Archive for category Message from the President

It is the holiday season (already!) and I hope all of you are able to enjoy it with your family and friends. Although the economic times have been difficult, many of us still have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for my husband’s support for my work with PTA. His willingness to help with many everyday tasks at home gives me time for PTA (in addition to my regular job as a full-time toxicologist). I think he actually enjoys cooking!

I am thankful for all of the efforts of PTA and PTSA volunteers in San Mateo County on behalf of children and families. Last year PTA volunteers in San Mateo County contributed at least 345,456 hours of their time, based on all reports received last spring. I am also thankful for the many PTA officers serving as Historian, and for Pat Targgart, last year’s 17th District Historian, because I wouldn’t be able to guess this number without you! This record of volunteer efforts helps support the nonprofit basis of PTA. Linda Benedetti, 17th District Historian for 2009-11, has provided information in the December issue of the Seventeena on recording and reporting the time your volunteers are serving for PTA.

Thank you to all who are contributing to a successful fall PTA membership drive. The total number of memberships in San Mateo County as of the end of October was 7,726, up 45% from the previous year! Our total annual membership last year was nearly 20,000 members, so please continue to send in all membership contributions monthly to keep us on track. Statewide, the goal for California is 1 million members this year. This supports PTA’s efforts to train officers, communicate information to members and advocate for children. Further information about submitting PTA membership dues is available here.

Thanks to volunteers and teachers who are helping students to participate in the PTA’s annual Reflections Program. Participation and appreciation for the arts is the Reflections Program’s goal. There are many opportunities to participate, but entries must be delivered to our Reflections Chair, Contessa Messiana, by Friday, Dec. 11 (with earlier deadlines for Councils).

I hope to see you on February 9 for the annual Founders Day Celebration! Please register early and encourage all PTA members to attend.

Sincerely,

Colette J. Rudd
17th District President

I am honored to be the new President of the 17th District of the California PTA. Our members are all of the members of the local PTAs and PTSAs in the San Mateo County – approximately 20,000 of you!

We are part of nearly one million PTA members in the state of California, and we’d like to make it more than one million. Why? Because legislators pay attention to PTA, and will pay more attention if we have more members. Building Community Unity is the theme of PTA’s 2009-10 membership campaign.
Please encourage everyone you know to be a PTA member!

The State PTA Director of Legislation, Debbie Look, is our featured speaker at our first program of the year, on Wed. evening, Oct. 14 (see flyer on page 1), at the San Mateo County Board of Education (SMCOE). She advocates for all of us on the state legislature’s proposals that affect children, families and schools. Many of us wonder what we can do with regard to legislative issues, especially those involving the education and the state budget. As a volunteer for PTA, she is uniquely qualified to answer this question.

Jean Holbrook, County Superintendent of Schools, and Lydia Dobyns, the director of new Redwood City Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) will also give short presentations on Oct. 14, and the RAFT facility will be open for tours before the meeting (until 7 p.m.). Everyday items like foam cut-outs and office supplies are donated to RAFT by local businesses and these items are transformed into interactive, hands-on learning materials for use in the classroom. The SMCOE partnership with RAFT will make it easier for San Mateo County teachers to bring science, math, and language arts to life for nearly 90,000 students.

Thank you to all who served as PTA officers last year. I hope you are still involved with PTA! I have volunteered for PTA for more than 20 years, and every year I learn something new. We have opportunities at all levels. I especially need experienced officers who are bilingual to communicate with volunteers who are still learning English.

Deborah Kemper, 17th District President for the past two years, recognized the need for leadership to help recruit a diverse set of volunteers. She is now chair of the new Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the California PTA Board, and, fortunately, is still on the 17th District PTA Board as Legislation Chair.

PTA is a grass-roots organization. We promote parent involvement. We are volunteers and we advocate for children. Our officer Susan Bell composed a song, which begins:

“We’ve lived too long in isolation
We’ve got to find new inspiration
We must increase participation
Volunteer today!”

For those of you who are currently presidents of PTA, this newsletter includes information for all PTA officers. Please share it with your board!

The 17th District PTA Board of Managers is always here to help you in any way that we can. Please do not hesitate to contact us.

I hope to see you on October 14!

Sincerely,

Colette J. Rudd
17th District PTA President

Hi everyone,

I can’t believe that it is April already! Where did the school year go?

This month we are preparing for the State PTA Convention which will be on April 30-May 3. Its success requires many local people working together. Our local PTAs will be judged by the caliber and number of volunteers from our area. So please, if you can spare some time, come and help. Please encourage others to help, even for one day. You will be glad you came and helped. You’ll see the strength in numbers that makes PTA such a great grass roots organization. PTA volunteers from all over the Bay Area will be there to help as people in PTAs from all over the state and even some from other states, come together to celebrate the gains made by PTA and the challenges yet to come.

We recently learned that the Borel Middle School Jazz Band from San Mateo has been invited to perform at the State PTA Convention! (They also were invited to play at the Monterey Jazz Festival, so you know that they are good!) This is exciting news since the brother of Douglas Bell (our 17th District Webmaster) is lead trumpet in the band. They will be playing prior to the beginning of the First General Meeting on Thursday afternoon, April 30 (starting at around 3 p.m.) which also happens to be the day that the events are FREE. If you’ve never seen this Borel Middle School band of seventh and eighth graders play, you are in for a treat.

