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Hello,
I hope you were able to spend time with family or friends this past week. I had a chance to spend the week with all three of my children and we really enjoyed a low-key holiday week and time together. It's hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of November! I reflected this past week on what a great fall it has been as our students have had a more typical start to the school year, able to participate in all the activities that make school fun and engaging. |
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This is also a time of year for parent-teacher conferences. Thank you to our teachers who put hours of time into meeting with families over a few short days during the past week or two. Many of you attended fall parent-teacher conferences this past week and had a chance to engage directly with your student's teachers. Personally, I felt it was great to have some face-to-face time to hear where my children are excelling and to discuss ways that I can help where support is needed. |
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While this school year might feel normal in many regards, it is impossible to ignore the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on our students in the areas of social-emotional learning and growth, mental health and academic success.
As the Nation's Report Card and the Oregon State Report Card were released this past month it is evident that our students are feeling the academic impact of both a year spent learning in a virtual format, followed by a year of uncertainty and stress as they returned to classrooms. Reading scores for 4th graders across the country were significantly lower across all demographics with the average reading score lower than all previous assessment years going back to 2005. Logically this is not surprising, given that during a pivotal time in a student's reading growth, they were learning in a virtual environment, many with technology or support issues. At eighth grade, the average reading score was lower compared to all previous assessment years going back to 1998. This shows that the gap for these students is wider than before.
In a joint project, the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University produced key findings, long term implications and what states can do to address learning loss and how much funding it will take to correct. And while we know that educational assessments are merely just a snapshot of how a student is performing and needs to be combined with classwork and teacher observation, there is no denying how critical it is for families and schools to partner together for student success.
As PTA leaders, the work we do to help families engage in their children's education, has the greatest potential to strengthen school- family partnerships and ultimately impact student success as we move forward. Thank you for everything you are doing to bring families in your school communities together. Your work makes a difference for every child.
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Greetings!
How is it November? We are almost done with our busiest season for PTA, and I know that there are a lot of you feeling overwhelmed with all of the deadlines on November 30. But we are here to assist you if you have questions, so please do not hesitate to reach out to me at president-elect@oregonpta.org with any of your UGS concerns!
We have made the upload process really simple on our OPTA website and everything can be directly uploaded there. For those of you that have opted to do the National PTA training options, all I need is an email from you showing the certificate of completion that you’ll get at the end of each of the required options.
Also, an important reminder. If you have not updated your board information yet this year, then we have no way to get in touch with the new people in your PTA. Please get that information in ASAP!
Warmly,
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Definition of connect:
1. to become joined
2. to meet for the transference of
information
3. to make a successful throw, hit, or shot
4. to establish a rapport
5. to establish communications
6. to link together |
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Fall is here, and with it comes a lot of planning for upcoming programs and events to benefit students in your schools. It’s also a good time to continue growing your membership base and to build strong relationships with them. They are the voice for your students, your volunteers to keep events on track, and your future PTA leaders. |
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By the end of October, five additional local PTA units that had less than 25 members all of last year, have exceeded that amount already this year!
Congrats to:
- Jason Lee PTA, Region 2, increased from 24 all of last year to 42 so far this year
Robert Gray Middle School PTA, Region 2, increased from 19 all of last year to 25 so far this year
- Sabin Elementary PTA, Region 2, increased from 21 all of last year to 28 so far this year
- Howard Eccles Elementary PTA, Region 4, increased from 9 all of last year to 27 so far this year
- Sunnyside Elementary PTA, Region 4, increased from 9 all of last year to 37 so far this year
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When you enter members into the Oregon PTA database on our website, be sure to follow the process all the way through. Once you’ve entered the information, click on Report Unreported Members to finalize entry. Then click on View/Print Invoices to retrieve the invoice to send in with dues payment to Oregon PTA. See the complete Membership Reporting Instructions here. |
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Congratulations to October’s membership incentive winner for Put the ‘T’ in PTA. Stephenson Elementary PTA entered a minimum of 5 teachers as members and was pulled from the drawing for a prize! They will receive a PTA shopping bag full of goodies. You still have time to add community members for the November challenge, Community Collaboration. Enter 5 by the end of November for a chance at the drawing prize.
Our first Membership Zoom Chat was held on October 27. There was a good show of leaders with questions, ideas, and networking. These membership chats will continue every other month as a drop-in opportunity for leaders to ask specific questions, talk over challenges you’re having, or share your membership successes. A new Zoom link will be sent out in early December for the meeting on the 8th of that month. I hope you will join us.
With the right tools and information, every unit can grow and maximize membership. Contact us; we’re here to help and support you.
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Thank You for Voting in the 2022 General Election
As of November 15, 2022, 61.79% of Oregon eligible voters cast their ballots and we know you helped get out the vote as the most basic step in advocacy. Thank you for your participation and any work you did to get out the vote this year. It seems that beyond participation we had good civil responses from most candidates as they accepted the vote results. This may seem to be unusual to celebrate, but in these divisive times it was not clear that our belief in a peaceful transition of power would hold for our democracy. |
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Measure 114 Narrowly Passes
Oregon PTA endorsed a yes vote on Measure 114 which is a gun safety measure closing the background check loophole, requiring permits to be issued to purchase guns and limiting the size of a magazine to 10 rounds in new sales. We firmly believe that these will make our children and youth safer in both community responsibility of gun ownership as well as requiring education for all people purchasing guns. We know this is not universally applauded but we do believe the life of even one child is worth the challenges this presents. |
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Legislative Committee to meet!
Now that we know basically who will be the players in the next legislative session we can get together and discuss our priorities in the session ahead. We will hold a virtual meeting over zoom on Thursday, December 8, 2022, at 6:30 PM. If you are interested in attending please send us an email and I will forward the zoom link to you. Thanks in advance for your participation. |
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If you have any questions or concerns please contact us. Scott Overton (legislation@oregonpta.org) and Otto Schell (loschell@hevanet.com) |
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The adidas Employee Store is happy to share their exclusive employee discount
(see attached invite for details & verification method).
*To make it easier for customers to gain access to the store, they have updated their invites to reflect a new access policy. Each PDF invite now includes a unique QR code that will be used at check-out. They encourage each invitee to bring a copy of this invite with them, either printed out or on their device, for a smoother check-in and check-out process.
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We are doing some great things on Social Media! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! |
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