bellevue Schools Foundation annual Spring for Schools Luncheon in May. If you missed last year's event, you can watch the video here: http://www.bellevueschoolsfoundation.org/SitePages/springforschools.aspx.
Another important partner is Eastside Pathways (http://eastsidepathways.org/). This organization is a partnership that includes the school district, city, and over 40 community organizations. Bellevue Council PTSA is proud to be a part of this organization.
Together with the Bellevue School District, Eastside Pathways and the Bellevue PTSA Council hosted a School and Family Fair last spring. A list of the participating groups can be found: http://www.bellevueptsacouncil.com/outreach.html.
- A yearly calendar of things most local units' presidents will be doing month by month: http://www.bellevueptsacouncil.com/presidents-calendar.html
- Ptsa dates (from agenda & state) lms (she’ll rearrange to match what exists now – here, through 1.g)
- abbreviations
- Council mission statement:
support and strengthen our local units through the adoption of best practices and leadership development. We train, mentor, and
facilitate information exchange between and among our local units, school district, and community organizations. We promote
parent involvement by providing a district wide forum for discussion and action on issues that affect our children. Bellevue PTSA
Council works in partnership with the Bellevue School District, Bellevue Schools Foundation, and the community at large to
promote the welfare of children and families in the home, school and community.
- Council goals:
Invite relevant speakers to meetings.
Provide opportunities for leadership training and at least 2 roundtable sessions to facilitate the exchange of ideas.
Strengthen the partnership between PTSA, the school district and our community by instituting a periodic
Council newsletter and increasing communication channels to local units.
Provide a “best practice” moment in each General Council Meeting to assist our local units in meeting the
Standards of Excellence as set forth by the Washington State PTA.
Host parent education programs during the year focused on issues specific to elementary, middle and high school parents.
Support our local units in their efforts to outreach to their school communities and broaden their membership base.
Greater involvement of a more diversified community to better reflect our community at large.
Create better collaboration between all PTSA’s as a unified group on funding resources and knowledge.
- Committees
reflections
scholarships (include last year’s winners)
spring celebration (include date)
Advocacy –
McCleary
school board meetings
at school level, district, state & national
#s count, largest child advocacy organization
Membership – Carolyn, fees this year
Family & Community Engagement: School & Family Fair
- Budget & Balance sheet
- Standing rules
- Council logistics -- lms, except as noted
delegate sheets
signing in at council meetings and when meeting at district
Using the district copy center -- The easiest way is to mail a PDF to copy@bsd405.org. You can bring hard copy to the copy center which is the basement of the ESC building. A map to the district offices can be found here: http://www.bsd405.org/about-us/contact-us.aspx. Their phone number is: 425-456-4171
If you need to schedule rooms in district buildings, fill out this form and email it to Debbie Mainwaring at
mainward@bsd405.org. PTSAs are encouraged to have meeetings for elementary school in the first 2 weeks of the
month, middle school the 3rd week, and high school the 4th week.
don’t lose out on matching hours/dollars – throw into fees -- lms
communications -- lms
- Agendas with reports sent out ahead of time?
- emails sent to presidents
- newsletter (use ideas for roundtables from Backup slides for presidents training.pdf) – Brook Rose & contact information
- aliases
- website
- roundtables (use ideas for roundtables from Backup slides for presidents training.pdf)
- Local units are encouraged to annually survey their members to help prioritize issues and programs. If you're interested in some sample surveys, or have some to share, please contact Catherine Smith at catherine@hufamily.com.
Region 2, Washington State PTA and National PTA Information
As part of National PTA, we have access to lots of resources. Check out the National PTA website (http://www.pta.org). It has information and inspiration on advocacy, reflections (including a very specific toolkit), e-learning (this doesn't count as training, but is very useful), and lots of programs to engage your community (take your family to school week, male engagement) and support your child (parents guide, special needs, common core, etc.).
There's a piece in the here about fundraising using Amazon, but please leave this for BSF. It's on a sliding scale, so the more people who use one BSF, the more total dollars to Bellevue students.
Washington State PTA also has a wealth of information (http://www.wastatepta.org). The username/password for the membership portions is: Growing/Together. It includes:
- Leadership Packet
- Group WSPTA Awards
- Training
- Leadership Academy
- Programs to Go
- Finance Resources for Boards
- WSPTA Logos
- and more.
Another great benefit is the support we get from the state PTA office. Email support@wastatepta.org for help or call them at 1-800-562-3804. If council can help you first, please contact Jennifer Karls at bellevueptsacouncil@gmail.com.
