President: Bridget White • Newsletter Editor: MaryAnne Shults

September 2004

by Bridget White,

Well it certainly has been a busy start to the school year, and the PTA has kept me pretty busy, and I'll bet you too. With budgets and meetings to plan, information to get out, people to get organized. It seems like such a big job in the beginning, but if you take a little bit at a time, put everything in workable blocks, you can accomplish it all, one item at a time.

I want to thank you all for coming to the President/Principal Breakfast. We had a great turn out. It is the first function of the year that we get together all at once. We can meet each other, find out what is going on in the district with the PTA and PTO, learn a bit about the school board, and get to know our superintendent Dr. Gross. It was my first and biggest ever endeavor in the PTA. With a booklet to put together, talking in front of so many of my peers, school board members and administrators. I really appreciated all the familiar and friendly faces I recognized in the audience. I thank you all for coming and hope you all benefited from the morning.

The toolkits and summer mailings have been arriving, you should have received yours by now, if not check with your predecessor if you are a first year president. If you have trouble locating it, please let me know. The mailing includes your Toolkit, Parents Empowering Parents kit, Reflections Packet, Law and Your Kids Paper, new bylaws, a lot of flyers, a CD of the toolkit, etc. Make sure you make copies for your officers of the parts of the toolkit that applies to them. (Or they can access the website for information and see the toolkit at http://www.capta.org). Information is the key to making your units run smoothly.

I know how busy the beginning of the school year is and I appreciate all you give of yourselves to your PTA, school, and community. Like me, I hope you realize that all this time spent is well worth the effect it has not only on your children, but all children. That's why we are here. To work together, help one another, and achieve our goals for a bright future for our children. I thank you and remind you to let me or your council members know if you need anything.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2004: 10:00 A.M., RANCHO CAŅADA ELEMENTARY

ITEMS TO BRING TO THE MEETING:

1. Unit Board and Association Meeting Schedule for 2004-05 with times and dates (President's Folder)
2. Annual Financial Report (President's Folder - two (2) copies)
3. Unit Audit through June 30, 2004 (Auditor's folder - two (2) copies)
4. Unit Executive Board Rosters (email updates to Maryanne at communications(at)svpta.org)
5. Submit dues for 15 members to receive "Early Bird" award. (Treasurer's folder - submit with Unit Remittance Form available at www.svpta.org/forms)
6. One (1) copy of your unit newsletter; original format as distributed to your membership (President's Folder)

• Thursday, Sept. 23 - Unit President Meeting, 10:00 AM, Rancho Caņada Elem.
• Thursday, Sept. 23 - Parlimentarian Workshop, 9:00 AM, Rancho Caņada Elem.
• Wednesday, Sept. 29 - 4th District Training Workshops, 9:00 AM, National University,
• Tuesday, Oct. 12 - SVUSD School Board Meeting, 7:00 PM, SVUSD Board Room
• Wednesday, Oct. 20 - Superintendent's Forum, 9:30 AM, SVUSD Conference Room
• Thursday, Oct. 28 - Unit Presidents' Meeting, 7:30 PM, SVUSD Board Room

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• Parliamentary Procedure
• Bylaws
• Nominations/Election

All unit parliamentarians are encouraged to attend. Please RSVP to Dolores at 458-2109 or parliamentarian(at)svpta.org by Wednesday, Sept. 22nd.

Ilana Meirovitch, Reflections Chairman

• Council Meetings
• Sacramento Safari
• State PTA Convention
• School Board Meeting
• Superintendent Forum
• Legislative Roundtable
• Candidates Forum

Earn a star for turning in any of the following on time:

• Meeting Calendar
• 2004-05 Budget
• June 2004 Audit
• Dec 2004 Audit
• Insurance Payment
• Membership Dues (by Early Bird Date)
• Membership Roster
• Annual Report

Earn a star by turning in (to Kim Henderson) a copy of any of the following:

• 4th District or State PTA Award application
• Flyer for Family Fun Night
• Flyer for Parent Education Event

Earn two (2) stars for:

• Appointing a Legislation Rep.

