APRIL 22, 2005 COUNCIL MEETING:
Rancho Canada Elementary School, Lake Forest - 10:00 AM in the TLC Portable

ITEMS TO BRING TO THE MEETING:
1) Items for Incentive Chart - Vice President's folder (if not otherwise noted)
2) Annual Historian reports due (Historian's folder)
3) Roster of New Officers for 2005-2006** ( two copies) ** See page 4 about how to submit online.

IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND THE MEETING, PLEASE SEND A DELEGATE FROM YOUR UNIT, OR ADVISE BRIDGET OR KIM SO WE CAN BE SURE TO SEND YOU ANY HANDOUTS VIA INTER-DISTRICT MAIL... thank you.

April, April, April...What are we thinking? Spring fever is rearing its ugly head. I sense there are feelings that we are on the downhill slope of the school year. We are looking forward to a much-needed rest and some summer fun. The recent sunshine and warmth has brought these feelings on. However, we must be strong and hold on, for there is much to do. We must wrap up the year with good planning. We must lend a hand to the newly elected and those returning officers to spread their experienced wings and fly a little higher this year. Training is necessary, even if you went before, you learn something new each time, or it sinks in and makes more sense, or stays with you better this time around. Be an especially good outgoing officer. Remember how it felt to be taking on a new job. So much information coming at you that you cannot process it all. Pass your job on gently and give support when asked. Organize and pass on all the materials and information you can, and then allow the new person the time to digest it all. Pass along the things that worked and did not work, and what the "Grand Plan" was. There are so many great volunteers out there, and everybody has something special to give. Let us help each other be the best, and be able to give what we can.

On Monday, March 21, Ilana Meirovitch had a special award ceremony to honor the students in the SVPTA units whose artwork was selected to represent us at the Fourth District PTA level. The children, their families, friends, principals, unit PTA presidents, Reflection chairs, school board member, Ginny Aitkens, and Dr. Kathy Dick were there. We had a wonderful turnout of over 150 people. Ilana did a stupendous Reflections Chairperson job by displaying over 350 pieces of work that the children of the Saddleback Valley School District entered under the theme "A Different Kind of Hero." There was beautiful visual art, great literature pieces, fantastic photography, and lovely music being played as everyone entered the boardroom and waited for the awards to begin. Everyone enjoyed seeing all the entries that came to the council level, and the special display of our 41 Awards of Excellence that were being honored that night.

The children were called up individually and received a certificate of participation and a special medal on a satin neck ribbon with the theme, year, and "Saddleback Valley PTA Council" written on it. They had a moment on the podium for their family to take a photograph. The children were beaming and it was a wonderful sight to see them get a chance to participate and be recognized in a way that they normally would not get to experience if it were not for this program. It was very unrushed and centered entirely on the children and their accomplishments. It was a pleasure to be a part of such a special program that enables the PTA to touch our children, their families, friends, schools, and communities in such a positive and pleasurable way.

The Fourth District PTA has an award for Creative Programs. Two applications have been sent to them from our Saddleback Valley PTA Council. One application described our Council's Reflections Program (see above) and the other was submitted from Santiago ElementaryPTA for their Special Day Book Club. It is a program were the parents donate a book in their child's name to the school library, with a donation label placed inside with the child's name on it. The child's name and picture is displayed in the library and they receive a certificate of recognition. Due to this program, Santiago library has 50 beautiful new books. We should be hearing by next month how our applications for this award have done.

At our last Council meeting, we adopted our resolution on the proposed 2005-2006 state budget. We continue to go forward this month in our advocacy campaign. Our council is sending our Legislative Representative Don Romoser, our Vice President (and President-Elect) Kim Henderson, our Treasurer (who is our past Legislative Representative) Dennis Walsh, and our Parliamentarian Dolores Winchell on the Sacramento Safari to meet with legislators on April 20-21. They will join more than 100 volunteer legislative advocates from our area to travel to Sacramento to advocate for our children.

Later in April, there will be "Caravan for Kids." It is a PTA rally on Thursday, April 28 in Sacramento on the capitol steps. It is an opportunity to protest the Governor's proposed education budget. They will be calling out for the Governor and the legislature to honor their promise to restore $2 billion to California schools, to uphold Proposition 98-the constitutional funding guarantee for public schools approved by the voters, and to rebuild California's commitment to education. This event coincides with the beginning of the California State PTA Convention and promises to be a history-making day.

Wed./Thur., April 20-21: Sacramento Safari
Mon., April 25: Council Meeting, Rancho Canada TLC room, Executive Board at 8:45 AM; Unit Presidents at 10:00 AM
Thurs./Sun. April 28-May 1 California State PTA Convention, Sacramento
Fri. May 6 Teacher Recognition Dinner, Laguna Cliffs Marriott, 5:30 PM
Tues. May 10 School Board Meeting, SVUSD Board Room, 7:00 PM
Wed. May 18 Superintendent's Forum, SVUSD Conference Room, 9:30 AM
Thurs. May 19 End-of-year Council Dinner, Location TBA, 6:30 PM
Fri. May 20 Legislative Roundtable, OCDE, 9:30 AM
Tues./Wed. May 24 Fourth District PTA Spring Training Workshops, Temple Beth Sholom,
(Tues.) 8:30 AM until 12:45 PM
(Wed.) 5:45 PM until 9:30 PM
Thurs. June 2 Council Officer Training Workshops & General Meeting, District Board Room, 6:00 PM
Tues. June 14 School Board Meeting, SVUSD Board Room, 7:00PM

We must ensure our voices are heard in Sacramento as the state budget is deliberated. Caravan for Kids is a statewide project to mobilize Californians who care about our schools - from San Diego to Eureka - with a unified message protesting Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed budget and calling for a campaign in support of California's kids.

