Bellevue PTSA Council Leadership News

June Training Report

2008-06-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Training Tidbits

June is a good month to….
· Attend Council Training!
June 4 Membership, 7 p.m.
June 9 Welcome to PTA, 9:30 a.m.
June 10 Budget Workshop, 7 p.m.
June 13 Standing Rules Wkshp, 9:30 a.m.

· Get a Financial Review committee formed to review your books before the end of the PTA year. Find those people now and get the Financial Review on the calendar so that it doesn’t get lots amid summer vacations and other activities.

· Plan a retreat for your Executive Committee or Board of Directors. Retreat activities can include setting goals and priorities, reviewing the budget, reviewing the Standing Rules, and having a little fun!

· Enter the names of new officers to the State PTA website. Your membership chair has the logon codes you need and so do I. The State By-Laws require that this be done by May 1. I’ll be following up with units who don’t have this finished later in the month.

Lots of questions this month about grants to the District to pay for aides.

While there is no prohibition regarding this practice, the State PTA does not condone it. PTA’s are encouraged instead to put their efforts into advocating for improvements to Education Funding so that no PTA feels the need to raise money to pay for aides.

If you are funding grants that pay for aides there are some things to be aware of:
· Take a look at the Statement of Purpose on your 1023 application. Make sure your actual activities fit under this original application. If they don’t, contact me for the paperwork to update this application. Failure to update this could result in the loss of your non-profit status.
· Be sure that you are setting Goals and Objectives each year, and that paying for aides fits within these Goals and Objectives. For example, if your Goals & Objectives consistently state that you support all students, but you are granting money to pay for an aide that supports a small percentage of students, your grant doesn’t fit within your goals and one of them should be modified. This could be an issue if your PTA is ever audited.
· There is no limit to the amount of money you can grant to the district for this purpose.
· Be sure you know the answers to the hard questions. What happens if fundraising falls short in a given year? What happens if your PTA can’t afford the COLA in a given year?
· Consider talking with your Principal about granting the same amount of money for supplies and other expenses to free up district funds for this aide. Would that be a preferable arrangement for both your PTA and the Principal??

May Training Report

2008-05-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Training Tidbits

May is a good month to….
· Prepare next year’s budget! Your unit must have a preliminary budget to operate over the summer. Your Budget Committee’s makeup should be in your Standing Rules. The new Board of Directors can set goals over the summer and can present a budget revised to reflect those goals to the Membership in the fall. But your unit must have an approved budget in order to spend anything during the summer months!!

· Get a Financial Review committee formed to review your books before the end of the PTA year. Find those people now and get the Financial Review on the calendar so that it doesn’t get lots amid summer vacations and other activities.

· Review your Standing Rules. Now that you’ve spent a year in office, you can easily spot inconsistencies. Update them so that your successors can start the year with well written and carefully edited Rules!

· Enter the names of new officers to the State PTA website. Your membership chair has the logon codes you need and so do I. The State By-Laws require that this be done by May 1. I’ll be following up with units who don’t have this finished later in the month.

· Verify that you have paid for all the members you have entered to the Membership database. Connie will provide each President with a list showing the number of paid and enrolled members. If you have more enrolled than paid, then you owe membership fees. If you have more paid than enrolled, then you need to do some data entry. And if you find any duplicate entries, email Melissa Anderson at manderson@wastatpta.org to have them removed.

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Kudos to the people from Bellevue who attended Convention! I’m impressed by your commitment to training and hope you had a wonderful time.

Bellevue Council – J Stokes, Dennis Gerlitz
Bennett – Sarah Penrose, Christie Allemand, Vanessa Swanson, Kristin Nash
Cherry Crest – Patrick Rebar
Enatai – Linda Mui
Newport Heights – Hilary Fulton
Phantom Lake - Meg Durwiddie, Rabecca Larson, Krischanna Roberson
Somerset – Audrey Scallon, Karen Ruby, Sue Ung
Stevenson – Carolyn Watson
Tyee – Quanda Evans
Bellevue High – Connie Gerlitz, Mary Austin
Interlake– Kathy Palmer
Newport - Anthony Brocato, Cindy Hastings, Karen Howlett

I gathered feedback from some of those attendees to help you decide to attend next time. One good way to encourage someone from your unit to attend is to make sure your budget includes a line item for your expected voting delegates. Assume they’ll want to attend!!

