A Letter from our PTA President:

Kristen Allen-Bentsen

Happy New Year and welcome to the first edition of PTA Cougar Tracks. We are excited about launching a PTA centered newsletter wherein we can share information, spread news and most importantly, talk about great people and great things that are happening at IVE.

I know that the new year is typically the time we make new resolutions that few of us rarely follow through on. In the past my resolutions have included writing in a journal every day (made it to January 7th), giving up chocolate (didn’t make it past January 1st) and not yelling at my children (let’s not even talk about my failure in this arena). I’ve learned that I need to word my resolutions more carefully if I want to be successful. Instead of not yelling I need to “think before I yell”; instead of promising to write in a journal every day, I need to promise myself I will write once a month. We all want to succeed!

I would like to propose to the parent community an easy, simple resolution that I promise will not only make you feel successful, but will impact our school community in a significant way. Resolve to attend our February 8th Auction at Pickering Barn. By sending in your RSVP form now, you are pledging your support to our children, our teachers and education enrichment at IVE. With funds raised from our Fund-A-Need, we hope to start a technology fund to support teachers in their quest to bring active boards, technology and technology education to our kids. But you know what else? Supporting the PTA supports many other programs that are enriching the lives of kids at IVE. Did you know that Eager Reader is funded 100% by the PTA? Did you know that the Art Docent program is funded solely by the PTA and staffed by volunteers? Did you know that the PTA is currently funding a Science Enrichment program in every classroom at IVE? Did you know that PTA dollars go to teachers, specialists and staff to help them buy curriculum, supplies and pay for field trips and guest speakers? Our volunteers are priceless and the work they do immeasurable, but without dollars behind our programs, we are limited in how we can help.

It is certainly easy to be frustrated by the lack of funding for education; I know I am. Do know that there is an entire legislative contingent of the PTA actively working on changing laws and bringing more funding to teachers and to schools. But recognize that legislative victories (like 4204!...yippeee!) are long fought and hard won. Our children cannot afford to wait.

So resolve to join us at the Barn on February 8th. It will be a great night of connecting as a community and pledging our support to continue the great work at IVE! I look forward to working with all of you in the coming year.

Kristen