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The PTA Link

Hamilton County Council

3074 Hickory Valley Road

Chattanooga, TN 37412

www.hcptacouncil.org

Message from the Council President

by Badiema Waldrep, President

April 2012

Edition

Contents

Upcoming Events From the President

What is the Principal’s Role in PTA? The Principal and PTA

Volunteer Hours April PTA To-Do List

Parents play THE role in education Mom Congress

Spotlight School of the Month BCBS Art Contest

Student Awards & PTA Night Principals and PTAs Dinner

Treasurer’s Corner Take PTA to the next Level

Good News Tennessee PTA Convention National PTA Convention

Essential Question

Upcoming Events

April 1 – Deadline for Volunteer Hours; Deadline for Principals and PTAs Dinner Awards RSVPs. April 2-6 – No School-Spring Break April 9 – Principals and PTAs Appreciation Dinner 6:30 p.m. Chattanooga Choo-Choo Imperial Ballroom May 6 – Student Awards and PTA Night with the Chattanooga Lookouts!

Spring is here and the school year is quickly coming to an end. For most PTAs this is a very busy time of year. We have

new boards to elect, field days, walk-a-thons, and many other

end of the year activities planned. For the Hamilton County

Council of PTAs our largest event of the year is just a week away. The Principals

and PTAs Appreciation Dinner is a time for us to celebrate the leaders of our

schools and local unit PTAs. The relationship between principals and PTA is a very

important one. When educators, administrators and parents work together, they

create a win-win situation for students. The PTA and principal must work

collaboratively and be committed to support the education of all children.

This month’s newsletter contains articles about principals and PTAs

working together and the importance of each role in our schools and in the lives of

our children.

As May approaches and schools begin to celebrate their Teacher Appreciation weeks, don’t forget to remember your “thanks” to your principals as well. After all, they are entrusted with our most precious gifts, our children.

Sincerely,

Badiema Waldrep President Hamilton County Council of PTAs hccptas@HCDE.org

The Joy of Unselfish Giving

Time is not measured by the years that you live But by the deeds that you do and the joy that you give- And each day as it comes brings a chance to each one

To love to the fullest, leaving nothing undone That would brighten the life or lighten the load

Of some wary traveler lost on life’s road – So what does it matter how long we may live

If as long as we live We unselfishly give.

- Helen Steiner Rice

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WHAT IS THE PRINCIPAL’S ROLE IN PTA?

(From the National PTA)

A principal’s role in their school’s PTA is:

• Be available to the community,

schedule meetings open to the public at

different times and invite parents to setup

appointments to discuss concerns.

• Work to make parents feel welcome

and comfortable in school – the first step

toward parent involvement.

• Plan for and encourage parent-teacher

conferences, show parents and teachers

how to use conferences to build

parent-teacher-student teamwork and

make sure conferences times are

scheduled when parents can attend.

• Be sensitive to how a family’s home

life may affect how parents feel toward

school.

• Be active in the PTA and encourage

teachers to become PTA members and to

participate, too.

• Help the PTA keep its primary focus on

education rather than fundraising. The

principal and PTA can work together to

solve problems and set goals that will

benefit students.

• Help the PTA plan activities to

accomplish specific goals (e.g.,

encourage the PTA to plan events

promoting students’ well-being, home-

school cooperation and community

betterment).

• Work with the PTA to develop a

program for volunteer training, and use

parent and community volunteers who

can help enrich all areas of the school.

• Help parents stay informed on current

issues in education; refer parents to

helpful books, magazine articles, radio or

TV programs; and suggest materials to

include if there is a parent resource

center in the school or local library or

school counseling office.

• Recognize PTA volunteers’ efforts and

appreciate the contributions of parents.

• Encourage constructive discussions

with parents that build confidence in the

school’s leadership and strengthen

parent partnerships.

