The The Child AdvocateChild AdvocateNovember 2013

Issue 3, Volume 22

Encouraging a Good Work Ethic at Home and School

Helping Students Develop Career and Life Interests

Motivating Students to Achieve at School and Beyond

Membership Outreach

Issue Focus

Parent Engagement

* Motivating Students to Achieve at

School and Beyond

* Helping Students Develop Career

and Life Interests

* Encouraging a Good Work Ethic

at Home and School

Leadership Development

Partners and Sponsors

The Child Advocate is published online every month from September through May by the Washington State PTA, 2003 65th Avenue West, Tacoma, WA 98466-6215, (253) 565-2153. Contributors are welcome. Call the State PTA office for guidelines. Whenever PTA is used it also refers to PTSA. PTA is a registered trademark of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers.

Heather Gillette, Washington State PTA PresidentKathryn Hobbs, Executive Director

Karen Fisker-Andersen, Editor

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Website: www.wastatepta.org

Email: wapta@wastatepta.org

Phone: (253) 565-2153 or

1-800-562-3804

Fax: (253) 565-7753

a Washington State PTA parent involvement publication

Washington State PTA2003 65th Avenue West

Tacoma, WA 98466-6215

Child AdvocateThe VISION: “Making every child’s potential a reality.”

MISSION: PTA is:n A powerful voice for all children,n A relevant resource for families and communities, andn A strong advocate for the well-being and education of every child.The Washington State PTA accomplishes the mission of PTA by:• Speaking on behalf of children and youth in the schools, in the community, and before governmental bodies and other organizations that make decisions affecting children; • Supporting parents* in developing skills to raise, protect and advocate for their children; • Encouraging parent*, teacher, student and community involvement; • Promoting opportunities for positive outcomes for children; and • Being a financially stable, well-managed organization that promotes diversity, provides quality service, models best practices and values its members and employees.

*Parent may include adults who play an important role in a child’s family life since other adults (grandpar-ents, aunts, uncles, or guardians) may carry the primary responsibility for a child’s health, welfare, education and safety.

CONTENTS

ABOUT THE WASHINGTON STATE PTA

n SAVE THE DATE: FOCUS DAY IN OLYMPIA FEBRUARY 4, 2014Join us in person: Rally, lobby and learn about issues that affect kids. Network with advocates and legislative leaders. This is your opportu-nity to speak up, spread the word and keep kids front and center in Olympia!

n MEMBERSHIP AWARDS Congratulations to all the Bronze and Silver Membership Award recipients. Go to the WSPTA website for a complete list. It’s not too late to qualify for a membership award! The Gold Membership Award will recognize PTAs with a 10% increase from the previous year’s membership enrolled by January 25. The Platinum Membership Award will recognize PTAs with a 20% increase from the previous year’s membership enrolled by March 30.

n RESOURCES FOR TEACHERSA new “teacher resource” tab is now available on the WSPTA website and was designed especially for those “T” members of our PTA! To view this new feature, go to: http://www.wastatepta.org/resources/teacher/index.html. If you have teacher resource suggestions for this new webpage, please email them to kfandersen@wastatepta.org.

n WSPTA LEADERSHIP ACADEMYPTA leaders work hard for kids and we want you to get the recognition that you deserve. The WSPTA Leadership Academy consists of four levels—Bronze, Silver, Gold and Crystal—and is an opportunity for you to be recognized for the work that you do every day on behalf of children. By filling out this appli-cation, you also create a PTA resume, which is

sure to impress anyone when they see what you have achieved for PTA. For more information, email wapta@wastatepta.org.

n LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY REPORTOn October 18 and 19, over 250 delegates attended the 35th Annual Washington State PTA Legislative Assembly at the SeaTac Mar-riott Hotel. Attendees had opportunities for advocacy training. They also updated WSPTA’s legislative principles, passed several resolutions and added three new issues to our supported platform and amended another. Because this was year two of our two-year cycle, our top five issues remain the same as last year and are:1. Advance Basic Education Reforms2. Fund Education First3. Closing the Opportunity Gaps4. Revenue for Kids5. Access to Highly Effective Teachers

