 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGEHappy Fall Wake County PTA Family!! The school year is under full swing now and I hope that everyone has had a great year thus far!! We know that some of our PTAs have struggled operationally and have been in the need of a little assistance. Please do not hesitate to contact us if your unit is in need of some assistance from our council. Some of you are not fully aware of what a council is….. A council is an organized group of three or more local PTA units affiliated with NCPTA for the purpose of promoting conferences, communications, leadership development, and coordination of the efforts of such local PTA units. The PTA council’s main purpose is to promote the welfare of children and youth. The Wake County PTA Council provides unity, strength and promotes all PTA units in the communities of Wake County. We are committed to serving, empowering and encouraging all of our members by being an integral part of the National PTA, NCPTA, our school board, superintendent, administration, teachers & staff, parents, businesses and especially our children. We are trustworthy advocates who want to ensure that all Wake County families are engaged in every child’s success. Due to our large district (191 schools), this year, we are hoping to have regional representatives from our nine (9) district areas. You will see more about this from our VP of Leadership & Training. With this new aspect of the council, along with all of the training we would like to bring to our units we would like to see 100% unit membership this year. Currently we are at 39% membership. If you have any questions on council membership, please reach out to myself at president@wakepta.org or our treasurer, Sonya Reid at treasurer@wakepta.org. In the subject line, please put “Council Membership”. We will respond as soon as possible. A big “thank-you” to all of our units who have joined. For those who have not yet joined, you can find the WCPTA Invoice here. We are hoping to have more training this year in different locations in order to meet the needs of all of our units. If you know of locations in your area that offer free meeting spaces in the evenings, please be sure to let us know. Also, we are planning to have more online (webinars) type of trainings, as well, to also be able to accommodate our vast district. Remember that NCPTA has a Lifeline for Leader webinar on every 2nd Monday of the month. This month’s topic is “PTA Financial Basics” on Monday, October 7, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. Go to ncpta.org and register. In addition, National PTA has numerous resources to assist your unit with any topic. Thank you to all of you for all that you do to ensure that every child’s potential becomes a reality!! Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have issues, concerns, or questions. TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!! Wishing you all a happy fall and a successful PTA year!! Advocating for you, Kassandra 2019-2020 WCPSS PRINCIPAL OF THE YEAR/ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL OF THE YEAR Each year, Wake County PTA Council has the honor and the privilege of being a part of the interview process for the WCPSS Principal and Assistant Principal of the Year. For the past two years, I have had that honor and that privilege. I am just totally amazed at the wealth of knowledge, experience, and attitude of servant leadership that each one of these leaders exemplifies. The Wake County PTA Council would like to acknowledge and honor the finalists for this year’s celebration: Principals: Dr. Elena Ashburn – Broughton Magnet High Gretta Dula – Sanderson High Bob Grant – Washington Magnet Elementary *Dr. Ruth Steidinger – Olive Chapel Elementary Dr. Annice Williams – Poe Magnet Elementary Assistant Principals: Leslie Blake – Millbrook Magnet Elementary *Catie Burnette – Hilburn Academy Kenya Moore-Kerr – Vandora Springs Elementary Dena Nealy – East Millbrook Magnet Middle Monica Sawyer – Enloe Magnet High *2019-20 POY – Dr. Ruth Steidinger *2019-20 APOY – Catie Burnette CONGRATULATIONS TO THESE AMAZING FINALISTS!! ADVOCACY  City of Raleigh and Town of Cary Municipal Elections VOTE October 8th Municipal Elections for Angier, Apex, Durham, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Morrisville, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Wendell, and Zebulon VOTE November 5th More information on upcoming elections can be found here Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act On Sept. 18, 2019, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) introduced the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act (ESSCP) to provide dedicated funding to states to lower the staffing ratios for school counselors, school psychologists and school social workers. Contact your members of Congress to ask them to become a co-sponsor of this bill. FINANCEGood Standing Requirements A local PTA unit must comply with the following NCPTA requirements in order to maintain its charter and 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status:
Visit NCPTA's website to find more information about good standing requirements. HEALTH AND WELLNESS October is National Bullying Prevention Month Here are some tips and ideas from StompOutBullying.org on how students can celebrate National Bullying Prevention Month. Visit StompOutBullying.org to learn more and download the toolkit.
