Missouri PTA To Celebrate 100th Anniversary
Missouri PTA will be 100 years old this year. Wow, 100 years of advocating for the children of Missouri, a true reason to reminisce, acknowledge our accomplishments and to CELEBRATE!! We are working on plans for a Diamond Celebration Evening in conjunction with our annual state convention, Saturday, October 20, 2012 to be held at Hilton Kansas City Airport, 8801 NW 112th Street, Kansas City, MO 64153.
Your past presidents as well as current & past board members are working hard to complete a history of the past 100 years in a beautiful hard bound coffee table book for your enjoyment. To reserve your copy all it takes is a donation of $100 which will also include your name or unit’s name engraved on a permanent plaque to be housed at our state office. We want all units, councils, school districts and as many individual PTA members, current and past, to come together and support our efforts in making our Diamond Celebration a SUCCESS!!! So be a part of our history, but more importantly, become a part of our future. Donate to: Missouri PTA’s 100th Anniversary Fund, 2101 Burlington, Columbia, MO 65202-1945. Questions: Call Kathy at 816-589-4483 or email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
For your convenience you can pay with Paypal:
Consumption Tax Petition Talking Points
Consumption Tax Petition Talking Points
The Consumption Tax petitions, sometimes referred to as the Everything Tax, Mega-Tax or Fair Tax, have begun to circulate across the state of Missouri. The current petitions are intended to constitutionally change the way state revenue is generated. The current income tax structure would be fazed out and replaced with a sales tax on both goods and services. There are currently issues with these petitions that Missouri PTA believes would cause harm to the welfare of children.
Click here to view Missouri PTA's position statement pertaining to the consumption tax initiatives.
NPTA -Parent Guide on the Common Core State Standards
National PTA Releases Parent Guides on the Common Core State Standards for English, Math Grades K-12
Guides Help Parents Better Understand Common Core Implementation Process
The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) announced that they are releasing guides on the Common Core State Standards for parents.
PTA Partners in Leadership, including a Spotlight on MOPTA Students
In the November edition of PTA Partners in Leadership
- Landers Receives Award
- Call for Convention Workshop Presenters
- and more
Plus a feature that MOPTA is particularly proud of:
Missouri Legislature Filed Bills - 2012 session
The Missouri Legislature returned to session January 4th, 2012. As of April 2nd 2012, these are the filed bill that we are currently following.
MOPTA News
We are excited to share that this Wednesday, May 16, 2012 New York State PTA President Dr. Maria Fletcher will be testifying before Congress. The House Education and Workforce Committee’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education will host a hearing at 10 am EST entitled “Exploring State Success in Expanding Parent and Student Options.” Dr. Fletcher was invited at the request of Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (NY-4).
Dr. Fletcher will be joined on the panel by Kevin Chavous, Senior Advisor for the American Federation for Children and Todd Ziebarth, Vice President, State Advocacy and Support , National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. For more information, including a link to watch the hearing live on Wednesday, please visit http://www.edworkforce.house.gov/Calendar/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=294598.
Please join us in both congratulating and sending well wishes to Dr. Fletcher as she represents PTA before Congress! Let us know if you have any questions.
Read more...National PTA Announces Reflections Winners:
National PTA recognizes 6 Outstanding Interpretation winners as well as 72 students with Awards of Excellence and 116 students with Awards of Merit across four grade divisions—primary, intermediate, middle/junior, and senior—in six arts categories—dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography, and visual arts. Winners were chosen from hundreds of thousands of submissions from students across the nation and in European schools serving military families who participated in this year’s program, themed “Diversity Means…” The Outstanding Interpretation, Awards of Excellence and Awards of Merit artwork will be showcased in a virtual PTA Reflections gallery that will be live later this year.
Missouri PTA would like to congratulate the following National PTA Reflections honorees:
Awards of Excellence
Each Award of Excellence recipient receives:
- A cash award
- A silver-plated Reflections medal
- A certificate and letter signed by the National PTA President
- Recognition in the annual PTA Reflections online gallery
(Dance Choreography) Award of Excellence: Emily Downie, “ Diversity in Black and White”, Intermediate, Greenwood Laboratory School PTA, Springfield, MO.
(Musical Composition) Award of Excellence: Sam Garvin “Diversity Means a Caterpillar”, Primary, Rountree Elementary PTA, Springfield, MO.
(Photography) Award of Excellence: Andrew Reardon “Religious Diversity Can Unite”, Middle School, Liberty Middle School PTA, Liberty, MO.
Awards of Merit
Each Award of Merit recipient receives:
- A silver-plated Reflections medal
- A certificate and letter signed by the National PTA president
- Recognition in the annual PTA Reflections online gallery
(Musical Composition) Award of Merit: Daphne Yu “Battle of Nature” High School, Rock Bridge High School PTSA, Columbia, MO.
