A monthly newsletter for state PTA leaders

November 2007

The Second Membership Campaign Is Worth The Effort!

While January is an important time to recruit new members, it is a difficult time to hold events and campaigns. Many PTA leaders have limited time to devote to campaign planning between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. The month and a half prior to a January event is primarily family time, and rightly so!

But January events and campaigns are still feasible—without giving up family time. Share time-saving tips with your PTAs. Show them how to make projects more manageable. Remind them about best practices for event planning and membership recruitment.

Finally, tell units that the PTA January Membership Campaign is worth their time. The campaign will reach families that are new to the school, parents who resolved to be more involved in their children’s education, and community members who want to make a difference in the new year. By involving more of the school community, the campaign will not only pay dividends in PTA membership but promote student success.

PTA Goes to Work Planning Guide on the Way

In partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration, PTA has produced a set of resources that helps families and school administrators work with students on preparing for careers of the future. The PTA Goes To Work Career Planning Toolkit is being mailed to state and local PTA leaders this month. A separate mailing will go to principals of middle and high schools across the country so that PTAs can work with these administrators to plan career-related events and programs. Additional content will be available on the PTA website in late November.

Building a Nation of Leaders

At the Emerging Minority Leaders Conference, held October 19-21 in Dallas, Texas, PTA strengthened its diverse leadership and made progress in breaking the mold of parent involvement.

More than 200 parents from across the country came together to develop their leadership skills, to discuss challenges as minority PTA leaders, and to learn how to involve more minority parents in schools and PTA. The three-day conference featured workshops on bringing homes, schools, and communities closer together to make a greater difference for children.

Here are some ways to involve the conference’s trained leaders in your state’s activities:

• Invite an Emerging Minority Leaders Conference attendee to present at your next leadership conference, state board meeting, or state convention to share what he or she learned.
• Work with council, district, and/or region leaders to facilitate presentations by Emerging Minority Leaders Conference attendees to local unit leaders.
• Work with Emerging Minority Leaders Conference attendees to identify other emerging minority leaders in your state. Establish a mentoring program.
• Keep emerging minority leaders informed. Add them to your mailing lists and listservs.
• Keep in touch with emerging minority leaders. Take advantage of their knowledge and skills.

Are You Interested in Serving in a National Leadership Role?

This is a reminder that November 30, 2007 is the deadline to submit a letter of interest form for national leadership positions to be elected in June 2008.

The list of positions, descriptions of service requirements and responsibilities, letter of interest form, professional/personal references form, and signature of agreement and submission form are available online.

All required materials must be received in the PTA National Office by November 30, 2007. Submissions may be made via mail to Diane Tremblay, PTA National Office, 541 N. Fairbanks Court, Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60611-3396; e-mail to leadershipdevelopment@pta.org; or fax to (312) 670-0240. Applicants will receive an e-mail confirming receipt of the materials. Please direct any questions to leadershipdevelopment@pta.org, or to Diane Tremblay at (800) 307-4PTA (4782) Ext. 389.

PTA Start the Art Week a Huge Success

Local units across the country gave students hands-on arts experiences during PTA Start the Art Week, October 8-12. Events were held in schools and at area museums and theaters.

The PTA national organization also demonstrated its commitment to the arts during that special week, creating arts opportunities for students in Chicago and Washington DC. In Chicago, PTA invited three elementary school classes to join artists in a tour of the Museum of Contemporary Art, after which the students created their own artwork based on the art concepts they had seen. In Washington DC, PTA partnered with the DC Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative to host a group of high school students in watching and discussing A Lesson Before Dying, a play by Romulus Linney based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines, at the Round House Theatre.

As leaders in your state, please encourage community dialogue throughout the year on the importance of arts education. And continue to advocate for arts in education, whether that is by using items in the PTA Start the Art Toolkit, promoting participation in the PTA Reflections Program, or preparing for PTA Start the Art Week 2008. The arts are vital to the personal, social, and intellectual development of our children.

PTA Start the Art Week 2007 was sponsored by Target and supported by Americans for the Arts.

Deadline Approaching! PTA Take Your Family to School Week Awards

Please encourage local units to submit their applications for the PTA Take Your Family to School Week Awards. Local units in good standing could receive $1,897 to support PTA activities—just for bringing families into school the week of February 10-16, 2008.

The award application deadline is Wednesday, November 28. Units can find the application, as well as event ideas, online.

A second PTA Take Your Family to School Week mailing, focusing on how to increase the involvement of fathers and other male role models in children’s education, will be sent to all units in December.

It’s Time to Shop the PTA Store!