Bullying Prevention: Changing our Language, Modeling Empathy Rebecca Wenrich Wheeler – MA, MEd, CSAPC Preventing bullying behavior among youth begins with adults. Recognizing the impact of language, school climate, and adult modeling are foundational to bullying prevention. Language describing bullying behavior influences our perceptions on the preventable nature of bullying. The term anti-bullying is often misused when someone actually means bullying prevention. While, yes, we are against bullying, the term anti-bullying is reactive, as if bullying behavior is inevitable and unable to be prevented. All we can do is react when it happens. Prevention involves a shift in mindset, moving from reactive to proactive thinking. READ MORE October 10th is World Mental Health Day Every 40 seconds, someone loses their life to suicide. Join us, on 10 October, in “40 seconds of action” to raise awareness of the scale of suicide around the world and the role that each of us can play to help prevent it. Find out more at WHO - Suicide Prevention E-Cigarettes/Vaping Resources Although traditional cigarette smoking is on the decline, electronic cigarette use among teens has increased more than 900%.. Electronic cigarettes, often referred to as, e-cigarettes, e-cigs, or vapes, are electronic devices that heat a liquid containing nicotine and special flavors to produce an aerosol that is breathed into the lungs. The aerosol can also be inhaled by bystanders. They come in lots of shapes and sizes. Testing on long-term health effects are still being conducted, however we already know that e-cigarettes are not safe, contain chemicals that damage lungs, and are harmful on the adolescent developing brain. Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, the same highly addictive drug found in traditional cigarettes. For more information on electronic cigarettes and teens, download the Talk with Your Teens About E-cigarettes: A Tip Sheet for Parents provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Office on Smoking and Health. Questions about the impacts of nicotine on adolescents? Questions about effects of e-cigarettes? Contact the WCPTA Health And Wellness Committee to schedule a program for your PTA. PoeFest Community Festival 2019 You are invited to our FREE community festival to celebrate healthy choices! Please join us for fun, food, prizes, special guests, interactive theaters and great local entertainment. Date: Saturday, October 12, 2019 Time: 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM Location: 224 Sunnybrook Road, Raleigh NC 27610 The Wake County PTA Council will be distributing dental hygiene kits including toothbrushes, timers, tooth paste and more during PoeFest. Download the informational flyer here.   For more information, contact Triangle Area Dyslexic Advocacy. #TADA-NC is a parent-led grassroots movement across the state of North Carolina determined to advocate for appropriate literacy education for all students, especially those with dyslexia and related difficulties. LEADERSHIP ONLINE Q&A FOR LEADERS
Join WCPTA for our first online Q&A of the year! We’ll be checking in to see if you have everything in order to get your PTA year going and stay in compliance – Board positions, required committees, membership & dues, insurance, reporting data to NCPTA, and any other questions you have. Topic: BEGINNING OF THE YEAR OPERATIONS Time: Oct 17, 2019 7:00 – 7:40 PM Join Zoom Meeting – click on this link to join the meeting (no downloads needed) Dial in by phone: +1 646 558 8656 REGIONAL REPS NEEDED FOR WAKE PTA Did you know that WCPSS has 191 schools this year?? That is A LOT of local PTA units! It is getting more challenging for us to hold trainings and provide support for such a large school system, so WCPTA has the goal this year of working more closely with schools by region. We are always looking for ways to provide more training and support, and we appreciate the feedback we’ve received from all of you. One thing we’ve heard many times over is that PTA leaders are looking for community, support, and ideas from each other. We are hoping to foster all of this for local units by providing more accessible opportunities closer to home. We are also looking for a PTA President from each of the nine WCPSS regions to be a representative to Wake PTA Council. Superintendent Moore attends our monthly meetings and shares important updates on what is happening in our schools - this is a great way to find out what’s going on in schools and advocacy work across the county. Regional representatives will be able to report this important information back to local units in your area. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Amy Jones, leadership@wakepta.org and Kassandra Watson, president@wakepta.org Please be on the lookout for a separate email with additional details! Comments are closed.
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