Also supported priorities are listed alphabeti-cally and include (^Amended, *New):• Access, Opportunity and Equity for Spe-

cial Education^• Access to Algebra in Middle School• Access to Quality Early Learning• Background Checks on Gun Purchases*• English Language Learner Students*• Great Family Engagement in Every School• Positive Behavior Intervention and Sup-

ports• School Zone Signage• Screening and Support for Struggling

Readers• Social Emotional Learning• Sufficient and Equitable Funding for

Highly Capable Programming*• Training to Support Highly Capable

Learners

NEWS BRIEFS

The Child Advocate, November 2013 3

Founded in 1905, the Washington State PTA is the largest volunteer organization in the state, with 138,000 members last year in more than 900 local units across the state. PTA membership is different from membership in any other unaffiliated parent group in three distinct ways:• PTA’s only interest is promoting the well-

being and education of all children. Local PTAs help establish school environments that encourage parent engagement in chil-dren’s education, as well as programs and events to build a positive school environ-ment, and provides many other services and resources which result in improvements in the well-being and education of students.

• PTA benefits all children, not just the children at your child’s school. Unlike unaffiliated parent groups, PTAs actively advocate for all students in a school com-munity and across the state and nation,

and have made a substantial and lasting impact benefiting children and families in its 100+ year history. As part of a grassroots advocacy effort, your PTA and others like it across the nation, have participated in efforts resulting in laws prevent-ing the giving and selling of alcohol to minors, school lunch programs, federally funded kindergartens, driver’s education, and more recently the Washington State PTA helped pass a state ballot measure to allow school levies to pass with a simple majority, a bill to redefine ba-sic education, and legislation that addressed school accountability, college and career learning standards, and family engagement.

• PTA provides upward mobility. The Wash-ington State PTA provides free support services, resource material, and leadership training to its local unit leaders, including PTA and the Law workshops and region

conference training. This provides PTA leaders confidence as they successfully gain knowledge and experience that allows them to move from serving as a committee mem-ber to a local unit officer, then a council or region officer, and finally serve in the state or National PTA or transfer their knowl-edge and skills to a corporate environment. PTA provides an opportunity to develop a meaningful resume of experiences while volunteering for a well-known and respected association that supports children.

Thank you for joining the PTA.

Does your tween or teen have trouble getting up for school? Does he or she sleep late on weekends? Have no fear, your student is not showing signs of being lazy! Actually, early in puberty the circadian rhythm, or ‘body clock,’ shifts 60-90 minutes later. Therefore second-ary students are not sleepy until later at night, and remain sleepy later in the morning than younger students. Teens’ total sleep gets com-pressed between this physiologic change and the early start times of school. A whopping 80% of high school students get less than the 9-9.5 hours of sleep they need each night.

School districts across the nation and in Washington State are facing the decision of whether to align secondary school hours with the times students are most alert. In August, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stated his support of later school start times. And in Sep-tember, the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction asked for feedback on this idea via their Facebook page. Currently, there are active volunteer groups comprised of parents, stu-dents, educators and sleep specialists supporting this initiative in sev-eral school districts, including Seattle, Lake Washington, and North-shore. And there are likely others across the state. In spring 2012 the WSPTA passed a resolution supporting later school start times.

Why is it so important to align school start times with the time that students are fully awake and alert? Does school start time truly make a difference? Over one hundred research studies show that “Yes” school

start time does make a difference. This im-provement is seen in several areas – academic performance, health and safety. A few highlights when school starts later:- Students get more sleep- Grades are higher in those who get more sleep- Fewer teen auto accidents - Less risk-behaviors when teens sleep more- Fewer suicidal thoughts- Better attendanceAn excellent and comprehensive summary of the literature can be found at startschoollater.net.

