Seattle Public Schools is offering admissions guidance in January and February at local schools. Get help completing your forms, speak to admissions staff through interpreters and submit your paperwork in person. Choose a date/location that works for you. See the flyer for details on the paperwork, or visit the District’s enrollment page to download the forms and see an overview of the entire process. Read more →

Tuesday, December 8, 2015
7:08 pm

Attendees: Leeann Huntington, Julie Ohrazda, Lauren Abraham, Jennifer Mahlum, Rachel Schaw, Kim Love, Kim Larsen, Joan Crooks, Amy Shanafelt, Carleen Confer, Amy Alphin, Dan Sanger, Julie Pearson, Patricia Parker, Sam Fogg, Mary-Britt Love, Anna Marburg, Michelle Ireton

November Board Meeting Minutes-Approved

Officer Standing Reports

1. Treasurer’s Report (Lauren Abraham & Jennifer Mahlum)
   Large matching gift payment came in
   Paid for 5th Grade camp & Paper

Special Committee Reports

1. Hunger Service Project
   Kicked off the program this month
   Program reps gave grade specific presentations

New Business

1. Schools First presentation on Supporting Seattle’s schools, levies.
   • Two important levies are on the ballot in Feb 2016
     • Operations Levy (provides 25% of Seattle Public Schools operating budget)
     • Capital Levy (maintenance, support classroom technology, academics and athletics and expand school capacity)
   • For more information see www.schoolsfirstseattle.org
   • Call to action
     • Endorsement from the PTA matters.
     • Volunteer to help get the word out (phone banking, newsletter communications)
     • Contributions: Financial support towards the campaign would be appreciated. In 2013 Bryant PTSA contributed $500.
2. Proposal to fund teacher professional development around PLCs (Dan Sanger)
   • Request to fund 25+ teachers to attend training around PLCs in August of 2016
   • $649 per teacher, Total ask $17,523
   • Board will meet as a smaller group with Dan to explore potential solutions
   • PLC training presentation
3. Funding for limited ceramics for 4th grade (Julianna Batho)
   • 4th Grade is interested
   • Ask is $950 to fund program in the Spring for all 3 programs
   • Board will respond to this request by end of the year
4. Tech Lab update on how the program has contributed to Bryant’s goals in year 1
   • Tech Lab Update powerpoint presentation
5. Request to fund a counselor position (Natalya Yudkovsky)
   • General discussion – No formal ask/request for funding was made
   • Dan & Julie described how they have tried to fill the gap of the counselor position
     • Teachers added more social studies, social interaction curriculum to their studies
     • Julie has taken on the role of supporting students when specific challenges arise.
   • Julie & Amy Alphin encourage any parents who feel like there is a gap around counselor support to please let their teacher, Julie and/or a PTSA member know so we can look for ways to address.

Meeting adjourned 8:42

With the holiday season upon us, there are a couple of convenient ways  to provide additional support for our school while you are going about your daily life. Shop online and and in stores to earn money for the PTSA which supports Bryant’s academic and enrichment programs. Read more →

Coming in for your parent-teacher conference? Please remember to check the Lost and Found racks located in the main hallway, for any of your student’s lost items. There are many sweaters, coats, lunchboxes, water bottles and miscellaneous items that would love to be reunited with their owners! All unclaimed items will be donated to charity. Thank you!

The attached Paramount Duty Resolution was adopted and signed by the general membership at the PTSA Board meeting on November 10th.  It sends a message to our legislators that as parents, citizens and voters, we request they uphold the Washington State Constitution that mandates the State amply fund education for all children.

We are sending the signed Paramount Duty Resolution to our 46th District Legislators, Gov Jay Inslee and the Senate and House Education Committee Members. Read more →

We have immediate openings for lunch recess volunteers weekly (or alternating weeks) from 12 – 1:30 pm.

Our playground volunteers help make Bryant a safe and fun place to be by helping kids in small ways like tying shoes & giving out band-aids, to bigger ways like giving gentle reminders of school policy, reporting incidents to playground staff and building social skills. This is a great way to get to know our school and Bryant students of all ages! Read more →

Seattle Public Schools hosts meetings at area schools on different topics and initiatives. Check the schedule for your areas of interest. Read more →

Your membership in the Bryant PTSA lets you affect advocacy for our students at the school, regional and national levels. Your annual membership dues are only $12 per person or $20 for a household of two, the majority of your dues fund our dues in the larger PTSA/PTA organizations.

