PTA Board Year In Review
Dear Village Families –
As the end of another wonderful year at Village approaches, the PTA board would like to share highlights of our year together. Thank you to each and every parent at Village for your contributions to all of the projects detailed below and for making Village school the very special place that it is. Wishing you all a wonderful summer!
With much appreciation,
Carol H.
PTA President
Carol H., PTA President
The PTA President provides a main point of contact for the PTA board, ensures that our PTA remains in compliance with the California State PTA, leads the executive board and community meetings and assists other board members, as needed. The President also direclty supports several programs at Village:
The Young Tritons Boys running program had two before school sessions with 22 boys participating from grades K–3. They had several full, part-time coaches and parent helpers and are exploring ways to expand the boys running program to include 4/5 grade next year. Girls on the Run remains a strong after school program at Village. This year 44 girls participated from grades 3–5. We had 8 parent coaches for the 3 teams. Both the girls and boys running programs culminate in a public 5k run!
The Health and Safety team reviewed and updated our emergency classroom and field trip supplies. They coordinated with outside groups for the Family Bike Night and Kaiser Theatrical events. The team’s main event was the Fall Health Fair themed “Active Bodies : Active Minds”! Everyone enjoyed the all school Hip-Hop workout and class center rotations of Nutrition, Yoga and Brain Teasers.
This year we had four afterschool Tech Challenge teams (grades 4/5) who worked to solve this year’s engineering challenge to Rock the Ravine. All teams “rocked” it at the final challenge at The Tech museum in April!
Jess H., Membership Chair
The main goal of Membership is to welcome families into the Village School community and help acclimate them to the responsibilities of a Parent Participation School. Membership leads open house tours every year with the foundational goal to accurately portray the heart and spirit of Village. We want to inspire families to make a choice to be a vital part of their children’s education. We want prospective families to understand our values and uniqueness, and ultimately to want to participate in our special community. Once new families are placed at Village, it is Membership’s role to connect them into our community. We lead summer park days, a new parent orientation, and help them through our membership paperwork. The structure of the Membership Packet is one of the biggest changes for this school year. I began helping one of our greatest Village Guru’s, Judi Thayne with Membership in 2012. At that time we did everything on paper! There were boxes and boxes of files from previous years Membership Packets and paperwork. In 2013 Judi created a pdf version of our membership packet, which we still needed each family to print out and sign. In the last couple of years we have been streamlining this process and integrating the Membership Packet into our new data management system SchoolSpeak. For the 2017–2018 school year I am so pleased to announce that our Membership Packet is completely online. From our Parent Agreements, to Family Job choices, to Driver’s Clearance Docs. All parts of the Membership Packet are in SchoolSpeak. A huge shout out to Deanna R. for the countless hours spent inputting and recreating the participation and District forms in School Speak. This was a massive undertaking, thank you Deanna! I am also excited to introduce Anne M. as the Membership Chair for 2017–2018. Anne will have an incoming kinder and a second grader next year. Please as always reach out to Anne or myself with any questions related to membership and participation.
Kathleen S., Fundraising Chair
First and foremost, I want to thank everyone… parent, staff, volunteers, employers… for everything you do to make Village an exceptional school. When we think of fundraising, sometimes we focus on the dollars and bottom line, but we are so much more. Every pebble (substitute the word “effort” here) creates a ripple that makes a wave, that wave makes an impact to us, our community. We ASK, and as always, YOU, the community, delivers. For the most part, we have FUN (hence the FUN part of FUNdraising), we got “SCARED” at the Halloween Carnival, we were anything but “SILENT” at the auction, our employers supported us with incredible amounts of “MATCHING” dollars (please give them a big THANKS from Village), we supported the “SEUSS” and at the same time we refreshed the classrooms (and our own bookshelves) with books that desperately want to be read. We commemorated “ART” with Original Works. And of course, we “VOTED” (No! I am not talking about the 2016 Presidential election!) We came together as a community and made our voice heard to the tune of a $5,000 dollar grant that will benefit our centers program and much more! We shopped on AMAZON (don’t forget to use the Village link all summer!) We were patrons of the Makers Faire, we were dancers at the “Family” a.k.a “Valentines” a.k.a “Let’s-have-the-kids-run-round-until-they-collapse” dance and singers at Gina’s concert, none of all the “ASKS” that WE “ASKed” could happen without YOU! (Personally, I think I gained at least 5-10 pounds with all the awesome food at every event… just a side note… not a highlight.) Bottom line is when we “ASKED” YOU all gave with time, money, ideas, and most of all support. THANK YOU! The magic doesn’t happen without you!