High school teachers often report that students are falling asleep in the first one or two periods of the day, and that they know their first classes of the day will get lower grades than classes later in the day. Likewise, parents know from seeing their children at home that school is starting before the students are naturally awake. Most adults remember the same experience of dragging themselves to school in the morning. It is time now, with the volumes of medical and educational research showing the benefits, to align school start times with teen physiology, so students can get the most out of their education, and be ready to thrive after high school.

Dr. Catherine Darley is a sleep specialist in Seattle who volunteers on the Exec-utive Board of Start School Later initiative, and with the Seattle chapter. Please contact her if you’d like help to initiate this change in your school district. drdarley@naturalsleepmedicine.net.

Head of Education Supports Later Start Times

MEMBERSHIP OUTREACH

What is the WSPTA?

By Dr. Catherine Darley

ISSUE FOCUS:

4 a Washington State PTA parent involvement magazine

Motivating Students to Achieve at School and Beyond

Staying motivated at school is difficult for many students, but there are a few things parents can do to help, such as providing a good environ-ment to do homework, encouagement, and an understanding that efforts made in school will translate into future opportunities.

A good homework environment• Provide a homework space for your students with plenty of desk

space, supplies, adequate lighting, and a positive attitude toward the value of homework as a means to learn to work hard, create good study habits and learn a subject area better. Turn off the television and other distractions so your student can focus. Be available if your student has questions or technical difficulties, such as problems with printing an assignment completed on a computer.

• Teach your kids to study efficiently. Every student has natural learn-ing style(s), which can can apply to his or her study habits to make learning easier. There are many different kids of learning styles, but the main ones are visual learners, auditory learners, and tactile/kinesthetic learners. Visual learners are characterized by learning best through sight, such as looking and pictures, studying written words, or writing things out. Auditory learners are characterized by learning best through sound--such as listening to lectures, repeating words or phrases or explaining things to themselves aloud. Tactile and kinesthetic learners find they learn best by working with their hands, acting things out, building models, and using their bodies to be actively engaged in the learning process.

• Help your students learn time-management. Teach your students how

to make a homework plan by writing out all the homework they need to complete and schedule the order they are going to do it in. Generally, it’s best to do the hardest tasks first. Encouage them to schedule snacks and study breaks as a reward for getting one task done before moving on to the next. Finally, allow them to celebrate their successes in ways that are motivating to them, such as screen time or reading for pleasure.

Verbal encouragement• Praise is most effective when it is honest, specific and earned. When parents praise their children, it’s best when it is focused on a specific behavior, rather than outcome. “I am so proud of you when you work so hard on your study-ing,” rather than, “I’m proud of you for your good grades.” Praise can be given for making good decisions, coming up with creative ideas, being helpful or understanding, showing empa-thy, being generous with time and resources, and so on.

• Always focus on positive aspects, rather than pointing out what students did wrong.

• Don’t overpraise your children. This will lower the value of your positive encouragement. You can never tell your children “I love you” enough, but when it comes to praise, it is so much more motivat-ing when it is well deserved. Take special care to look for ways your children are doing good things.

Future opportunities• In today’s culture, 70% of jobs require some sort of post-secondary

education. Parents can help children identify possible career interests. This provides a means to show them how school can provide access to go where they want to go.

• Teach your kids that there is always a way to achieve their dreams; nothing is out of their reach if they are willing to work hard. If they have difficulties with their schoolwork, and you are not able to help them at home, suggest they arrange to meet with teachers after school to get their questions answered or help them find someone who can provide the assistance they need.

Finally, encourage lifelong learning. The only thing we know for certain about the workplace of tomorrow is that it will be different from today. There will be technological advances and new ways of doing things and communicating with each other. Ask you children to teach you some-thing you don’t know. Be a role model for your kids by being resourceful and motivated to be a lifelong learner.

PARENT ENGAGEMENT

5The Child Advocate, November 2013

Helping Students Develop Career and Life Interests

Students who graduate from high school with a sense of direction are more likely to feel prepared to move on to the next phase of their lives with optimism and eager anticipation. To help your child develop a sense of direction, parents can help their child develop a desire to become independent, an under-standing of the value of meaningful work, and a clear sense of himself and what is important in his life.

