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Originally delivered on 3/25/2021 10:00 am

SUBJECT: March 2021 Council Newsletter

Letter from the President

Greetings Presidents!

I'm so excited to see so many of you advertising your requests for nominations and publishing your slates for elections! I know this is a tough year without volunteers on campuses (or very limited volunteers on campus). Please remember, that if you can't fill all your positions now, it's okay! You can continue to recruit after elections and into the Fall. If you are having trouble filling positions, please reach and we can talk through your options.

A couple of things to remember:

  • Appoint your budget and finance committee to present the proposed 2021-22 budget at your final membership meeting this Spring.
  • Appoint your financial reconciliation committee to review your records once your fiscal year ends.
  • Start preparing your preliminary annual report to present at your last membership meeting


As we finish this final sprint to the end of school, I encourage you to continue to look for  ways to reimagine your Spring events. I've seen some amazing ideas from our local PTAs and I can't wait to see what your accomplish next!



Rachel Mitchell
President of Allen ISD Council of PTAs
president@allenisdcouncilpta.org

2021-2022 Executive Board

Election results for Allen Council of PTAs Executive Board for 2021-22.

  • President - Rachel Mitchell
  • 1st VP/Aide to President - Helene St-Pierre
  • 2nd VP/Programs - Leah Taylor
  • 3rd VP/Membership - Insiya Patwa
  • 4th VP/Ways and Means - Sandra Turner
  • Secretary - Ashley Breuer
  • Treasurer - Shannon Wu

 
Seeking nominations for Standing Committee Chairs for 2021-22 as follows:

  • Parliamentarian
  • Communications Chair
  • Healthy Lifestyles Chair
  • Environmental Chair
  • Legislative Chair
  • Volunteers Chair
  • Arts in Education Chair
  • Community Relations Chair
  • Hospitality Chair  

 

Duties and responsibilities for each Standing Chair can be found HERE. Nominations are open until noon on March 30th. Use this LINK to submit nominations. For more information contact, Rachel Mitchell: president@allenisdcouncilpta.org


Spring Foundations Roundtable Training is Coming! 

Elections are just around the corner and the Council will be ready to support all new local PTA board members. Mark your calendars for the first week of May for Roundtable Training. A complete schedule of training times and registration link will be sent out in mid-April. 

*As a reminder: Texas PTA requires all newly elected or appointed board members to complete Foundations Essentials once and to complete Foundations Basics for your position at least once, or as often as needed. These will need to be completed before attending any Council Roundtable session. Those videos can be found here: https://www.txpta.org/training. 


Jena Barocio
Allen ISD Council of PTAs1st VP, Aide to President
aide2president@allenisdcouncilpta.org

Programs





Leah Taylor
Allen ISD Council of PTAs 2nd VP, Programs
programs@allenisdcouncilpta.org 

Congratulations to the following individuals on receiving the Lifetime and Extended Service Awards!

Lifetime - Jena Barocio

Jena has been a dedicated member of the Allen Council of PTAs Executive Board holding numerous positions. She has spent countless hours mentoring local PTAs and helping them to better serve their PTA families. This year she has completely re-organized both the Council Leadership Training Academy and local PTA trainings to meeting our needs in a virtual format. Jena is always someone who can help with any PTA process or question. She is a thoughtful listener and has truly been dedicated to growing and fostering leadership among all of our PTAs. She has a true servant heart and a love for our local PTAs that is evident in everything she does.   z

 

Extended - Kathi Bingham

Kathi is truly the kind of volunteer that helps make PTA great. But her first goal remains the same…backing the future of our children.

Over the years, she has served on every level of PTA…from elementary to middle school to high school and council.  It is a lifetime of PTA service that has continued for many years in Allen ISD. As she serves on AHS/LFC PTSA this year, Kathi also is a strong supporter of Kerr PTA where she also is a member of the staff.


