Twenty days from now we'll gather together in Richmond for our once a year All PTA unit Meeting. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you as we celebrate your work, get inspired by our PTA Showcase displays, connect with partners in the Vendor Hall, and gather at Collaboration Tables to talk about how we can foster a volunteer climate in our schools, engage our students, and build community.

To celebrate your work this year, we are having a FLASH Volunteer Appreciation Spirit wear sale. Order TODAY!!! Sales end on April 30th. You can pick-up your spirit wear order at Annual Meeting (or you can pay to have it shipped to you).

In this newsletter you'll find:

• Volunteer Appreciation Spirit Wear Sale (ENDS TUES. APRIL 30th)
• Reminders and Registration for our All PTA Units Annual Meeting
• State Reflections Celebration Highlights
• Membership Achievement Shout-Out & Tips for 2024-2025 advance sales
• New Webinars for PTA Leaders
• Update on VBOE Changes to School Accountability
• Local Unit Spotlight
• #ThankATeacher links for Staff Appreciation Week

Thank you for the time your passion you dedicate to building a thriving, engaged school community! I'll see you soon!

Yours in Partnership,

Jenna Alexander

President, Virginia PTA

FLASH SPIRITWEAR SALE!

Sale Ends THIS TUESDAY April 30th!!

Celebrate your volunteer work with new spirit wear shirts from Virginia PTA. Shirts are printed on Hanes Deep Royal T-shirts. Unisex and Women's cuts available. Pick-up your shirt order at Annual Meeting on May 18th, or add-on pricing for shipping (after Annual Meeting). 

All webinars will be recorded and available on the Leadership Training page of our website.

Implementing Financial

Best Practices

Wed. May 29, 2024 | 12pm

Designed for all Board Members. Learn the basics of your 501c3 structure, how to develop a budget, reimburse volunteers, and manage point-of sale transactions. We will also review filing your IRS 990, maintaining financial records, and monthly reporting.

Presenter: Ann-Marie Ward

Treasurer, Virginia PTA  

PTA President Leadership Make An Impact

Wed. May 29, 2024 | 7pm

Were you just elected as a PTA president or returning for another year in the role? Join us for a webinar to discuss the legal structure of PTA, role of the PTA president, compliance basics, how to motivate your team, lead meetings effectively, and PTA resources available to lead your PTA to success! 



PTA Basics for

All Officers

Mon. June 3, 2024 | 7pm

New to PTA leadership? Join us for an overview to discuss the role of PTA executive board officers and the fiduciary duty that officers must adhere to when holding a PTA office. Participants will also learn the roles of each PTA executive board position and how each officer position supports each other and builds the trust of the voting members that it serves.  

WATCH Recently Recorded Webinars

UPCOMING Live Webinars

—– PTA BASICS – Get prepared for your new positions! (Last week of May)

• Wed May 29, 2024 @ 12pm| Treasurer Transitions: Implementing Financial Best Practices
• Wed May 29, 2024   @ 7pm | PTA President Leadership  
• Thurs May 30, 2024 @ 7pm | Council Officers: Support Local Units and Community
• Mon Jun 3, 2024  @ 7pm | PTA Basics for all PTA Officers 
• Mon Jun 3, 2024  @ 8pm | Navigating Givebacks and Compliance  

—- PREPARE FOR BACK TO SCHOOL (First week of August)

• Mon Aug 5, 2024  @ 7pm | It’s a New PTA Year-Let’s Grow Membership! 
• Mon Aug 5, 2024  @ 8pm | Family Connections! Programs & Grants
• Tues Aug 6, 2024 @ 7pm | Preparing your PTA Budget: Should My PTA Pay for That? 
• Tues Aug 6, 2024 @ 8pm | Why Does your PTA Need Insurance & How Does it Work 
• Wed Aug 7, 2024  @ 7pm | Creating an Advocacy Culture in Your School 
• Wed Aug 7, 2024  @ 8pm | Record Retention & Digital Bookkeeping
• Tues Aug 27,2024 @ 7pm | Run a Successful Reflections Event

Ready to Sell Membership

for the 2024-2025 School Year?

Did You Know? Many PTAs start their membership campaigns in the Spring during open house events for rising Elementary, Middle, or High School students.

It's a great time to share your PTA accomplishments for the year, and encourage families to join PTA and sign-up to help with PTA events.

Sales in Givebacks/MemberHub

From March 1 to June 30th you can enable the ability to sell memberships for both the 2023-2024 and the 2024-2025 school year. If you don't see this option in your Givebacks Account, please contact Givebacks/MemberHub and ask this feature be enabled for your PTA.

Recordkeeping

Please remember to record membership sales for the 2024-2025 school year in a separate line-item from your 2023-2024 sales. Current year membership sales should be remitted to Virginia PTA monthly, and no later than June 30th.