Share Your Experiences• Talk to your students about what you like about your job.

Why do you feel what you are doing is important? What benefits does your work have on the company or the mission of the organization? Your children need to hear you talking about the positive aspects of your job and why you do your best everyday. Be a positive role model for your children and remember that they are listening and learning from you all the time. If your only comments about work are negative, then your children may come to the conclusion that work-ing cannot be worthwhile or meaningful beyond getting a paycheck.

• Explain how your work allows you to provide for your fam-ily, or provide the extra’s that your family enjoys. Talk about how your work helps improve the lives of others or makes a difference in the world in some way. Be specific about why your job has meaning and value to you. This will help your child as she thinks about her future and helps her think about a path that may fulfill a purpose that is important to her.

• Talk about your job history--how you’ve worked your way up to the position you are now or how you’ve changed jobs and are where you are now. Explain that you don’t enjoy every part of your job, but have learned to make the best of every situation.

Helping Students Develop A Sense of DirectionTalk to your students about their future by helping them consider the following:• Evaluate interests. Talk to your student about what she enjoys do-

ing. Look at possible career options that might include her natural interests. Help your student to examine the job outlook of different career interests, as well as salary, location, lifestyle (i.e., traveling a lot, working weekends, etc.), possibilities for personal growth and satisfaction (i.e., a purpose, such as helping others).

• Examine possible purposes. What is important to your son? Does he want to help others? Make the world a better place for kids? Make a difference in medicine? Help underpriviledged people? Build things that people can use? Provide a service for people to enjoy? Help him figure out what might be meaningful to him.

• After students have identified their interests, they need to get out of

the classroom and talk to people to see if their vision is something that fits. Your teenagers may be even able to participate in a job-shadowing experience in which they observe experts in the field for the day.

Moving From Interests to Goals• Once your students have identified career interests, help them

research what the post-secondary education requirements for these fields are, where the schools are located, and what high school educa-tion and activities are required for entrance into these schools.

• Help your students develop short-term and long-term goals to steer them in the right direction. Long-term goals include what job they want, what colleges they would like to go to, what majors they would like to study, and what courses they will need to take in high school.

• Short-term goals may include what they will do each week or each quarter to meet their desired outcomes. Provide a location in your children’s bedrooms where they can post their short- and long-term goals. Encourage your children to think about and update their goals periodically as well.

PARENT ENGAGEMENT

a Washington State PTA parent involvement magazine6

Encouraging a Good Work Ethic at Home and School

PARENT ENGAGEMENT

Developing a good work ethic will help your students at school and beyond. This process begins at home by teaching them the life skills they need to learn to be responsible citizens.

Teaching Responsibility• Expect your children to contribute their

time and energy around the house. Chores are an excellent opportunity for children to learn new skills and how to be responsible.

• Provide training. Sometimes children don’t know what is expected of them. For example, describe what you mean by a clean room, and if they don’t know where to start, then give them some guidance — such as, ‘Start by picking up the things on the floor, then pick up the things on the bed, and so on.’ Teach them how to cook, how to wash the dishes, how to do laundry, and so on.

• Offer guidance when needed, but let your children make decisions, face consequences of those decisions, and learn from their mistakes. Protecting your children from their problems will only rob them of valu-able learning opportunities.

Promoting Time Management• Encourage your children to make weekly

goals, then daily ‘to do’ lists to help them manage their time more effectively. At the top of the ‘to do’ lists should be the essen-tial items that must be completed each day or week, followed by the things that would be nice to complete.

• Purchase a calendar for your children. Have your children map out a basic weekly schedule for their activities and homework, so they are taking responsibility to be ready to go to their activities at the right time each week without constant parental reminders.

Raising Well-Adapted Children• Teach your children to be patient and work hard for the things they

want.

• Praise your children for working hard through difficult situations. • Don’t be afraid to provide correction to your children when needed.

