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PTA Communiqués
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June 9, 2009
Each year, the PTA presidents from each school chapter write a letter, commenting on the past year. Below are those recaps from yet annother successful year with the PTA!
PTA Year-End 2008-2009 Communiqués
As the last year as PTA president, it is always sad to end a year and excitement for a summer vacation. However, it is doubly sad to end my term as president. I have had so many parents so willing to help with anything we needed. I am so proud of our school families! I loved being able to serve the parents and teachers the past two years. 
What an exciting year it has been at Andersen! We celebrated our 25th anniversary this year and several members of the Andersen family attended. We celebrated with assemblies with past teachers, a past principal, past students from the first year, and Blue Bell donating ice cream for the kids, since the land the school is on was used as a dairy farm by the family. The kids planted a time capsule, and we were also able to purchase a beautiful plaque that will be up in the school for all to remember our celebration.
As many schools broke records this year in funds raised for United Way, our school families opened not only their hearts, but wallets as well. We had candy grams, family movie night, pirate parties, lemonade stands and all sorts of class competitions. We raised more money than ever, and the kids were so excited to participate!
Later, in December we heard about the “I Care program” and buying Christmas gifts for needy families. We saw a need to help them and the kids raised money again by having a candy cane sale. We were so excited to be able to help.
The 5th grade Girl Scout troop also gathered over 500 new and nearly-new baby items for the Union Klothes Kloset. I am very proud that our students are striving to see how they can change the world around them for the better.
We also had an incredible day when we served turkey and dressing for the grandparents. It was unbelievable! We served 641 people - an all-time high!
We had two very successful Bingo nights with record- setting numbers in the spring. Also, Spirit Nights at Chick-Fil-A and Cici’s Pizza were a great success. With the money raised, we purchased new KAND equipment to upgrade our broadcast system.
This year we competed in our first-ever Academic Bowl, after the Geography Bee. We came in 2nd place and decided the Academic Bowl was something that we wanted to do from now on. The kids had a great time and next year more kids want to participate. Our Reflections Program has done well, with more students stretching to grow in the arts arena.
Our teachers are so gracious, our test scores are better than ever, kids are having a great time learning, participating in the process, and we are serving the community at large. It’s never been a better time to start forming the Pillars of Character. Union kids and ANDERSEN REDSKINS--I am so proud of all of them!
Lorrie David
2007-2009 PTA President
It was another excellent year at Boevers! We started off the year with one of many fund raisers, and our students and parents helped make it a great success. Also in the fall, we had Bingo & Family Science night, both great opportunities to bring our families together.
Our annual Santa Shop was cut short due to the ice storm, but our kids had a blast purchasing gifts for the special people in their lives. In the spring our PTA sold candy-grams, and held another Bingo and Silent Auction. Our grand prize was a Nintendo Wii! Due to the economy our profits were down somewhat but with the support of our parents and teachers, we count the school year as a success!
A BIG thank you to all of our parents and teachers who helped guide me through my first year!
Mindy Ballard
PTA President
Briarglen has grown in leaps and bounds this year!!! PTA kicked off the school year with a ‘Welcome Back’ luncheon for the teachers, providing lunch and a gift of a ‘Reward Package’ which consisted of materials teachers could use for student incentives.
We implemented an account for teachers to download pictures for developing which was paid for by PTA. The majority of these pictures were used to maintain the AR bulletin board throughout the year, encouraging students to strive to reach their reading goal. We were also able to furnish the physical education department with a climbing rope for students to enjoy for years to come.
After saving for two years, our spring fund raiser allowed us to complete the purchase of a permanent soccer goal which will be installed this summer. PTA made donations to four students from Briarglen who will be attending the Junior National Young Leader’s Conference in Washington D.C. this summer. I am proud to say that we will be having the first fifth grade graduation to be held in a very long time.
