Friday, September 22, 2017

You Have to Look Backwards Before You Can Move Forward

Have you ever pulled out of a parking space without looking back first, even if just a little bit? Most of us can probably admit to having done that at some point. If you have and you were lucky, you may have gotten off easy. No accident - just the blaring of a horn and some undesirable hand gestures directed your way.

Looking back is a necessity before setting a car into reverse, and doing so can be equally as important when considering options for the future.

In November, I will have reached the halfway point of my term as president. As I think about the new PTA year ahead, I’ve paused to take that look back before thinking about how to move forward. At Convention 2016, I shared my vision for NYS PTA and some ideas about how to make that vision come into focus. Each of you so graciously added your energy and commitment, and supplied a vast array of fresh ideas that turned a vision into reality. Together we have made a difference and have witnessed some very noticeable progress!

In just one year, we have significantly widened the scope of our impact and expanded the reach of our powerful voice. We’ve changed the way we apply our resources on Lobby Day, having advocates split into smaller groups that deliver our Association's concerns to their own representatives. This targeted approach not only produced a significant increase in the number of legislator meetings, but heightened the quality of the meetings in that the elected officials heard directly from their own constituents.

Virtual Lobby Day has also seen a renovation. Advocacy alerts are now split and delivered to legislators by issue rather than bundled together. This enhancement to an already effective program has generated a 375% increase in the number of emails conveyed to legislators, highlighting the size of NYS PTA and commanding the reception we deserve.

As if that weren’t enough, the new Strategic Alliance Program has presented benefits and opportunities that enhance NYS PTA’s positive impact on the member experience while increasing non-dues revenue on the balance sheet.

A new insurance program, AIM, Inc., provides 24/7 access to our units’ insurance needs, and streamlines the administrative process, freeing up NYS PTA staff resources to address other significant matters.

So much for looking back! All’s clear and we can shift into drive! Looking forward, new initiatives are being implemented and are sure to catch your attention. Our new website is about to be launched. I am confident that you will find it to be an exciting new resource.

New leadership training webinars covering a series of six different topics are scheduled for this school year. The first webinar, "Building Great Relationships with School and District Leadership”, is being held next week. Please consider participating and becoming a part of this exciting new training opportunity.

A new Legislative Summit has been planned to advance our advocacy work, and will be held in February 2018.

Some of these new initiatives include MemberHub sites which facilitate communication between the units and their members, and File990.org, which conveniently ensures federal compliance requirements are maintained.

The importance of looking back applies to many aspects of our lives. In the physical world, it can provide safety. In our emotional world, it can elicit good feelings that conjure up nostalgic memories of good times. Here at NYS PTA, we look back and see the sturdy building blocks set in place by our past leadership teams, and even sneak a peek at the not-so-distant past and see the important progress we’ve achieved. The portal to the past gives us a view that can be used to guide us into our future.

Keep up the good work!

-Gracemarie

Gracemarie Rozea, President
Leading the Way

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Back to School with PTA

Can you remember the first whiff of that unmistakable smell when you opened that brand new yellow and green box at the start of the school year? To this day, the scent of fresh crayons brings back fond memories and vivid images of my own school days.

Parents, focused on dutifully completing a back-to-school mission, might find themselves distracted by the same phenomenon. Purchasing crayons and all of those school supplies can bring to mind a mixed bag of emotions. Some may become teary-eyed at the thought of their first child beginning their educational journey, while others may be dancing for joy after spending many weeks over the summer vacation anticipating a well-deserved break.

Parents, whether this is your first back-to-school or your last, we share with you the hope that the experience will be the best that it can for each of our children. This is a great time to remember that the best way to help ensure that your child’s year will be successful is to become a member of your local PTA!

Speaking of the summer, PTA never stopped buzzing. In addition to the multitude of PTA events and activities that took place across the state, almost 50 members of the New York State PTA Governance Team prepared for the upcoming PTA year! More than 200 leaders came to work on honing their leadership skills, attending nearly 40 different workshops at our Summer Leadership Conference at Utica College. Twelve attendees were hand-picked by a team from Facebook© and sat on a panel designed to discuss the Facebook Parents Portal and the tools and resources that parents of school-age children would find helpful in navigating the digital world.


