CURRENT NEWS:
Hello PTA leaders!
This is my fourth year serving on the PTA council board. It has been a great experience and I've gained new skills and met so many new people from both our district and community. Council has changed a lot in recent years. For example, our Holiday Baskets program is now co-hosted at the Dale Turner YMCA. We have a team of 3 co-chairs who are doing an incredible job operating the WORKS. The Back-to-School event is no longer an event, but instead still provides school supplies directly to students, with the Shoreline Schools Foundation acting as fiscal agent. I bring up these changes to emphasize that Council's focus is to provide support, training, and resources to our local PTAs and we have new partners that do the heavy lifting for some of our community programs that used to require a lot more logistics from us. As with local PTAs, we need an executive committee to operate as an organization. Julie Wolff has kindly served for 2 years without a co-president, and Heather Segars has stayed on in an interim capacity to help as much as she can. Both of these wonderful volunteers will no longer be available after this school year. We also need a secretary. We currently have an interim secretary who will also no longer be available after this school year. We have a wonderful board of volunteers, including 3 new Advocacy co-chairs who are already working hard to help us all advocate for our students and families. Our new (ish!) mental health committee also has a terrific chair who is organized and working to provide learning opportunities for our district and advocate for mental health support for our students. Our entire board truly works as a team, and they are a dedicated group. Without volunteers in our executive positions, we cannot continue our programs. Our recruiting pool is you, local PTA leaders. Please consider stepping up to a leadership role in Council. It is such a rewarding opportunity. In light of the budget cuts we are facing, a strong district-wide PTA Council will be essential for helping PTAs work together to help our school communities, students and families next year and beyond. If you have ever thought about volunteering for Council, I hope you will reach out to us and find out more about what's involved! Thank you for considering, -- Amy Reed, Elementary Support Chair Shoreline PTA Council 206.979.2958 |
Budget Crisis
Shoreline Schools has a budget crisis.
The school district is working on a plan to cut 18-19 million dollars from the budget for next year. This is a huge amount and will have drastic impacts to our schools and our children’s education. We urge our community to get informed and involved around this issue. Here are some ways you can do that:
The school district is working on a plan to cut 18-19 million dollars from the budget for next year. This is a huge amount and will have drastic impacts to our schools and our children’s education. We urge our community to get informed and involved around this issue. Here are some ways you can do that:
- Get informed about the budget situation that the Shoreline School District is facing - read "2023-24 School District Budget Outlook and watch the video of the December 13th Board meeting.
- Get informed about the district’s Budget Advisory Team, a group comprised of staff, students, parents and community members, who have been asked to provide recommendations for cuts to the School Board. Background, past presentations, and additional resources can be found on the BAT webpage.
- Watch upcoming Board meetings and submit public comment via the online form (it is updated weekly - find it on this page) or verbally in person and on zoom. Meeting agendas and zoom links are posted on the board webpage and they are sent out in the district’s Friday update.
- Attend one of the upcoming community forums that the district is hosting.
- Tuesday, January 31, 7-8:00 pm, at Einstein Middle School Commons
- Wednesday, February 1, 5-6:00 pm, at Kellogg Middle School Commons
- Friday, February 10, 12:30-1:30 pm, on Zoom: https://ssd412-org.zoom.us/j/84030688699?pwd=RGlvWGc3TU5TV3BjdWN
- Wednesday, February 15, 6-7:00 pm, in the Shoreline Room, Shoreline Center (north end of the building)
- Send your questions, concerns and suggestions to the BAT (budget.advteam@ssd412.org) and/or the School Board (school.board@ssd412.org).
Council General Meetings
- Next meeting May 22, 2023
- October 3, 2022 Summary
- November 21, 2022 Summary
The Works
The Works is a clothing room that provides free, gently used (and sometimes new) clothes, coats, shoes and hygiene items to families in the Shoreline School District. It is open on Wednesdays from 6:30pm-8:00pm. Please see The Works page for more information.
Mental Health Committee has started
We recently created a Mental Health Committee to provide mental health information, resources and education for our families with the goal to destigmatize mental health in our school district. Updates about this committee's work can be found here.