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I went to a class on recruiting volunteers. A couple of reminders I came away with:

Keep PTA professional yet friendly and inviting, even social
Keep meetings pertinent, on time and constructive
Discourage “cliques” within PTA
People need to be asked, personally, to attend or get involved.
Always follow up with potential volunteers
Keep meetings fun by changing locations, times, themes, speakers and have a little snack there!
Send thank you notes to committee chairs (my own comment)
Recognize and thank volunteers
Have procedure notebooks for people to refer to

Cindy Hastings – Newport

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In this day and age of lawsuits, I learned more about what our local unit can do to minimize liability. There are things every unit can do to protect themselves. The more you deviate from best practices, the greater your chance of AIM Insurance not supporting you when you really need it. EVERY member of the Board should go to PTA and the LAW. Nice 3 hour (2 parts) presentation. I left there wanting another 3 hours…

There were so many things to see in the Recognition room. I loved looking at the exhibits honoring the best newsletters, best local units, looking at new ideas that I could bring back to my school. I found this to be invaluable. No other time will I be able to have this much access to detailed information from a school.

I know our local membership chair has struggled with the question of "Why do we need to pay dues to the National and State PTAs? They don't do anything for us". If you don't know the answer to that, I suggest you go to this convention. I struggled with that same question, and I finally understood why after going to this convention.

Linda Mui – Enatai

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Key take-aways from the Board Development Strategies session: brag more about what we do; visitors should be able to see when they walk into the office that we have a PTA, officers should be easily identifiable (pictures on bulletin board, more name tags), budget should be published so people can see it, board can be reduced to standing committee chairs or to those committee chairs who are able to commit to attending (easier to get a quorum than having all chairs on board). Give volunteers a graceful way out if they need it.

Carolyn Watson - Stevenson

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The workshop on "Transportation for a Better World" was fantastic! We've been encouraging our kids to walk to Phantom Lake, and making connections with the City of Bellevue through a pilot program for the past 2-3 years. They've given us lots of free advice, incentives and motivation. I'm now even more enthusiastic about continuing and expanding what we've done. Overall, my favorite things at Convention had to do with the environment and health--that's what brought me to PTA in the first place and where my passion really is. I think there's a growing group of parents who share this interest.

I'm more confident heading into my first year as solo President with a few more classes under my belt and a little more solid understanding of organizing and running meetings.

Rabecca Larsen – Phantom Lake

April Training Report

2008-04-01T12:04:00.001-07:00

Training Tidbits

April is a good month to….
· Register for Convention! It’s only $120 per person until April 4; after that the price goes up to $145 per person. Your unit can send as many attendees as you can afford to pay for, but the number who can vote depends on the number of members in your unit. See page 23 of the State By-laws. It’s also possible for people to volunteer in exchange for attendance. See the State PTA website for details.
· Encourage attendance at Convention! Be sure you make the opportunity to attend available to all officers and to your Reflections, Legislation, and Membership Chairs. Any Board member who wants to attend should hear about the opportunity to volunteer in exchange for attendance.
o You can get great PTA training – it’s offered by Region Directors and other experts
o We offer parenting classes, too!
o You’ll meet PTA leaders from all over the state!
o You can learn more about the WASL
o PTA & the Law will once again be offered – a rare opportunity!