For all your PTA and PTSA gift, apparel, and award needs, visit the official PTA Store. You’ll find great thank-you gifts, men’s and women’s apparel, lapel pins, “Meeting Tonight” stickers, official Reflections and Three for Me items, and much more! Visit the PTA Store or call (800) 277-6668 to place your order today!

Support the Arts—and your Reflections Program!
Honor all the participants in your Reflections program with special Reflections awards from the PTA Store. From medallions and certificates to 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place, Honorable Mention and Participant ribbons, you’ll find great items for your awards ceremony. And don’t forget your judges—Reflections coffee mugs make great thank you gifts, too!

New Report Provides Advocates with Strong Data in Key Areas of School Health Environment

The recently-released School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) 2006, which was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is the largest and most comprehensive study of health policies and programs in the nation’s schools. It is conducted every six years to assess school health policies and programs at the state, district, school and classroom levels.

Much of the data indicates that many schools are taking significant steps towards ensuring students’ health and safety during the school day. Ninety-five percent of districts had a comprehensive plan to address crisis preparedness, response, and recovery.

The report also indicates considerable progress, such as the increase in the percentage of elementary schools and middle schools that participated in a program to prevent bullying from 63% in 2000 to 77% in 2006.

However, some of the figures point to the fact that there is still a lot of work to be done. To date, 20 states have no requirements or recommendations that limit the access of elementary school students to vending machines.

As a state leader and advocate, you can use this information to help build your argument for policies in your schools that promote healthy lifestyles for students and staff.

• Take a look at what your state does well, and where there is room for improvement.
• Examine the data for surrounding states, and contact your colleagues there to see what is working, and how you might be able to help.
• When meeting with elected leaders and coalition partners, be sure to reference this report, and use it to help inform your discussion.

For the full report, including a state-level breakdown of the data, please visit cdc.gov/SHPPS.

Secretary Spellings Announces New Guidance to Improve Emergency Preparedness in Schools

As a follow-up to the school safety roundtables conducted by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt, and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales earlier this fall, Secretary Spellings recently announced the availability of new brochures that provide guidance on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to enable schools to better balance students’ privacy rights with school safety concerns. The brochures—one for K-12 educators, one for higher education officials, and one for parents—are a timely refresher to help appropriately balance student privacy and school safety.

Understanding the law will empower school officials and parents to act quickly and decisively when problems arise. We encourage you to download and distribute these brochures to your colleagues and constituencies.

Let teachers everywhere know how much they mean—it's as simple as sending your thanks. The Nation's Largest Teacher Thank-You Card Tell them today!

Another Reminder!—Important IRS Change for PTAs

Changes made by the IRS in December 2006 will have a major effect on PTAs. Previously, tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts of $25,000 or less were not required to submit 990s. With the Pension Protection Act passed in 2006 small tax-exempt organizations, such as PTA local units, will be required to file a Form 990-N, e-Postcard, if their gross receipts are $25,000 or less.

This filing requirement applies to tax periods beginning after December 31, 2006. The first forms will be filed in 2008. For example, if your tax year ends June 30, 2007 then your next tax year begins July 1, 2007. The return for that year should be filed by November 15, 2008. The form 990-N must be filed electronically. Since there are no paper forms the IRS plans on an Internet-based process for filing the form. Organizations that do not have access to a computer can go to places such as their local library to file the e-Postcard. Because the system will be Internet-based organizations should not need to purchase software to file this form.

If your PTA fails to file this form 990-N for three consecutive years, the IRS is required to revoke its exempt status. You can switch to form 990 EZ if your gross revenues go over $25,000. The change in the law requires that one of the 990 forms be filed every year.

For further information about the change and to access the actual form, go to www.irs.gov/eo.

The Unsubscribe Dilemma

You are entitled to PTA national member benefits because you are a member of a dynamic organization. Most often you will be notified of these benefits by e-mail, the most efficient way to notify numerous members at one time. You may not be interested in every offering you receive so you can delete the e-mail when it arrives. However, selecting unsubscribe will prevent you from receiving future offers that are of interest to you. National PTA tries to present a variety of benefits throughout the year since we know all of our members do not have the same interests. We do ask you to unsubscribe for any of your family PTA members less than 18 years of age since it is not our intention to solicit to children. You may contact the national organization at info@pta.org with suggestions for member benefits or to tell us how you have enjoyed the current benefit offerings.

Making the Connection—The 2008 PTA National Business Plan and Budget

This document will be distributed to state presidents and state offices in January and will be posted on the national website at approximately the same time. If there are any questions about this document please refer them to the accounting department at the national office in Chicago.

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