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Letters
A Letter from our PTA President: Kristen Allen-Bentsen Did you know that Valentine’s Day was also the 100th day of school? With less than 80 days of school left, we are definitely on the downward slide to summer. And believe it or not it’s time for the PTA to start planning for next year. Already, our nominating committee is hard at work creating a slate of new officers and soon we will start searching for committee chairs to lead our year-long and specific event committees. Regardless of your interests, the amount of time you have and your background, we have a place for you in the PTA. Together we can make can make a powerful difference for our kids. As we look ahead to the 2008-2009 school years’ goal planning, it’s important that we reflect on our current goals and evaluate our success towards reaching these goals. One of our goals this year was to build a vibrant, caring community at IVE. To that end this year we added more social events, including a free ice cream social, a wine and cheese auction and culture night (coming this spring). All of these events have been well-attended and we feel we are on our way. At the same time, we know we can do a better job of making every family feel included at IVE. Particularly, we want to do a better job reaching out to our kindergarten parents in specific, targeted ways that address the needs of “first time” elementary parents. If you have suggestions or comments on this topic, please call or write! Our second goal this year was to increase fundraising efforts to contribute additional resources towards our children’s education. Thanks to the incredible leadership of our auction chairs Kim Murphy and Karie Underwood, the hard work of the auction committee and the generous donations by our parent community, our February “mini” auction raised a whopping $51,000. This money allows us to create a technology fund so that our teachers, who are seeking active boards, votes, pointers etc. to further enhance their teaching, can do so. Our Walk-a-Thon is our final and key fundraiser this year as its proceeds largely fund our general PTA budget. With a successful walk-a-thon we can continue to support Science-To-Go, Eager Reader, Art and lots more. Finally, this year we hoped to reach the entire IVE community with effective, efficient communications. Our weekly IVE email blasts have been keeping us all up to date with the latest legislative news, school events and upcoming due dates. Additionally, our Cougar Tracks newsletter is doing a monthly, more in-depth look at what’s happening in the PTA. This spring we have lots to look forward to as well. Our amazing Science Fair takes place at the end of March, our great Buy-One-Get-One-Free book fair happens in March too. In April look for an all new IVE Culture Night and in May get excited for Staff Appreciation and our fun, fit and famous Walk-a-Thon. What would you like to see happen next year? Do you have a great idea for a fundraiser? Do you see a need that’s not being effectively met? Do you wish the PTA would have reached out to your family in a different way? If you answer yes to any of these questions, or if they spark another PTA related idea, I would love to hear it and start a conversation with you about how we can continue to enrich our school community. Email me at kallenbentsen@hotmail.com or call me at home 425.427.6487. Together, we will make a positive difference in the lives of our children. Sincerely, |
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