Call to Order

Call to order 9:35 am. Proper meeting notice was given; 16/24 members present, meeting quorum.

President's Report - Becky Gordon

·  Last week seven PTSA board members attended the School Board Linkage meeting to hear the legislative priorities of the District to enable a better partnership. Solving the levy cliff is the District’s highest priority.

·  Becky Gordon handed out the schedule of Superintendent meetings for the remainder of the year for board members to sign up to attend.

·  It was decided to forgo PTA/PTSA local unit board meeting visits unless a school is in need of help. Many boards have Council Board members as local unit members, so visits are not needed. Next year may give presentation to presidents and offer to go to mtgs of new boards.
Parent Ed is visiting schools.
Council can offer help if local unit Nominating Committees are having issues finding candidates.

·  Community Values Survey is going well and has received 1,125 responses thus far. The results will be presented to the public, the District and the Teachers Union on Wednesday, February 15th 4 pm at Issaquah Middle School in the art room.
The Online directory is close to getting approval for next year. The District would require a secure log-on for PTA members (not users) only. This will require extra work on the part of the Webmaster to keep membership data constantly up to date.

·  The results of the Training survey show that all schools have completed PTA and the Law except for one school, who is signed up for the webinar in February. Two PTA's still have at least 6 people needing training.
Becky Gordon sent the Funding Guidelines out to the Board for review. She will send to membership since no changes mentioned.
PTA and Principal will be February 28th for secondary schools as part of the regular principals meeting. Becky Gordon will cover school activities and funding grants.

·  For elementary schools, the focus will be the top ten things to prepare for transitions. It will encourage presidents and principals to plan events together to make sure principal is on board. Full PTA & the Principal training in early Fall.

·  In reviewing our Board Goals, it appears we are on track towards achieving them. Advocacy has been successful, supporting our schools with membership goals and sharing information about building membership with local units, the implementation of MailChimp with the event/program information going out on a monthly basis, working with the district to educate families through healthy youth, and empowering local leaders. Thank you to Korista Smith-Barney, Erin Eaton Membership, Dawn Peschek and Pat Castillo for those areas.

·  Discussion of formulation of ACT scholarship. Funds would be used to help students who must have cash to pay for weekly field trips. It was decided a staff member would need to facilitate a request for a donation and manage the funds, reporting back to Council about how funds were used and returning any unused portion at the end of the school year. Becky Gordon will follow up with ACT.

Minutes - Leslie Kahler

Minutes were distributed and reviewed; will be filed as presented. A thank you note from Gibson Ek for Council’s donation to the start-up of their PTA was read to board members.

Treasurer’s Report - Laila Collins

Report was distributed, reviewed and will be filed with minutes. Beginning balance was $31,120.83 and the ending balance $29,136.32. Financial Review was held January 25, 2017. Report will be given by the committee at February 9, 2017 GM meeting, so Laila requested Financial Review be added to the Agenda.

Issaquah Schools Foundation Survey – Becky Gordon

ISF Stakeholder Survey was discussed. Becky Gordon suggests ISF contact schools with condensed findings and ask for input. ISF needs to address comments made about things not under their umbrella. Pat Castillo suggests that Council simply say ISF seems to be in step and focusing on the right things. Laurelle Graves suggested that a focus be placed on mental health in elementary as well as secondary.

Awards Committee – Dawn Peschek

Nominations are ready to be accepted and messages will go out to the General Membership. Deadline is February 15.

Nominating Committee – Ina Ghangurde, Valerie Yanni, Heidi Fuhs, Leslie Kahler

Current Board Members have been polled for interest in serving next year. Lots of open positions, so contact Nominating Committee if interested.

Vice Presidents – Kimberly Nocco, Alisa George, Care Maree Harper, Kym Clayton, Ina Ghangurde

It was suggested that Advocacy be the topic for ice breaker. Send email to legislators during meeting and explore what do advocacy chairs do.
Best Practices – Alisa George & Kym Clayton

Will ask schools to bring examples of their Standards of Excellence Applications, ask how schools are doing with Nominating Committees and if they need help with SOE and/or other PTA things coming up such as Awards and Men’s Essay.

