Happy New Year - January Happenings in PTA

From the 20th District Executive Board, we would like to wish you all a great New Year! It's a fabulous time to renew your commitments and start fresh on all those PTA projects! Don't forget that this is also a great time for another membership drive - keep sending in those membership dues every month and help the California PTA reach 1 Million members!

We want to let you know about 2 very important events this month.

1. The 20th District General Meeting will be held on Thursday, January 17th at 7:00 pm - place TBD. We need at least one member of your board to attend. Look for details on the location.

2. The 20th District Annual Training will be held on Saturday, January 26th from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm at Marina High in Marina, CA. We will have classes on the subjects, below and encourage as many from your board to attend as possible. This training will be extremely valuable and worth your time. We'll even give you lunch so please, come! Communicate this date to your board ASAP and let me (Jenny Wood) know who from your board can attend. Here's a map to Marina High: http://www.mpusd.k12.ca.us/MarinaHS/Directions%20to%20campus.pdf. NOTE: The street address has changed to 298 Patton Parkway.

Classes will be:

President Basics
Parliamentarian and Bylaws basics
Financial/Treasurer Basics
Secretary Basics
Ways and Means
Membership Basics
Advocacy
OMDR
Communications

Also, don't forget upcoming deadlines:
Insurance premiums and Workers Comp forms are due by Jan 17. Bring them to the meeting with you to save on postage! See the earlier blog entry for details.

Reflections entries are due by January 9th. See earlier blog entry for details.

Updated OMDR Batch Uploads

I have great news from National. They have developed a new way to do a batch upload in OMDR that allows for uploads directly from an Excel spreadsheet...and the new feature is live today!

With this new way, users must use the formatted template or it can be found in the "Add Local Members Batch Upload" screen for users to download. Users can input their information into the template, save it to their computer, and then upload it into OMDR. Please note that the header row has to remain in this format and in the file.

Here are instructions on creating Excel files for upload. These instructions are additionally found on the "Add Local Members Batch Upload" screen.

Users who do not have Excel can continue to use the upload feature by changing the file into a csv and then txt file. Instructions for uploading ASCII/test files are also on the "Add Local Members Batch Upload" screen.

The live webinars do reflect the new upload feature and National will be archiving a new webinar soon. Please go to http://registration.intercall.com/go/nationalpta.
The following are the local unit OMDR webinars that are scheduled for the rest of the month and for November. Please encourage your local unit officers to attend a webinar if they are new to OMDR.

All times listed are Central time.
Oct. 22, 11:00 am
Oct. 30, 1:00 pm
Nov. 7, 3:00 pm
Nov. 16, 10:00 am
Thank you in advance for helping us to spread the good news about batch uploads!

Got Members? Have You Invited Everyone To Join?

Here are some simple tips to help:
1. Make sure you have a PTA poster at the entrance to your school inviting everyone to join.
2. Invite every student, teacher, and administrator to become a member.
3. Solicit business sponsorships to show community involvement.
4. Take a look at areas of your community that are not represented and create a plan to welcome them to PTA. If dads are not represented, focus on getting more dads involved.
5. Plan an evening or weekend father/child activity and don’t forget to set up a membership enrollment table.

How are your PTA association meetings going? Does everyone feel free to participate in the discussions? Here are some tips to help you run effective and efficient meetings:
1. Prepare an agenda and make sure everyone gets a copy.
To help keep the meeting on track, list the approximate times for agenda items.
2. Help members understand and follow basic meeting rules.
This assures that everyone is treated with courtesy, all viewpoints are heard, and the majority makes decisions.
3. Ask chairmen to prepare written reports, in place of lengthy oral reports, unless action must be taken at the meeting.
Written reports may be sent to members via email prior to the meeting.
4. Be sure members stick to the agenda item.
Bring the discussion to a conclusion when it becomes too lengthy or repetitive. Details for events, fundraisers, or programs should be decided in committee, not at association meetings.
5. Make sure members understand what they are voting on by repeating the motion
before taking a vote.

Need help?
We’ve put together ideas and resources you need to get started:

OMDR Webinars
Learn how your unit can use the Online Membership Data Reporting system to maintain officer and membership lists, communicate with members, and more!
http://tinyurl.com/yt9xwq

Membership Ideas
http://tinyurl.com/2v89ye

Membership Brochures
http://tinyurl.com/2ddfe8

Sample Meeting Agenda
http://tinyurl.com/3dhky4

Be a Good President from the Start
http://tinyurl.com/3dxxf2

PTA Meetings
http://tinyurl.com/2jmvpu

Collaboration and Decision Making
http://tinyurl.com/2fs794

Looking for more ideas?
Visit the Great Idea Bank to learn what other PTAs are doing to help welcome parents to their PTA.
http://www.pta.org/local_leader/idea

OMDR - National PTA's Wave of the Future!

Introducing! National PTA's new Online Membership Data Reporting system (OMDR). You should have received information about this new system in your summer service mailing.