Instructions for membership enrollment can be found here: http://www.wastatepta.org/member/Membership_Enrollment_Instructions_2014-15.pdf I have NO idea how add members or check to see if someone is a member!
Some of the key sections are:
- Advocacy section (http://www.wastatepta.org/advocacy/index.html). Sign up for the action E-list and Grassroots connection here.
- Events section (http://www.wastatepta.org/meetings/index.html) which includes PTA and the Law.
A very important part of WA State PTA is the wide variety of training classes offered. All PTAs are non-profits and subject to federal and state law. PTA and the Law is required for at least one of your elected officers. This class will help you understand how to avoid stay legal AND how to keep your insurance policies in force. This class is also very helpful in understanding the rules and regulations regarding the relationships between booster clubs, PTAs, and ASB.
Bellevue PTSA Council is part of Region 2 (http://www.wastatepta.org/regions/region_2/). WSPTA's Region 2 covers eastern King County and consists of the Bellevue, Issaquah, Lake Washington, Mercer Island, Riverview, and Snoqualmie Valley School Districts. PTA and The Law Classes with Region 2 will be listed in the calendar section.
Some of the other councils in our region have great information on their websites. Lake Washington PTSA Council (http://www.lwptsa.net/) has brown bag lunch topics which might be of interest to you. They often have good training classes where they welcome members from other councils.
Bellevue School District Information
The Bellevue School District (BSD)'s website is http://www.bsd405.org. http://www.bsd405.org/about-us/administration.aspx describes the organization; our superintendent, Dr. Tim Mills, and his cabinet. There is information on the school board members and board meetings at http://www.bsd405.org/about-us/school-board.aspx. Board meetings are twice a month on Tuesdays, usually at 4:30. Written minutes and audio are up on this site. Audio is usually posted within 24 hours of the meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Here is a presentation on the BSD instructional initiatives which was given to the Bellevue Council on February 3rd, 2014. They are: academic success (3rd grade: reading, 5th grade: math, 7th grade: writing, 8th grade: STEM), College and Career Ready, and A Positive and Productive Life.
Other key pages on the website are:
- Calendars for each school as well as the overall school district calendar: http://www.bsd405.org/news-events/district-calendar.aspx
- Mission, goals, guiding principles: http://www.bsd405.org/about-us.aspx
- Links to all of the local unit PTSA websites: http://www.bsd405.org/community-engagement/parent-organizations/ptsa-district-council.aspx
The district works very closely with the Bellevue PTSA Council. Dr. Mills regularly attends our General membership meeting and is very generous with his time answering questions. Our president, Jennifer Karls (bellevueptsacouncil@gmail.com), meeting monthly with him and invites local unit presidents to join her when they have concerns they'd like discuss with him. She also meets monthly with our PTSA liaison, Elizabeth Sytman (sytmane@bsd405.org) who has provided a great deal of support to PTSA.
My-Linh Thai (thaim@bsd405.org) is the school board liaison. She's a form Bellevue PTSA council board member and a huge PTA supporter. BSF also always sends a representative or two and BEA (Bellevue Education Association, the teachers' union) is invited and will be meeting regularly with Jennifer.
There's also presentations every month at the general membership meeting. Last year these included Silvia Honores, Carl Sweetland, Michelle Proulx, Melissa DeVita, Deb Kraft, and Eva Collins.
Community Partners
The Bellevue Schools Foundation is a very important partner. Their website is:
http://www.bellevueschoolsfoundation.org/SitePages/Default.aspx. A list of the programs this wonderful organization funds is located here: http://www.bellevueschoolsfoundation.org/sitepages/allinvestments.aspx.
Help Megan Elmer (Megan@bsfdn.org ) find ambassadors for your school. Ambassadors facilitate two-way conversations between individual schools and the Foundation that serves them all.
Enter Amazon.com through their website, and Amazon will donate 8% of every purchase you make to support Bellevue students! Share the link and spread the word to family and friends anywhere.
Look for information about Education Connections. This is a series of guest lectures on a variety of topics important to our students' education.
Attend the Bellevue Schools Foundation annual Spring for Schools Luncheon in May. If you missed last year's event, you can watch the video here: http://www.bellevueschoolsfoundation.org/SitePages/springforschools.aspx.
Another important partner is Eastside Pathways (http://eastsidepathways.org/). This organization is a partnership that includes the school district, city, and over 40 community organizations. Bellevue Council PTSA is proud to be a part of this organization.
Together with the Bellevue School District, Eastside Pathways and the Bellevue PTSA Council hosted a School and Family Fair last spring. A list of the participating groups can be found: http://www.bellevueptsacouncil.com/outreach.html.