Membership – Erin Eaton

No report filed. It was mentioned there will be no Seedling or Sapling Awards this year; only 100% Membership award.


Advocacy – Korista Smith-Barney

Korista Smith-Barney not present, but Pat Castillo shared the following. House Bill 1059 passed the House, now in Senate. Tell senators this bill needs to be seen and read. Governor Jay Inslee visited Grand Ridge Elementary to see a lesson on Social and Emotional Learning. Pat encourages members to thank Paul Graves and Jay Rodne for voting for Bill 1059.


Art – Laurelle Graves & Juliette Ripley-Dunkelberger

Laurelle Graves asked that Art classes for docents be posted on the Council web site. Information is not being passed along at the school level, so people are not hearing about the classes.


F.A.C.E. – Ina Ghangurde & Margarita Leas

There will be a family partnership event June 9th, “New to the American Education System”.

Healthy Youth – Pat Castillo

The State of Mind Conference is this weekend. Registration has been lower than expected, so please spread the word. There are 26 submissions already in the annual Video Contest. Video Awards will be given out May 10th at Liberty High School. Judges are being sought. A Family Day with Cultural Bridges will be held March 6.

Issaquah Schools Foundation (ISF) – Valerie Yanni

The search continues for an executive director, and now for a Development Director who left for a position at Liberty High School in the Career Center. Issaquah Schools Foundation reps would like to come to the GM meeting to discuss Nourish Every Mind Luncheon. Impact scholarships are now active and due March 15. Dining for kids for March 1st is at Gas Lamp Bar and Grill in Issaquah.

Outreach – Kim Weiss

Currently short 200 boxes for February Lunch for the Break. Donations are still needed. Three schools are doing school wide drives. Donation drop off is February 15. Council Board members will contribute food items through Sign Up Genius, and bring to February 9, GM meeting. The “ASK” for the meeting will be new and gently used books.

Parentwiser – Heidi Fuhs

Spread the word about upcoming speaker and remind presidents that they should be sending Parent Ed reps to quarterly meetings. There was discussion and approval about using Parent Ed budget to pay someone to put encryption on Parentwiser web site so videos of speakers can be placed on site. It was discussed to consider paying Jessica Lahey, who is coming April 25th for another one hour daytime session. Cost is $1,000. A private donor would like to pay for it, if it is not in our budget. Issaquah Schools Foundation is hosting Jessica Lahey for lunch. Jim Berry is looking for a daytime venue for added session. Concern was expressed if venue is not in Issaquah.

Reflections – Yvette Blauvelt & Leah Gibson – not present

The Reflections program is now complete for the year. Leah Gibson needs a co-chair for next year as Yvette Blauvelt is not returning. Leah is looking for feedback on District reception.

Special Education – Carrie Hipsher

No report filed. Becky Gordon reports that the District has Director of Special Services opening to support EAs, and IEPs will be written at district level. Only certificated staff can write IEP.

VIS – Dawn Peschek

Watching legislative issues and how that will affect District funding. Offered to make a handout that explains the levy cliff and what it means. Offer was heartily accepted. VIS is looking for new folks to come in to their board.

Webmaster – Cindy Kelm

Cindy Kelm thanked everyone for help with Community Values Survey. She has made 6 Golden Acorn surveys for local schools. It was asked if she could work on preset emails on the Council web site for legislators.

New Business

Alisa George reports Grand Ridge had a very successful Engineering Family Night that was well run by staff.
It was suggested that the District could educate people on what it takes to be a district employee. Presenting the idea of going back to work when your kids are in school.

Meeting adjourned 11:20 am.

Submitted by:

Leslie Kahler

Secretary, Issaquah PTSA Council 2.6

Issaquah PTSA Council 2.6 Board Meeting Minutes, February 2, 2017 DRAFT page 2