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Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs
January 2011
Volume 8, Issue 3 Communicator
President’s
Luncheon with
Dr. Reedy
Feb. 22nd
April 12th
May 18th
2010—2011
Council General
Meetings
Jan. 18th
March 22nd
May 24th
All meetings begin at 10am at the Admin Building on Maple
FISD School
Board Meetings
Feb. 14th
March 7th
April 4th
May 9th
June 20th
FISD School Board Meetings are con-ducted at the Admin Building on Maple.
All meetings begin at 7:30pm.
President’s Note By Anne McCausland, PTA Council - President
We are off and running in 2011!
The Frisco ISD Council of PTAs has an exciting and busy Spring
ahead. We will hold elections, host the Life Membership banquet,
and sponsor the always fun Roughriders game.
Texas PTA will host their State Convention on February 4-6 in
Austin. There will be deliberations on proposed state bylaws
changes and a review of the Legislative Positions and Resolutions.
Please visit the Texas PTA website for more details.
This month is also School Board Appreciation Month. Thank you
to Dan Mossakowski, Renèe Ehmke, Brenda Polk, Richard Beaver,
Laura Ellison, John Hoxie, and Buddy Minett for all your many
hours of service to the staff, parents, and children of FISD. We
appreciate you and all that you do for our district.
Anne McCausland
Frisco ISD Council of PTAs
President
Page 2
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
T r e asu r e r By Brandy Dennison, PTA Council—Treasurer Chair
Filing your Texas Sales and Use Tax Return Just a reminder - your Texas Sales Tax Return for 1/1/10 - 12/31/10 (if you pay annually) needs to be post-
marked on or before January 20, 2011 - even if you were not required to collect sales tax due to tax-free days, non-taxable items, etc.
If you pay quarterly, your 4th quarter taxes should also be postmarked by 1/20/11.
A couple of things to keep in mind: A. You will need to look in the prior year Treasurer's files to include sales made from January 1 through the end of the 2009-2010 school year prior to your current fiscal year. B. Make sure you are not paying tax twice on items - Example: Scholastic Book Fairs collect and pay sales tax. These sales are listed on THEIR sales tax return. C. You get a very small discount (Line 6) for "Timely Filing" by the Jan 20th deadline. That amount should be moved out of the Sales Tax escrow account and moved into an "other income" budget line. That amount no longer belongs to the State Comptroller - it belongs to the PTA. If you are using the Texas PTA Accounting Software, this can be done by making two entries in your General Ledger. If you need help, just send me an email - [email protected] or [email protected]
Franchise Tax PTAs do not pay a Franchise Tax as they are exempt under Texas PTA's group exemption. If your PTA receives an invoice, please contact Alex Peterson at Texas PTA and she will get it fixed. Her email is [email protected].
EIN Verification Form Due January 31, 2011 In order for your PTA to be covered by the Texas PTA group exemption, we must submit current information on your
behalf to the IRS annually. This form must be completed and returned by January 31, 2011.
PTAs not responding will be subject to income tax, and their donations cannot be considered charitable contributions
by donors. If you have any questions, contact the Member Services Department at 1-800-TALKPTA. Paper EIN Verification Form (http://www.txpta.org/resource-library/entry/ein-verification-form/) Online EIN Verification Form (http://www.formsite.com/txpta/form729840210/index.html)
Te c hno l og y By Kristin Olfers, PTA Council—Technology Chair
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If you are looking for answers, you can find them on our website at www.friscopta.org!
"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." — Dr. Seuss
So, visit our site today!
Page 3
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
F und r a i s i ng / F i nance By Karen Adolff, PTA Council—Fundraising Chair
F R I S C O S C H O O L S S P I R I T N I G H T S A V E T H E D A T E
You won't want to miss this special event as the ballpark will be dedicating this night to all Frisco Schools and their Nurses.
Join us for a celebrated evening with fellow classmates and help us ac-knowledge the terrific job our NURSES are doing!
PTA Rocks!
May 19, 2011 at 7pm Frisco School Spirited Night with the RoughRiders
Hosted by Frisco Council of PTAs. Frisco All City Choir will be singing the National Anthem. Tickets will go on sale March 2011.
