October 2016 – Agenda Notes

Outreach Donation Ask for Council meeting:  As a follow up to Diaper Need Awareness Week Sept. 26 through October 2, please consider a donation of diapers or baby food or baby formula. Thank you!

Delegate forms must be submitted to the council secretary no later than this October meeting!

1. Make sure your Council Fees (Dues, SurveyMonkey Fee, Parent Ed Fee, and ACT Donation) are sent to me by October 31, 2016.  An invoice was sent out to all treasurers about this last week so they should know what needs to be done.
2. 990/990EZ/990N tax returns are due to the IRS by 11/15/16 (for the period of 7/1/15-6/30/16).  Please check with your treasurer to make sure this gets done.  You can file an automatic 5 month extension if necessary.  The state PTA website has great information on 990s if you need help.

Link to the WSPTA Legislative Advocacy page: http://www.wastatepta.org/advocacy/index.html. This is a great place to look for legislative events, updates, the monthly Advocacy To-Do List and other information.

Attend Washington State PTA Legislative Assembly on October 21-22at the Olympia Red Lion!

At Leg. Assembly you will get to network with people from around our state who are dedicated to Advocacy. You will vote on long term resolutions which will outline the WSPTA stand on statewide issues. You will also vote on the short term “Top 5” priorities, which will form the WSPTA legislative platform for the next two years.

Click here http://www.wastatepta.org/advocacy/2016_Leg_Assembly.html to view the Legislative Assembly page. Here you can register to attend, view the class tracks and agenda, read the issues packet, and reserve accommodations.

Important Legislative Assembly Dates:

October 12th – Last day to reserve a room at the Olympia Red Lion at the group discounted rate.

October 17th – Last day for presidents to submit delegates for Leg. Assembly. Email names to tvasbinder@wastatepta.org. Please email from the ‘president’s email address’ that WSPTA has on file for you, and include your local PTA/PTSA number.

October 20th – Last day to register for Leg. Assembly and choose your classes.

Remember that any classes you attend at Leg. Assembly count as your training requirement for the year! Woo-hoo!!

(Please note: Your PTA/PTSA budget should have money allotted for at least one person to attend Leg. Assembly each year. If you need more information on how to do this, I can help you! Please email me at advocacy@issaquahptsa.org)

Register to Vote

Get ready to vote in the November 8th election! If you are not registered, you can still register in person through October 31st. The King Co. elections office is conveniently located at: 919 SW Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057 / Phone: 206-296-8683 / Office Hours: 8am-4:30pm

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate Forums

Candidates Erin Jones and Chris Reykdal will hold several public forums around the state to explain their stands on education issues. The next forum in our vicinity will be at Highline College in Des Moines on October 15th. You can view the full schedule and register to attend any of the forums on the League of Education Voters website. You can also go here to listen to interviews with both candidates. LEV website: http://educationvoters.org/2016/03/17/state-superintendent-of-public-instruction-candidate-forums/

Don’t forget to vote for the candidate of your choosing!
October Advocacy Chair To-Do List:

Attend Legislative Assembly! Remind members to mail their ballots for the general election by the first Tuesday in November. Continue to learn about local and state issues. Report Legislative Assembly results back to members, both at meetings and in a newsletter article (points for Standards of Excellence for posting state PTA news!). Hold a candidate forum.

Please always feel free to email me with questions, comments or requests. If there is an Advocacy/Legislative topic that you would like to hear more about, please let me know!

Thank you,

Korista Smith-Barney

advocacy@issaquahptsa.org

Best Practices Checklist

What Every Parent Wants to Know about the American School System Translated Flyers:

• English flyer 
• Chinese flyer 
• Korean flyer
• Spanish flyer
• Vietnamese flyer
• Russian flyer
• Telugu flyer

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• Next Dining for Kids is at Agave in the Issaquah Highlands on November 2nd. Please spread the word about this all day event.
• All In For Kids signs should be up by October 17th. Instructions as to where to put (and where not to put) signs will be attached. Signs come down by November 18th.
• All In For Kids Social Media Drive (Click for Kids) starts October 20th.
• A Grant Writing Workshop is scheduled for November 3rd at 5:30pm at Issaquah Valley Elementary
• Grant Applications Open on November 4th; see Foundation website for timeline
• All school Click for Kids/Honk and Wave efforts are scheduled for November 4th.
• All In For Kids Calling Nights (where district students from high school groups call the community) are on November 10th and 15th.
• May 11, 2017 is the annual Nourish Every Mind Luncheon at Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue
• May 17, 2017 is the annual Nourish Every Mind Breakfast at Eastridge Church, Issaquah
• Contact Valerie Korock at valerie@isfdn.org if you know anyone who would like to (or if you would like to) volunteer as an online Future Map Career Coach. Go to www.isfdn.org/FutureMap/.
  
• Contact VOICE@isfdn.org to volunteer as a VOICE Mentor. Students in high school can volunteer as VOICE Mentors, too.
• Go to www.issaquahschoolsfoundation.org and click on Volunteer to sign up to learn more about all the Foundation’s many volunteer opportunities.

Membership Awards posted by Washington State PTA: http://bit.ly/2dTdu0M

Current information: http://www.issaquahptsa.org/programs/outreach This page is kept current as needs or programs change.

Parent Ed is now Parentwiser! Check out http://parentwiser.org for a current listing of parent education events, registrations, and resources across the Issaquah school district.

Contact:  parentwiser@issaquahptsa.org

Please note these dates in your school calendars, put into ENews, PTSA/School Facebook, etc.

• Oct 17, 2016 – SCREENAGERS – Growing Up in the the Digital Age.  Film documentary and panel Q&A.  7:00pm at Issaquah High Theater.  For parents AND students K-12.
• Feb, 2017 – speaker John O’Sullivan, author of “Changing the Game”, about how parent’s can best support kids today in the competitive world of sports. Date/time/place TBD.  For parents of K-12.
• Apr 25, 2017 – speaker Jessica Lahey, author of “Gift of Failure” – How the best parents learn to let go so their children can succeed.   7:00pm at Issaquah High Theater.  This keynote will be preceded by a community book read about a month in advance.  Details coming soon.   For parents of K-12.

Other speakers, topics and dates coming soon.

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Here is information for our wonderful Issaquah PTA/PTSAs to put on their websites or link to the VIS website. It is very important that we continuously educate our parents and school communities about what Volunteers for Issaquah Schools (VIS) does to promote bonds and levies for the Issaquah School District.

Volunteers for Issaquah Schools (VIS) has gotten several requests for information and a VIS logo for PTAs to put on their Our School Pages PTA Websites to link the VIS site. We have attached a JPG image to these agenda notes for PTA communications directors to put either on the main menu or their advocacy page.

What is VIS flyer PDF file to link on your website and the link to bus image: 

If you do not have a link to VIS, would you please add one somewhere on your website? 

Link to VIS Webpage: http://www.visvote.org/

ISD link to the Capital Projects website: http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/district/departments/CapProjects

Please LIKE VIS on FACEBOOK for up to date news and information

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