From Tom Jennings, New District President

As you all know Amy Gibson the 20th District President had to resign for personal reasons. As of December 6, 2007 I have had the pleasure of being elected as your new 20th District President. I welcome the challenge with the utmost respect for those that I follow and hope to meet all of your and their expectations.

Please remember that I and the other officers of the 20th District are here to help your PTA’s succeed in all of your endeavors so anything you need or questions you have please don’t hesitate to ask. Training for units will be held soon so plan on attending and watch you’re E-mail for updates.

There are four Vice Presidents on the District Board that cover the following geographical areas of our District. For Monterey, Michael Silver, michael-silver@sbcglobal.net. For Santa Cruz, Mary Marasco, marymarasco@yahoo.com. For Salinas, Sherrie Payne, sherripayne@sbcglobal.net. For South Monterey County, Karen Gibbs, kareng1971@yahool.com. Please use your VP as your first point of contact on the District Board.

District General Meetings will be January 17, 2008, and April 17, 2008. Each unit should have at least one representative at each of these meetings. Please add these dates to your calendar now and plan to attend or send a representative from your school’s PTA.

Please feel free to contact me via email (tjenni@sbcglobal.net) or by phone @ 831-241-8128 at anytime for questions or problems that you might have. I make every effort to answer e-mails daily in the evening, and I answer my phone as long as I’m not in a meeting if I don’t answer just leave a message and I will get back to you ASAP.

I look forward to working with all of you and remember you are among the elite citizens in our community that have cared enough to be involved and help when help is needed. Let this serve as a reminder that there can never be any better reward than to know you helped contribute to the education of a child.

Thanks for all you do
Tom Jennings
831-241-8128
tjenni@sbcglobal.net

Proposition 92 - PTA position

Still on the advocacy topic, CAPTA recently sent out a Legislative Action Alert on Proposition 92. Check out the Ballot Measures page of the CAPTA.org website for more information on why the CAPTA voted NOT to take a position on this proposition. Interestingly, it is just as important as taking a position one way or another.

PTA: an Advocacy Organization and Legislation Conference

Most people view PTA as a fundraising organization. Even many local PTAs themselves, feel this is their main purpose - it sure takes up most of the time, sometimes. But, actually PTA is an advocacy organization. The very first purpose listed on the California PTA website is "To promote the welfare of children and youth in home, school, community, and place of worship."

So, today I'd like to get on my soapbox about advocacy. I started in PTA as the district Legislative Chair 4 years ago and learned a lot about what the PTA does for children, on the State level. It's a LOT! Many meetings are held to review policies, write resolutions and decide what propositions to support. Trust me, the state board puts in a lot of work for our children to guide our state government in the right direction.

And, it works. With the many members we have, we have a loud voice in Sacramento so when the PTA puts its weight behind something, it usually happens.

So, what does this mean to you on the local level? The district would like to encourage you to look at your focus and decide how you can do more in terms of advocating for our children. Some suggestions are:

1. Elect an Advocacy Chair. This would be someone to research and spearhead projects or activities around advocacy. They could also attend the Legislation Conference (info below) to learn what is happening on the state level. Having someone on your board dedicated to advocacy will take the weight off of you as the President.
2. Learn about CAPTA advocacy programs. Check out the Local PTA Advocacy page on CAPTA.org for lots of ideas of things your PTA can do.
3. Get involved on a local level. Find out local issues that you can be involved in. Do not endorse any candidates, but otherwise you can be for or against any local issues that your board approves in a general meeting. Then your Advocacy Chair can help take action!
4. Send someone (maybe your Advocacy Chair) to the Legislation Conference. Here's the latest info from CAPTA on the conference in January. I have been to these and they are fascinating!

The California State PTA Annual Legislation Conference, scheduled for January 27-29, 2008, will be held at the Embassy Suites Hotel-Riverfront Promenade, 100 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA. The conference will begin at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 27, and will end at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 29. A proposed agenda, housing and registration materials are available online at www.capta.org.

Due to the popularity of the conference, the housing and registration forms must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on January 3, 2008.

Questions? Call the California State PTA office at 916-440-1985 ext. 104.

The California State PTA Legislation Team looks forward to seeing YOU in Sacramento!

I hope these ideas get you started toward increasing your focus on advocacy for our children. We can do the most good for them by doing this.

PTA Insurance and Worker's Comp

Insurance will be $176 this year. Please submit this to the 20th District before Jan. 18th 2008 along with the Unit Remittance Form.

At the same time, the annual Worker's Comp reports need to be submitted with $14. This needs to be submitted even if you do NOT have any people employed by the PTA.

You can mail these items to:
Robin Martinez
3157 Lynscott Drive #9
Marina, CA 93933