Advance Membership sales for the 2024-2025 membership year, should be remitted to Virginia PTA starting on July 1.

Congratulations to our units that reached new membership milestones this month!

600+ Members

Princess Anne MS PTSA (Virginia Beach)

400+ Members

Spring Run ES PTA (Chesterfield)

Last week we enjoyed celebrating the creativity and talent of students who placed at the state-level in this year's 2023-2024 "I Am Hopeful Because" Reflections Art Contest.



Thank you to Maggie Walker Governor's School PTSA for generously hosting this year's celebration and to their art teacher Mr. Jeff Hall for facilitating a fun wax on watercolor workshop as part of our celebration.

Watch for National PTA to announce the National Contest winners on May 1st!!

Next Year's theme is "Accepting Imperfection". Toolkit and resources coming soon!

Congratulations🎉 to Lakeside Elementary PTA on winning the National Parent Teacher Association grant Propelling our World sponsored by HII (Huntington Ingalls Industries).

Families participated in STEM activities from coding with mice robots to building their own parachutes and rockets. There were demonstrations by 2 high school robotics teams, drone demonstrations, science book give aways, door prizes, pizza dinner, and an ice cream truck!

-- See the Highlights Reel

-- Learn more about National PTA's grant opportunities.

All units are welcome to share their PTA events and successes at the upcoming Virginia PTA Annual Meeting! Learn More about participating in the PTA Family Engagement Showcase and sharing a #PTAProud/#PTAPower Minute shout-out on our Annual Meeting registration page.

The Virginia Board of Education is making changes to how it reports school performance.

The proposed changes would introduce new Readiness Performance Task testing in 5th grade and 8th grade, change the way graduation rates are calculated, and introduce a new 4-level summative rating for each school based on test results, graduation, and chronic absenteeism.

In follow-up to our April 16th listening session Virginia PTA provided the following public comments during the April 25th Board of Education Meeting:

• Oppose the introduction of new 5th grade and 8th grade performance task tests.
• Request chronic absenteeism be reported at the lowest federally allowable minimum.
• Request that when students opt-out of a state assessment that it not count as a "0" for the school, but instead mastery be determined based on the participating students.
• Conveyed concerns expressed in the feedback session that summative ratings could result in a loss of high quality teachers from low performing schools. We reiterated that it's critical for any summative rating to describe the state support AND funding that would be provided for every school, not just those scoring in the bottom five percent.
• In previous public comment we have also supported a 'placement presentation' that allows parents to transparently see all performance data to increase the ability for parents to get involved in supporting improvements at their school
• The performance level names the Board of Education is considering are based on Maine's and include words like: Exemplar, Meeting, Developing, Emerging

Calling All Units. Annual Meeting is in 20 Days!

• $38/person admission and parking ($57 savings)
• $50/person admission, parking and single meal deal ($63 savings)

To access discounted pricing, use the link below and

Enter Username: KDVAPTA | Password: KDVAPTA

RUN YOUR PTA

-Effective Meetings

-About Standards of Affiliation

-2023-24 Planning Calendar

-Virginia PTA Important Dates

-Bylaws & Guidance

-Principal Partnerships

FINANCE TOOLS

-Finance Basics

-Treasurer Monthly Calendar

-Cash Handling Guidance

-Gift Card Guidance

-E-Commerce Guidance

-Sample Budget & Reports

-Sample Treasurer Request

-Treasurer Binder Dividers

2023 WEBINARS

• Compliance in 5 minutes
• Presidents 101
• MemberHub 101
• Treasurer: End of Year
• Treasurer: Start the Year
• Family Engagement
• Membership Matters
• About PTA Insurance
• Compliance & MemberHub
• Run an Effective Meeting
• Budget:Should PTA Pay?
• Reflections Basics
• New Charter Roundtable

EVENT TOOLKITS

-Reflections Arts Contest

-Virginia PTA Scholarship

-Family Reading Events

-Family STEAM Night

-Healthy Mind & Earth

-PTA Connected (Tech Talks)

MEMBERSHIP

-Remit PTA dues: Online

-Remit PTA dues: Check/Mail

-Sell Membership online

-Enter Cash/Check Members

-Import Members

-125 Membership Ideas

-PTA Value Message

-Customizable Flyers

-PTA Myths vs Truth Flyer

AWARDS

-Volunteer of the Year

-Impactful PTA of the Year

-Child Advocate of the Year

-Power Partner Principal

-Power Partner Superintendent

-Honorary Impact Awards

2023-2024 NEWSLETTERS

Call to Annual Meeting

March: Upcoming Webinars

February: General Assembly & Nominations

January: Call to Action & Annual Mtg Early Bird

December: Greetings & Reminders

Oct/Nov: Awards & Capitol Day

September: Back to School

July/August: Summer Learning

June: Wrap up the year