· Enter the names of new officers to the State PTA website. Your membership chair has the logon codes you need and so do I. The State By-Laws require that this be done by May 1

Top Questions this month: Insurance, insurance, insurance. Here are some tips for understanding your coverage and any situations that come up.
· Please refer to the email Connie sent in October (posted to the website under “Suggestions” as “After School Programs & Ski Schools). It covers more than the title implies about insurance coverage.
· Elgin Allen of AIM teaches a fabulous class at Convention that you can’t get anywhere else. Attend it!
· Visit the State PTA website at http://www.wastatepta.org/resources/PTA_risk_management05.pdf and http://www.wastatepta.org/leaders/AIM_FAQ.pdf
· Finally, designate one person – usually the President but could be the Treasurer – to call Chad at AIM with questions.

Election Questions: Yes, candidates can be nominated from the floor!! If this occurs, you can hold the election for that position separately from the rest of the slate. For example, say the Nominating Committee presents a slate of candidates and Sam Smith nominates himself to run for VP and his motion is seconded.

The President can ask for the vote to accept the slate of candidates for President, Treasurer, and Secretary first, then hold the election between Sam Smith and the other VP candidate second.

Provide ballots (blank sheets of paper torn or cut into quarters will suffice) and ask members to clearly write the name of the candidate they are voting for, then fold their ballot and turn it in to the designated counters.

Have two people ready to count ballots in the same way you double-count money. (Both people count separately and then compare their totals to see if they match – no looking at the totals before counting.) After these two people have reached the same count, they can provide the President with the final count, and the President can announce which candidate has won. (The count does not need to be announced.)

March Training Report

2008-03-09T18:05:00.000-07:00

Training Tidbits
March is a good month to….
· VOTE on March 11 for the BSD Bond!
· Attend the Region 2 Spring Leadership Conference! Great training for all members of your PTA at one low price for all attendees. Includes networking by grade level and a reprise of last year’s “Spending Your Reserve” class.
· Take a good look at your Standing Rules to make sure they reflect the needs and activities of your organization. Write proposed changes that remove outdated rules and confusing wording to be presented to your next General Membership meeting. This could be done by your Executive Committee or your Board of Directors or a special committee appointed for this purpose.
· Begin thinking about your Budget Committee. See Money Matters at http://www.wastatepta.org/pdf07/07_moneymatters_web.pdf. Or take the class at Spring Conference!!
· Sign up ten more members! If every unit can sign up ten more members, our state will reach its goal of 156,000 members. (Tip: check your Board of Directors & chairs.)

Top Question about the Nominating Committee: “Can the Principal be a member of the Nominating Committee?” The answer is “NO! Neither the Principal nor the President of the PTA may serve on the Nominating Committee.”

Naturally, your Nominating Committee may seek input, if they choose to, from the Principal and President as they go about the business of finding the most qualified people to lead the PTA in the coming year. But these two people may not serve on the Nominating Committee. This prevents the people in these two very powerful roles from exerting too great an influence on the leadership of your PTA at any time. It also allows the Nominating Committee to operate freely, without any undue influence. This is so important that it’s in the State PTA by-laws.

Another frequently asked question: “Does the Nominating Committee need to run their choices by the Board of Directors?” The answer to this is also “NO!” The Nominating Committee simply posts the names of the nominees it has chosen in a public location 15 days before the General Membership meeting at which elections will take place. Other interested candidates are free to nominate themselves from the floor at the meeting.

For more information, see the Nominating Committee handbook at http://www.wastatepta.org/leaders/packet.htm#

January Leadership Report

2008-01-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

Training Tidbits
January is a good month to….
· Publicize the Education Roadshow! January 30, 7:00 p.m. in the new NHS Theater.
· Make plans for getting at least ten members to attend Focus Day. Is there a need for a Focus Day Prep class?
· Encourage your Nominating Committee to attend training. We’ll offer a class here in Bellevue, date tbd based on your feedback tonight.

Top Tips for your Nominating Committee:
· Understand why your committee is the most important committee in your PTA.
· Notify all members of the Committee of all meetings.
· Gather any job descriptions that exist for each position. If your unit doesn’t have any, use the ones in the Leadership Packet.
· Hold all conversations in strict confidence.
· Encourage all nominees to consider attendance at Convention, Region Workshops, and Council!
· Submit a written report to the Membership at least 15 days prior to the election.