OMDR is required to comply with federal law and to provide members information in a timely manner. It gives PTA units certain functions, like sending email blasts to their members and making mailing labels from the database as well as the ability to print their PTA membership cards using the information that has been entered.

Below is important information for you and your membership chair to get started with OMDR. Please, read and digest this information soon so that you can begin inputting your members into OMDR as soon as possible.You will need the following 2 numbers to get started (sent to unit presidents by email)

National Unit ID
Your Membership #

An easy way to streamline your process is to use the excel spreadsheet in place of your current tracking system. Once you do this, you can easily upload your members in a batch, to minimize the time it takes.

I will also be providing training on OMDR at our upcoming district training. Please, ensure your membership chair attends to get that valuable training. Or, your membership chair can attend one of the online webinars, described below.Please, let me know if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer them.

Information from the National PTA:
PTA expects every PTA unit to be using the Online Membership Data Reporting system beginning this fall. Per capita (membership dues) will still be remitted in the same way as always, but when you enter your members into OMDR, they will be offered the chance to choose for themselves which information and offers they want to receive from National PTA.

You can learn about OMDR when you participate in the webinars (online training sessions) offered by PTA. The webinars last approximately one hour and will take you step by step through the main features of OMDR. The webinar schedule is available online and you can see the schedule and register at http://registration.intercall.com/go/nationalpta
Bulletin Board to ask questions and share information at http://www.pta.org/

An online "bulletin board" that can be used for questions about OMDR and to find information on the latest upgrades is now up and running. To get to the bulletin board, go to "Leadership Resources" on www.pta.org and then to "Leadership Bulletin Boards." You'll need the username and password on the back of your membership card to access the bulletin board.

There are two ways to enter member information into OMDR:
The first and easiest, although somewhat time consuming if you have a large membership, is to individually enter basic contact information for each person who has joined your PTA.

The other option is to "batch upload" using member data that you have entered into an Excel spread sheet. That spreadsheet must have the 22 specific required fields. Not all the fields must have information inserted into them but they must be present as part of the spreadsheet. A list of the required fields is attached.

Once members are entered into OMDR, they will receive a welcome email from PTA telling them how to opt in to get various resources, like e-newsletters, information on benefits available to PTA members and offers from PTA partners. Each member chooses the items desired.

Below you will find:
Accessing OMDR for the first time
Excel Fields for a Batch Upload to OMDR
Some Typical Questions and Answers
For assistance, please contact your PTA District, your PTA Council or National PTA at 800 / 307-4782 .

ACCESSING OMDR FOR THE FIRST TIME
Initial access to a local unit’s OMDR site is given to the local unit president (LUP).
To access OMDR the first time, the local unit president needs the National PTA identification number for the local PTA unit and his/her individual member identification number.
In California, these numbers can be provided to units by either their PTA district or their PTA council. The responsibility for entering the contact information for local unit presidents into OMDR belongs to the PTA district, so be sure that your PTA district knows of any changes in leadership. (If that information is in OMDR, the unit can also obtain access information from National PTA).
Go to https://www.pta.org/omdr.
Click “First Visit” in order to create your username and password.
Enter your first name, last name, member ID, and local unit ID in the appropriate boxes (be sure member and unit ID numbers are 8-digits and include the leading zeros). Choose your position (example: local unit president= LUP) from the drop-down menu. Enter your desired username. Click submit.
Enter your desired password, then retype this password in the appropriate boxes. Enter your e-mail address, choose a secret question from drop-down list, and answer the secret question in the appropriate boxes (this information is used to recover password, if necessary). Click submit.
You will receive a confirmation page indicating that your OMDR account was successfully added.
You can click from this page to go to the local unit sign-in page, or return to the OMDR main menu.
You can now sign in to OMDR using the username and password you just created by going to www.pta.org/omdr and signing on.
Note: As the local unit president (LUP), it is possible that you will not be the primary person within your unit in charge of using OMDR. In many cases, the membership chair, treasurer, or another board member is responsible for keeping track of membership and will need to use OMDR. In order for others to access the system you have two options (but the first option is the preferred method):
The Local Unit President (LUP) can enter into the system the person who needs access and provide them with their Member ID number so that they can go through the "first visit" process and create their own username and password for future use.
The Local Unit President (LUP) can provide his/her username and password to any other individuals within the unit who have been authorized to use OMDR. This option is not recommended because it means that there is no way to take away access should someone leave (without taking away access from all people using the same password).

OMDR - REQUIRED EXCEL Spreadsheet Fields for Batch Upload
These are the 22 "fields" that are required in an Excel spread sheet to "batch upload" data into the OMDR database. Ten (10) of the fields must have an entry (indicated below by "REQUIRED"); the other fields must exist but can be empty.

