Home

Comments to the School Board

September 9, 2009

Good evening, my name is Heather Gillette. I am the new president for the Issaquah PTSA Council for the 2009-2010 school year.

Tonight I’d like to share with you the goals the Council Board of Directors will be presenting to our General Membership tomorrow morning.

First, we will be presenting the theme: “Where are the kids?” When you boil it down PTA is all about the kids. How can we support them? How can we create opportunities for them? How can we give them a voice? And so with everything we do, and any new projects we undertake, we should be asking ourselves, “Where are the kids?”

 

Goal #1

Pass the three Issaquah School District Levies in February.

We need to put our resources towards passing these in February through any means we have available. Not passing is too detrimental to our kids’ education.
Goal #2

Facilitate and develop strategies to help with transitioning students, families and staff within the Issaquah School District due to new school boundaries, new PTAs starting up and future budgeting challenges.

While boundary changes, 9th graders going back to SHS and IHS and our new elementary and middle school won’t happen until the Fall of 2010 it is very important that planning begin now to ensure as smooth a transition as possible for everyone.
Goal #3

To continue to push for the implementation of education reform, as initiated last year in EHSB 2261, to protect what is in the best interest of kids.

Districts and PTAs cannot continue to operate effectively under the constant pressure of looking where to cut. The State must step up and create an efficient and effective education system with all that that entails.
Goal #4

to make the Issaquah PTSA Council accessible to everyone by growing our leadership potential and creating opportunities for broader participation from local units.

PTA is an invaluable resource to parents across the district. The Council is the means we use to train and educate our leaders on methods to optimize these resources. The Council works best when we have full participation by all local units in sharing our successes and challenges.

One part of this will be encouraging and personally inviting local unit PTAs to come to School Board meetings with me. I think to truly understand something you need to actually experience it.  I would like to invite each of you to come to at least one of our General Membership meetings so that you can truly understand the energy and rich discussions that take place.
Goal #5

to help our local units reach out to our diverse populations.

We know that there are many groups in our community who, for whatever reason, choose not to become involved. We know some of our PTAs are currently reaching out to these diverse groups and we will share lessons learned and new ideas to be inclusive.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to thank Connie Fletcher for all she has given to our kids over the years. Her dedicated service and caring nature have served us well. We wish her all the best in her new endeavors.