For more information, see the Nominating Committee handbook at http://www.wastatepta.org/leaders/packet.htm#

Standards of Excellence
Insert your description of communication with members.
You communicate in ways you don’t even think about. Newsletter, web site, flyers, posters, bulletin boards, presentations, and more. Ask your Board to help you brainstorm all the ways you have communicated with members.

Fill out all the questions regarding Volunteer Recognition:

· Our volunteers are recognized. How?
· Our PTA annually identifies an outstanding volunteer in our community and honors him/her with a Golden Acorn Award
· Our PTA annually identifies an outstanding staff member in our community and honors him/her with an Outstanding Educator Award. (If your teachers have asked that you not give this award, simply add a note indicating this along with brief rationale.)
· Our PTA annually identifies an outstanding advocate in our community and honors him/her with an Outstanding Advocate Award. (Some PTAs give an Outstanding Advocate Award along with their Golden Acorn and begin the campaign in January. It’s OK to answer yes to this if you have tasked a committee to seek nominations and your membership has agreed to the cost in your budget even if ultimately no one is chosen in a given year.)

Offer a paragraph noting all the ways you recognize and honor your volunteers in your newsletter, on your bulletin board and/or website, or in person.

As you have probably not yet given any awards, you may answer based on whether or not you *plan* to offer these awards.

Our PTA shares information received from State and National PTA with other members. Describe the process.
Insert a description of how you share information from State and National PTA with members. You are probably passing on more than you know.

Think about Region newsletters, Key Communicator, the PTA Parent electronic newsletter, Our Child, and other publications you receive and share.

Think about information you get when you visit the State or National websites. Have you ever downloaded the State’s WASL brochure to handout to parents? Have you passed on information from a Region conference or State convention? What are all the ways you share that knowledge with GM meetings, newsletters, websites, with staff, do you have links to their websites or to specific articles on their sites on your website or in your newsletters, etc.

How do you disseminate the information leaders gain in training sessions?

November Leadership Report

2007-11-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

Training Tidbits
November and December are good months to….

Publicize the Education Roadshow! January 30, 7:00 p.m. in the new NHS Theater.
Begin thinking about how you can survey your members. What do you want to know? What is the best way to collect the data? What will you do with the information you learn?
Take some time to assess where you are with your Exec Committee or Board of Directors. What has worked well? What hasn’t worked well? What will you change going forward?
Support your very busy Reflections Chair as entries are turned in, displayed, and judged.
Begin finding 3 people to conduct your mid-year Financial Review in January.

And most important of all…… VOTE!!!

Standards of Excellence
Begin thinking about how you will “determine your members’ needs.”

Create an electronic survey
Conduct informal surveys at GM meetings
Post a contact email on your website for suggestions
Meet with volunteers after event to debrief and discuss their needs
Staff a membership table at back to school days where you engaged people in one on one conversations, and so on.

Begin thinking about the many ways you communicate with members. Be creative – articles in newsletters, handwritten note to committee chair, volunteer luncheon in spring, school gives us a wall that we title “you make all the pieces fit” and we cut out jigsaw puzzle shape pieces of paper and write the volunteer’s name on it.

Describe the process your unit uses for passing on materials and records to next year’s officers and committee chairs. This is a good time to make sure officers and chairs are creating great materials to pass along. Encourage them to create a legacy, take pride in what they’ve done. Include timelines, contacts, and job descriptions. For committee notebooks include basic info on how to approach office staff or use the copier, be reimbursed. Now that you have the materials, describe how you preserve the knowledge and pass it on.

Insert a list of your General Membership meeting dates. List dates of meetings held and meetings planned for remainder of year. Could add commentary if you held special meetings specifically to address emerging needs of the membership.

Describe your process for giving regular financial reports to the Board of Directors. These can be sent electronically if there is no meeting in a given month.

Insert a list of your Board of Directors meeting dates. Add any comments necessary. (E.g. note if your general membership meetings serve as your Board of Director meetings.

