Bryant PTSA Budget Proposal & Survey Results are in!

Honor Rovai

The PTSA Board invites you to preview the draft agenda and content for the October 13th meeting now.  You’ll find a summary of the September community survey and proposals for new PTSA standing rules and 2020-2021 budget revisions published online here.  We hope this preview provides time to consider any questions or feedback.  We welcome your thoughts and questions in advance at ptsaexec@bryantschool.org. 

In the September survey, we heard from several community members who are interested in increasing our monetary and non-monetary supports for kids furthest from educational justice in our city’s public schools.  We’ll be reflecting on this topic of resource-sharing in our Equity discussion in the upcoming October 13th meeting.  We hope that you will join us in this conversation and effort to advance equity in our district.
In the October meeting, Bryant PTSA Membership will be asked to vote on:

• Election of new officers to the Executive committee
• Revised PTSA budget for 2020-2021
• New and revised standing rules

Not a PTSA member yet this year? Signing up is easy!

Membership questions?  Email membership@bryantschool.org. 

The first PTSA General Membership meeting of the school year will be on Tuesday, October 13 at 7:00pm via Microsoft Teams. 

Click to join Microsoft Teams meeting.
For audio conferencing, dial: +1 206-800-4787
Conference ID: 571 894 081#  

English live captions are available for this meeting, using any recent version of the Teams app (desktop or mobile app).  More info here.

To inquire about accommodations to attend this event, please contact ptsaexec@bryantschool.org.

Thank you,
Bryant PTSA Board 

This Wednesday – Online Bryant Q&A with SPS Directors Hampson and Rankin

Kathy Austin
Do you have questions about school starting this fall? Things you want the SPS Board to know? Questions about other topics? Join SPS Board VP Chandra Hampson, SPS Board Director Liza Rankin, and Bryant PTSA for a Q&A online, this Wednesday, July 15th at 7:30PM!

We’ll give priority to questions submitted in advance, but we are also hoping to have time for you to ask questions live. Submit your questions to advocacy@bryantschool.org.

What do you want to know?

–Bryant PTSA Co-Advocacy Chairs, Sam Fogg and Adele Kulisewa


To join the meeting via Microsoft Teams app or browser, click on this link: Microsoft Teams Meeting

To join the meeting via phone, dial 1-206-800-4787 and then enter this conference ID when prompted: 243 674 580#

In Memory of Roxanne Kimbrough

Kathy Austin

Please be aware the following contains disturbing or triggering content.

Dear Bryant Community,

We are deeply saddened to by the news that Roxanne Kimbrough, longtime Bryant Mom and volunteer, was killed in a domestic violence incident last week. Our hearts go out to her family. We’re thankful that her children are safe with their dad and step-mom.

You may have seen Roxanne at Bryant pick-up and drop-off, painting sets for the play, or volunteering on campus. Your child may have known Roxanne from when she chaperoned at Islandwood and for other field trips. She will be remembered in our community as a loving and devoted mom.

We’d like to take this moment to highlight a local organization, New Beginnings, which is working to end domestic violence. Among other services, they offer a 24-hour helpline (206-522-9472) to anyone needing support or advice.

In memory of Roxanne,

– Bryant PTSA

Updates from OSPI and SPS on Fall Re-entry

Kathy Austin

We’re starting to see more questions about what school may look like in the fall, and we’ll be providing resources and information as we have it.

OSPI is the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. They provide guidance for all the school districts across the state. Along with the Governor’s office, the OSPI has provided all guidance for school closures due to COVID-19.  OSPI has provided an update for the fall reopening of schools. 

School Districts then need to take this guidance and come up with a plan for their district that takes into account the specifics of their district. For us, that will be Seattle Public Schools and they have provided their plan for re-entry here. From there, each school building in Seattle Public Schools will need to take the district plan and apply it to their building, and each teacher will apply the building plan to their classroom.

When looking at information from OSPI, keep in mind that they are creating a framework for all districts, rural, suburban, and urban, across the state. There is tremendous variation in the districts. There are tiny school districts (Concrete School District served 524 students last year) and there are big school districts (Seattle Public Schools served 55,844 students last year). There are differences in terms of resources, the layout of school buildings, transportation needs, access to internet, and more, not to mention differences in how each area is being impacted by COVID19.

Please continue to check back to the OSPI and SPS for updates as summer progresses.

Bryant PTSA Anti-Racism Resolution and Call to Action

Kathy Austin
Dear Bryant Families and Community,
 
In our General Membership meeting this month, our PTSA passed a resolution on anti-racism which we encourage everyone to read.  Thank you to our PTSA Advocacy co-chairs for shaping this powerful statement in collaboration with our neighbor school PTSAs.
 
In the resolution, we commit to direct and substantive action and we’d like to elaborate with these immediate actions:
  • Building a lending library to promote anti-racist learning for Bryant families with a $500 grant from the PTSA budget
  • Forming a Families of Color Resource Group this summer, led by two PTSA board members and members of the Equity Committee (contact Equity@BryantSchool.org) 
  • Sharing an Anti-Racist Resource List here to support meaningful action in our community
With the strong leadership of our Advocacy and Equity committees, we’re redoubling our efforts to advocate for the eradication of structural racism, with a focus on educational justice. Our newly elected Bryant PTSA Board for the 2020-21 school year has more people of color represented. Going forward, our Board will work to bring a lens of equity and belonging to our decision-making and conversations. To hold ourselves accountable to these commitments, we will discuss our progress and additional actions in each PTSA Board meeting.  