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• Use a bound book for permanent storage. NEVER USE A LOOSE LEAF BINDER as pages can be lost.
• Write minutes directly into the bound book or paste typewritten or computer-generated minutes into the book.
• Number pages in consecutive order.
• Keep minutes from all meetings of the executive board, executive committee, and association in the same Secretary's Minute Book.
• Record minutes that are brief, yet contain all important information needed to check past proceedings.
• Record what is done, not what is said.
• Do not reflect the secretary's personal opinion about anything that is said or done.
• Record the business in the order it happened.
• Record minutes in paragraph form or by department/subject headings.
• Write minutes immediately following the meeting.
• Leave a wide margin in the book to allow space for corrections.
• Send an advance copy of the minutes to the president as soon as they are completed.
• Use motion forms to ensure accurate wording of all motions.
• Motion forms may be numbered to keep track of actions.
• While taking notes, simply write motion # 5, carried or failed. Amendments can be lettered, e.g. # 5a. Refer to the motion form for specific wording when completing the minutes.
• Record all motions except those withdrawn, all points of order, and appeals.
• Record the name of the member who introduced the motion and the results of the vote (carried or lost).
• Do not record the name of a person who offered the second.
• Record a ballot vote as follows: number of eligible votes, number of affirmative votes (ayes), and number of negative votes (nos). For an election, include the name of the nominees and the number of votes each nominee received. A motion to destroy the ballots is in order.

The training materials from last spring's Secretary's workshop are available if your Secretary did not attend it. She will send the materials to them through inter-district mail, and will be available for any questions. Please contact Molly O'Grady, Council Recording Secretary at secretary(at)svpta.org

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• A superior ability to sense signals in the environment
• A strong sense of purpose
• The ability to manage toward visions
• Widely shared knowledge of where the association is going
• An open culture with open communication
• A commitment to being a learning organization, with policies and practices that support this stance
• Valuing data and using it for planning both results and improvement
• High respect for individual contributions
• High respect for team and group efforts
• Explicit - and continuing - recognition for innovative and creative ideas and actions
• High tolerance for different styles
• High tolerance for uncertainty
• Structures that are driven by tasks
• Good alignment between goals and plans and the association's capacity to perform
• The ability to successfully resolve the tension between high performance and continual performance

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PTA, at all levels, is the voice of parents and educators with every public official from your local school Principal to the White House and United States Capital. As a body, PTA is very effective in ensuring that our children are provided a safe and nurturing place to learn and thrive. But for all that PTA can and does do for education, the most important part of a successful education process is community involvement. At the heart of that involvement is a simple right that our forefathers gave to us. That is the Right to vote.

Unlike many of the Rights written into our democratic system, the Right to vote carries certain responsibilities. In fact, many believe that voting is not a right, it is truly a basic responsibility. Although this may sound a bit obvious, registering to vote and voting are easily done and fulfill the basic responsibilities of being a citizen.

There are many reasons people offer regarding why they don't vote. Yes, life is busy and who needs another interruption in the routine? The answer - Your Children! Children have no voice in the system and they rely on you to offer that voice. We make many sacrifices for our children. Voting is not a sacrifice. Not only does voting exercise your given right, it offers you a chance to show your children true responsibility.

To register to vote in Orange County you can go to your local Post Office or register online at https://voters.ocgov.com/. The deadline for Registration for the November 2nd election is October 18th. Make a Difference - Vote!

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Please submit any newsletters published by your unit at each monthly council meeting. Just put them into the folder marked "President" so Bridget can see what's happening in your unit and then she will forward to me. I will review them and tally scores at the end of the year.

If your PTA has a web site, go to www.svpta.org/svusd.html to be sure that we have the correct information. All units with a web presence will be evaluated. Review the web site criteria with your web site manager/committee to be sure that your site has the recommended information available. I will be holding a roundtable-type of workshop some evening in October. The date is unconfirmed at this time but I will be sure to contact all unit presidents and communications chairmen with the information.

(Editor's note: Attached to the PDF version:
* Unit President's Roster
* Unit Remittance Form (this form is used to turn in money to council)
* Web Site Evaluation Criteria
* Newsletter Evaluation Criteria)