So, enjoy the summer, gear up and get ready… 2017-18 school year will be here before you know it… and we will “ASK” again for the benefit of all.
It has been a pleasure serving you all…
Aine O., Communications Chair
The communications team strives to support our community with positive, inclusive, and efficient communication. Over the last five years, we have transitioned away from paper documents to mainly online communications, and streamlined our processes so that communication is less overwhelming and easier for everyone to manage. Even though our inboxes may be a little quieter now, our goal is to ensure we are all connected, and we encourage everyone to share needed information.
Over the past five years we have introduced online tools for sign up sheets (Sign Up Genius) and data management (SchoolSpeak). We have created an online magazine, a school website, class websites (Shutterfly) and a school photo site (Shutterfly). We have streamlined communication so most of our day to day school-wide information is shared via a Weekly Bulletin, consolidating all information in one place and allowing Class Coordinators to focus on class related information. We do understand that we have a lot of tools in place. Unfortunately, much and all as we wish it, there is currently no single solution for all of our needs! However, all tools and information can be accessed from our school website, the Village Hub. This is a one-stop shop where you can go to find everything you need (links to all of our tools, our Weekly Bulletin, emails for staff and Board members, mailing lists, the Village Voice, information on all of our programs etc etc). For those still who still love paper (and many of us do!), we welcome you to print off any information that is shared online, and we continue to treasure our Buzz Book – our only paper communication and one that proves invaluable for many.
Behind the scenes, we have continued to expand the use of G Suite (formerly known as Google Apps For Education). This tool is the backbone of our communications set up and is used to manage all of our mailing lists and to create our school calendar, our field trip calendar, surveys and forms. In addition, all Board members and committee leads have Google Drive accounts, allowing us to create, manage and collaborate on documents, and to archive and transfer information easily from year to year.
Much of our time is spent supporting our community with their communication needs. We are also always looking at our processes to determine how our online tools can be used to make them more efficient. This year one of our primary focuses was to further develop our data management system (SchoolSpeak) so that all membership information can be stored online. We worked closely with the Membership Team, the Field Trip Clearances Team and the Family Jobs team to put all of the Membership Packet online. Next year, we will add even more functionality. We are also very very close to launching an online store for Village apparel. This should be available for use at the beginning of the next school year.
We are always evaluating our tools and ensuring that they are still useful and being used to their full potential. We typically avoid adding new tools. However, one area that we felt we needed to address this year was social media. After a lot of discussion and collaboration with the Board and Staff on a set of guidelines, we launched an official PTA Facebook page in May to provide a ‘window into Village.’ The goal is to share some of the inspiring and heartwarming moments at Village with our community, both past and present. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into our wonderful school!
Mandy U., Positive School Climate Chair
Positive School Climate is about fostering and celebrating our wonderful Village culture, and it is not one person or a team of people that supports that initiative, it’s all of us. Falling under the Positive School Climate umbrella are some of our key cornerstone programs like Parent Education, ABC Reading, and Cornerstone Kids, which continue to enrich our Village in so many ways, as well as Community Service and Alumni Outreach that focus on lessons of the heart and building connections. With a focus on appreciation for all that is Village and those that make it such a special place to be, Positive School Climate is focused on supporting and enhancing an engaged and grateful community.
Our Parent Ed Team kicked us off with several trainings at the beginning of the year, including PD @ School and New Bully Training for new parents, as well as our All Parent Training. Their dedication to the Positive Discipline philosophy continued with two PD at Home classes and two Cornerstone classes during the year. Thank you to the entire team of trainers and those leading and supporting our Parent Education efforts and to those that attended the classes! And it’s not just the parents participating in trainings. All of our teachers & staff have been trained in PD and participated as a team in a PD in the Classroom refresher course at the beginning of the year.
