by Dolores Winchell, president@svpta.org

I have some good news and some bad news. The good, or I should say terrific news is that Trabuco Mesa Elementary has been selected by state PTA for recognition of their membership program via the My PTA/PTSA Application. Bravo, kudos and oodles of congratulations!! It will be a pleasure and a treat for all of us attending convention to share in their success when they get recognized in Sacramento in May. When I called to congratulate Carolyn Byrnes, she said it wasn't anything new that they were doing. However the major difference here is that this unit took the time to write it up and submit the application. There are a lot of wonderful, innovative things happening in our PTAs on a daily basis, and I hope that their success will motivate others to share their success stories. It is not too late to complete award applications for the Fourth District recognition programs.

As our budget concerns and worries continue, I am saddened to report that the state PTA Resolutions Committee rejected the emergency resolution that was drafted to get some flexibility into Class Size Reduction (CSR). This was our only opportunity to get this PTA position amended this year. As I understand resolutions, nothing can change with respect to PTA's official position on CSR without an official vote by the membership at an annual convention. Since this emergency resolution was our only avenue to get it on the floor for debate, it kind of slams the door on any potential change in the near future on PTA's position.

Since you all voted in favor of adding flexibility at our last council meeting, I urge you to email our state PTA President, Jan Domene at president@capta.org to voice your opinion, in a diplomatic and professional manner, please.

And speaking of legislative issues, I have another request and concern to share. Although I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm in getting the word out about the potential cuts, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of conveying accurate information. If you are not 150% certain about a particular issue, please, please make some calls and get the correct information before you publish or speak to groups about anything. Giving our inaccurate information is worse that giving out no information at all. As PTA leaders we lose credibility when we don't have our facts straight and at times like this we need folks to listen and spread the information. But it has to be correct information.

I know that many of you are doing an outstanding job of forwarding emails and legislative alerts to your entire board as soon as you receive them. My suggestion is that you check your resources and verify that you are reaching everyone you can. Many PTAs publish email addresses in their school directory. If your unit is one that collects and publishes these, I encourage you to add those folks to your broadcast list. There are countless folks out there who don't have a clue as to what is really happening with the budget crisis and the potential impact on our district.

In addition you could also publish a personal note asking your members to forward these emails to all of their neighbors and friends. This is a state-wide disaster, and the more folks we can communicate that to, the better.

Please be advised that you may contact me or Dennis Walsh regarding any questions or concerns you may have on legislative issues or PTA positions. If we don't have an answer for you, we will get it promptly.

At our March meeting we will have another roundtable discussion. This month's discussion topic will be major fundraisers. Please come prepared to report on your major fundraiser by responding to the following:
1) Describe it.
2) Report the gross (the total revenue generated).
3) Report the net (calculate the total revenue, then subtract all related expenses.)
4) How long has your unit been doing it?
5) Why does your unit support this as a major fundraiser?
6) Submit a written report in my folder.

As a reminder, our March 27 meeting will be held at Rancho Caņada Elementary School in TLC portable #3. We had to change this meeting to a morning meeting due to the conflict we had with the Fourth District Administrators' Dinner which is on the same day, but in the evening. Sorry about doubling up on you all, but we were unable to move it back a week.

I hope to see you all at the Superintendent's Forum on March 19. Dr. Gross will be discussing the budget and parcel tax. Remember these forums are for attendance by you or a representative you send in your place. We appreciate the interest, but cannot accommodate multiple folks from individual units. As the unit leader, you should be taking notes and reporting back to your units when you attend these forums.

Thanks for your continued enthusiasm and spirit of cooperation. Your commitment, focus and level-headedness is greatly appreciated, especially in these times.

MARCH 27 COUNCIL MEETING: 10:00 A.M., RANCHO CANADA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, TLC PORTABLE #3, LAKE FOREST

ITEMS TO BRING TO THE MEETING:

• Adopted Audits for Period Ending 12/31/02
• Annual Reports
• Incentive Chart Items
• Major Fundraiser Roundtable Discussion Report

MARK YOUR CALENDARS...

• March 12 - PTA Council Reflections Reception
• March 19 - 9:30 AM - Superintendent's Forum
• March 25-26 - Sacramento Safari
• March 27 - 10:00 AM - PTA Council Meeting, Rancho Caņada Elementary, School, TLC Portable #3
• March 27 - Fourth District PTA Administrators Dinner
• April 4 - Fourth District Deadline for:
  • Membership Award
  • Creative Program Recognition Award
  • Newsletter Evaluation Form
  • Outstanding Unit or Council Award
  • Program Book Evaluation Form
• April 11 - 10:00 AM - Convention Delegates Orientation
• April 14 - 18 Spring Break
• April 21 - 27 National "TV Turnoff Week"
• April 25 - 9:30 AM - Legislative Roundtable, OCDE
• April 24 - 10:00 AM - PTA Council Meeting, Rancho Caņada Elementary School, MPR
• May 1 - 4 - California State Convention, Sacramento
• May 9 - Teacher Recognition Dinner - Laguna Cliffs Marriott
• May 22 - 6:30 PM - End-of-Year PTA Council Dinner Meeting with Incoming and Outgoing Presidents
• June 5 - 6:30 PM - Officer Training Workshops, SVUSD Board Room

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

By Dr. Kathy Dick, SVUSD Liason to Council
dick@svusd.k12.ca.us

We have received several questions concerning appropriate avenues of communication with parents about the current budget situation. In particular, we have been asked what information may be sent home with children. The California State PTA Toolkit has very good guidelines. Please refer to Policy 11 of the California State PTA Legislation Policies and Procedures on page 105 of the Toolkit.