- Georgia PTA

The principal’s responsibility is to make parent involvement a school priority and create an environment that welcomes parents to the school, building a strong home-school connection. The PTA serves as the principal’s partner to help achieve this objective. The principal is a member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors. As such, she/he needs to attend all Board of Directors meetings to ensure that the administration and PTA are discussing plans together and that they are working to create a positive partnership. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE PTA AND PRINCIPAL TO CREATE A POSITIVE PARTNERSHIP? • It means that each person communicates openly and honestly. • It means that each party understands the roles and responsibilities of the other. • It means establishing goals and visions, working collaboratively for student achievement. • It means respecting each other’s opinions and input and not expecting automatic approval. • It means actively pursuing parents and staff members to get involved and reach out to every child, to enable every child to reach his/her potential. • It means building positive community relationships to support school and PTA efforts. • It means commitment and the building of trust, working toward a common goal. • It means working toward a win/win situation for all children: everychild. onevoice. Partnerships, teamwork and cooperation are the building blocks of leadership in education. Effective partnership requires understanding the responsibilities and the roles of each participant. Parent involvement becomes a reality when there is strong support from the principal and when teachers build effective partnerships with parents to strengthen their participation in the school community. The principal, the teachers and the community are all team players, networking to make student achievement and parental involvement a reality.

The principal is the instructional leader within the building. The principal sets the tone, the climate and expected professionalism for parent leaders and staff. The principal is a member of the PTA, works with the PTA to address issues, helps to develop parent involvement programs and communicates with parents and the community in various ways such as the PTA newsletter. The principal or his/her designee is a member of both leadership decision-making bodies of the local unit:

• Executive Committee (PTA officers and principal) and • Board of Directors (PTA officers, committee chairs and principal) The principal and the PTA work together toward the mutual benefit of the school. The Principal frequently encourages the school staff to become PTA members and support the work of the organization.

The Principal and PTA

Join PTA Today!

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Parents play THE central role in education (www.tumblon.com)

If you follow the reasoning of most of the education stories in the news, you

might conclude that the most important factors in a child's education are

class size, teacher pay or per-pupil spending. All of those factors are

important, but none of them is at the top of the list. The single best predictor

of a child's educational achievement is parent involvement. Why does

parent involvement matter so much?

Parents set expectations. People in general and children in particular, live

up or down to the expectations set for them. If a parent has healthy, age-

appropriate expectations for a child's learning, then the child will naturally

internalize and adopt those expectations. What parents set as the norm is

what a child experiences as normal.

Parents nurture curiosity. Children learn to ask questions by engaging in

meaningful, honest inquiry during the early years of their lives. If they ask

questions and are shut down, they'll learn not to ask questions. If, by

contrast, their questions are nurtured, directed, and encouraged, the spark of

curiosity will grow into a flame of learning.

Parents cultivate discipline. All learning requires discipline. Even when a

child is learning in a game, it involves the discipline of observing the rules

of the game or the conventions of language. In many cases learning is

challenging, and the discipline required to persevere in a task that is just

beyond one's current ability is essential to continued learning.

Where the baseline of curiosity, discipline and love for learning exist, a

child can flourish. If any of those elements are weak or missing, a child will

need help in setting new expectations, cultivating curiosity and developing

discipline. Since parents have the responsibility and privilege of influencing

those three critical areas during the early years of life, they have the ability

to set a child's learning trajectory.

Volunteer Hours

All Volunteer Hours must be

turned in to the Council no

later than April 1, 2012.

Please send a volunteer list

and total hours to Council

Chairman Angelia Stinnett

at astinnett12@yahoo.com.

Please note that your PTA had to

submit its membership to the

HCC PTA by November 16, to

qualify for contest participation

and awards on the Council level.

If entries were sent directly to the

Tennessee PTA they do NOT

qualify for HCC PTA awards this

spring.

April PTA To-Do List

Honor all PTA volunteers.

Elect 2013 PTA board

Attend the council’s annual Principals and PTAs Appreciation

Dinner. Attend the Tennessee PTA state

convention.

Hamilton County Council of PTAs 1st Vice President Selected for Mom Congress

Scottie Goodman Summerlin of Signal Mountain has been selected to join the staff of Parenting magazine, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and delegates from the other states in Washington D.C. in late April for a national education conference. Summerlin was chosen to represent Tennessee because of her “outstanding contributions and dedication to improving local schools,” according to a press release. The Mom Congress on Education and Learning Conference will be held April 29-May 1 in Washington, D.C. A total of 51 delegates will be in attendance, one from each state and one from the District of Columbia. Parenting magazine selected the pool from a record-setting number of applications submitted through their website. Each delegate receives an all-expenses-paid trip to D.C. for the event, where they are provided the opportunity to connect with national leaders and voice their ideas on improving the nation’s schools. For more information go to www.nooga.com.

