What does the Lake Washington PTSA Council do?

By Jane Dulski, President LW-PTSA Council

Welcome, everyone, to the new school year. We know you have all been very busy preparing for the start of school, so we hope you take a moment to congratulate yourselves on all your hard work so far.

  

Many ask us, "What does Council do anyway?" or "Why do we have a Council?" There are over 900 local units in the state of Washington and having a Council allows for better customer service from the WA State PTA. Our Council has 41 school PTA/PTSAs (or local units in PTA lingo), over 400 elected officers, and over 15,000 members!  We are the second largest council and we

make up over 10% of the membership of the entire state!

  

The Lake Washington PTSA Council is here to help develop and mentor leaders in the local units in our school district. We have district-wide advocacy leaders who keep us informed about the issues and help all local units advocate on a state and national level. Our strong Special Needs Group brings resources to parents. We work closely with the Emergency Preparedness program in the district. Our Council partners with the school district to provide Parent Education programs.  With your participation in the annual Basket Auction, Council is able to offer 17 or more post-secondary scholarships each year for students and teachers.  Read More >>

  

We are a clearinghouse of information - not just bringing information to you, but giving you ways to share ideas with each other. We give you an opportunity to hear directly from school district administrators, our school board, the local education association, the levy committee, our schools foundation and other organizations from around the district. We pass along news from WA State PTA and the National PTA. However, we can also channel your ideas, concerns, and questions to our partners and WA State PTA. We hope that our networking time at meetings and our Facebook page give you a chance to talk directly with each other.

  

This year we will be spending a fair amount of time hearing about how our district is building for the future. Please use our meetings as a way to collect and then share information with your local schools about the upcoming levy and bond votes, along with district and state-wide changes affecting our students such as common core-standards and new curriculum.

  

We look forward to seeing you at the LWPTSA Council General Membership Meetings and hope we can bring you information, connections, friendships, and community.

Respectfully,
    

Jane Dulski, President

Lake Washington PTSA Council 2.8

Source:  Currents Newsletter