• $1.50/member to the Seattle Council PTSA
• $5.75/member to the Washington State PTA
• $2.25/member to the National PTA

The PTSA and PTA, as powerful regional and national voting blocs, advocate for students and provide legislative voice for children in Olympia and Washington, D.C. This year, the state PTA and city PTSA are working to pressure the legislature to honor the McCleary decision to properly fund and prioritize education in the state. The Seattle Council PTSA has outlined steps to advocate for funding McCleary in its Paramount Duty campaign, which we’ll be discussing at our November PTSA meeting. Read more →

Thank you to those parents who were able to make it to the Fall General Membership meeting.  It was great to see so many new faces along with our returning members.

So, what’s next?  We need you to act now.

1. Support the annual campaign: The vast majority of the PTSA budget is provided through our contributions to the campaign. Thanks to you, we are off to a great start at a third of the way toward our 100% participation goal. By continuing toward that goal and giving to the campaign, we will ensure ourselves of having the necessary resources to continue with the tradition of funding into the next school year all the programs we as a Bryant community feel are important.
2. Advocate at the local and state level:
   • Email Joan Crooks to join the Bryant Advocacy list and receive regular updates on how you can help raise the volume on the need for Seattle Public Schools and Washington State to properly fund education.
   • Join forces with other Seattle Schools in an effort to develop a strategy to put a full stop to the current staff cuts due to take effect this week. For more information about how to get involved visit #kidsnotcuts.
3. State your intent: Jason Smith & a few other parents are spearheading a grassroots effort to gauge the interest doing additional fundraising this year to increase support for the Extension and Intervention program.

Thank you again for everyone’s participation and efforts to support Bryant Elementary school. A special thanks for Principle Sanger for taking the time to go deeper in his explanation of Professional Learning Communities and how that teaching model impacts both the staff and our students.  It was also helpful to hear how the Intervention and Extension specialist is plugged into the PLC model and how the Intervention and Extension program will need to evolve without a dedicated specialist coordinating the team.

Leeann Huntington
PTSA President

Dear Bryant Families:

We are so fortunate to have such an engaged community at Bryant! The feedback and questions received about the staff proposal to fund the full time Intervention and Extension program specialist demonstrates the depth of that engagement from our families.

Over the past several days, the board members have talked to several parents as well as fielded emails asking for additional details around the impact on the budget, unallocated funds and the sustainability of the program moving into the next school year.  Parents are openly supportive of a full time dedicated Intervention and Extension specialist, especially in light of the building goals to challenge our advanced learners and see one year’s growth for every student in math, but have reservations about funding it as proposed by the staff.

This parental enthusiasm is also shared by the staff and administration at Bryant for the Intervention and Extension team and the Professional Learning Community work being conducted in the building today. Mr. Sanger has shared this work with our community at Curriculum Night and through the Bryant Weekly. However, while the entire staff generally supports the work of the PLCs and the Intervention and Extension program, not everyone is in agreement with the proposal that would deplete building reserves, reallocate budget items and include out-of-pocket money from the staff to fund one of the Intervention and Extension specialists.

When the PTSA Board stepped back to consider both parent and staff concerns, it became clear that it is just too soon to force a vote of the general membership. While the District’s pulling of the position came suddenly and decisively, and its immediate repercussions are highly disruptive, acting hastily to reinstate the program at the expense of both building and PTSA funds does not serve Bryant’s families well.  To be clear, the Intervention and Extensions program is not going away.  It will be scaled back considerably, and this will be challenging to the program, but we still have Teresa Elhardt and Leah Kumar, both half time specialists, as well as our 3 hardworking tutors.

In light of the Bryant PTSA and administration’s retraction of the staff proposal, we’ll use Tuesday’s general membership meeting to discuss:

• District policies impacting the building, resulting in the loss of a teacher.
• Bryant moving forward around the PLC work with a scaled back Intervention and Extension specialist program this year.
• Bryant continuing to address educational objectives.
• Funding the Intervention and Extension specialist, as well as essential professional development for our teachers to implement the changes most effectively and skillfully.
• What we should be doing as a community to influence state funding for basic education.

Thank you to the parents and staff for sharing your enthusiasm and concerns with the Bryant PTSA board and administration. Working together, we’ll continue to strengthen the community that makes Bryant what it is today.

Sincerely,
Leeann Huntington
PTSA President