Insert minutes showing that the Nominating Committee was elected by the membership.

Mark the boxes for your Insurance purchase.

Nominating Committee Info

2007-10-12T13:06:00.000-07:00

At our October meeting I mentioned the importance of getting started NOW on the hunt for members of your Nominating Committee. I'm sure many of you were surprised to hear that said so early so I wanted to talk more about why it's important.

Your Nominating Committee is the most important committee in your PTSA!! Its members will select your future leaders - so it's vital that these people are chosen carefully.

They should be respected, enthusiastic, smart people. They must demonstrate tact, discretion, integrity in their dealings with others. They should know your PTA. And they need to get an early start.

If this committee is in place early, its members can make important observations about who is involved and who seems ready for and interested in a leadership position. They can attend events and watch how potential leaders interact with others. They can observe the work of your PTSA and get a feel for what qualities are needed in its leaders. Starting early is just a really smart practice.

This committee must be elected at a General Membership meeting. The Nominating Committee is to consist of at least three (3) members from a list of five (5) or more nominated from the floor. It’s ideal for the committee to consist of an odd number of people, and here in Bellevue we recommend trying to include representatives from your major constituencies –feeder schools, community school and special programs, and so on. This is an incredibly powerful way to invite bi-lingual members of your community to participate in PTA leadership.

The Nominating Committee is always pleased to hear from interested candidates - but it's important to understand that the final decision rests with the Nominating Committee. So while everyone is encouraged to call and say, "Please consider me for a position as an officer," it's not OK to say, or assume, "I'll take the VP spot."

A couple important notes:
o Neither the President nor the school Principal can be a member of the Nominating Committee.
o No one can serve two consecutive terms on the Nominating Committee.

The Nominating Committee publishes the slate of nominees 15 days before the General Membership meeting where the election will take place. Before that time, their work is entirely confidential - they do not need to reveal the names of any candidates to anyone in your PTSA.

Further details can be found in our Nominating Committee handbook, which your President received in hard copy or which you can view on the State PTSA website at www.wastatepta.org. I urge you to read this now - and get to work on electing a Nominating Committee.

October Leadership Report

2007-10-02T15:18:00.000-07:00

I would love to provide training to your unit on virtually any PTA subject. Please contact me at Audrey_Ann@comcast.net or 425.643.9344 if you want to set something up.

Audrey

Training Tidbits
October is a good month to….

Create a Membership Development Plan – now that the flurry of initial forms have been entered, what activities, strategies can you use to sign up more members? How will you attain Silver & Gold Membership Awards? How could your unit reach 100% membership?
Begin finding members for your Nominating Committee. If this committee is formed now, its members can spend more time noticing who is interested in greater involvement and who demonstrates leadership abilities.
Prepare for doing taxes & other treasurer duties. Be sure your Treasurer & other officers attend “PTA & the Law.”

Question of the month:

Q. What happens in an Executive Committee (EC) meeting and what happens in a Board of Directors (Board) meeting?

A. If your Board of Directors consists of the EC plus just a few other people, then your EC might not meet separately. But if your Board includes many people besides the officers, the EC might hold separate meetings to plan the Board and/or General Membership meeting agendas. To keep meetings short, the EC can ensure that speakers know how to present their ideas and/or requests most expediently and can arrange to have information sent to the voting body in advance. The EC can also ensure that all sides of controversial issues are presented by inviting additional speakers. An extra benefit of having separate EC meetings is that your members will perceive that the officers have a thorough understanding of all items on the agenda – that they “have their act together.”

The Board of Directors is the decision-making body of your PTSA. The only decisions not made by the Board of Directors are: election of the nominating committee, approval of the budget, election of new officers, and adoption of and amendments to the Standing Rules.

A typical Board Meeting would include lots of committee reports to keep everyone current on the activities of all leaders, votes by the Board to approve committee budgets & plans, and new business brought up by the Principal and/or other members. If new ideas require more discussion or investigation than time allows, the Board might form a committee for that purpose.