To our Treasurer, Pam Neeley, and Vice President, Shanna Huerta, who have completed their two-year term, a very special thank you from all at Briarglen!!! To Mike Neeley, who maintained the school sign and kept our Briarglen families up to date, we appreciate you very much. To my husband, Milton, thank you for being there when I needed you, to the point of selling Pizza in the mornings, flowers during Teacher’s Appreciation Week and a whole lot more!!! You are my hero!!! Families of Briarglen who supported Pizza Fridays, Lollipop Wednesdays, donated dishes for conference dinners and Teacher’s Appreciation Week, and to those who sold cookie dough for our fund raiser, a great big Mahalo to you as well!! PTA success would not be possible without every one of you.
I have enjoyed serving Briarglen as President for the past two years. Although I will not be President next year, I look forward to supporting our new President, Pam Glenn. I encourage all parents to join me in continuing to make Briarglen Elementary a better place for our children. Together we can do so much more!!
Aloha
Susan Atay
Briarglen PTA
Cedar Ridge was an amazing place to be this year with so many exciting programs, activities, and achievements! The hospitality committee started the year with a fantastic welcome back luncheon for the teachers and staff! “Meet the Teacher” was the place to get set for the new year with a central sign-up for Cedar Ridge spirit wear, PTA memberships, Pizza Day, and school directory orders! 
One of our proudest accomplishments was making the Cedar Ridge Jog-a-Thon our main fund raiser! It was an incredible success and we cannot thank those enough who supported our school with their generous donations!
The membership committee took on the goal of attaining 100 percent family membership. They far exceeded their goal and the students were rewarded with class parties and most important of all Mrs. Crager, our school principal, dressing up like a clown for the day!
More than 100 students participated in the Reflections program, resulting in four Awards of Merit and one Award of Excellence winner. We are so proud of all who entered!
January brought our ever-popular Bingo Night! It was a packed house, almost overflowing, at the 6th/7th Grade Center as everyone enjoyed a fun Cedar Ridge Family Night.
Cedar Ridge hosted its First Annual Pasta Supper Dinner at the 6th/7th Grade Center. It was a fun night of good food and games, a time for Cedar Ridge families, staff, and students to spend time getting to know each other better.
Throughout the year numerous volunteers worked so hard to make everything successful including Pizza Days, Homeroom Parties, Spirit Nights, Klothes Kloset, Catch the Dream, School Supplies, Spirit Wear, Red Ribbon Week and the Veteran’s Day Assembly, just to name a few.
The close of the school year was a busy time with a fabulous Teacher Appreciation Week to thank our teachers for all they do and to show them just how much they are valued. The Fifth Grade Party was a blast of a day in which our “graduates” celebrated with a Survivor-themed party!
There were so many people who spent countless hours volunteering at Cedar Ridge this year. Our parents, PTA officers, committee chairs, and members did such a great job. All of this hard work was capped off with a PTA Board Luncheon to thank all of our volunteers for another incredible year at Cedar Ridge!
Sara Vidler
PTA President
Hello to all of our Clark families! It has been another exciting year here at Roy Clark! We started the year with new T-shirts, lots of cookie dough, and a great Bingo night in October, and that set us up for many great projects this year. We again provided AR T-shirts and trophies to the students who met their reading goals; we have kept our pencil and eraser machines fully stocked all year (and the kids continue to line up every morning for them); we purchased needed PE equipment; we had a popcorn day at the end of every month; we kept up with Spirit Days every Friday with a treasure box for the winning class; and we provided dinner for our teachers one night during the fall and spring conferences.
We were also happy to have $1,800 to provide all of our classrooms with grant money that was used for many projects including science kits, kid-made T-shirts for field trips, sundae parties, sensory table and center items, and special lunch parties. We had a record involvement in our Reflections art program this year with over 300 students participating and 25 receiving trophies at the school level.
