Check out our December GHE PTA Newsletter! Get prepped for Unity Night and our upcoming General Membership meeting. Read an interview with our new school nurse, M.C. Nachtigal, and learn more about fundshifting. Finally, hear from our fundraising team about upcoming events including the return of the auction!
If you want to read more, we also have a page on our site that houses the Newsletter archive. If you have a topic that you would like to see spotlighted in an upcoming newsletter, or have a question you’d like to have addressed, please reach out to communications@geneseehillpta.org.
Last December, families and staff gathered around their tables and computers to celebrate the Genesee Hill community. While some folks prepared new recipes from the community cookbook, others enjoyed takeout from local POC-owned establishments. From the comfort of their homes, community members “clicked to join” the fourth annual, and first-ever virtual, Unity Night. While swapping the regular school cafeteria venue for zoom added novelty, many familiar aspects of Unity Night remained. Last year’s event proved that Unity Night is an enduring Genesee Hill tradition!
Unity Night is back this year and will take place virtually on Wednesday, December 8, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM. This year’s event will be centered around the theme “Many Stories, One Community” and will feature some old and new favorite features, including: an updated Unity Night Virtual Room, student artwork, and student performances. We’ll keep the event fresh with breakout rooms with engaging prompts and student art submissions from the Reflections Program. We’re not organizing meals this year, but we encourage families and staff to create their own potluck using the Genesee Hill Community Cookbook or to order take-out from a local restaurant on this list of Black-owned businesses to eat during the event. Finally, come prepared with paper and drawing tools to participate in our virtual community art project!
The program is designed to be a fun and welcoming space for students and grown-ups alike. Look in the Thursday bulletin for the Zoom link.
In the meantime, visit the Virtual Room (link in Thursday bulletin) to read books, use the jug and pizza to plan your Unity Night meal, and click on the foxes to see students’ Unity Night projects.
All are welcome and we hope you will join and help build commUNITY this year!
At the Washington State PTA’s Legislative Assembly this past weekend, three new resolutions were passed: Improving Literacy and Educational Outcomes, Increasing Access and Affordability of Post-Secondary Education, and Improving Outcomes for Children and Youth in Highly Mobile Populations. There were also some very informative panels. Pediatricians answered the question: What do parents need to know about how the pandemic has affected kids? Policy experts spoke about advocacy for the coming legislative season and about how WA school districts are recovering from COVID. There was also a moving panel where WA high school students spoke about how they and their peers have coped with COVID.My key takeaway was that the pandemic hit education in our state like a hurricane and experts are just starting to be able to assess the damage. Educators, advocates, health professionals, students, and advocates have all worked incredibly hard this past year and a half for us to be where we are right now vis-à-vis public education, even if where we are is still a tough place. The other takeaways I had fell into two categories.
Advocacy
The WA legislative session, which this year runs from January 10, 2022- March 10, 2022, is likely to use a hybrid model. Nothing is finalized yet, but the WS PTSA will keep us apprised.
Advocacy Week will be in mid-January and Focus Day on January 17. We do not know yet it they will be virtual, in-person, or a mix of both.
Our state is forecasting a budget surplus, so public schools getting more funding for issues like mental health supports is more promising this session. Last session WA had a budget deficit.
On November 3, please join me in this special advocacy opportunity. Senate Education Chair Lisa Wellman is speaking on how the education system will change towards mastery-based learning and welcomes families to weigh in on what priorities they have for education. To register, you must be a PTA member. Let me know if you plan to go! legislativechair@geneseehillpta.org
Kid’s Health
On average, during the pandemic, American children’s screen time doubled and their time to play outside went from 90 minutes to 25 minutes a day.
One book recommended by the panel of pediatricians was The Secure Child: Helping Our Children Feel Safe and Confident in a Changing World by Stanley Greenspan.
If parents have questions about health-related issues, including vaccines, they can check out Healthy Children (sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics).
The University of California San Francisco has a comprehensive guide to help families assess whether health information is credible and accurate.
Your November 2021 Newsletter is here! In it you’ll find detail about our important Direct Give fundraiser, our Membership Drive, and our Equity Book Club. Read a recap of our busy October fueled by volunteers and sign up to volunteer too! Finally, learn about our new Opportunity Fund Grants for teachers and parents/caregivers and about this year’s Legislative Assembly. Join us in bettering our school and community!