ABC Reading had a full and growing year! Our kids were introduced to a variety of books that addressed topics like Positive Thinking, Tolerance, Dreams and Goals, Friendships, Resilience, Acceptance of Cultural Differences, Relational Bullying, and Feelings, all helping to support whole child learning. And an exciting development this year, the ABC Reading program for Village has developed a book club reading option for our upper graders. These students will have an option each month to participate in the regular book reading or read the book club book. The book club books were selected with the help and input of teachers, parents and students. A special thanks to all the teachers and to our ABC Readers for instilling such wonderful values in our kids through books and activities that address emotional and social learning. These values are in full display at recess with our 5th graders participate in Cornerstone Kids and during our rallies where the kids showcase and role model our Village Values.
Part of our Positive School Climate is not just enriching our own community, but helping others as well, by reaching beyond our classroom walls to give where there’s a need. In the Spring, the entire school rallied in support of Rise Against Hunger. For the second year in a row, we came together to raise over $4,000 and package 16,000 meals. The support and enthusiasm from the students, from start to finish, was amazing! They created posters, wrote messages, spoke over the PA system, visited all the classes, and were generally so excited to make this happen, as was our entire community. The giving spirit was certainly felt in Nordahl Hall that day as we watched reading buddies work side by side in the name of rising against hunger, and it was such a thrill to bang that gong! A special thanks to the teachers for their support of the program and to Mary Irwin for helping us bring the program to Village and then coordinating the event, both logistics and fundraising. In addition to Rise Against Hunger, there are several community service programs sponsored by the classrooms, staff and some individual community members that are, of course, enhancing our spirit of giving, so thank you to all the classes and any individuals sponsoring these activities, like The Family Giving Tree, My New Red Shoes, The Food Drive, Creek Clean Ups, Allied Aid, Candy donations and more!
When the community isn’t giving in dollars, they’re giving in time, like work shift hours, including recess. This year, the Positive School Climate team implemented the new “you pick” your yard duty zone process, where you were able to request and work in one of your top three zones. We hope being in a zone that was a good fit for you, helped you enjoy and engage with the kids because, ultimately, that’s what it’s all about. A handful of Positive School Climate team members and board members spent the first three weeks of school making rounds at recess to greet the parents in each zone. It was a wonderful way to connect with so many of our most incredible parents. Thank you for all you do!
Whether present or past, all of our families play a huge role in the success of Village, and the Positive School Team recognizes that, so in an effort to maintain and grow the relationships we have with our alumni, we hosted our first Alumni & Current Family picnic. A special thanks to Village Alum Steve Rapa and his students and to Teacher Gina for providing music for the festivities, which included a special memorial for Ted, and a shout out to our picnic coordinators. In addition to the picnic, we recently recognized our outgoing families, who will now be our newest alum, at our special Farewell Celebration, a lovely way to appreciate all they have done for our school.
Lastly, thank you teachers & staff, parents and students for giving us countless #coolthings to celebrate throughout the year! Our Positive School Climate is really a series of #coolthings strung together from day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year, which eventually adds up to over 20 years worth of fun, engaged learning and a wonderful community to be a part of.
Angel D., Enrichment Chair
The Enrichment Chair oversees three key areas at Village: Centers, Lunch League Activities and Field Trips. Our Centers enrichment program helped lead Village to the coveted California Distinguished School Award a couple of years ago.
In the academic year 2016–2017, we offered 8 Lower Grade Centers and 8 Upper Grade Centers. New LG Centers included Champions for Change, Geometry Fun, Leonardo Da Vinci as well as some old favorites such as Flying Things, Dinosaurs, Outdoor Games, , Cooking and Ancient Egypt. New UG Centers included Upcycing, Kitchen Experiments, Muscles & Bones, 3-D Printing, and we brought back Gardening, Ceramics, Rockets and Woodworking. In the beginning of the year for our Upper Grade Centers, students selected their top 3 choices would be for the year. The students enjoy the opportunity to choose which centers they would like to be in. The students in LG Centers, had the opportunity to rank their choices for the eight centers. It has been another successful centers year. We wouldn’t be able to have centers without the 70 center volunteers and 11 teachers working together to make this happen.