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The NPMM PTA is comprised of parents and teachers from both upper and lower campuses. The two campuses are comprised of grades K-8 grades. The NPMM PTA goals are to strengthen the bonds between parents and faculty and to support the growth and development of NPMM. A number of major capital projects have been funded and led by the NPMM PTA over the past few years:

2008-2009: Upper School Playground - a new playground at the Upper School provides a fun new play space for children during recess and middle-school football games!

Summer 2008: Bring It Together - The Upper School was completely transformed into an exciting, vibrant place to learn by our parents, teachers and the community.

Summer 2009: Bring It Together II - The Lower School was also renovated in 2009 giving each classroom a well deserved "face lift." Again this work was done by the parents, teachers and community volunteers.

2010-2011: Sun Lab - outdoor classroom for the upper campus. Additionally, the PTA supports the NPMM Education Fund as well as both Sports Boosters and Music Boosters.

2011-2012: - Record membership and 70% increase in teacher membership since 2010-2011 school year. - Two successful events: (1) Fall Festival (2) Spring Auction – both events were most successful ever from a financial perspective - Started groundwork for two major projects – lower school auditorium conversion into a gym and major upgrades to upper school football field - Held a successful PTA fundraiser for the science labs Getting involved with NPMM PTA is a great way to get engaged at Normal Park. Feel free to contact any of the PTA Board members or committee chairs for ways in which you can join our team and make a difference for our students and teachers! For more information go to: www.noramlpark.com/pta/ Normal Park Museum Magnet School in Chattanooga is one of hundreds of schools around Tennessee and across the country that is teaching its students the "One Clip at a Time" curriculum to inspire its students to go out and make a difference in their communities.

Through lessons learned from the tragedy of the Holocaust, One Clip at a Time gives educators, influencers and leaders the teaching tools needed to inspire today’s youth to make a difference.ke a difference

Spotlight School of the Month

Normal Park Museum Magnet School

Fred Flint, PTA President

The Children's Holocaust Memorial

at Whitwell Middle School in

Whitwell, Tennessee.

Why Your School Needs a PTA

- National PTA

Shrinking budgets. Increasing class sizes. Government mandates. The challenges of delivering quality education are daunting. There is help. It’s the PTA.

It doesn't take much time to get a Parent Teacher Association started either. Find just one parent in your school to take the lead, and before you know it, there will be a group of dedicated parents doing what PTA does best: providing resources and programs to all families.

PTAs Benefit Everyone PTA addresses issues that are important to parents and public school administrators. We fight for full funding, quality teachers, and capabilities for schools to thrive. If your school or district does not have a PTA, now is the time. Membership is open to everyone. Your PTA is autonomous but supported by a national structure. It sets its own dues.

For a list of benefits go to www.pta.org.

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Kids and adults across Tennessee can enter a new art contest sponsored by the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation's Shape the State program.

It's called "Create Your Plate" and you can win cash prizes by using your imagination to draw a healthy lunch. The company is trying to get people across the state, including kids, to think about nutrition, healthy living and what they eat.

“Our goal is to reduce and even prevent the occurrence of childhood obesity,” said Kathy Bingham, manager of BlueCross’ Tennessee Health Foundation. “This contest is a fun, impactful way to spread a good nutritional message and encourage healthy eating habits among our children.”

There are four categories, and each category will have two individual winners — $500 for first place and $250 for second place. The contest will run from April 2nd to May 11th. Go to www.ShapetheState.com to enter.

The categories are:

• Cost Savvy: An inexpensive lunch idea that includes the cost to prepare the meal. • Easy Breezy: A quick and easy lunch with the time it takes to make the plate. • School’s In: A fun and easy “kid-approved” lunch that students would love to eat in the school cafeteria. • Sky’s the Limit: A healthy, well balanced lunch idea that does not require following MyPlate guidelines.