A. "LU ID number" (local unit identification number) is the 8 digit National PTA identification number (include all the leading zeros to make it an 8 digit number). REQUIRED
Note: all entities in OMDR (both PTAs and individuals) have a unique 8 digit identification number.
B. Name prefix can be: none (default), Dr., Miss, Mr., Mrs., Ms., c/o.
C First Name - REQUIRED - 40 characters maximum.
D. Middle Initial or Name is optional (40 letters maximum)
E. Last name - REQUIRED - 40 characters maximum.
F. Name suffix, such as: Jr., Sr., I, II, III ("none" is the default)
G. Home address #1- REQUIRED - maximum length is 40 characters.
H. Home address #2 - If applicable, use for apartment number or suite number; maximum length is 40 characters.
I. Home Address #3.
J. Home city - REQUIRED - maximum length is 25 characters.
Use the postal service correct spelling/spacing of cities (Fort Wayne, not Ft. Wayne).
K. Home state - REQUIRED - must be two (2) characters only.
L. Home zip code - REQUIRED - Use 5 digits or 9 (zip + 4) but no hyphens. Maximum is 15 characters
M. Home Area Code
N. Home phone – Recommended - Use format xxxxxxx (no spaces). Required for unit presidents
O. Work Area Code
P. Work phone – Recommended - Use format xxxxxxx (no spaces).
Q. Fax Area Code
R. Fax Phone number - Optional. Use format xxxxxxx (no spaces).
S. E-mail is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED since this is the most efficient way for communication
to take place. Maximum length is 60 characters.
T. PTA Position - REQUIRED -
(LUP=Local Unit President, LUM= Local Unit Member).
Abbreviations for most other positions can be provided.
U. Begin Date of being in the position or the membership year - (07/01/2007) REQUIRED Format: MM/DD/YYYY
V. End Date for the position or end of the membership year. REQUIRED Format: MM/DD/YYYY (06/30/2008)

Questions and Answers:
Why do names and addresses of members need to be entered into the National Online PTA database?
In order to comply with federal and state laws requiring all corporations to be in touch with their members.
When will use of the database start?
Some PTAs in California are already participating and National PTA expects everyone to be using the system starting in the summer of 2007.
How do I access this database?
As the system moves from its pilot phase into full implementation, National PTA is getting ready to provide information on its website, www.pta.org. You can reach the database at www.pta.org/omdr
Do I need a password to access this database?
Each PTA president can access the system with their unit's National PTA identification number and the PTA president's individual identification number (which is assigned when the PTA district enters the PTA president's contact information).
Will other people be able to access the database for our units and see our confidential information?
Each level (unit/council/district) can only access its own information. The entire system is password protected.
What will this database be used for?
Record-keeping to comply with federal law and to provide members information in a timely manner. It gives PTA units certain functions, like sending email blasts to their members and making mailing labels from the database as well as the ability to print their PTA membership cards using the information that has been entered.
Can I print out this database so that I don't have to do a separate database on my own computer for our unit? Absolutely! Whatever information you enter will be accessible to you. Also OMDR allows you to send email blasts to your members. Additionally, no longer will membership information be lost when the membership person moves or when the membership records are misplaced.
What if people don't give information like addresses or phone numbers?
Enter the information you do have. If an email address is provided, the member will receive a welcome email that explains how they can opt in to receive various offers and information from PTA.
Does PTA have a "privacy policy" and how can I access it?
Yes, you can access the policy at www.pta.org/privacy_policy.html

OMDR Membership Dates and Card Printing

The California PTA membership year is July 1 to June 30. Our membership card expiration date is October 31. This allows our members to renew their membership during those four months. During this grace period, members are entitled to their full membership rights, including approval of the PTA’s budget and program at the summer or fall association meeting.
Each PTA must keep a record of the actual date that a member has joined. Rights of membership are extended to those who have been members for 30 days.

OMDR includes a convenient membership card printing function found on the unit site. Unit name, unit ID number, member name and dates of membership are printed on the card. October 31 must be used in OMDR as the end of term date in order to be printed on the card. Keep in mind that any members added with a future begin date will not be seen in the system until that date.

When one enters a member individually, one has no option of providing dates for the member’s membership year. Therefore the dates printed on the membership card for that individual correspond to the unit’s membership year entered in the “Local Unit Update”. Set the Local Membership Year dates to begin July 1 and end October 31.

When one renews members from the previous year that were entered individually, there is also no option for dates. The membership years printed on the membership card will be the ones set in the “Local Unit Update”.

Members entered into the OMDR system will remain in the system for exactly one year past their member expiration date in order to allow for renewal of membership.

When members are entered via a batch upload, one has the option of entering begin and end dates for each member. Use the date each member joined in the “begin date” column and 10/31/08 in the “end date” column for the current year in order to print cards from the OMDR site.

Each member’s term date should begin with the date he/she joined and end with October 31 of the following year (or in the same year as the end of term, June 30).
There are two options to print membership cards.
To print with all of the information including names, click “Membership Card PDF”. To print all the information except the names, click “Membership Card PDF (Blank)”.