Each program year, students create works of art inspired by a specific theme. That theme is selected from hundreds of ideas submitted by students to the PTA Reflections Program Theme Search Contest. The theme for the 2012-2013 event will be “The Magic of a Moment”.
Based on feedback from local and state volunteers, National PTA has announced a new streamlined process for submitting Reflections entries. Missouri PTA expects to receive the details of this process in late May and will share this information with our units as soon as possible. Due to the timing of this new information, our Reflections toolkit information may be arriving separate from our annual summer packet mailing to PTA / PTSA leaders.
Our congratulations, again, to these winning entries!
Sincerely,
Donna Petiford
President, Missouri PTA
Missouri PTA is now on Facebook
Read more...Dear State PTA Presidents, Presidents-Elect, and Offices,
The National PTA Official Back to School Kit—Beyond the Basics returns with great resources from National PTA: the PTA Quick-Reference Guides, membership materials, program and advocacy resources, and special offers from national partners. And the first kit is free of charge! All units have to do is register.
All local, council, district, and region PTAs must register to receive the 2012-2013 kit. The kit registration form will be available at PTA.org/OfficialKit starting May 7. The form allows the incoming PTA president or other authorized leader to select the preferred shipping date and confirm or change the shipping address for the kit. In this way, the registration process helps us ensure that the kit gets into the right hands at the right time for each unit. Units can also register for the kit by calling the National PTA Information Center at (800) 307-4PTA (4782).
Additional kits can be purchased for $35 by calling the National PTA Information Center at (800) 307-4PTA (4782). Members can pay by check or credit card.
Units will be notified of the need to register via e-mail, PTA Local Leader News, Partners in Leadership, and with your help. Please communicate to your units the need to register for the kit. You may also reprint articles from PTA Local Leader News and Partners in Leadership in your newsletters and on your websites.
Kits will ship weekly June 8 to September 14, based on unit orders. Units that have not registered for the kit by September 14 will have a kit delivered in late September to the address on file with the National PTA office.
The address units provide on the kit registration form will be used one time only for the specific purpose of shipping the Official PTA Kit. The form will clearly state this and will inform units that they must complete all change-of-officer/address paperwork for the state PTA. The state PTA will still need to update unit records with the National PTA office to ensure that units get National PTA’s other valuable mailings throughout the year.
State PTA offices, presidents, presidents-elect, membership chairs, and extension chairs will automatically receive the Official PTA Kit in mid-June and do not have to register. Please make sure your records are up to date with the National PTA office.
See the attached FAQs specifically for state PTAs for more details, and for answers to questions we expect you might receive. For FAQs to share with your units, visit PTA.org/OfficialKit.
If you have any questions about the Official PTA Kit or its delivery, please contact LaWanda Toney at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (800) 307-4782
Sincerely,
The Official PTA Kit Team
Read more...Unit/Council Presidents, Legislative Chairs and Missouri PTA Board of Managers-
Missouri PTA is proud and excited to announce two of our resolutions - Distracted Driving and Improved Infrastructure Around Schools - adopted during our 2011 Convention have been approved by the National PTA Board of Directors to be brought forth at the National PTA Convention this June for adoption at the National level. Check out the May issue of CONTACT to find out how these resolutions went from an idea to action. MOPTA Board of Managers, including our student representatives who were the driving force behind the Distracted Driving resolution, will travel to the National Convention in San Jose to present and speak in favor of these resolutions' adoption.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Gardner
Vice President Legislation and Advocacy
Read more...
Exciting news! The Summer 2012 Grassroots Advocacy Training of the Trainers application is now open. You can find the application here: http://www.pta.org/4763.asp. We will promote on our website and through social media, but please disseminate to your state and local members.
More information is available at the aforementioned link, but as a reminder, state and local PTA members with introductory advocacy experience and who have an interest in expanding their advocacy network in their states and local districts are encouraged to apply (no nomination needed). National PTA will attempt to select applicants that represent a range of geographical locations; however, this is dependent on the amount of applications received. The National PTA Legislation Committee serves as the panel of judges.
The Summer ToTs will take place at National PTA headquarters in Alexandria on July 21-22, 2012. Applications are due on June 1, 2012 and applicants will be notified by mid-June of results.
Read more...Programs
With the recent release of Lee Hirsch’s troubling and enlightening documentary “Bully”, new awareness and concern is occurring in families, educators and school administrators. While the dynamics of bullying are centuries old, the causes, manifestations, and disheartening results are now being considered a serious social problem.
