By now you should have received your darling invitation to the Saddleback Valley PTA Council Installation dinner. I hope that you and your incoming president or vice president will be able to join us at Valentina Ristorante, 27755 Santa Margarita Parkway, Mission Viejo. The cost is $20 and all money should be mailed directly to Artemisa Valle our council treasurer. I recently went to Valentina's to try out the food to make sure that it was okay for all of my wonderful presidents. Let me tell you it was divine...we are going to have so much fun. I look forward to seeing you there.

Now on to a more challenging topic...SVUSD Teacher Contract Negotiations. I have received several phone calls and emails regarding teachers picketing, teachers wearing black, teachers cancelling out on endof- the-year school events, threatening phone calls from teachers and much more. I want to review a few basic PTA policies with you to give you some guidelines to get through this challenging negotiation period.

Dr. Kathy Dick, Jackie Wood and I met on Tuesday, May 7 to review PTA policies in regard to Public School Employer-Employee Negotiations. We found some helpful information at the California State PTA Fax on Demand automated service. We pulled up the necessary documents for your use and have made arrangements for your principal to get them to you this week. If you are interested in pulling up these documents on your own...these are the simple steps you need to do. You will need to have your fax number handy.

1. Call the California State PTA Fax on Demand service at 877-406-3680

2. Enter these document numbers...426, 427, and 415.

3. Follow the prompts on the Fax on Demand service and your fax will be sent to you in just minutes.

I think you will be pleased at how simple this new resource is to use. For those of you that just need a quick reminder about PTA policies during difficult employee negotiations here's a few tips.

PTA must remain neutral and must refrain from taking sides in all disputes. PTA speaks as an advocate for all children and youth. Remaining neutral includes continuing normal PTA activities. In the event of an unexpected walkout the PTA may provide volunteers, if necessary, on the day of the unexpected walkout to care for students in general activity areas of the school grounds. The SVUSD Board of Education has policies and procedures in place to cover the issue of staffing in the event of a walkout. I want to remind you to stay in contact with your site administrator in the event of an unexpected walkout.

Now on to a lighter message...Our beloved Jackie Wood was honored at the Fourth District PTA Administrators' dinner on March 21 with an Honorary Service Award. Jackie has not only blessed our council with her leadership skills, but is now working throughout Orange County training other struggling units and councils. Anyone that has spent much time with Jackie knows that her love and passion for children, training future leaders and commitment to PTA are above compare. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful volunteer in our community. Please take a few minutes the next time you see Jackie and congratulate her for earning the Fourth District PTA Honorary Service Award.

And finally, it's not too late to start promoting the Saddleback Valley PTA Council Leadership Training workshop for June 6th at 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. Our council will be offering workshops for presidents, financial officers, secretaries, membership, fundraising, parliamentarians, communications (newsletters and web page), programs/parent education, legislation, reflections and historian. We will have lots of yummy food provided by the SVUSD Nutrition Center. So please come hungry! So please take a few minutes and help spread the word about this valuable free PTA leadership training workshop. You will be receiving more information soon in the mail. Congratulations!!! Congratulations to our newly elected Council Officers for 2002-2003:

President ................ Dolores Winchell
Vice President ................ Karen Edwards
Treasurer ................ Linda Ball
Secretary ................ Karen Schroeder
Historian ................ Margo Brown

These newly elected officers will do an outstanding job for the Saddleback Valley PTA Council. Please join me in welcoming them to our PTA family See ya on May 16 at the installation dinner!

Kirby Mamma

Please remember to use the council website when you need information. Encourage your executive board (that's officers and committee chairs) to utilize the information and communications options available.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS... UPCOMING DATES

• May 6-10 - SVUSD Teacher Appreciation Week
• May 10 - SVUSD Teacher Recognition Dinner
• May 13 - Council Dinner RSVP's due to Artemisa
• May 16 - Council Meeting and Installation Dinner at Valentina Ristorante, 27755 Santa Margarita Parkway, corner of Los Alisos and Santa Margarita
• May 29 - Superintendent's Forum 9:30-11am District Office (new date)
• May 23 - OCDE Program Preview Day @ Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified
• School District Office, 4999 Casa Loma Ave, Yorba Linda, @ 8:30-2:15
• June 3 - Fourth District PTA Summer Leadership Training Workshop
• June 6 - Council Leadership Training for officers and chairman at District office

CONVENTION REPORT

By Karen Kirby

Many of us have just returned from the California State PTA Convention. Dolores Winchell, President Elect and I had the opportunity to meet many of your new officers and chairmen at convention. I think everyone that attended convention feels reenergized, trained and ready to do great things for our PTA units and council. Please thank your delegates for taking time out of their busy schedules to attend this years convention.