Policy 11 recommends that PTA leaders refer to District policies, as well. The relevant SVUSD policy does not specifically refer to information regarding legislative issues. Adherence to the PTA guidelines will be in accordance with PTA practices and state law. All of the elementary principals have been provided with a copy of Policy 11 and may be consulted regarding the appropriate nature of information to be sent home with students.

Alerting parents to the seriousness of the state budget crisis and the proposed list of Stage 5 Budget Cuts would be acceptable information for children to take home. Referring parents to the District and PTA websites for additional information would also be appropriate. Asking parents to write legislators in support of specific legislation would not be an appropriate topic to include in literature taken home by children.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

SADDLEBACK VALLEY PTA INCENTIVE CHART

Just a reminder that besides the monthly prizes we give out at the meeting, these are the following ways to get pts. for the year-end Incentive Chart Grand Prize

Attend monthly meeting 200 pts. each
Appoint Legislative Rep 100 pts.
Officer's list turned in on time
Assemblies and program list
Attend school board meetings (must let me know) 50 pts.
Attend convention 100 pts.
Attend Sacramento Safari 100 pts.
Attend council/ district workshops 50 pts.
Turn in audit reports
Turn in insurance payment on time
Submit Annual Reports on time
Bring another unit board member to council meeting
Hold a Family Fun night
Have Parent Ed night
Attend Superintendent's Forum 50 each
Fill out awards applications/ and or grants
Complete bylaws update
Hold Reflections program
Turn in a fundraiser evaluation
Turn in program evaluation
Attend Legislative Roundtables
Visit our legislator's offices
Increase in membership over 2% or 22 people 200 pts.
Meeting attendance over 20 (bring copies of minutes)
Turn in newsletters for contest

Please email me at vp@svpta.org with any questions
Karen Edwards

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

CONVENTION UPDATE

• Orientation is April 11, 2003 11:00AM. Costa Mesa Community Center, 1845 Park Ave Costa Mesa
• Remember to book your flight reservations
• Southwest Airlines 1 (800) 433 -5368. Mention code J8754 for 10% discount off lowest fair
• Thursday night SVPTA Council dinner - TBA
• Friday night Fourth District PTA dinner - Hyatt Regency Ballroom
• Saturday night California State PTA dinner - convention center

Any questions? vp@svpta.org or call 858-2545

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

FOURTH DISTRICT ADMINISTRATOR'S DINNER

Bring your principal for a night of good food and good entertainment including performances by Reflections winners.

Thursday, March 27 - 6:30 p.m.
Hilton Hotel, Irvine

Reservations due by March 17 - Forms in the March 2003 issue of "Orange Leaves".

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

REFLECTIONS

By Bridget White, Reflections Chairman
reflections@svpta.org

The Reflections Reception at the Saddleback Valley School District Office is scheduled to blast off at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12, in the Board Room.

I am very excited about the "Signs of Courage" evening of special awards we are presenting to the 41 children that have had their work go on to the 4th District Reflections level. They will be honored in front of family, friends, school site Reflections chairpeople and PTA presidents, principals and school administrators, superintendent Dr. Jerry Gross, District Representative Dr. Kathy Dick and the PTA Council. I am so proud of all the children who have participated and done such wonderful and creative entries.

We had 18 schools in the Saddleback Valley School District participate in our program with 1,450 entries. We had close to 350 of those entries submitted to us at the Saddleback Council level and all of them will be receiving a certificate of participation. We sent 41 entries from 14 of those schools on to the 4th District level, 2 of those pieces have gone on to the State level. We wait for the results for who goes on to the National level later in March.

The children's work will be returned to each schools' Reflections chairperson at the next Council PTA meeting on March 27, along with Certificates of Participation to give to the children whose work did not go on to the Fourth District PTA level.

It has been a great pleasure to work with all the Reflections chairpeople. They have been just awesome at getting the children excited and involved. I know they have worked very hard all year to get the children's work started along the long path through the program and back again. Not only have they worked hard but their dedication, enthusiasm, and excitement has made this a wonderful program. I thank each of you.

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

NATIONAL PTA OFFERS ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM

National PTA's Field Services and Training department's mission is to provide information as well as training and education to make every PTA member a trained child advocate. We serve the national leader, state leaders, unit leaders, and PTA members in facilitating this mission by being a

• Powerful voice for all children
• Relevant resource for parents
• Strong advocate for public education

To reach as many members as possible, National PTA is proud to present e-Learning, a computer-based training program. Each member's potential is just beginning with e-Learning.

WHY E-LEARNING?
Technology is driving us toward access, information, and speed. E-Learning will give National PTA the power to advance membership training by quickly moving knowledge from people who have it to people who need it. Members can develop or hone leadership skills when, where, and as they need it. Its up-to-the-minute information is accessible from home, in the office, at the library, or on the road 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

HOW LONG DOES EACH COURSE TAKE?
Everyone's busy these days, and PTA has taken that into account and streamlined the courses. The first course, Conflict Resolution, only takes 20 minutes to complete. Have more questions about e-Learning? Check out the FAQ.

TOPICS OF LEARNING - DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP
Conflict Resolution
Planning and Goal Setting

... and coming soon:
Leadership Skills
Presentation Skills
Team Building
Grant Writing