C u l t u r a l A r t s By Kelly Straub, PTA Council—Cultural Arts Chair
I am excited to announce that we have 33 Reflections entries headed to state for judging. Thanks to all of the
Reflection Chairs for all of your hard work!
Congratulations to those who went on to State!
Jordan Poiro Film Production Smith
Emma Bittner Literature Smith
Abigail Eaton Literature Staley Middle
Courtney Erbes Literature Staley Middle
Rohun Patel Literature Purefoy
Deepti Singh Literature Fisher
Eshan Damle Musical Composition Curtsinger
Nick Godfrey Musical Composition Sparks
Evan Tran Musical Composition Clark Middle
Nathan Wu Musical Composition Clark Middle
Elizabeth Nguyen Photography Isbell
Nikos Sideris Photography Riddle
Connor Thompson Photography Ogle
Jenna Zapata Photography Staley Middle
Katelyn Bonvillain Visual Arts Shawnee Trail
Angelina Carino Visual Arts Shawnee Trail
Visual Arts Purefoy James Chan
Yae-Jin Cho Visual Arts Bledsoe
Mathew George Visual Arts Anderson
Martha Harris Visual Arts Hunt
Nikita Kulkarni Visual Arts Riddle
Pavanya Mantena Visual Arts Clark Middle
Sloane Moore Visual Arts Hunt Middle
Saagar Parikh Visual Arts Allen
Maci Pigg Visual Arts Boals
Rohith Ram Visual Arts Taylor
Alizeh Raza Visual Arts Ashley
Rachel Rolfe Visual Arts Taylor
Sreeniketan Senapathi Visual Arts Purefoy
Emma Stephens Visual Arts Shawnee Trail
Sabrina Xin Visual Arts Anderson
Megan Young Visual Arts Clark Middle
Visual Arts Borchardt Alex Zhang
Page 4
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
M embe r sh i p By Susan Thomas, PTA Council—Membership Chair
The Frisco PTA’s are off to a great start! The following PTAs received award recognition from the Texas PTA:
Allen PTA
Anderson PTA
Bledsoe PTA
Borchardt PTA
Carroll PTA
Early Childhood PTA
Ogle PTA
Sparks PTA
Tadlock PTA
10 Percent Increase Award
Bledsoe PTA
Boals PTA
Carroll PTA
Cobb Middle PTA
Curtsinger PTA
Fisher PTA
Fowler Middle PTA
Isbell PTA
Pink PTA
Purefoy PTA
500 Club Achievement
Borchardt PTA
Cobb Middle PTA
Corbell PTA
Early Childhood PTA
Hunt Middle PTA
Purefoy PTA
Applause Award
Allen PTA
Anderson PTA
Bledsoe PTA
Boals PTA
Borchardt EPTA
Bright PTA
Carroll PTA
Christie PTA
Curtsinger PTA
Early Childhood PTA
Elliott PTA
Fowler Middle PTA
Gunstream PTA
Isbell PTA
Ogle PTA
Riddle PTA
Sem PTA
Shawnee Trail PTA
Smith PTA
Sparks PTA
Stafford Middle PTA
Taylor PTA
Early Bird Award
Early Childhood Award
Early Childhood PTA
Golden Applause Award
Anderson PTA
Ashley PTA
Bledsoe PTA
Boals PTA
Borchardt PTA
Bright PTA
Carroll PTA
Corbell PTA
Elliott PTA
Fowler Middle PTA
Ogle PTA
Pink PTA
Purefoy PTA
Riddle PTA
Sem PTA
Shawnee Trail PTA
Sparks PTA
Individual Award
Bright PTA—Sharla Miller
Fowler Middle PTA—Julie Brown
Stafford Middle PTA—Gretchen Meuschke
Anderson PTA
Ashley PTA
Bledsoe PTA
Boals PTA
Bright PTA
Carroll PTA
Cobb Middle PTA
Corbell PTA
Early Childhood PTA
Elliott PTA
Fowler Middle PTA
Hunt Middle PTA
Liberty High PTSA
Ogle PTA
Pink PTA
Purefoy PTA
Riddle PTA
Sem PTA
Shawnee Trail PTA
Smith PTA
Sparks PTA
Stafford Middle PTA
MARS (Men Are Really
Super) Award
Membership Chair's Challenge
Participant—Most Teachers
Boals PTA
Hunt Middle PTA
Sparks PTA
Student Membership
Achievement
Liberty High PTSA
Page 5
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
E n v i r o nmen t a l By Tanja Eltze, PTA Council—Environmental Chair
Thanks for making “Barktoberfest “ a huge success – again! Frisco ISD participated with 24 schools and made this the largest FISD
collection of reusable (and new) items benefiting animals in need . Over
2100 pet-friendly items where collected in the schools, sorted, counted
and stored for the Frisco Humane Society (FHS).
