Welcome Back! I hope you have all had a wonderful summer. The PTA Executive Board and I are busily planning and preparing for a great school year filled with fun and exciting events and activities!
We have three core goals for this year: cater to the busy parent, increase diversity awareness, and increase staff and parent participation.
First, we plan to cater to the busy parent. We are all becoming increasingly time constrained. Whether you’re a working parent or a working at home parent, we all find we have little time to waste. Every minute counts. So, we are putting some things in place to hopefully make your life easier.
- Newsletter will be in calendar format—put it on the fridge and add your activities
- All PTA correspondence on BLUE paper—quickly identify PTA info
- Weekly PTA flyer distribution—packet of info coming home on Fridays, except Lavenders
- Sticker reminders—rather than flyers, streamlines amount of paper coming home
- Youngest and Only—one set of PTA documents per household rather than many for multiple kids
- Matsunaga/Longview PTA Listserv—subscribe and get automatic updates and reminders on PTA info
Second, we want to increase diversity awareness. Anyone who attends International Night knows how proud our families are of their ethnic background and how eager we are to share it with others. We want to continue that diversity awareness by spotlighting a culture at each PTA general membership meeting. We will have food samples and entertainment (music, dance, demonstrations) from various ethnicities. Come share your customs and traditions!
Third, we want to increase staff and parent participation, including increasing attendance at PTA general membership meetings and increasing parent volunteering.
- Agenda sent in Friday PTA distribution—so people know what will be discussed
- Start PTA general membership monthly meetings earlier at 6:30p for one hour—so people have time to tuck their little ones in bed
- Serve dinner at PTA general membership monthly meetings—First Tuesday of each Month, bring your family, dinner is made, just eat and listen
- Incentives for attendance at PTA events—door prizes, most attendance pizza parties, gift cards
- Please help! Volunteer at least 1 hour this year—picking up extra supplies when you’re at the store and dropping them off at the school, helping staff the Gecko Gear table at an event you already plan to attend, attend a PTA general membership meeting!
- Thank You Reception at the end of the year for ALL volunteers
- Thank You Dinner for all Chairs and Platinum Level Donors
We are asking families to consider volunteering at least one hour this year. With about five hundred families volunteering at least this much, we will have more than enough help to cover all our events! We have over 30 PTA-sponsored events this year, including some oldies like Book Fair, International Night, Art Fair, and Secret Shoppe; and some new ones like Puppet Show, Make Your Own Pizza Night, Silent Auction, and Pajama Movie Night. We cannot run these events alone, we need your help! Please find one hour this school year to volunteer!
Thank you! Go Geckos and Lions!
Kathy Hickman
Matsunaga Elementary/Longview School PTA President
2008-2009
