LWPTSA Council Year in Review

Liz Hedreen, LWPTSA Council President The LWPTSA Council mission is to serve as a relevant resource to the local PTAs, families and community members within the Lake Washington School District through training, support, and guidance, and to advocate for the health, well-being, and education of every child. Towards that end, here is a review of what Council has done this year to move us towards our mission and goals. Advocacy  - Supported all of our PTAs in their advocacy efforts - Attended Legislative Assembly - Hired a bus and set up meetings with many legislators at Focus Day - Organized a "Thank you" postcard campaign to our legislators - Organized Brown Bag and other events bringing legislators and other advocacy experts to speak with our community Communications - Monthly membership meetings - Weekly Waves eblast, providing timely info to our PTA officers - Currents newsletter, monthly newsletter updating our larger PTA community with news and recap of events from Council - Website & Facebook & PTA officer directory - AVP communications to our local presidents Programs - Ran a district-wide Reflections program, with 1,000 LWSD students participating - Organized the lovely, annual Founders Day Luncheon - Revamped our scholarship program, and awarded 17 scholarships - Coordinated a Spring Resource Fair - district-wide event for families - Organized a district-wide Sounders Day event - Put the "fun" in fundraising with our annual Scholarship Basket Auction - Supported the Special Needs Parent Group - monthly meetings & resources - Provided an Emergency Prep Team - semi-monthly meetings & resources Awards - Presented Golden Acorn, Outstanding Educator/Advocacy, Lifetime Service awards to wonderful recipients - Participated and received the WA State PTA Standards of Excellence award-  Platinum Level Parent Education and Brown Bags - Supported (financially and with guidance) our PTAs in their Parent Ed efforts - Organized many different parent education opportunities throughout the year ...and LOTS of support to our local PTAs through: - our AVP program, which provides help and guidance and encouragement - our membership chair who provides help with PT Avenue, cheerleading, and information to the local membership efforts - our council treasurer who serves as a resource to the council's many treasurers - our council secretary who serves as a resource to the council's many secretaries - Grant Handbook (90% completed...) - many training classes held - phone calls, emails, networking, and more! Wow, no wonder we all enjoyed our year-end cocktail party so much, we earned it! A huge thank you to everybody who participated in making all of these amazing things happen.