Insiya Patwa
Allen ISD Council of PTAs 3rd VP, Membership
membership@allenisdcouncilpta.org

Arts in Education

Congrats to all our Allen ISD kids for their representation in the Reflections Program at the state level!

Overall Excellence Award winners advance to the National PTA Reflections Competition.  Those results will be announced on May 1, 2021.

All entries awarded with an Overall Award of Excellence, Award of Excellence, Award of Merit, or Honorable Mention will receive an invitation to Texas PTA's statewide awards ceremony to be scheduled for late Spring 2021.

Overall Award of Excellence: 

  • Kylee-Jo Gooch, Vaughan Elementary, Intermediate Visual Arts

Award of Excellence: 

  • Keerthi Anandbabu, Lindsey Elementary, Primary Dance
  • Aisha Ajdi, Lindsey Elementary, Intermediate Literature
  • Ishita Chowdhury, Allen High School, High School Visual Arts


Award of Merit: 

  • Connor Paterson, Preston Elementary, Primary Photography
  • Neha Nadhira Rakesh, Lindsey Elementary, Primary Literature
  • Neerav Anush Jeyasaravan, Lindsey Elementary, Intermediate Photography
  • Zion Medrano, Preston Elementary, Intermediate Film Production
  • Alaina Kenely, Allen High School, High School Film Production
  • Saanvi Tyagi, Allen High School, High School Literature and High School Photography

Honorable Mention: 

  • Alina Kanwari, Lindsey Elementary, Primary Visual Arts
  • Aekus Singh Kathuria, Cheatham Elementary, Intermediate Music Composition
  • Grace Kim, Curtis Middle School, Middle School Visual Arts
  • Siddharth Kulkarni, Vaughan Elementary, Middle School Music Composition and Middle School Literature
  • Nikila Swaminathan, Ereckson Middle School, Middle School Photography
  • Jenny Wei, Allen High School, High School Music Composition
  • Aadil Aslam, Lowery Freshman Center, High School Special Artist/Literature

 

Sandra Turner
Allen ISD Council of PTAs Arts in Education Chair
artsineducation@allenisdcouncilpta.org

2021-2022 Reflections

Get a jump start on next year's Reflections contest! The 2021-2022 theme is "I Will Change The World By..."

What a great theme because we know that is exactly what our Allen kids can do! Materials announcing this new theme will be available from National PTA on April 1 and shared with our local PTAs.

Environmental



Arbor Day Poster Contest Winners

This year’s theme was, “Trees are Terrific…and Energy Wise!” Because of Covid, Keep Allen Beautiful sponsored a virtual contest for Allen ISD 4th and 5th graders.  A virtual awards ceremony was held on February 25, 2021. Winners received Target gift cards and certificates, and the grand prize winner will have a tree planted in her honor at either her school or a city park at a time and place to be determined.  All other participants received certificates. 


The winners were: 

  • 1st Place – Salin Ng, 4th Grade, Norton Elementary
  • 2nd Place – Sailee Pendharkar, 5th Grade, Evans Elementary
  • Tied for 3rd Place – Neerav Jeyasaravanan, 4th Grade, Lindsey Elementary
  • Tied for 3rd Place – Ananya Vyas, 5th Grade, Green Elementary


Reuse-A-Shoe Program

Keep Allen Beautiful will not hold Reuse-A-Shoe this April. They hope to put it back on the schedule for next March and April 2022.  Any schools who still want to collect shoes in April as an environmental program can find a local non-profit organization to donate to, like ACO.


School Garden Supplies

Keep Allen Beautiful still has compost and seeds available for schools that have gardens.  Please reach out to Andrea Smith at asmith@cityofallen.org to set up a time at City Hall to meet and look through her seed bins. For compost, arrangements can be made to deliver to your school once the City knows how many cubic yards are needed.  The City needs a marked space in the school parking lot closest to the garden where the compost can be delivered, and volunteers will need to move the compost to the garden.


Joy Forester
Allen ISD Council of PTAs Environmental Chair
environmental@allenisdcouncilpta.org 

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