In 2003, Missouri PTA adopted a resolution addressing the problem of bullying within the public school system. The resolution called for school districts to have bullying policies in place that included awareness, prevention, and intervention programs. Since the adoption of this resolution, state and national legislators have heard our collective voice and begun the process of making changes that are desperately needed to keep our children safe. Initial anti-bullying laws were put into effect in part because of Missouri PTA’s advocacy efforts that took place after the resolution was adopted in 2003. Currently, HB 1049 changes the laws regarding bullying in schools and establishes specific components that a district must include in its anti-bullying policy. Missouri PTA supports this legislation.
There are many programs available that can be found on the internet that can be used both at home and in the classroom to promote safe and bully-free environments. Bitstripsforschools.com is a website with an entertaining computer activity that teaches and encourages children how to respond when bullying is taking place around them. Antibullyingprograms.org is another website with links to several effective anti-bullying programs.
PTA is dedicated to being “a strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child”. As a PTA member, find out what the bullying policies are in your school district. If needed, talk to your school board and administrators, and advocate for policies that will allow children a safe environment in which they can grow and learn. Volunteer at school activities, and observe interaction between children. Create programs at the school that recognize kindness and inclusion by groups and individuals. By being proactive and involved, you and PTA can make a difference in the experience of children in their schools.
Read more...Prepare to switch gears this spring. The National Center for Safe Routes to School announced today that it will be coordinating the first-ever National Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 9, 2012.
Bike to School Day builds on the popularity and success of International Walk to School Day, which is celebrated across the country – and the world – each October, and encourages a bike-focused celebration in the month of May. The National Center, which serves as the information clearinghouse for the federal Safe Routes to School program, is planning the inaugural event in partnership with the League of American Bicyclists, the organization that leads the celebration of National Bike Month.
“Communities and schools have been holding spring walk and bicycle to school days for years,” said Lauren Marchetti, director of the National Center for Safe Routes to School. “This inaugural celebration not only provides an opportunity for schools across the country to join together to celebrate National Bike to School Day but also to build off of the energy of National Bike Month.”
“Celebrating Bike to School Day will increase the excitement surrounding 2012 National Bike Month,” said Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists. “Bike Month – including Bike to Work Week and Bike to Work Day – has grown year after year and we’re pleased to add a school- and kid-focused event to the celebration this year.”
Save the date and stay tuned! A newly redesigned version of www.walktoschool.org will be unveiled in early April with more information about Bike to School Day and new event planning resources and tools, including a new GIS-powered walking and bicycling route mapping tool. A “Win a Bike Rack” contest is also being planned to help build excitement and encourage registration of both events and resources for this inaugural event. Bookmark www.walktoschool.org and check back often to learn more.
National Bike to School Day is based on the Walk to School Day model. Walk to School Day was founded in 1997 as a way to bring community leaders and children together to build awareness for communities to be more walkable. The one-day event has now grown to a month-long celebration. In 2011, students and parents from more than 4,000 U.S. schools joined millions of Walk to School Day and Month participants worldwide. The reasons for walking have grown just as quickly as the event itself. For more information, visit www.walktoschool.org.
Bike to School Day, a part of the National Bike Month, will be held on Wednesday, May 9, the week before Bike to Work Week and Bike to Work Day.
** This message can be found at www.saferoutesinfo.org/about-us/newsroom/bike-school-day.
Read more...
Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States; however, those reports can include multiple children. In 2009, approximately 3.3 million child abuse reports and allegations were made involving an estimated 6 million children. Child abuse can take many forms and includes neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and medical neglect. The repercussions of all types of abuse are life altering and lifelong.
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Do you have questions about what drugs really do to you? Get the inside information on how different drugs can affect the brain and body. Stretch your brain - play a game and test your knowledge. Read real stories about the challenges teens faced when turning their lives around. All of this can be found at the NIDA for Teens website where "science behind drug abuse" is shared.
In October 2011, the Missouri State PTA delegates approved the resolution “Distracted Driving”. The facts are clear. Distracted driving is a dangerous activity that kills many Missourians each year. These alarming statistics were published recently on distraction.gov, a government website dedicated to reducing distracted driving:
• In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in crashes involving driver distraction, and an estimated 448,000 were injured.
• 16% of fatal crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving.
• 20% of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving.
• Teen drivers are more likely than other age groups to be involved in a fatal crash where distraction is reported. In 2009, 16% of teen drivers involved in a fatal crash were reported to have been distracted.
• Distracted Driving is the number one killer of American teens.
Take a few minutes and watch the following video about a fatal distracted driving accident. Ask your teen driver, or even your child that is too young to drive, to watch the video with you. Promise your child that you will not use your cell phone while you are driving and ask them to do the same. A life isn’t as important as the urge to text or call. Be an example for your child. Make the promise and then follow through. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwAUkh_7pKA
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