We commit to this work as individuals, as an organization working to become anti-racist, and as a PTSA working toward an environment where our marginalized communities are centered and thriving.

Wishing you a safe and restorative summer,
-Bryant PTSA Board

References: 
Check out the resource list and the resolution on Anti-Racism. 
 
We also support these statements made by:

Passed: Bryant PTSA Resolution on Anti-Racism

Kathy Austin

Want to know why Minneapolis is burning?

Mama. He called Mama.

At least that’s why I want to burn, why I feel like I could scream until flames rip out of my throat. He has called up great power. I want all of us to turn, all of us who have heard Mama in a store and thought it meant us. It’s time to turn. White mamas, mamas with privilege, you have been summoned. And any of us who have ever cried out Mama, we hear it too, down in our bones. It’s a cry that can’t go unanswered anymore. So Minneapolis burns. And we need to gut all the spaces in our lives where systemic racism has quarter.

I think of the other mamas who turned a tide: Emmett Till’s, for one. We speak out of the deep mystery from whence all life springs. My white people: Nurture antiracism in your life like you would a child in your arms, even if you’ve only just heard it named. Learn what it means and how to foster it. Care about it, give it space in your life. Come to understand it, even if it’s difficult and challenges everything.

Mama is coming. And the men who make order in the world should be very afraid.

~Mary Helen Kennerly

PTSA Resolution on Anti-Racism

As PTSA leadership we are parents; many of us are Mama.  We have been summoned, and now is the time to answer, not simply with platitudes, but with action.  In PTSA that action takes the form of resolutions and policy.  It is time for us to acknowledge that we can be racist or anti-racist, but we cannot be neutral.  It is time for us to acknowledge our power, as well as the existence and pervasiveness of systemic racism.  It is time for us to fight for the education of our children in the hope that doing so will save the lives of our black and brown children and all children furthest from educational justice.

Whereas “the most fundamental right is the right to live” 1 and that right is being denied to black people across this country and in Seattle;

whereas systemic racism is embedded in every aspect of this country, including public schools;

whereas systemic racism in our school system is a major factor in the opportunity gap between white and black students;

whereas  we must choose whether to be a racist or anti-racist organization as there is no neutral space;

whereas PTA moves toward “every child. One voice,” but the voices and needs of black children continue to be left out and unheard;

Resolved, that Bryant PTSA commits to being an anti-racist organization.

Educates our PTSA members on issues related to anti-racism through hosting parent education events, providing anti-racism books and resources for families, and by including information on anti-racism in every PTSA Board Meeting.

Actively works to center the voices of our families furthest from educational justice by engaging with families.

Actively works with our school, Seattle Public Schools, the City of Seattle, and the State of Washington to provide opportunities and funding for professional development for anti-racism work.

 1Ibram X. Kendi https://www.facebook.com/ibramxkendi/

2019-2020 End of Year Letter from the PTSA Board

Kathy Austin

Dear Bryant Community, 

As the school year comes to a close, we wanted to express our immense gratitude to each individual in our Bryant community for supporting one another in this extraordinary year. We miss seeing you in person and look forward to reuniting in the future. We’d like to recognize our many leaders and volunteers for their great contributions and accomplishments in Bryant’s 2019-2020 year. 

First, we’d like to recognize our students who have been engaged all year in learning, helping and growing both at school and at home. We want to thank the parents, grandparents, siblings and other extended family who are supporting our students’ learning from home. Your commitment is an awesome inspiration.

Thank you to the Bryant Administration and Staff for creating memorable experiences for our community, including Multi-Cultural Night, the Bryant Misses You video, Bryant Parade, Fifth Grade graduation. We recognize all the ways that you’ve engaged our students and families and shown such resilience in difficult times.

Thank you to the many donors who have supported our successful fundraising programs, including the Annual campaign, Supplies campaign, silent Auction, and the Hunger Intervention and Hunger Prevention programs. We’re especially appreciative of your generous support of local schools in need via the September supplies campaign and the spring Hunger Prevention program. The Hunger Intervention Program (HIP) continued throughout the year with monthly grade-level food drives, and virtual fundraising after the building closure. And the Families in Need (FIN) program at Bryant continued to receive generous support from the annual PTSA budget. Thank you to the leaders of each of these vital fundraising and support programs.

Bryant has a long tradition of amazing volunteerism and community leadership. We want to recognize our PTSA board, committee chairs and leaders, and especially our individual volunteers. You create the rich community that we cherish. This year saw the formation of an Equity and Inclusion Committee in the Bryant PTSA to further inclusion and belonging for all families at Bryant by recognizing and celebrating our community’s diversity and addressing the needs of those furthest from educational justice. The PTSA was proud to pass an Equity resolution to declare the aspiration of equity to be core to its values, purpose and action and to put equity at the center of our endeavors, partnerships and collaborations. Our Advocacy chairs hosted a Meet Your Politicians event, including an unprecedented seven state, city and district political representatives at Bryant. There was a renewed commitment to Community Service this year, with families participating in multiple events, including the MLK Day of Service hygiene kit event. We also saw the introduction of new community building events and the continuation of the community speaker series. All of this wouldn’t be possible without our communications platform and team, including Facebook, the Weekly and BryantSchool.org. Thank you to the leaders and volunteers in these Equity, Advocacy, Community Service, Community Engagement and Communications roles.

We’ve been so inspired by the entire community’s continued commitment to our students and our school. As we look forward to next year, we will be working with the Administration toward a smooth transition in the fall. We wish you all a safe and healthy summer.

2019-2020 Bryant PTSA Board