On May 16 we will be having our Spotlight on PTA Training for new and returning PTA officers and committee chairs. Training is important to ensure that everything runs smoothly. We have many experienced people ready to share their knowledge. The depth of knowledge, skills, and abilities is what makes a great PTA. Even if you’ve been to training before, there is always something more to learn. It is important for your new PTA board and other PTA volunteers to understand PTA and what makes it such a strong organization.

You’ll notice an article in the April Seventeena that discusses alcohol and PTAs. Every year we hear about problems with events that involve alcohol.

Alcohol is a powerful drug and while it is legal to serve if rules are followed, events with alcohol must be handled carefully. PTA does NOT have a license to sell alcohol. Each PTA needs to understand that their board is NOT covered by insurance, and could be held personally responsible, if laws, rules, and insurance coverage requirements are not followed. Alcohol use is inconsistent with the mission and vision for PTA. Please consider its use at PTA events wisely.

I’d also like to call your attention to the 17th District PTA bylaws changes which need to be posted for 30 days and then will need to be voted on at the May meeting. Any changes to your local bylaws have the same requirement.

–Deborah Kemper, 17th District President

Hi everyone,

It was time again to honor the many people who have given their time this year and in years past at our Founder’s Day celebrations. The 17th District Founder’s Day award celebration was at Dominic’s in South San Francisco. It was a very special day for all who attended. I want to extend my own personal thank you to all our Honorary Service Award winners throughout the 17th District. I also want to thank everyone who wasn’t honored with an award this year, but who continues to work so hard for PTA year after year. You are all the glue that keeps our organization running strong!

During the next month, the nominating committees will be working hard. You’ll be voting and before you know it, you will all have a new slate of volunteers for your Boards and committees next year. There will be many workshops and classes to get the new people up to speed so keep an eye out for them on the website and in coming issues of the Seventeena.

We are already planning our “Spotlight on PTA,” the annual training for all our current and incoming PTA Board members and Committee Chairpersons. Please mark your calendar for Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 8:30-1:30 at Bayside S.T.E.M. Academy in San Mateo.

Convention is another way to get new Board and Committee Chairpersons familiar with the inner workings of PTA. The PTA Convention is local this year and you won’t want to miss it! You won’t be disappointed. It is fun as well as very informative! You’ll find plenty of convention information in the latest Seventeena and our website, and much more information about the speakers and sessions on the State PTA Website.

–Deborah Kemper, 17th District President

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!

As I write this, I’m considering all those folks who have made New Year’s resolutions to get more involved with their son’s or daughter’s school PTAs. But what does it mean to get more involved particularly with PTA? I know that we all immediately think of the many notices we send to our membership, parents, and staff of our local school asking for volunteers and money. The events we plan and the many tasks we all manage to accomplish each year are amazing and demonstrate the involvement of many. Either individually or all of us together synergize to do great work. But this time of year we have to stop for a minute and consider, what would happen without our local PTA? How do we keep this commitment going next year? These questions will be answered as our nominating committees work hard to fill the officers’ election slate for next year. I hope that you can appeal to all those folks who have resolved to get more involved and fill that slate with some energetic newcomers.

But what about the election slates for Council, District, State, and National PTA? Each of these levels of PTA has similar positions and they need our help. Did you know that some of the positions currently filled at Council, District, State, and National PTA are folks like you whose children are grown? These men and women (who may even be grandparents) are working on behalf of all children. They understand how truly important it is to have our grassroot local PTAs in place but also to have the State and National PTAs lobbying for our children’s rights, better school conditions, more school funding, and to fight other special interest groups who have an eye on the budget money that needs to be spent on public education. You might not realize the daily work needed to keep money from being routed away from public education in both the State and National budgets. Where, indeed, would we be without each and every one of us working at every level of PTA fighting to make sure that this does not happen? Those of us who have young children and work in our local PTA may sometimes forget (as we look for more volunteers and more money to help with our local needs) that we are a part of a much bigger cause and there is great need for work to be done beyond the local level as well.

This brings me back to the New Year’s resolution I began my message with. I made this resolution a few years back. I am involved not only at the local level, but also at the District level; and as a result, also at the State level. Do I sometimes feel like I took on a bit more than I should? Of course! But the rewards of the work are worth it. Along with the great feelings about everything that has been accomplished at all levels of PTA, my District role has also made me painfully aware of the need to have PTA involved in our government’s budget planning at all levels–continuously working together to make sure that our elected representatives hear us–over and over again. Even our President-Elect, Barack Obama, understands the need for organizaitons like PTA. Prior to the election, he was quoted as saying: “If lightning strikes and I get elected, I will need a movement at my back, or I won’t be able to accomplish anything.” PTA will continue to fight for all children, but we need help. Please remind your local membership that we are here to rally for our cause and together we will continue to move in positive directions for our children’s education. PTA must continue to thrive and grow, or our children and future generations of children will suffer the consequences of apathy. Please help us look for volunteers willing to work above the local level and remind your local membership that PTA is not about fundraising at the school–though you do play a role in it–but more importantly, it’s about an organization that is here to continue to work on behalf of all children.

–Deborah Kemper, 17th District PTA President