This year we expanded our lunch league activity program. The Take Apart Club, Arts & Crafts, Yarn Club, and Soccer Club continued but we added Gardening, Running Club, and Walking Club. We were able to offer a lunch league activity every day of the week.
The field trips at Village continued full steam this year. Although each individual teacher determines the trips his/her class will take, our job is to help provide the resources / guidelines to the field trip coordinators and field trip clearance team to ensure the safety of our students.
Anne M., PTA Secretary
As the PTA Secretary, I documented all motions and decisions made by the PTA Board. I also tracked Action Items, and ran the monthly follow up/check in exercise at each meeting. This helped the whole Board stay on task and deliver on our promises. All documentation is kept in the Google Drive for PTA Secretary, allowing for an ongoing history of our school decisions.
Kaitlyn M., Vice President
Yearbook: Each child will receive a beautiful yearbook on the last day of school. The yearbook team works hard to provide snapshot of Village School that students can keep and cherish for years to come. They sorted through thousands of photos to find just the right shots to highlight the people, activities and unique culture that can be seen on the Village campus every day.
School Photographers: The school photographers took candid shots of the community through out the year and posted them on the school Shutterfly site for us all to enjoy. They provided a good pool for the yearbook team to pick from, as well as many unexpected and lovely pictures of our kids. If you haven’t checked out the school Shutterfly site, you should! You might find some gems.
Maintenance Team: Our maintenance team organized and implemented some great work days this year! Our staff is alway grateful for the special projects and cleaning that takes place to help the classrooms and equipment stay clean and well maintained for the kids. A big “thank you” as well, to all of the families who volunteered their time to make these events go smoothly. Some accomplishments this year were steam cleaning of all the classroom rugs and spiffying up the school and courtyard.
Garden Maintenance Day: After so much rain this year, our garden maintenance day fell on the perfect, sunny day! Piles upon piles of weeds were pulled from the garden, and some garden beds were repaired. Thank you to the garden team and to all the volunteers (big and little) who made this day a success!
Class Tiles: Class tiles are in the works! The tiles will be added above each classroom door over the summer.
The Science Fair: The Science Fair always brings out the wonder and creativity in the kids. This year’s projects did not disappoint. In addition to the usual projects and experiments, we got to see a first hand demonstration of the robots that our Village School Tech Challenge Teams have been working in for the past few months
Talent Show: The Village Talent Show was a hit as always! We had over 50 acts perform in front of the school this year, and it went off without a hitch!
Chris W., Treasurer
The Financial Team has the responsibility to ensure the financial accountability of the Village PTA. First, the Budget Team created the operating plan accounting for over $200,000 to support our teachers and programs. Monthly reports are prepared for the board meetings to summarize the sources of our income, expenses paid and available funds in the bank accounts. Another responsibility is to ensure that our PTA fulfills our financial reporting requirements to the 6th District PTA and the Federal & State governments. We are also responsible for the collection, accounting and deposit of all funds that flow through the PTA. These collection activities include the annual giving funds, camping trip, all fundraising activities, silent auction, etc So far this fiscal year, we have written 300+ checks for reimbursements or payments. And every reimbursement is “touched” by 4 people – Treasurer, Financial Secretary, Bookkeeper and Auditor. The Audit Team prepared the mid-year audit and will prepare the end-of-year audit after the fiscal year ends on June 30th.
Mary I., Parliamentarian
As Parliamentarian, I provided the Village PTA executive board with clarification on issues related to our bylaws and PTA rules and regulations as they arose throughout the year. I also educated the community at meetings and via emails on the PTA elections process. I helped to form the nominating committee, an important committee which worked to form the slate of candidates for the PTA executive school board for the upcoming school year.