I am honored to be the new President of the 17th District of the California PTA. Our members are all of the members of the local PTAs and PTSAs in the San Mateo County – approximately 20,000 of you!
We are part of nearly one million PTA members in the state of California, and we’d like to make it more than one million. Why? Because legislators pay attention to PTA, and will pay more attention if we have more members. Building Community Unity is the theme of PTA’s 2009-10 membership campaign.
Please encourage everyone you know to be a PTA member!
The State PTA Director of Legislation, Debbie Look, is our featured speaker at our first program of the year, on Wed. evening, Oct. 14 (see flyer on page 1), at the San Mateo County Board of Education (SMCOE). She advocates for all of us on the state legislature’s proposals that affect children, families and schools. Many of us wonder what we can do with regard to legislative issues, especially those involving the education and the state budget. As a volunteer for PTA, she is uniquely qualified to answer this question.
Jean Holbrook, County Superintendent of Schools, and Lydia Dobyns, the director of new Redwood City Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) will also give short presentations on Oct. 14, and the RAFT facility will be open for tours before the meeting (until 7 p.m.). Everyday items like foam cut-outs and office supplies are donated to RAFT by local businesses and these items are transformed into interactive, hands-on learning materials for use in the classroom. The SMCOE partnership with RAFT will make it easier for San Mateo County teachers to bring science, math, and language arts to life for nearly 90,000 students.
Thank you to all who served as PTA officers last year. I hope you are still involved with PTA! I have volunteered for PTA for more than 20 years, and every year I learn something new. We have opportunities at all levels. I especially need experienced officers who are bilingual to communicate with volunteers who are still learning English.
Deborah Kemper, 17th District President for the past two years, recognized the need for leadership to help recruit a diverse set of volunteers. She is now chair of the new Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the California PTA Board, and, fortunately, is still on the 17th District PTA Board as Legislation Chair.
PTA is a grass-roots organization. We promote parent involvement. We are volunteers and we advocate for children. Our officer Susan Bell composed a song, which begins:
“We’ve lived too long in isolation
We’ve got to find new inspiration
We must increase participation
Volunteer today!”
For those of you who are currently presidents of PTA, this newsletter includes information for all PTA officers. Please share it with your board!
The 17th District PTA Board of Managers is always here to help you in any way that we can. Please do not hesitate to contact us.
I hope to see you on October 14!
Sincerely,
Colette J. Rudd
17th District PTA President