Communities throughout the state will mobilize education activists to travel to Sacramento and rally for kids and their schools. The Caravan will be scheduled so that activists can participate along with parent and student delegates to the California State PTA Convention in a rally at Noon at the Capitol on the opening day of the Convention - Thursday, April 28, 2005.

Download the complete Caravan for Kids Fact Sheet as an Adobe Acrobat PDF at http://www.capta.org/sections/advocacy/downloads/CaravanforKidsFactSheet.pdf.

Note: This event is two days and starts with press conferences throughout the state on Wednesday. Then everyone gets in their cars and caravans to Sacramento. The final part is the rally on Thursday. Our area is only participating in the rally but many throughout the state are participating in all the events.

Visit the website at www.caravanforkids.org.

National Volunteer Week, April 17-23, provides a great opportunity for thanking PTA's most valuable assets-volunteers-and calling attention to all that they do to improve our schools and communities.

As the sponsor of National Volunteer Week, the Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network selected the theme for this year's event to be "Inspire By Example."

Each year for volunteer week, the foundation produces a toolkit with event planning information, media outreach tips, and template materials that can be easily tailored to individual needs. This toolkit will help you celebrate the accomplishments of your volunteers and publicize their importance even if you're not planning an event.

The toolkit is available at http://www.pointsoflight.org/programs/seasons/nvw/.

As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, May 1-7, 2005, we honor the dedication, passion, and caring nature of teachers. Not only are teachers the backbone of our nation's education system, they are a guiding force in helping our children develop into healthy, happy, and successful adults. We pause to reflect on all that teachers do every day, and designate this week in appreciation and celebration of their service. Please join the six million members of PTA in thanking teachers during this week-your kindness will be appreciated, and it's important that we show educators how much they mean to us. Thank you, teachers!

Linda Hodge,
National PTA President

Visit http://www.pta.org/parentinvolvement/teacher/index.asp for more information and TAW ideas for your PTA unit.

If you are finishing your service as President:

• Complete any final responsibilities.
• Submit any final information required by the state PTA.
• Meet with your executive board to evaluate the year.
• Meet with the incoming president to give an overview of the PTA, discussing each of the documents that must be passed on. At this point, it's probably a good idea to take the opportunity to relax and gather your thoughts. You may want to think about how you might continue to serve in the PTA. If you're not sure, give yourself some time to decide. As a courtesy, communicate with the incoming president regarding your future PTA plans.

If you are continuing on for a second year:

• Make sure officer and committee chair positions are filled. Submit a list of officers and committee chairs to Council. You can now do this online through the Fourth District's website at www.fourthdistrictpta.org.
• Meet with the executive board members to determine how planning will be conducted, and to identify priorities.
• Make opportunities to attend all training and leadership development events available to both you and the executive board members.
• Plan to attend state PTA convention and represent your PTA.
• Thank the outgoing officers and indicate how his or her continued service might be of help.

FOURTH DISTRICT PTA is proud to announce that the following is now available online from our web site... www.fourthdistrictpta.org

Complete all the information (you must fill in each field) and click the SUBMIT button. The next screen will be a CONFIRMATION page where you can review all your information to be sure it is correct. STOP! Print out this page before you click to submit the information. (If you make an error, use your "Back" button to return to the form and make your corrections). After printing, use this receipt to send in your pre-registration payment of $5.00 (per person) to the Fourth District office. Pre-registration assures that you will receive a packet of your workshop(s) handouts.

Type in the information (name of council, name of unit, and for each officer - (name, address, city, zip, phone number and email address) and click the SUBMIT button. Note: If you don't have a position filled at this time, in the NAME field, type "Will Advise". You can return to the form and complete the information when it is available. If your unit or council does not have an office as listed, please mark "N/A" under the NAME field. The next screen will be a Confirmation page where you can review all your information to be sure it is correct. If you make an error, use your "Back" button to return to the form and make your corrections. When everything is correct, click the SUBMIT button.

After the Web Site Manager confirms submission, the president, as listed, will receive a Word document via e-mail showing all the information as submitted. You can then use this form to distribute as necessary, as either an electronic file or hard copy.

As a second option, we have also made available the printed version of this form (as published in Orange Leaves) as an Adobe PDF document. The form is "fillable" meaning you can fill out all the information right in your web browser. You can then submit the form via email, as well as print out the document for your records. There is a "help" link available for further instructions and details. We would prefer that you submit the form using the online form option.