Kids should be loved dearly, but never idolized by their parents. • Kids who feel entitled may be tempted to cheat, lie or steal in order

to get what they think they deserve. • Recognize that kids long for security. Provide household rules that

give them a foundation to succeed and a framework for acceptable behavior.

7The Child Advocate, November 2013

The minutes of a meeting are a permanent record of what occurred at the meeting, and provide an account of the meeting for mem-bers who could not attend. Meeting minutes for nonprofit associations are more than a convenient record; they are a necessary legal document.

Courts and agencies have, in past instances, carefully studied the texts of meeting minutes when the association’s policies, programs or actions were challenged for tax or other legal reasons.

It is essential that the minutes accurately reflect what has occurred at a meeting. Minutes should be a record of what was considered and accomplished at a meeting, not a record of each statement that was made by those at-tending. Minutes should never include personal opinions, interpretations, or comments. Min-utes are written in the third person.

Essential Components of Minutes• Minutes should indicate the place, date,

and time of the meeting. Minutes should contain the statement that notice of the

How to Take Great Minutesmeeting was given to those entitled to receive notice.

• Minutes should state whether the required quorum was present.

• Minutes should contain a statement that the minutes of the previous meeting had been distributed (or read) and were ap-proved either as written or as changed; all changes to the minutes of the previous meeting should be noted.

• The names of those attending should be listed in the minutes. If a sign-in sheet is used, this can be attached to the minutes instead of listing attendees.

• Minutes should follow a standard format.• Minutes should describe each motion,

report, or communication made at the meeting, as well as naming the person mak-ing the motion, report, or communication.

• Minutes should note any action taken in response to each motion, report, or commu-nication.

• The person that made the motion should fill out a motion form stating the exact verbiage of their motion, sign and date it. This is how the motion should be recorded in the minutes. (The name of the individual who second’s a motion does not need to

be included, only indicate that the motion was seconded.) This form should then be attached to the minutes and becomes part of the permanent record.

• When a counted vote is taken, the number of votes “for” and “against” a motion should be recorded in the minutes.

• Election results should be recorded in the minutes.

• Note any correspondence that is read.• Copies of written contracts, leases, insur-

ance policies, and other agreements ap-proved at a meeting should be attached.

Correction of MinutesCorrections to the minutes should be placed in the margin of the minutes with a line drawn carefully around the portion corrected. The corrections should be dated and initialed. It is permissible, but not required, to prepare a final version of the minutes incorporating the changes, but the original draft with the annota-tions should be retained as well.

Treasurer’s ReportAll financial reports submitted since the last meeting should be reviewed during the meeting and attached to the minutes, but they are not voted on or approved. If no report is submit-ted for a particular month, the treasurer’s explanation should be recorded in the minutes.

ReportsRecord all reports and who made them. A brief summary may be included, or the report, if written, can be attached to the minutes.

DiscussionDiscussion is generally not included in the minutes unless a summary is essential to under-stand the action taken. Any summary should be in general terms and not include names.

ProgramRecord the names or participants, the topic, and the method of presentation. Do not include details.

AdjournmentRecord the time of adjournment and the date of the next meeting. The secretary signs the minutes.

PTA Programs Your Children Can Participate In

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Reflections Program

The Reflections program is a National PTA and Washington State PTA cultural arts competition. The purpose of this program is to provide an opportunity for students to use their creative talents by expressing themselves through their own original works. Young artists get involved in Reflections through their local PTA or PTSA. A student may submit an entry in any of six arts areas. Only original works of art are accepted. The six art areas are: literature, music composition, photogra-phy, visual arts, film/video, choreography/dance and a special artist division.

PTA Men Essay Contest

This program recognizes the important and different contributions that men make in children’s lives and in their education through student-written essays. Grade level divisions include K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Prizes are awarded at each grade level and the top win-ners will present their essays at the WSPTA convention in April. Any student may enter an essay into this statewide contest.

More information and the application form is available at http://www.wastatepta.org/programs/PTA_mens/. The deadline date for submitting an essay is March 1, 2014.