Entry criteria are based on following the U.S. Department of Agriculture MyPlate dietary guidelines. MyPlate emphasizes using the fruit, vegetable, protein, grain and calcium food groups when planning a meal.

The contest’s judges will determine winners of the first three categories. Online votes from the public will decide the winners of the “Sky’s the Limit” category.

You can also nominate your school to win $1000. The school with the most entries wins. Through Shape the State, the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation already has a relationship with 20 schools across the state. In 2011, each school received a $10,000 grant to improve its physical education program.

Find out more about the contest, go to www.ShapetheState.com . Visit www.ChooseMyPlate.com for more information about the USDA's MyPlate guidelines.

Art Contest to win a Cash

Prize for you and for Your

School!

2012 Principals and PTAs Appreciation

Dinner

Join us on Monday, April 9,

2012 and help us Light Up the

City with PTA for the Hamilton

County Council of PTAs

Principals and PTAs

Appreciation Dinner.

This year’s event will be held

at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo

in the Imperial Ball Room.

Doors open at 6:00 pm.

There will be a three course

meal, awards and

entertainment.

Cost for the dinner is $18.00 in

advance and $20.00 at the

door. Parking is free.

Please have all RSVPs sent in

to the council’s event

chairman, Valerie Lester at

lestergirlie@aol.com by April

1, 2012.

Chattanooga Lookouts to host Hamilton County Council of PTAs Student Awards

and PTA Night!

Sunday May 6, 2012 the Chattanooga Lookouts will host the Hamilton County

Council of PTAs Student Awards Ceremony at 2:00 p.m. Invitations for the event will

be mailed soon to the winners. Each winner and their family will receive a free ticket

(limit 4 per family) to the Lookouts 5:15 p.m. ball game that evening.

Fliers will be sent out to local PTAs via the inner office pony announcing PTA Night at

the Ballpark and containing information on how your PTA can receive a donation

just for attending the Lookouts game on May 6.

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Essential Question

Q: Can principals dictate to PTAs how

PTA monies should be spent and what

projects they should do?

A: No. Although most principals serve

on their PTAs boards, principals cannot

dictate PTAs decision making or how

their funds should be spent. Principals

and PTAs should work together to make

decisions for their schools.

Treasurer’s Corner

As of March 7, 2012 the

following are the reported

financial balances for the

HCC of PTAs:

Checking: $6,613.05

Savings: $732.01

PTA does not act alone.

Working in cooperation with

many national education, health,

safety, and child advocacy

groups and federal agencies,

the National PTA organization

collaborates on projects that

benefit children and that bring

valuable resources to its

members.

PTA FACT

THE PTA VISION

Making every child’s

potential a reality.

Tennessee PTA

Convention

If you are a PTA officer, board

member, committee chairman,

committee member, or a PTA

member, you should plan to

attend the Tennessee PTA

Convention to be held at the

Sheraton Music City hotel in

Nashville, May 3-6.

Convention is a worthwhile

investment in both time and

money. It is also a legitimate

budget item for every PTA unit.

Can’t go to the entire

convention: pre-register for one

day and experience a PTA

convention!

Take PTA to the Next

Level!

Are you interested in taking PTA to the next level? Join the Hamilton County Council of

PTAs! We have many Committee positions available

and welcome any Hamilton County PTA member to

volunteer.

If you are interested in serving on the Hamilton County Council

please contact us at hccptas@hcde.org and request an

application to fill out.

After your information is submitted to the Hamilton County

Council of PTAs, it will be reviewed and

voted on by the Hamilton County Council Board of Managers.

GOOD NEWS!

The Hamilton County Council of

PTAs is happy to announce our

partnership with Walgreens. In

July, for two weeks, Walgreens

will have end caps in all 13 stores

in Hamilton County where

supplies can be purchased and

donated to the Hamilton County

PTAs Teacher Supply Depot.

In addition, Walgreens will give

all Hamilton County public

school faculty & staff (and

educators in Cleveland and

North Georgia) a coupon to

come shop at Walgreens for a

15% discount.

Thank you Walgreens!