We had our first-ever Community Night at Clark in April and everyone had a great time with free events and free food as well as the community vendors who provided information for the summer and next school year. Thanks to a wonderful turn-out at our February Silent Auction and Bingo and a great response to Teacher Appreciation Week donations, we were able, yet again, to have a blowout Teacher Appreciation Week. We purchased several new die cuts for the workroom, provided lunch one day, and had special gifts for every teacher and all the staff every day of the week. The donations from our families helped us to really show our teachers how much we appreciate all they do for us every year.
I have had a great time as PTA President the last two years, and I look forward to the coming year with Lakema and Eric Mikel as our 2009-2010 PTA co-Presidents.
Heather McAdams
PTA President – Board of Education member
The PTA enjoyed another exceptional year at Darnaby. It began with our Newcomer’s Breakfast welcoming the new students and families to Darnaby. The Hospitality Committee also hosted a luncheon to welcome back teachers and staff.
We started the fall with our annual Family Fun Night where families enjoyed bingo, pizza, and many prizes. October brought the Jog-a-Thon and a beautiful day where parents and students participated running laps and raising money for PTA. Our Reflections program had an outstanding number of entries, many of which moved on to state competition. Another big fund raiser, our 27th annual Arts & Crafts Show, was held in December. It is one of the premier craft shows in the state, attracting vendors and artisans from around the region.
During our Teacher Appreciation Week in April we treated our teachers and staff to plenty of food, movie tickets, and gift cards. We were also able to provide our teachers with a substantial amount of grant money this year to spend on classroom supplies and programs. In April we held our talent show. We have some amazing kids who treated us to a fun-filled evening as they showed off their broad range of talents. Our year wrapped up with our Spring Fling where parents were invited to school one evening to see students’ work showcased.
With 100 percent PTA membership from parents and staff, it is not hard to see how Darnaby manages to provide so much for our children. The support from parents, teachers, and staff has been amazing. Special thanks to all of our parent volunteers and to my executive board for their support throughout this year. I know that Darnaby will continue to do great things and have a positive influence on the lives of our children.
Dana Garcia
Darnaby PTA President
Union Families,
I have had such a tremendous amount of fun being the PTA President here at Grove Elementary. I can hardly believe the school year is coming to a close. It has been such a pleasure getting to know so many of our Grove Eagles. The smiles and joy they receive from the events PTA provides is more precious than gold. It has been an honor being your PTA President this year.
Throughout the year our PTA held a variety of events for our students, their families, and our staff that helped bring our school's community closer. Our biggest events this year were our Family Movie Nights. Our first movie night, in conjunction with National PTA, was a showing of Kung Fu Panda. The movie was free for all our families and a pizza dinner was available for purchase. It was such a success that our amazing 5th grade parent committee decided to hold another movie night at the beginning of April, showing Madagascar 2. There was a wonderful turnout for both shows and our families had a terrific time.
These events, along with pizza days, Smencil sales, and our upcoming family dance allow all our children and their families to participate in PTA events. They also allow PTA to provide special treats for our teachers every month as well as a much-deserved dinner on those long conference nights. With the help of Grove's tremendously talented administration and staff, our phenomenal PTA board, and all our volunteers we have experienced a truly blessed year. And I know that our incoming Grove PTA president, Julie Rivera, is committed to making our PTA even better in the 2009-2010 school year.
Finally, on behalf of all the children at Grove, I would like to extend a hearty thank you to all the Union parents who voted for our district Bond issue this year. We are all so excited about the renovations our school will receive.
Have a wonderful summer!
Sincerely,
Michelle Jones
PTA President
It has been a wonderful year at Jarman. We began our year with our Family Fun Night. This is a very successful event done in a picnic setting with Back Yard Burgers and inflatables for the kids. It is a great time for Jarman families to spend an evening together.
In October, we held our annual Jog-A-Thon. This is a big fund raiser for us, which is based on physical fitness and school pride. The funds raised by this event enable our PTA to give classroom grants, purchase school supplies and equipment. They also fund our various committees, such as Science Enrichment, Art Enrichment, and Reflections, to name a few.