All volunteer leaders from all around New York took valued time from their families and attended a variety of workshops at the conference so that they would be best prepared to lead their local units and councils. Please join us in thanking them for their commitment to PTA and making the SLC such a successful training experience. And many thanks as well to all who facilitated or supported any of the many PTA events furthering our mission and kept our message out there for all to see.

All of the details related to our upcoming convention in Niagara Falls were finalized during the summer months. Our fantastic Convention Committee has planned a new program with exciting guest speakers, including the 2017 NYS Teacher of the Year Amy Hysick, NYS Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia and Georgia Superior Court Judge Verda Colvin. Convention registration is now open, CLICK HERE to register and see the registration packet. We hope you will join us November 3-5!

And so this week, as many children in New York head back to school, I’d like to wish all of our students a great year! To all of our teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, staff members, bus drivers, crossing guards and all others who work with our students, heartfelt gratitude for your service to our children and youth. It is because of your dedication that these bright stars will become the leaders of tomorrow!

-Gracemarie

Gracemarie Rozea, President
Leading the Way
president@nyspta.org


Thursday, April 20, 2017

Hand in Hand

When someone says ‘hand in hand’, what do you think of? Spaghetti and Meatballs? Peanut Butter and Jelly? Salt and Pepper? Milk and Cookies? So many words have other words associated with them.

But what about PTA? When I relate the expression ‘hand in hand’ to PTA, Advocacy and Membership are the first pair of words that come to mind. Our mission statement is very clear:
PTA is a powerful voice for all children, a relevant resource for families and communities, and a strong advocate for the education and wellbeing of every child.
Over the past few months we have turned up the volume of our voice in both Washington D.C. and Albany. View our Advocacy 2017 video here.

We have spoken with our legislators about many important issues including:
When we speak as representatives of PTA, we are influential because we speak with the voices of hundreds of thousands of our members behind us. It is evident that the connection between Advocacy and Membership is very significant.

You chose to participate in NYS PTA’s Virtual Lobby Day/Week this year and you made a difference. More than 8,000 email messages were sent to legislators at the state and federal levels, and they heard our voice.

The work is not done. The work is never done. Issues that affect each of our communities need to be addressed, and your school’s PTA or Council of PTAs needs to be a voice in how that happens.

Speaking to your principal, school board or superintendent on behalf of the members of your PTA community will make a big difference. The larger your membership number, the louder your voice will be. Your collective voice will help create the best outcomes for all our children.

NYS PTA recently launched our +ONE campaign as an easy way to help membership grow. Click here to read about the campaign. And click here if you’d like to gift a membership.

We have enjoyed some very significant gains because of our collective advocacy efforts. Tremendous potential exists for further progress. Please embrace and promote NYS PTA’s +ONE campaign.

Consider adding Advocacy and Membership to your list of commonly-paired sets of words, as there is no doubt that there is power in numbers. Do what you can to stimulate your unit’s membership effort and enable it to become another tributary that feeds our mighty river of advocacy.

-Gracemarie

Gracemarie Rozea, President
Leading the Way
president@nyspta.org

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

The Value of a PTA Volunteer

During this time of holiday celebrations around New York State, I wish each of you a joyous and peaceful season. Take some time to gather with your family and enjoy each other. Treasure the moments spent with your children – in the blink of an eye they will be all grown up. And as this year comes to a close and a new year draws near, I want to express my appreciation to all of our PTA members. Without each and every one of you, this great association would not have had a 120 year existence. I’d like to leave you with some thoughts about the importance of your presence as PTA members and also the presents that you receive as PTA volunteers.

I recently attended the Fall Luncheon in the Westchester-East Putnam Region and had the good fortune to hear the keynote speech delivered by Alisa Kesten, Executive Director of Volunteer New York, volunteernewyork.org. The mission of the organization is to inspire, mobilize and equip individuals and groups to take positive action to address pressing challenges, support nonprofits and strengthen the quality of life in the community.