If you want to read more, we also have a page on our site that houses the Newsletter archive. If you have a topic that you would like to see spotlighted in an upcoming newsletter, or have a question you’d like to have addressed, please reach out to communications@geneseehillpta.org.
We are excited to kick off our annual Direct Give campaign for this 2021-22 school year! This is one of the biggest PTA fundraisers of the year, so let’s make it count!
You’ve probably heard of flocking…this year we have outFOXing! Instead of flocking someone’s lawn with flamingos, you can outFOX your friends/neighbors by surprising them with a small Genesee yard sign.The more you donate, the more signs you can pick up. Write notes on your signs and place them at your friend’s or neighbor’s houses or businesses, or even at the school. Your signs will share support for the school throughout the community too!
How to participate:Give online here between Nov. 1 and 15, then pick up your signs in-person at the Dakota Homestead (corner of 50th Ave SW and Dakota) at designated times throughout the campaign. Remember to request a matching gift if your employer offers it!
Sign pick-up times:
Thurs. Nov. 4th – 2:15-2:45pm
Tues. Nov. 9th – 2:15-2:45 pm
Sat. Nov. 13th – 10:00-10:30am
Wed. Nov. 17th – 1:00-1:30 pm
Direct Give Donation Levels:
2 signs for $50
5 signs for $100
12 signs for $250
25 signs for $500+
Look for these signs around the neighborhood starting next week!
Why give to Direct Give? PTA funding allows GHE to be a more inclusive and equitable school where every child thrives and every family is valued by providing:
Genesee Hill PTA is excited to participate in the Reflections Art Program this year!
Reflections is a National PTA arts recognition program that helps students explore their own thoughts, feelings and ideas, develop artistic literacy, increase confidence, and find a love for learning that will help them become more successful not only in school, but in life.
Students in pre-K through grade 12 create original works of art in response to a theme. The theme for the 2021-2022 program year is I Will Change The World By…Students submit their completed works of art in one, or multiple, of the available arts categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, Visual Arts. Genesee’s students will be split into two divisions: grades K-2 and 3-5.
Students should submit their artwork and an entry form to their teacher by Monday October 25th. Students may submit more than one artwork, but each must be in a separate category. Find the rules, submission details, and entry form in this document.
While the primary focus of Reflections is a celebration of creativity through positive recognition, there are awards offered at the national level. Finalists from Genesee will move on to the Seattle Council PTSA round, then finalists from the council will move on to the state round. Washington State PTA finalists who receive an “Outstanding Interpretation” award will advance to the National PTA round. Entries are judged on creative ability and interpretation of the theme. More information on the awards, along with the National PTA Reflections award winners for 2020-2021 can be found here.
Be on the lookout for a virtual exhibit of submitted artwork and a Reflections Celebration in December! If you’d like to help review submissions, please contact our Events Chair, Katherine, at events@geneseehillpta.org.
As the current GHE legislative/ advocacy chair I’d like to briefly write about what Disability History Month is and the work our school is doing to recognize it.
In 2008 the WA State Legislature established Disability History Month as a civic holiday to raise awareness and understanding of disability rights and recognize the contributions disabled people have made to society. Disability History Month is now observed annually and promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities. The month has been recognized in many ways. One of my favorites is the video series, “One Out of Five” that The Office of the Education Ombuds created in 2019. This is one of the videos and features Shorewood High School graduate Kenassa Sarka.
In terms of recognizing the month at GHE, Assistant Principal Lisa Clayton led a staff training on teaching about disabilities. Many teachers are doing lessons around disability history, and some are hopefully using the incredible virtual rooms that our own virtual room rock star Leigh Ann Johnson created for the Seattle Special Education PTSA for Disability History Month this year (children’s virtual room/ teens and adults virtual room). The Foxes of a Different Breed group is also planning a talk for the end of the month that will be open to all GH families.
The Kids’ Disability History and Awareness Virtual Room from the Special Education PTSA
In a WA state report on the 2020/21 school year, 17% of GHE’s students were listed as being disabled— a pretty significant number. I know a lot of us on the Board have disabled kids, and that they are one of the reasons we are involved in the school like we are. To families of disabled kids, having a supportive school community can mean a lot, and I appreciate the work you all do to make this happen.