We had our 2nd fund raiser with the Jarman Bingo Night that was very fun for a lot of families. Our PTA worked hard to get items donated to make up silent auction baskets. We sold pizza, popcorn, warm baked cookies, and drinks throughout the night. It was a great event.
Our school year went great, and I want to thank our organized and dedicated committee chairs for a job well done. Our principal, Mrs. Patti Pitcock, plays a tremendous part in our success.
I am ending my two years as President and want to say Thank You to all of the help I have had on our PTA board. I could not have done it without all of them. A special thanks to my Vice Presidents Denise Allen and Stephanie Huddleston for all of their help and hard work.
Thank you,
Cindy King
Jarman PTA President
As a proud charter member of the Jefferson PTA and President, I can say that this year was both challenging and extremely rewarding at the same time. Tremendous support of the other officers and the teachers and volunteers at Jefferson helped this first school year to be a successful one for our PTA. 
With the smell of new carpet and paint still in the air, back to school night was one of our most memorable as we sold an extraordinary number of “Jefferson Rocks” T-shirts and PTA memberships. You could feel and see the support of the teachers and parents as our new and fresh PTA started from scratch to build a program comparable to Union elementary schools already seasoned with PTA experience
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As a PTA, we are most proud of two major accomplishments this year, first is our Teacher Appreciation Week and second is our ground-breaking, First Annual Bingo Night.
With the support of Mrs. Whiteley, we moved Teacher Appreciation Week to January 2009 since it’s a fairly inactive PTA month. We wanted to spice up this cold and wintry month with gifts and fun surprises for our teachers and support staff. We soon discovered why it’s usually scheduled in May as the snow storm of January 2009 shaved three days off our Teacher Appreciation Week, causing us to carry it over to the next week. Eventually, we caught up to our plan…to provide the amazing Jefferson teachers and staff with lots of food, drinks, snacks, gifts, and notes of our appreciation. Our hope was to show our teachers that although we are a start-up PTA, we know where our priorities are. Students, teachers and support staff.
Jefferson Elementary’s First Annual Bingo Night was a surprisingly crowded success! It being our first, we weren’t sure what type of crowd to expect and before we even began calling bingo numbers, our 75+ pizzas were sold out and seating was full…we had to move overflow seating to the cafeteria. We gave away 50+ prizes, including two bicycles and an IPod Shuffle. I have the fondest memories of this night, as we made it a PJ party and our students looked so adorable running around in their comfy night-time clothing.
A HUGE thank you to Melissa Grubbs, Tracy McGrew-Harris, Beverly Colson, Kim Farquhar, Robyn Harris, Emily Campbell, Union HS NHS, and ALL of the other teachers and volunteers who made this night fantastic. You know who you are. (Note to self, next year…order more pizzas.)
The future potential for Jefferson PTA is endless. The line-up of officers for the 2009-2010 school year is dynamic, and they are capable of accomplishing so much. Union Public School’s newest child will continue to grow, and you will see many great things from the Jefferson Explorers!
Michele Wagner-Gates
PTA President
The McAuliffe PTA started the year off with a bang! First, we welcomed back all our students at the Back to School night, then we celebrated Grandparents’ Day. In October we had a Bingo night followed by holiday parties in December and February.
In February we had another successful Bingo night. Finally in April we had a 70's-themed carnival night. This year was very enjoyable and that is because of the wonderful parents, friends, and family of McAuliffe students and the PTA volunteers.
Andrea Dolezal
PTA President
We’ve had a great year at Moore Elementary! This year our school theme was “Challenge Yourself,” and I believe our students, staff, and parents have all been successful in achieving their goals! Moore was significantly impacted by the redistricting for Jefferson Elementary this year, and while we were sad to see families go; we were excited to welcome new students and their families! In early August we held a “Moore Acquainted” evening so that our incoming students could have a personal tour of the building and hopefully feel much more comfortable when they returned for Meet the Teacher. There was a great turnout of not only new students, but of our wonderful staff and parent volunteers that greeted our visitors and led the tours!
