Community Involvement

Margaret Wahlstrom

Email: margie@utahpta.org

Phone: 801-261-3100

Information about all Come Play With PTA Events

For Jazz Tickets Discounts:

Enter Promotion Code: CZ7217

Flier:  Grizzlies Come Play With PTA Nights for October through December 2012

Flier:  Hale Center Theater PTA Discount and Shows for 2012

Flier: Disney on Ice PTA Member Discount and Show Times

Flier: Ballet West Nutcracker, see below

Utah PTA Community Involvement Areas of Focus are as follows:

• Business Partnerships
• Community/Public Relations
• Educating Family and Community Groups
• Education Foundations
• Information/Communication Network Plans
• Lifelong Education/Community Education
• Minority Leadership/Involvement
• Parent/Community Involvement Events
• Teacher Appreciation
• Volunteer Coordination
• Volunteers

We want to get more families involved with their children in the schools. In our PTA Mission

We hope everyone will visit www.utahpta.org web site,  We have partnered up with sports teams across Utah for PTA members to receive discounts.  When visiting the website click on “Come Play With PTA”, see the flyers you can print off and put up in your school with the discount nights and contact information.  If your school wants to do your own sporting event these teams would love to work with you.

We have made a “Come Play With PTA” video with Nadine Wimmer and Jimmer Fredette for your use at your school.   It is on YouTube under Jimmer PTA.  We hope that this video, along with the Three For Me Program (each volunteer giving at least 3 hours per school year), will help you get volunteers into the school.

As you partner with businesses near you, on the PTA website under Community Involvement there are sample letters to ask for donations, and a Thank you letter.  

The work volunteers do in our schools is very important.  The moral and social climate of our schools revolves around caring relationships.  The addition of volunteers to our schools increases the number of caring relationships in the schools and thus our schools are strengthened. 

Volunteers come from many walks and facets of life: parents and community members, senior adults, business and industry representatives, college students and high school students.  Two things they all have in common are time and talents to share and love.

We want to keep track of all volunteer hours from Board meeting, classroom volunteers, school events, travel, training sessions, and home assignments We counted up the hours this year from April 30, 2010-April 30th 2011 and Utah PTA volunteers gave, 846,796 volunteer hours. 

With the Utah volunteer rate at $17.54 we gave the equivalent of $32,392,802.00       

THANK YOU!!

A new way of leading: Building family-school partnerships for student success

When planning a program, look at each of these standards and see if your program uses each piece. If it does, then your chance of having a successful program will increase.

PTA’s National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

Standard 1: Welcoming all families into the school community —Families are active participants in the life of the school, and feel welcomed, valued, and connected to each other, to school staff, and to what students are learning and doing in class. 

Standard 2: Communicating effectively —Families and school staff engage in regular, two-way, meaningful communication about student learning. 

Standard 3: Supporting student success —Families and school staff continuously collaborate to support students’ learning and healthy development both at home and at school, and have regular opportunities to strengthen their knowledge and skills to do so effectively. 

Standard 4: Speaking up for every child —Families are empowered to be advocates for their own and other children, to ensure that students are treated fairly and have access to learning opportunities that will support their success. 

Standard 5: Sharing power —Families and school staff are equal partners in decisions that affect children and families and together inform, influence, and create policies, practices, and programs. 

Standard 6: Collaborating with community —Families and school staff collaborate with community members to connect students, families, and staff to expanded learning opportunities, community services, and civic participation. 

In the 2002 research review A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement, Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp conclude that there is a positive and convincing relationship between family involvement and student success, regardless of race/ethnicity, class, or parents’ level of education. To put it another way, when families are involved in their children’s learning both at home and at school, their children do better in school. The report also points to specific types of involvement as being especially beneficial to children’s academic success.

For more information on Family-School Partnerships, please visit http://www.pta.org/family_school_partnerships.asp.

A volunteer can be many things - a role model for the students, an extra pair of hands to help teachers and staff or a liaison between schools and the community.

Each school can make its own Volunteer Handbook," personalized for your own school. Using the "Guidelines for Volunteers" Handbook (listed below), please add your own theme and/or school name to the cover page, add a welcome message from your principal on page 2, and list your schools and councils in their region on page 4.

PTA formed and working within a school is most beneficial to the individual child's growth and development when its actions and programs promote parental involvement and community interaction within the school. The old adage, "It takes a community to raise a child," is most evident in the local school environment. PTA encourages all stakeholders withint the school to become involved.

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When calculating the hourly wage go to www.independentsector.org and use the volunteer rate Utah =$17.92

Recognizing your volunteers with awards is an excellent way to show how much they are appreciuated. Utah PTA, National PTA, and KUED have several awards specifically for volunteers.

Please visit the Utah PTA Awards page to read about some of the awards that are available.

We encourage you to nominate volunteers who have provided tremendous service to receive these awards, especially the Outstanding Volunteer "Golden Apple Award", Utah PTA Advocacy Award, Utah PTA Spirit of PTA Award, and Utah PTA Involvement Award.

Since 1984, National PTA has encouraged all citizens to show their appreciation to teachers during the annual National PTA Teacher Appreciation Week. Each May, Teacher Appreciation Week offers the opportunity for citizens to reaffirm their commitment to parent-teacher partnerships. The following is a calendar of publicity and program ideas to prepare you for Teacher Appreciation Week and follow-up ideas to use after Teacher Appreciation Week.

For more information, please visit the Teacher Appreciation page on the National PTA Website http://www.pta.org/local_leadership_subprogram_1117568214281.html

Studies show students perform better when mothers and fathers are both involved in the education of their children. Men and women think differently and bring different perspectives and skills to school and PTA activities. School communities and PTAs thrive when both men and women participate. Yet men remain a largely untapped resource.

Learn ways to get men more involved at http://www.pta.org/topic_male_involvement.asp.

 WATCH D.O.G.S.^® is the father involvement initiative of the National Center for Fathering that was founded by Jim Moore, a concerned father who chose to take action in response to a 1998 middle-school shooting in Jonesboro, AR. Moore wanted to help prevent violence from occurring at his children’s school or at any school. The first program was launched at George Elementary in Springdale, AR, the school of Moore’s oldest child. Today, more than 2127 programs in 40 states and New Zealand participate in WATCH D.O.G.S.^®

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Three for Me is a PTA program designed to effectively involve parents and families in support of children and their education. Three for Me will help schools, PTAs, parent groups, and other volunteer based organizations reach volunteer hours never thought possible. Learn how to tap into the many talents and skills that parents are happy to offer.

With Three for Me, you will find:

• Creative ways to connect all families to their child's school and education
• Ideas to strengthen home-school-community partnerships
• Resources to motivate parents

Get Three for Me started at your school, or organization today and put a new face on parent involvement!

For more information, visit the Three for Me website

National PTA Teacher Appreciation Week 2012 is scheduled for May 7-11. 

Our Leadership Convention will be held on May 10-11. 

Utah PTA is suggesting that your Teacher Appreciation Week be held from April 30 to May 4 so that you may attend convention.

Thanks for all that you do for the teachers and the children of the state of Utah.

Here are some ideas from National PTA http://www.pta.org/teacher_appreciation.asp#.T1TqoiXJ2oU.hotmail