LOCAL CONNECTIONS:

What are Corporate Partnerships?

SPONSORS

PARTNERS

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

RESOURCES

PARTNERS AND SPONSORS

Win Free Kindles by Sharing Your StoryAfter you host your PTA Family Read-ing Experience, Powered by Kindle event, share your story with the National PTA and you may be selected to win a set of 10 Kindle e-reader for your PTA! In ad-dition, NPTA will feature your PTA in national promotions. For information, go to http://www.pta.org/programs/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3563.

Guaranteed Education

Tuition (GET)The Washington State PTA welcomes a new sponsor, Guaranteed Education Tuition (GET), which helps families save for college. More information about GET is available at http://www.get.wa.gov/.

Center for the Improvement of Student Learning

The legislature reactivated CISL in 2006 with the purpose of facilitating access to information and materials on education improvement. www.k12.wa.us/cisl/

Office of the Education OmbudsmanThe Office of the Education Ombudsman (OEO) provides information about the public school system, how to get involved, conflict resolution between families and schools, and referrals to education-related resources in Washington State. www.wapar-entslearn.org

Action for Healthy KidsHealthy students are better able to develop and learn. This website is designed to help you learn more about ways to support positive changes in children’s fitness and nutrition in your community whether at a local, state or national level. www.action-forhealthykids.org

Bright FuturesBright Futures is a national health promo-tion initiative dedicated to the principle that every child deserves to be healthy and that optimal health involves a trusting relation-ship between the health professional, the child, the family, and the community as partners in health practice. www.brightfutures.org

Child Care Resource & Referral Network

Finding the right caregiver means think-ing about the needs of both your child and family when deciding if a particular setting meets those needs. This website offers refer-ral information on licensed child & youth care. www.childcarenet.org/

McDONALD’S Washington State PTA and the Washington-based owner/operators of McDonald’s franchises have entered into a partnership agreement to support the public school system and its educational resources while concurrently promoting a balanced diet and nutrition. Responding to both public comments and changing customer tastes, McDon-ald’s has recently expanded its menu offerings to include a number of lower-calorie and wholesome options, and of course promoting child health and wellbeing is a core value of Washington State PTA.

Association Insurance Management (AIM)Through its partnership Washington State PTA, Association Insurance Manage-ment (AIM) supplies liability, medical injury, property, officers’ liability and bonding to Washington State PTAs, PTSAs and Councils at special discounted rates. The program provides coverage for activities such as concession stands, car washes, t-shirt sales, fun runs, carnivals and other PTA sponsored activities. More information about AIM and the services it provides to PTAs is available on its website, https://www.aim-companies.com/

PEMCO Washington State PTA appreci-ates the support of PEMCO Insur-ance, the Northwest’s largest local provider of auto, home, boat, and umbrella coverage. More information is available on PEMCO’s website: http://www.pemco.com/welcome.aspx

Internet Essentials

Internet Essentials by COMCAST is the largest broadband adoption program ever un-dertaken to address components of the digital divide: low digital literacy, perceived lack of relevance of online content, and need for low-cost, quality computers and internet service.

WSPTA’s sponsors play an important role in supporting the work PTA does for children. When you align your company with the WSPTA, your company demonstrates its commitment to improving the welfare and education of every child. Our members are highly engaged parents who are interested in innovative products and services to support their PTAs and their children.

Sponsorships with the WSPTAThere are many sponsorship opportunities with the WSPTA from supporting one of our statewide events, such as convention, legislative assembly or region conferences, to providing year-round sponsorship to support the WSPTA and its vision to help all children reach their potential. Sponsors receive recognition in our newsletters, e-newsletters, website, blogs and at the annual convention.

Partnerships with the WSPTA WSPTA strives to create meaningful partnerships to further family engagement, improve student success, and share relevant resources and information.

For more information on sponsorships and partnerships, contact khobbs@wastatepta.org.

For more information on sponsorships and partnerships, contact khobbs@wastatepta.org.