PTA hosted a back-to-school brunch for the teachers where we challenged each of them to join PTA and for each pod to volunteer three hours to a PTA function. WOW! Moore has some very competitive staff members! It has been a joy to work with all the staff this year and get to know them better.
This year we published a school calendar featuring student artwork and a fabulous “More Cooking with Moore” cookbook! Students enjoyed the new Moore Store on Thursday mornings where they could purchase Smencils, friendship bracelets, stress balls, and much, much more! Also new this year was Moore Movie Nights! Our annual Family Bingo Night in the fall was a great success, as was our spring Carnival even though it had to be rescheduled due to an unexpected blizzard! As we prepare for the last few weeks of school we still have lots to do! We have a great Teacher Appreciation week planned, 5th Grade Day, Moore Olympics, and an all-school vote in our first ever T-shirt design contest!
Moore PTA is truly a team effort and I am grateful for all the support and commitment of our parent volunteers, teachers, staff, and our wonderful principal Sandi Calvin! A HUGE THANK YOU to the other board members John Grammer, Darlene Wheeler, Michelle White and Apryl Longacre, along with all the amazing committee chairs! I’m looking forward to another fun-filled year working with everyone at Moore!
Jennifer Whitten
Moore PTA President
It has been such a fun year at Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is still a very new school with only the third year passing since it opened. It has been a pleasure to be involved with the PTA over the last two years. We are seeing more parents willing to give time to the PTA and our school. I look forward to another year filled with new experiences.
We were able to accomplish many things this year. We started off with a back-to-school breakfast for the staff and were able to give them gift cards from various businesses in town. We hosted our very first Fall Carnival. It was a huge success thanks to all the staff and parents who helped, and it should become a yearly event. We were able to purchase a popcorn machine and look forward to many popcorn days next year. We have our pizza days running smoothly now and raising the majority of our funds for the PTA.
I would like to thank the officers of our PTA for always being willing to do whatever crazy last-minute things that I came up with. It has been so much fun with them. I feel so blessed to be at a school with such a wonderful staff!! They are always willing to do whatever it takes to make things happen for the kids. Thank you all for your support, and I look forward to working with you again next year.
Jennie Goins
Rosa Parks PTA President
Peters Elementary had a great year! We have continued to focus our activities to better enhance the learning environment and simplify our fund-raising efforts. We have also continued to streamline our procedures using modern technology to keep things efficient and effective. One example was the purchase of a credit card machine to make transactions easier for all those involved.
Our big fall event was our second annual Jog-A-Thon! The students, staff, and parents all rocked around the track to music from Radio Disney. It promoted a healthy lifestyle while keeping all of the funds that were raised right here at our school. Other fall events included a successful Book Fair, two Family Reading Nights, Reflections activities, classroom parties, and many fun-filled spirit nights.
The big spring event was our traditional Carnival and it was awesome!! We had huge inflatables (one included a zip line), a rock wall, a midway, cool prizes, lots of food, Radio Disney, and an actual carnival ride!! We hope you can join us next year – who knows what the carnival committee will come up with?! Other spring events included our Talent Show, classroom parties, exciting spirit nights, another book fair, and an all-school movie night.
With all of the activities, we also made communication a priority with parents and the Peters’ staff. Our web site and newsflashes were taken to a whole new level! We are very proud of not just Peters, but the entire Union School District! We had a wonderful year and look forward to the next one!
Jennifer Fisher
PTA President
The 2008-2009 school year started with the “Perfect Storm Schedule Pick Up.” Imagine almost all 2,200 students and parents arriving at the same time to pick up schedules for enthusiastic 7th graders and anxious 6th graders. It happened! School officials and PTA worked diligently to pull off the unexpected and moved everyone through the building in a few short hours. Schedule Pick Up kicked off many exciting events surrounding the 6th/7th Grade Center that were executed with style.