The FHS was very grateful and says it will help them with taking care of
their foster animals throughout the year.
While helping these dogs and cats that are waiting for a new owner, this
collection also helps the environment by sending many items to good use
that otherwise might end up in a landfill. Last but not least it teaches the
students compassion and how to put the REUSE concept into action!
“Thank you” to all participating families!
Vicki Allen (front left) and other volunteers
of the Frisco Humane Society receive a sam-
ple basket as part of the donation of over
2100 items that the Frisco Council of PTAs
collected during their annual Barktoberfest
Reuse Collection. The basket was presented
by Kaila -3rd grader at Allen Elementary and
Tanja Eltze (front right) –Environmental
Chairperson for the Frisco Council of PTAs.
What has ART to do with environmental awareness? The idea of art to express ideas and concerns about our world in peril is not new. What is new is for Frisco
students to create a school sculpture in a very eco-friendly way. While it is left to the school to decide
what they want to express, the way they do it is a challenge: each school may only use old, unwanted or used
material – nothing new or bought!
The project that was initiated by the Frisco Council of PTAs Environmental division is a collaboration be-
tween art departments and PTA and hopefully will serve as an artful reminder that beautiful things can be
created while being very resourceful. To see what can happen from “trash”, visit the following locations :
CTE Center, 9889 Wade Blvd, Frisco: Art shows Thursday, February 24th & March 3rd 6-8 pm
Frisco Discovery Center , 8004 N. Dallas Pkwy, Frisco, starting March 5th during regular opening hours.
Both locations can be visited free of charge.
�Green Tip Modern day motors are not built to warm up while idling. Do your car, wallet and the environment a favor by driving off
slowly in cold weather without idling first.
Page 6
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
T X P TA News — www . t x p t a . o r g
Texas PTA Legislative Priorities For 2011 Legislative
Session The Texas PTA Board of Directors met in mid-October and adopted seven priorities as the legislative state-
wide focus for 2011. Texas PTA continues to put education at the forefront of our agenda as we advocate for adequate funding for public schools; accountability for educating the whole child; laws that stress healthy life-styles in the school, home and environment; criminalizing cyber-bullying; and banning the production and distri-bution of products that contain synthetic cannabinoids. Below is a listing of the Texas PTA Legislative Priorities for 2011:
Funding and Accountability for Public Schools 1. Pursue an adequate and equitable solution for school funding while maintaining accountability and responsi-
bility for educating the whole child. Healthy Lifestyles 2. Pass statewide smoke-free workplaces law—Pursue protections from second-hand smoke for youth and
young adults working in service industry. 3. Fight obesity—Support programs that promote movement, activities, healthier food choices and menus, and
promote school, family and community participation. a. Reinstate physical education and health education requirements at secondary levels. 4. Support farm-to-school programs—Pursue healthier food choices for children, promote awareness, commu-
nity involvement, and economic development. 5. Ban possession and distribution of synthetic cannabinoids such as K2 or Spice. Environmental 6. Fund Clean School Bus Program, the grant program for school districts that assists in retrofitting diesel bus
engines so they emit fewer toxins. Safety 7. Pass cyber-bullying criminalization statute that defines cyber-bullying and strengthens penalties. Identify
student, staff and parent education requirements. Educational materials will be distributed to Legislative Action Chairs and PTA presidents in the following
weeks. Texas PTA will send out legislative updates and offer webinars to help you prepare to participate in Texas PTA Day at the Capitol on February 3, 2011. Start preparing to travel to Austin to meet, rally and speak directly with your elected officials on behalf of Texas children, families and education.
