January 2009 |
|
In This Issue Practice What You Preach Practice What You Preach Partner with School Leaders to Promote Partnerships Here are a couple of ways to partner with state education leaders to promote successful family-school partnerships:
Here are a few ways to support local units directly:
For family-school partnership resources, visit www.pta.org/family_school_partnerships.asp. Celebrate PTA Take Your Family to School Week on February 8-14 Join the PTA national office in applauding local units that are engaging families more fully in their children's education through activities planned for this special week. Issue a press release to media in your state and publish stories and pictures on your state PTA website. Read the national press release about this year's 32 PTA Take Your Family to School Week Award recipients. The awards are funded by AXA Foundation, Proud National Sponsor of PTA. Advocates to Be Honored at 2009 PTA National Legislative Conference On March 12, during the annual PTA legislative conference, PTA will recognize California State PTA and Capistrano Unified Council of PTSAs for their tremendous work speaking up on behalf of children in 2008; both units will be receiving the PTA Outstanding Advocacy Award. Kim Anderson of Dana Hills High School in California will be also presented with the first ever Shirley Igo Advocate of the Year Award. The winners will be publicly announced to the media in late February along with the Congressional Voice for Children Award honorees. The 2009 PTA National Legislative Conference will be held in conjunction with training sessions for state presidents and federal legislative chairs on March 10-12, 2009 at the Doubletree Crystal City in Arlington, Virginia. The Natioanl Council of States will also meet on March 10. Registration deadline for the conference is Friday, January 30. Register now! Save the Date for Convention '09! Friday, June 26–Monday, June 29 Attending the PTA National Convention and Exhibition is one of the best ways to build skills, boost energy, and connect with other PTA leaders! Don't keep it a secret! Use your state PTA newsletters, website, and other communications to promote this important national event to state and local leaders and other involved PTA members, especially students and men. Make sure you download the "Save the Date" flier online. Here's what you'll find at this year's convention:
Advance registration materials will be mailed to all PTAs in late February, and general registration opens online March 2 at www.pta.org/annualconvention. Watch your e-mail for special registration instructions for state leaders. State membership chair and state office staff trainings will also be offered at convention. Join PTA in Ft. Lauderdale this summer! OMDR Plus Powered by Just Between Friends is Live! Version 1 of OMDR Plus is ready for PTAs to use. If your state PTA has been in contact with Just Between Friends about participating, you will receive your login credentials from Just Between Friends – and if you have already gone through training with the Just Between Friends team, you'll be able to login immediately to start working. Over 400 units have already gone through the Group Start-Up Wizard. The local PTA leaders in your state who have done so will receive their login credentials after your State PTA approves them into the system. If a local PTA President has not yet gone through the Group Start-up Wizard, they can go to www.JustBetweenFriends.com/2008QuickStart to begin. We hope you enjoy using the new system and look forward to hearing your feedback – both positive and constructive – so we can continue to enhance it for you. To reach Just Between Friends with comments or questions about getting your state up and running visit https://www.justbetweenfriends.com/ContactUs.aspx or call (412) 561-0500. Guiding Your Family's Media and Technology Use: PTA Tip Sheets Over the next few months, PTA Parent and PTA Local Leader News will feature a series of six tip sheets giving parents advice on how they can protect their kids and promote responsible use of media and technology in their families. These tip sheets will cover television, music, movies, the Internet, video games, and cell phones. The one-page tip sheets will be posted at http://www.pta.org/topic_child_safety.asp, in both English and Spanish. Help ensure that all your members and leaders see these valuable resources:
The first tip sheet — on television — is available now at pta.org. Be sure to watch PTA Parent and PTA Local Leader News for the release of the rest of the series. For more information, contact Whitney Meagher, the PTA national office's program coordinator for health and wellness, at wmeagher@pta.org. Looking for a Grant for 2009? Local units might be interested in the following grant opportunities as a way of overcoming fundraising challenges or supplementing program plans.
Teaching American History Grant Program (closes March 9)
For more information on available grants, go to the U.S. Department of Education's Grant Application Packages listing. PTA Offers News Widgets for Local Unit Websites PTA units and strategic partners can embed code on their websites for one of five news widgets to deliver key PTA news to their website users. To access the news widgets, go to the Multimedia Library in the PTA Community section and click on the link "PTA News Widgets." (If necessary, input the username ptacommunity and the password 1pta1 to access the page). The page will display five different news widgets to accommodate any web page layout. Select the widget you want, click "Get Widget," copy the code that appears, and paste it into your site's HTML code or template. Reminder: Hearst Awards Deadline is March 1 The deadline for all Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Award applications is 11:59 p.m. EST, March 1, 2009. All local, council, district, and region PTAs in good standing may apply. Applications should be submitted by the unit directly to the PTA Office of Programs and Public Policy. The application and details are available at www.pta.org/hearst. PTA Spring Conventions to "Stop Bullying Now!" Too many children are faced with difficult situations of bullying. To help stop and prevent bullying in your school and community, the Health Resources and Services Campaign, Stop Bullying Now!, designed to educate Americans on ways to prevent and reduce bullying, is pleased to offer PTA State Conventions copies of the Stop Bullying Now! Activities Guide. The SBN! Activities Guide is a handbook of creative ideas on how to spread the word about bullying prevention in your school and community and to have fun while you're doing it! For more information on the Stop Bullying Now! campaign please visit http://www.stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov. To obtain copies of the SBN! Activities Guide for your Spring Conventions please contact Nicolle.Grayson@widmeyer.com. Sponsor Message
 The AXA Foundation, a Proud National Sponsor of PTA, offers a signature program, AXA Achievementsm, which provides resources that help make college possible: access and advice.
Currently underway: AXA Achievementsm Community Scholarship
Encourage graduating high school seniors to apply. Direct students, parents, and educators to axa-achievement.com, where they can find more information and downloadable applications. The AXA Foundation is also the exclusive awards sponsor of PTA Take Your Family to School Week. As part of the many programs being offered in the schools to engage parents during PTA Take Your Family to School Week, AXA can provide free workshops on topics such as planning for college and other financial issues facing families. Visit the AXA website designed exclusively for PTA leadership, axa-achievement.com/PTA, for more information about the wide range of workshops that can be presented at schools in your area.
|