Union 6th/7th Grade Center PTA is made up of five Executive Board members and thirty Committee Chairmen who planned and coordinated the events of their committee. They volunteered countless hours of their time to accomplish events such as Foundation Baskets, Student Directories, D-FY, Catch the Dream, Spirit Wear sales, Reflections, Socials, Klothes Kloset, Teacher/Staff luncheons, and the students’ favorite - Pizza Days. Pizza Days would not be possible without the financial support and time volunteered by the parents. Each one contributing their part to PTA supports the ongoing efforts making available a variety of opportunities for the students throughout the school year.
The successful fund raising this year allowed the PTA to offer Teacher Grants in the fall and the spring. The grants totaled more than $17,000 and purchased items for individual classrooms such as books, educational games, instructional videos, supplies, software, and equipment. PTA even purchased items to help 7th grade teachers offer a forensic science study. Many teachers write grants, and PTA is happy to help teachers continue to have the latest technology and learning materials available to them. 
PTA is making a difference! Union 6th/7th Grade Center PTA volunteers are superb! Thank you to everyone who volunteered and chose to invest time during the 2008-2009 school year. Will you consider volunteering next year?
Rosie Blanc
PTA President
The 2008-09 school year was a tremendous year for the 8th Grade Center PTA. The PTA Board was made up of over 25 Committee Chairmen who planned and coordinated the events of their committees flawlessly. The number of PTA memberships reached nearly 400 including 100 percent participation by the teachers and staff.
The events sponsored by the PTA this year began in the summer with Schedule Pick-Up and continued throughout the year with participation in the Union Foundation silent auction, recognizing outstanding character by the students and excellence in educational training by the educators. We helped supply needed items for the Klothes Kloset, saw an increase in Reflections participants, which more than tripled the entries from the previous year, and finished the year with an exciting social event for the students.
The fund-raising efforts this year were largely due to the ever-popular Pizza Days and the wonderful ladies who chair that committee, but other funds were earned through directory sales and those fun, pink flamingos that appear in the night for special events! Through these efforts the PTA will fund needed items for classrooms, participation in a Middle School teachers conference and will furnish additional seating areas outside the student entrance.
Keeping parents involved at the secondary PTA level is a challenge. Thank you to the many volunteers who choose to stay involved in the lives of their students! Your efforts do make a difference.
Kristi Brooks Cohea
PTA President
What a great year it has been at the Union Intermediate High School! It began with the PTSA Board providing volunteers to work alongside the I-High administration, staff, and Leadership students during schedule pick-up. Board members encouraged both parents and students to join PTSA, and we are proud to say our membership numbers increased by 50 percent from the previous year. We hope to continue this trend and encourage all I-High parents, teachers, and students to join next year as well.
Our successful fund-raising efforts allowed the PTSA to send Mr. Chargois to an educational conference entitled Closing the Achievement Gap, furnish staff with spirit T-shirts, purchase books for an after-school reading program, and fill sixteen teacher grant requests. We have assisted critical Union programs such as D-FY, I Care and the Klothes Kloset by donating funds, items of clothing, and volunteer hours. Additionally, we were able to recognize exemplary students through several PTSA programs such as Character Counts and Reflections. We also treated I-High employees to a back-to-school breakfast, plus luncheons in December and May.
Thank you to Mr. Chargois and all of the I-High’s administration, teachers, and staff who are committed to providing an enriching educational environment for the students. My sincerest thanks to all of the PTSA board members who have dedicated many hours to make this a successful year for the PTSA. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you. Additionally, I greatly appreciate the many volunteers who have given their time to assist with various PTSA activities. Please know that your efforts have helped make the I-High a better place for all of our children!
Mari-Jean Ogle
Intermediate High PTSA President
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