Announcing The New February 1 - April 30, 2011 Membership Chair's Challenge
Members will be credited to the 2010-2011 membership year if reported by March 15 and will be credited to-wards the Spring Membership Increase Award. Membership reported after March 15 will be credited for the 2011-2012 membership year. Challenge is valid through April 30. Here are a few opportunities to promote membership:
• Kindergarten Round Ups
• Open House
• 6th Grade Orientation
• 9th Grade/Freshman Orientation
Page 7
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
S u pe r i n t e nden t ’ s Me s sage By Dr. Rick Reedy, FISD Superintendent
Dear PTA Council, I hope you all enjoyed having two weeks at home with your students and are equally happy to have them back in school and working hard in this new semester. We received wonderful news just before the break, when the state Comptroller’s office an-nounced that Frisco ISD had received a 5-star FAST rating in a state-wide study to measure efficient spending in Texas schools. The report, Connecting the Dots: School Spending and Student Progress, lists Frisco ISD as one of 43 districts to receive the top five-star rating for its continued high student performance and responsible spending. The 2009 Legislature directed the Comptroller's office to develop a method to compare school districts on a level playing field, and to determine school districts and campuses allocate financial resources in a manner contributing to high academic achievement and cost effective operations. To see the results of the report and see how well FISD stacks up against other districts, go to www.FASTexas.org for more information. FISD has grown so quickly that the school board and administration have had to be very diligent in making the most of what we have. This rating says we have been doing a great job – now we must continue to analyze and continue to control spending without taking away from the education of our students. PTA has been an invaluable partner in this rating. The support you give to the schools in the form of volunteers and projects helps FISD run more efficiently. I hope you take the time to tell any of our school board members you see out and about in the community what a good job they do for the district. Feel free to drop them a line. Janu-ary is school board recognition month. The past and current board members made the deci-sions that have led to FISD’s reputation as one of the best in the state – academically, fi-nancially, and in the many programs we support in the form of athletics, the arts, and tech-nology. PTA has helped hone the leadership skills of several of our past and present school board members. You should be proud of the men and women who have come out of PTA positions to lead this district. The next few months will be very important for teachers and students, as they hit their stride in various areas of study. Please remember to remind parents of seniors that the Frisco Education Foundation online application for scholarships opens this month. The deadline is February 4th at 5 p.m. and no late applications will be accepted. I know many of you will be busy this spring with your fundraising activities. I hope you get all the volunteers you need and that everyone has a great time. Thank you for all you do to support your school and FISD. Sincerely, Rick Reedy
Page 8
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
L o ca l P TA News a nd Announcemen t s
We are gearing up for another Watch Dog sign up night on January 13th. Details of time and location will be sent via our weekly office e-mail. One of our goals at this event is to recruit more dads to sign up for Watch Dogs during the second semester. We had an outstanding group of dads who participated this first se-mester. Each day our students look forward to seeing a dad on campus!
Corbell Elementary PTA With the holidays behind us and the start of a brand new year, it is time to reflect upon our successes at Corbell and what we look forward to this spring.
We are so thrilled to report that this year’s Wild Walk was an enormous success thanks to all of the wonderful support from our Corbell families! The students and teachers had a great time running and walking their laps during the Wild Walk. A big thank you goes out to our Wild Walk DJ, “Piper Pipeline”, (aka Laurie Deckert, Corbell parent) and all those who came out to volunteer and cheer on the stu-dents. Since our goal of $25,000 was met, our principal, Mr. Wehmeyer, conceded to one day of work from the roof of the school!
Heroes big and small visited our fall Book Fair in November. Book Fair Chairs Sara Fortenberry and Robin Craft practically lived in the library that week and were joined by many volunteers throughout. After all the book sales were tallied, our teachers were able to put approximately 750 new books on the shelves of our library and classrooms!