Standards of Excellence
Whether you pursue the “Standards of Excellence” award or not, following these tasks from “Best Practices” can help ensure that your PTA is the best it can be! The information below breaks down the application into easy pieces as they might occur on your PTA calendar.

Insert minutes from the Board meeting where goals are presented and approved and minutes from a General Membership meeting for the same activity. Insert a list of programs that help your unit achieve these goals. (Once goals are defined you can check your programs and activities to make sure they align with those goals. You can also list two or more programs that directly tie in with those goals.)
Insert a document showing how your PTA will evaluate progress on these goals, programs, and activities. (Examples of this process include paper or email surveys, a spring Board retreat to discuss how the year has gone, etc…)
Insert a list of names of PTA leaders who attended “PTA and the Law.” Extra credit is given for attendance by the full board or the entire Executive Committee.
Insert list of leaders who attended Leg Assembly.

Council Website Basics

2007-10-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Based on the questions in my inbox, the website is starting to get some traffic, which makes me very happy. Thought it would be worthwhile to review some of what is available out there and ask for your help making it even better.

Our website utilizes Sharepoint from Microsoft, thanks to the technical expertise of Russ More.

I do most of the data entry & maintenance. Jennifer has a page for Reflections that she can update and so does Ann for Health & Wellness.

The #1 question so far has been about Meeting Dates. These are all in the Events calendar and are also listed in a document under "Minutes." I added an announcement to help casual users find both places.

Suggestions welcome & encouraged - you are the primary users and you should find what you need on our web site.

Here's what is out there:

The top middle section shows our "welcome message." This is usually something of vital importance that everyone must know - so naturally right now it's about Simple Majority.

Left column (Quick Launch)
o Contacts - lists all Council officers & Local Unit Presidents. Please take a moment to check these for your unit.
o Directory - lists all Bellevue PTSA websites & webmasters. A sort of side note: in addition to appearing here, your web site has a link on your school's web page on the BSD site (from bsd405.org click on Schools and then your school) as well as on your school's home page. You might want to check all these as well, just in case!
o Minutes from Council Meetings - I post drafts of minutes as soon as they are ready and put up the approved ones when I get them. There's also a document here showing all meeting times & dates.
o Standing Rules - Russ is posting the new ones.
o Forms and Tools - Here's where you'll find the Council Reimbursement form and our Scholarship Application form.
o Suggestions and Ideas - This is the "miscellaneous" category. If it doesn't fit somewhere else, it goes here. So naturally there is a lot here. (If you have thoughts about what categories make best sense, let me know.)

Center (Main) Section
o Announcements are posted at top giving timely info of interest to all units.
o The Events calendar at the bottom shows all PTSA Events occurring in the area of interest to our units. We can list your biggest fundraiser, too.

Right column (Links)
This one is pretty self-explanatory. If there's a site you think should be listed here, let me know.

Does your unit need a website? A Sharepoint site like the one Council has is as easy to use as Word or Excel. Contact Russ for details at wrmore@microsoft.com. Another very easy option is to use Blogger, as Woodridge's PTSA does.

September Leadership Report

2007-09-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

Each month I’ll provide you with a few training tips to help ensure the success of your unit and will also cover the steps you can take to apply for the “Standards of Excellence” award given by the State PTA.

I can also provide training on virtually any PTA subject. Please contact me at Audrey_Ann@comcast.net or 425.643.9344 if you want to set something up.

Best wishes for an awesome PTA year! Audrey

Training Tidbits
September is a good month to….
· Adopt your Standing Rules – modifications can be approved at any later General Membership meeting.
· Enter Membership data for 10/25 due date

Standards of Excellence Moment
The “Standards of Excellence” awards offer a great template for implementing our “Best Practices.” Whether you elect to pursue this award or not, these tasks can help ensure that your PTA is the best it can be!

· Appoint an Awards Chair to handle your “Standards of Excellence” Application (or your Best Practices adherence). This could be a VP or other officer, or any member.

· Obtain a 1½” binder for all materials.