Some of the highlights at convention this year were...Debbie Allen, Michael Lloyd, Mick Fleetwood and Peter Yarrow all took the opportunity

during convention to address the need for fine arts as a part of the curriculum in the state of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger shared information about his new After School Initiative. The California State PTA endorsed his program whole heartedly. Dr. Chauncey Veatch our California Teacher of the Year spoke from the heart about the challenges his classroom students face each and every day. Attendees were very moved by his love for teaching. Of course the ever popular Reflections Awards, My PTA/PTSA Awards, Phoebe Apperson Hearst from National PTA and District Membership Awards were presented. By the way...next year's Reflection theme will be "Signs of Courage."

My personal favorite is always Delaine Easton, Superintendent of Public Instruction, State of California. Let me tell you this lady doesn't hold anything back on her thoughts about public education in California.

During this year's convention delegates adopted the following resolutions:

* Resolution A Playground Surface Safety

* Resolution B Toxins (Persistent and Bioaccumulative) and their effects on children

* Resolution C Alcohol and Tobacco Use in Youth: Education, Prevention and Intervention

Once again thank you to all of this year's delegates for participating.

When training your new officers, be sure to recommend that they visit the National PTA's website. There are endless resources available in the "Members Only" section at www.pta.org

Want to purchase your PTA supplies online? Stop by the California PTA's new online store! www.captastore.com

THE COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS...

Some guidelines for effective committee functioning

Well-functioning committees are crucial to a PTA's effectiveness. "A PTA committee is a small group implementing the action of a larger group, namely the PTA membership. Committees are a way to spread the work out among many," said Joyce Knippenberg, National PTA past Region 1 director.

When a PTA board of directors meets to determine its goals for the year based on membership input, special committees almost suggest themselves. A PTA determines what special committees it needs based on its plan of work.

According to Lupton and Knippenberg the following are some standing committees that are common to a well-functioning PTA: membership, budget and finance, programs, legislative, volunteer coordination, and hospitality.

To clarify the difference between standing and special committees:

• STANDING Committees, like the ones mentioned above, are ongoing and perform a continuing function in the organization as outlined in the organization bylaws.
• SPECIAL Committees are established to perform a specified task for a specified length of time, and when the task is completed satisfactorily, the committee is discharged. Examples include nominating committees; special event committees, such as a 10th anniversary committee; or a research committee that may, for instance, research the feasibility of developing an outside learning lab on a PTA school's campus.

Functioning effectively

For any committee to function effectively every member of the committee must know what the committee's responsibility is to the general membership, that is, what the membership expects of the committee.

According to Lupton, sometimes a lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of the expectations to complete a job can interfere with a committee fulfilling its duties, which is why communication and training are so critical to the running of a successful PTA.

Knippenberg believes that a procedure book is an effective tool in providing knowledge of a standing committee's responsibilities and preventing misunderstanding. A procedure book tells a new committee chair what has been done in the past and when. She added, "a PTA committee might only get itself into trouble if it waived from the guidelines outlined in the committee procedure book. This might include, for example, sending out a mailing to the membership or community at large without going through the stated formal approval process." See the article "Ensuring Success for Your Successor: The value of a procedure book".

Knippenberg also said that strong and well-organized PTAs have built-in procedures to prevent any misconduct by a committee. For example, committee chairs will know it is their duty to report to the president and the board on a regular basis, and sometimes to make recommendations for action. Lupton added, "If we [as a PTA board] are to have good committees we have to trust them to make good recommendations."

For a PTA to function effectively, training is essential, noted Lupton. "It is only when folks are not trained and not given parameters that problems arise," she concluded.

from Our Children, December 2000