As we winded down 2010, Corbell PTA brought our students Dennis Lee, an anti-bullying program, NetSmartz, an internet safety program for parents, as well as the local favorite, Eddie Coker. Our Room Parent vol-unteers planned wonderful classroom parties with lots of fun and games, prizes and sweets!
January brings us our 4th annual Multicultural Night where families share their culture by providing information from their art, clothing, food samples, music and much, much more.
February 3rd from 9:00-10:00 a.m. we will host the Aim for Success program, the ABC’s of the Birds and Bees. This “parent only” program enlightens parents on communication tips dealing with elementary questions & an-swers on sex. We invite all parents from other schools to join us and benefit from this vital information.
Ashley Elementary PTA On November 17 Ashley was visited by the very talented actors from the Theatricks children's theatre program. Theatricks is a part of the Sherman Community Players and travels around the Metroplex entertaining and educating young people about the art of theatre. Students and their families who attended enjoyed a performance of Too Much �oise followed by workshops on clowning puppetry, and improvisation.
It was a truly a night to let the talents of the Ash-ley students shine. Children learned how to make puppets talk and express emotions, how to paint their faces and do funny clown routines and how to play creative games which use their imagina-tions.
The Holiday Store was a success this year! It was so much fun to see students get to pick out gifts, learn to count money, and surprise their family members. The Holiday Store could not open without the amazing volunteers shopping for products, setting up the store, wrapping pre-sents and helping the kids. Hopefully many par-ents and family members were excited and pleased by the awesome gifts they received.
The recent Fun Run was a huge success and an extremely fun day for all! We couldn’t have asked for a better day! It was awesome! The PTA has collected most of the total amount pledged for the school population. We have raised over $18,500 which goes directly into the PTA budget. This budget allows our PTA to do great things for our school such as provide many educational and fun programs for our students.
Elliott Elementary PTA
Happy New Year! The Elliott PTA was blown away by our 2010 Boosterthon Fun Run collec-tion results – it was a record breaking year for us. We had pledges totaling over $75,000 and as of today, we have collected over 93% for a total of $69,750! Our students really went above and beyond! We are working on plans to make the best possible use of these funds. Our largest expense every year is our educational programs for the students at Elliott. In the past weeks, the students have enjoyed Earth Expo and Tipi Talkers. We look forward to PBS Character Magic coming next month.
Our Room Parent Committee has been busy with the Winter Party in December and our Valentines Party coming up. They always go above and beyond to make sure that the kids have a wonderful time. The PTA purchased a gift for every student for the Winter Party -- everyone went home with a brand new book to read.
January events include our first plurality elec-tion as the PTA members choose our nominat-ing committee for the April PTA Board elec-tions. We also have a few hospitality events planned for our awesome teachers and staff with a Taco Buffet in January and a Breakfast Bar in February. We also have our 2nd annual Watch DOGS Chili Cook-Off in February, which is always a great time. We anticipate 2011 to be our best year yet!
Purefoy Elementary PTA WOW…Can’t believe we are half way through our first year at Purefoy. Time sure flies when there is so much fun and learning going on. We are so excited to have reached 95% membership at this time, pretty great for our first year. Our First Annual Paradise Trot was a huge success. We are proud to say that we exceeded our goal of $30,000. Because we reached our goal, our Principal, Mrs. Webb and Art teacher, Mrs. Nodes got slimed at Good Morning Purefoy.
Students learning about clowing
Father and son gearing up for the Fun Run
Elliott Elementary Students warm up and get
motivated for their Boosterthon Fun Run
October 21, 2010
Page 9
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
L o ca l P TA News a nd Announcemen t s
Purefoy Elementary PTA con’t
This was a huge treat for the students. Thank you to Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Nodes for being such great sports. And, thank you to all our community sponsors and students for working so hard to support Purefoy.