· Insert minutes showing approval of your budget from your Spring General Membership Meeting. Ideally this copy is signed by the Secretary and includes a note that quorum was present. Highlight relevant details.

· Insert copy of Audit report from July.

· Insert minutes showing approval of the Standing Rules.
These should be reviewed and updated each year. They must be voted on each year by the General Membership and recorded in your meeting minutes. A sample set of standing rules can be downloaded from the Washington State website. If you revise these during the year, insert each new version.

· Insert minutes documenting nominating committee report, nominations called and closed, and election results.
If your minutes don’t include this level of detail, ask the Secretary to include a footnote about doing all these things next time.

· List names in the notebook of persons who attended Convention 2007.
You’ll get extra credit if your full board attended, if your entire executive committee attended, or if your unit traveled over 100 miles.

VP News and Information

2007-09-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

Hello there Vice Presidents! My name is Audrey Bennett, and I'm the Leadership Director for our PTA Council here in Bellevue. It's my job to make sure that officers and key chairs here in Bellevue have access to the information and training they need to have a successful PTA year.

(If you are a President, that means I don't have the name and/or email address of your Vice President/s. Please send them!)

September is an incredibly busy time, and I don't mean to add to your stress with this long email. If you're stretched - please set this aside and read it when you have the time. Which I hope will be before Halloween….

VP duties vary widely from unit to unit (in PTA language, each PTA is called a "unit"). Often, VPs are responsible for planning events and activities that occur over the summer or in early fall. In many units, VPs act as liaisons to a specific group of chairs. Your own PTA might list these duties in its Standing Rules - if it doesn't, that's something you could suggest.

The primary responsibility of any officer - and any Board Member - is that you have Fiduciary Responsibility to the organization. This is explained way better than I can explain it in the Leadership Handbook from our Leadership Packet. Hard copies were sent to all units via the President, and you can read it online at http://www.wastatepta.org/. Click on "Resources" and then on "Leadership Resources" and then on "Leadership Packet." Email me if you need the login/password combo. The info on fiduciary responsibility is on page 13.

One way to truly understand your responsibility to the Board is to attend "PTA & the Law." We have two sessions coming up here in Region 2. The registration flyer has been sent to all Presidents, and I'm attaching it to this message for your information. This class covers the obligations of your PTA to the State of Washington as a registered non-profit - and is an excellent class. Many units assume that this class is "just for the President and Treasurer," but it's ideal for any officer and indeed for anyone who deals with large amounts of PTA money or contracts with outside vendors. Hope you can come!

Another item that tends to be handled by VPs: Awards. Our Council encourages your PTA to participate in the State PTA Awards program. Many units give the Golden Acorn Award - but there are others to consider applying for. Complete information is at http://www.wastatepta.org/programs/Awards/awards.htm. One award I'll talk about each month at Council meetings is the "Standards of Excellence" award for following State PTA "Best Practices." Read about the awards - and apply!!

You have many resources to exploit in your endeavors to make your PTA the best it can be. The State PTA website obviously contains a ton of great information. Some other resources:

o While visiting the State web site, click on "Regions" to visit the Region 2 pages. Our Region Leg Chair, Kelly Munn, has built a great page of information about our advocacy efforts. You'll also find information about the other schools in our Region. (Region 2 is made up of Bellevue, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Lake Washington, Riverview, and Snoqualmie Valley.)

o Our Council has a website at http://www.bellevueptsacouncil.org/. We put important and immediate news front & center in the "Announcements" section, with our calendar just below it. Click on "Suggestions & Ideas" for lots of, well, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to let us know what we can add here that would be helpful.

o Training! In addition to the upcoming "PTA & the Law" sessions, our Region will host a Spring Leadership Conference in February/March to help you continue with your duties. The State PTA Convention in May is a stellar venue for PTA training. And we will offer many classes here in Bellevue - let me know if there's anything in particular you feel is needed.

o Bellevue PTSA Council meetings take place each month on the first Monday of the month. Your President/s are automatically members of this group and need to have a total of 4 voting delegates from your unit. We encourage you to consider being one of these delegates so that you can have voice and vote at our meetings. But even if you aren't a delegate, we're happy for you to attend. Dates and times can be found at http://www.bellevueptsacouncil.org/.