Welcome to our October 2021 Newsletter, with new information about cohorts and an interview with the new kinder teacher Elizabeth Owen. Learn about the many PTA-led events in October, including equity speaker Vishavjit Singh, our first PTA General Membership meeting of the year, and a Dine-out at Mission Cantina.
If you want to read more, we also have a page on our site that houses the Newsletter archive. If you have a topic that you would like to see spotlighted in an upcoming newsletter, or have a question you’d like to have addressed, please reach out to communications@geneseehillpta.org.
Get ready for our October Dine-Out for Genesee Hill- Mission Cantina! Help support our school and one of our great neighborhood businesses!
Mission Cantina will generously donate 20% of ALL sales that the restaurant makes on those days, for their full hours of 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm. No need for a special code or link! This includes all food, alcohol, gift cards, and Mission Cantina’s “Whole Enchilada” take and bake kit.
• Mission Cantina, 2325 California Ave SW – (206-937-8220) • October 19th & 20th – 4 pm-10 pm for pickup or dine-in. • Due to the size of our school, Mission has asked us to break the days up by grade level. Tuesday, October 19th is kindergarten to second grade. Wednesday, October 20th is third to fifth grade. • All to-go orders need to be placed the day before pickup because of the volume of orders. • We are encouraging families to work with the restaurant directly rather than use 3rd party apps such as Grubhub and Ubereats to help the staff get more of the funds from tips and orders. • Payment is taken at pickup for all to-go orders.
“The Whole Enchilada” Take and Bake Kit
This delicious kit feeds 4-5 for ONLY $60 plus tax (Gratuity not included). Order in advance for this awesome deal until Sunday, Oct. 17. Please call Mission to reserve your dinners for pick-up on one of the two days, with payment at pick up. One kit includes:
Chips and fire-roasted tomato salsa
Four child sized black bean and cheese enchiladas
Six enchiladas – two sweet potato, two carnitas and two chicken and green chili
Spanish red rice and black beans
Monterey Jack cheese and three different enchilada sauces – roja, verde, and creamy chipotle
Adult beverages can be added when picking up. Unfortunately they cannot do modifications or substitutions for enchiladas.
**Pre-orders for the enchilada kits need to be made by Sunday, October 17th.
Enjoy a “date-night” with your loved one, dine-in with the entire family, or grab take-out! Avoid the rush by buying a gift card to use on another day! It all helps our school!
Email questions to fundraising@geneseehillpta.org.
What were the results of the June 2021 PTA Community Survey?
First of all, thank you so much to the 98 Genesee community members who took the time to respond to the survey! We can feel more confident that these results represent our community because so many responded. And though the majority of the respondents were PTA members, 33% were not (or not sure), so we got a wider range of feedback. Here’s a quick look at who filled out the survey:
These are the top three responses for the main multiple choice questions:
What do you view as the most important work of the Genesee Hill PTA?
98 Total Responses
# responses
% responses
Advocating for students and families
68
69.40%
Supporting teachers and school staff
65
66.30%
Promoting equity and inclusion
63
64.30%
Which PTA events and programs were most enjoyed by or important to you this year?
93 Total Responses
# responses
% responses
Teacher/Staff Appreciation
60
64.50%
Black Lives Matter at School Week Activities
44
47.30%
Unity Night
41
44.10%
Which traditional PTA events or programs did you miss the most this year?
91 Total Responses
# responses
% responses
Monster Mash
44
48.40%
Cohort Events
41
45.10%
Auction
37
40.70%
If you’d like to see the full list of responses, please visit this spreadsheet.
The answers to the question “What ideas do you have for PTA events and programs that you’d like to see? Or not see? Or change?” are more challenging to summarize because the responses were so rich, creative, and plentiful. But some things stood out. Though most answers were one-off ideas, 19% of the responses asked for our PTA to fundshift some PTA-raised funds to other schools with smaller PTAs. And 17% of the responses asked for more community building from the PTA. The other responses held similarly big picture ideas for fundraising, events, and programs, some of which we’ll pass on to Genesee teachers, staff, and administration, while others will be worked on within the PTA.
As for the question “What can the PTA do to better represent you and engage you?” the most common answer called on the board to ask the community for more input. The other answers were wonderful ideas around meetings, events, communication, equity and advocacy, which have been shared with all PTA board members.
As for the question around communications, we heard loud and clear that folks prefer this newsletter to be embedded in email, so here it is! Please see this month’s president’s letter in the September Newsletter to read more about how the PTA board is using the survey data.