The students enjoyed a presentation from Den-nis Lee and the Funky Monkey Bunch and con-tinue to learn and love science with the High Touch - High Tech programs. Red Ribbon Week and White Ribbon Week were celebrated with great participation from the students and staff. The teachers were sent off to enjoy the Holidays with home-baked goodies from our parents thanks to a very successful cookie ex-change. And, thanks to all our Watch DOGS, every day is just another day in Paradise! As 2011 rolls on, we continue to be thankful for our amazing staff, students and parents that make Purefoy such a great place to be.
Rogers Elementary PTA The New Year is here and Rogers Elementary PTA is excited to hit the ground running! Our Boosterthon Fun Run fundraiser kicks off Janu-ary 25th with a super hyped pep rally. Our Fun Run will be held February 3rd, with Mayor Maso cheering our students on! This fundraiser has been a huge success for us the past two years and we are excited to bring it back to our cam-pus
We ended 2010 strong with great programs including Nana Puddin’ and Justin Look-a-doo. The kids were treated to laughs and lots of learning! Our Fall Book Fair was a success due in part to holding our Breakfast with Dad’s event the same week which brought lots of proud students hand in hand with that important male figure in their life.
Our school puts on a Good Morning Rogers event each nine weeks and the PTA is always invited to have time to present. This year we had fun with our time and gave back with wrapped mystery gifts. The PTA was able to gift two new microwaves for the lounge, a new iPod stereo for the PE department and a Bissell Sweeper for each classroom. The crowd erupted in excite-ment as each gift was revealed by the PTA elves. What a fun way to let all of those in atten-dance; students, teachers and parents alike be a part of us giving back!
The PTA board recently voted on our pick for Lifetime Nominee. We had 13 names in the hat, any of which, would have represented Rogers Elementary and our PTA with pride. The hon-oree will be kept secret until we reveal this pres-tigious award at our March 11th Good Morning Rogers. What fun it will be to have family mem-bers, friends, former students and colleagues in attendance to share with someone so deserving. The Rough Riders game is just around the cor-ner. Watch out fellow Frisco schools…Rogers Elementary will be there loud and proud and ready to defend our “Loudest School” title! See you at the game.
Sparks Elementary PTA Happy New Year from Sparks Elementary!!!
Here is a recap of a very productive and exciting 2010 for Sparks Elementary PTA. We had a very successful Membership drive receiving 6 awards: Early Bird, 10% increase in member-ships from 2009, Golden Apple, MARS, 500 Club and Membership Chair’s Challenge. We now have 609 terrific and involved PTA mem-bers.
Our successful Book Fair once again soared to new heights. With the help of all our Book Fair Heroes, we were able to add many books and educational materials to our school library, as well as donate books to Children’s Medical Center in Plano.
Sparks Boosterthon not only met our goal but surpassed it! The event was a huge success and the kids had a BLAST! While raising funds for our school, the kids learned lessons on what LEADERS are!
Our PTA was proud to sponsor two great stu-dent programs. In September, the Morris Broth-ers brought their humorous approach to the topic of “Bullying”. In conjunction with Red Ribbon Week the crew from the BMX Wheels of Freestyle added a great show incorporating drug free lessons.
To round out a spectacular 2010 we had 13 boys and girls move on to Regionals and 1 to State with their Reflections themed “Together we Can”.
Happy New Year from Sparks Elementary PTA
Mrs. Webb getting Slimed!
Mrs. �odes getting Slimed!
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Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
L o ca l P TA News a nd Announcemen t s
Taylor Elementary PTA Taylor Elementary joined schools nationwide in celebrating Diverse Abilities Day on Jan. 8, 2010. The students got to experience sitting in a wheelchair, talking with crackers in their mouth for speech impairment, walking through obsta-cle courses with different goggles for visual impairment and many other stations.
Here's a little more background on this event as written by one of the volunteers Leigh Wilcox for Autism Spot:
"Awareness to Action: 10 Years of Celebrating Inclusive Schools” is taking place across the country December 6-10th and I'm thrilled to be volunteering at my son's school for "Diverse Abilities Day." Students will experience various physical and learning challenges. The entire student body will participate in stations set up to simulate: Speech Impairment, Vision Impair-ment, Motor Impairment, Cerebral Palsy, Dys-lexia, Autism, Asthma and ADHD; they will be challenged to complete a task while experienc-ing each station. In this way, students will better understand what some of their peers face every-day and feel more comfortable in embracing differences while gaining acceptance, develop-ing empathy and learning compassion."