If there is anything we can do for you, don't hesitate to call on us. Your Council officers are PTA volunteers just like you, but with a few more years of experience.

We can attend meetings, offer training classes, or simply sit down & have a cup of coffee with you. Don't hesitate to call if you need anything.

Thanks for your dedication & service to the students of Bellevue!

Secretary Information

2007-08-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Hi, there! I am sending this to all the wonderful people who have been elected to serve as Secretary for a PTA here in Bellevue.

I hope you were able to attend Tuesday’s Region 2 Leadership Conference for the “For the Record” class, which covers the duties of PTA secretaries. If there’s a need, I can teach another session of this class here in Bellevue – let me know if you would be interested.

Also, by now you have probably received your copy of the PTA leadership booklet from the packet sent to your President. You can also view this booklet online at www.wastatepta.org. Click on “Resources” and then on “Leadership Resources” and then on “Leadership Packet.” The login/password combo are PTAmember and leader. This booklet covers nearly everything you need to know about keeping great records for your PTSA.

Our Council exists to serve you. We maintain a website at www.bellevueptsacouncil.org which shows when we hold our meetings and much, much more. If there’s anything our Council can do to make your job easier, I hope you’ll let us know.

Thanks very much for your commitment to serving the students of Bellevue!

Welcome, Treasurers!

2007-08-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome all new Treasurers in the Bellevue PTA’s!

I am the new Treasurer for the Bellevue Council, which is the organization that represents Bellevue at region and state PTA levels. I will serve two functions: one, as a collector of your membership fees, scholarship payments, contributions to Robinswood, etc; and two, as a service to you to provide information and answer any questions you might have. The Treasurer job is an important one. There is much to learn, and many obstacles to avoid.

A short summary of my background:
I have a BA in Economics and MBA in Finance and Accounting. I worked for many years in aerospace accounting and have kept the books for a couple of small businesses. I don’t have a CPA or professional tax or audit experience. I have served as Treasurer at Tyee and Newport, as well as President at Somerset, Tyee and Newport. I am currently co-VP at Newport as well as co-chair of the Remodel Committee. I hope that my experiences can help you through any questions or problems that you might encounter. Between me and my buddies on the Council, I challenge you to find a situation we haven’t seen!

Important items:

I am assuming that you all attended Money Matters at the Region 2 Leadership Conference on Tuesday, or have attended this class in the recent past. If not, get Money Matters (a booklet published by the PTA) and read it cover to cover. Your president received it in their Leadership Packet. If you don’t have it, you can get it on the state PTA website.
Substitute “PTA and the Law” for “Money Matters” in point one. You’re position is one of legal liability. Don’t put yourself in harms way.
You should also have received the list of important dates from the State PTA. This will tell you when (and if) the IRS 990 return is due, when you should file the charitable solicitations form with the state, when dues are owed to me, and other important items. If you don’t have it, ask your president or go to the State website.
Membership fees are made payable to Bellevue PTA Council, and mailed to:
Janet Suppes
14936 SE 60th St
Bellevue, WA 98006
Go to your membership site at the state website, and you can print out the remittance form based on memberships entered into the PTA database by your membership chair, and the amount owed. Make a copy. You should reconcile this with what your own records say. The number of members that the state thinks you have should match what your membership chair thinks you have.
If you are looking for good software to run your books on, consider MoneyMinder Treasurer Software. It is endorsed by the State PTA, and is probably more friendly than Quickbooks and more robust than Quicken.

That’s probably enough for now. I look forward to meeting you all at the Council meetings. You are not only invited, but are probably a voting member of Council. I learn something new at every meeting and find it to be an excellent opportunity to hear things not heard anywhere else.

Thanks!

Janet Suppes
Bellevue Council PTA Treasurer