From the Inclusive Schools website: "Inclusive Schools Week highlights the accomplishments of families, schools, and communities who pro-mote inclusive education for all children across the world. The Week celebrates the progress that schools have made in implementing inclu-sive practices to ensure a quality education for an increasingly diverse student population, in-cluding students with disabilities, those from culturally, linguistically diverse backgrounds and those who are economically disadvantaged. The Week is also a wonderful opportunity for educators, students, and parents to discuss what else needs to be done in order to ensure that their schools continue to improve their ability to successfully educate all children. Go to www.inclusiveschool.org to learn more about how your school and community can celebrate this exciting event and to take action throughout the year!"
Cobb Middle PTA On 9 December 2010, the Cobb PTA members provided a "Soupfest" for all the staff members. The PTA provided and served soups, salad, rolls and dessert to approximately 70 people. The Starbucks at Main St. & Teel also gener-ously donated an urn of coffee for the occasion. Lastly, the Hospitality Committee donated many wonderful plates of cookies that the PTA gift wrapped and provided for the staff to take home.
Each of Cobb’s teachers, custodians, and cafe-teria workers received an insulated, 16 oz Cy-clone-emblazoned mug as a holiday present from the PTA at the December 8th Soupfest and cookie exchange. Good for morale and good for the environment, the mugs will help reduce the number of Styrofoam cups utilized each day in the teachers’ lounge.
Earlier in the fall, students contributed 100 pairs of used sneakers to the Nike Reuse-a-Shoe cam-paign, which diverts the donated, old athletic shoes from ending up in a landfill. PTA mem-bers delivered the car-load of kicks to the Allen, Texas Nike store to be recycled into playground surfacing material.
Griffin Middle PTA Griffin is off to a great start for the New Year! We are encouraging families to make a resolution to commit to their children, schools, and community by volunteering in some way. We wrapped up 2010, with our busy parent bakers treating our teachers and staff to a fabulous cookie exchange, which even would have impressed Martha Stewart! Our next Gatoriffic teacher event will be on Valen-tine’s Day, February 14th, where we will express our love for them by serving break-fast.
We have our GMS talent show on January 18th, we are excited to see what the kids have been working on – who knows, the next Su-perstar may come right from our very own, Griffin Middle School! At the end of January, the AIM for Success will present its nationally acclaimed program to students and parents. It is a motivational program, educating young people across America on topics such as sex, drugs, and alcohol.
Griffin teachers and staff selecting assortments of
goodies during the Holiday Cookie Exchange
Cobb Staff enjoying the Soupfest and
Cookie Exchange
Cobb Cyclone Shoes ready to be recycled!
Page 11
Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs
Communicator
The Communicator is published by the Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs. The Communicator is distributed to FISD Principals, FISD PTA Presidents, Council Delegates, FISD Council of PTAs Board Members, FISD Administration and Board of Trustees. You may distribute the newsletter to your respective PTA membership.
Executive Board Officers
President Anne McCausland
Aide to President Kindra Strachan [email protected]
Treasurer
Brandy Dennison [email protected]
Secretary
Melanie Crosby [email protected]
Parliamentarian Debi Meruet
Historian Open
Executive Board Chairmen
Fundraising Karen Adolff
Programs
Keisha Sylvester [email protected]
Technology Kristan Olfers
Membership Susan Thomas
Newsletter Terri West
Cultural Arts Kelly Straub
Executive Board Chairmen
Volunteers Shelley Kesel
Environmental Tanja Eltze
Hospitality
Willette Watts [email protected]
SAGE
Lindsey Bianchin [email protected]
Legislative Mary Barisa
Training
Linda Linton [email protected]
Volume 8, Issue 3 Frisco Independent School District Council of PTAs – Communicator –
F r i s c o Counc i l o f P TA s E x ecu t i v e Bo a r d Membe r s