Alisa specifically wanted to impress upon those present, the value of serving as a volunteer in the PTA. I would like to share an excerpt of her remarks:
I conducted a very unscientific Facebook poll hoping to illustrate the personal and professional growth each of you can and should expect as a direct result of your volunteer service for your PTA.

I asked my Facebook friends to give a one word answer to this question: Did you ever belong to a PTA? Then I sat back to see who said yes, because I know my friends. I know how active they are at work and in the community. I know their skills, and I suspected that there would be a strong correlation between those who are or had been deeply involved in PTA and their subsequent achievement. I wanted to illustrate how every friend who answered YES had developed a variety of skills  project management, communications, advocacy, financial management, event planning, negotiating, fundraising, and more  all honed as PTA volunteers… and that so many of us have used those skills for positive achievement. Well the responses are still coming in  which boosted my social media Klout Score, (an added benefit, for those who know how Klout works), and unscientifically, I was right!

A few of the responses included the following:

  • Some were always attorneys but now have a different specialty as a result of their involvement in schools.
  • Some had been elected to PTA leadership positions. Now many have been elected to school boards, county legislatures, and I know that Congresswoman Nita Lowey always references her PTA roots in giving her the foundation to run for Congress.
  • Many gained confidence in speaking out at public budget hearings or in leading meetings. Now they are at the forefront of issues they care about, with well-practiced communications skills.
  • There was a group who had left the workforce to raise children. But they always volunteered for PTA. Now they are restaurateurs, entrepreneurs, and small business owners whose clients or vendors may have first learned of their talent and character by serving side by side on a PTA committee.
  • So many are now Executive Directors of nonprofits, like me, or program directors or finance directors at nonprofits and foundations. We’ve taken so many hands-on experiences of leadership from PTA along with us every step of the way.
  • PTA members – former and current – are in large corporations and very comfortable in navigating deadlines, personalities, budgets and more because we navigated deadlines, personalities, budgets and more through PTA.
  • And a ton of us continue to volunteer and give back to nonprofits whose missions matter to us and the community.

So thank you for the time you give, the meetings you run, the funds you raise, the events you plan, the letters you write, the e-newsletters you create, the actions you take – but know that you are building a toolbox of experiences that you WILL take with you. Those experiences can help open doors, climb ladders, and be successful in whatever way you choose to define success.
Alisa’s comments are so timely as there has been quite a bit of chatter with regard to a recent post by Lean In on Facebook. Their post declared rather authoritatively that by listing as a credential “member of PTA” on one’s resume, a woman was 79% less likely to be hired. This shocking statement should surely compel us to immediately amend our resumes and make the appropriate changes on our LinkedIn, Monster, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter sites.

Wait! Not so fast! There is a small problem with this Lean In ‘fact’. The problem is that it’s just not true. Lean In provides no details on the survey that yielded this information and makes no effort to support it. LeanIn.org, by their own description, is “the nonprofit organization founded by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to empower all women to achieve their ambitions”. So when you see 1.2 million “likes”, don’t be so sure those represent clicks by real people!

In fact, the actual opinions of the real people follow Lean In’s bold but bogus statement. Scroll down. The truth is embedded in the comments. The life experiences reflected by the commenters paint a different picture! PTA provides the opportunity to hone and widen the scope of one’s skills by working alongside men and women from all walks of life representing nearly every profession. The transferable skills an individual develops as a PTA member working for child advocacy are enumerated and extolled within the vast majority of comments made on Lean In’s Facebook post.

I remain perplexed as to why Lean In would choose to deride PTA and intimate that parents, particularly moms, should be ashamed to proclaim that they spend a part of their valuable time supporting a professional association that works to provide a strong voice for their children.

Take heart! PTA is well worth your time. Be proud! Hiring managers can use people that have strong skills and won’t be put off because you care about your family. Employers that would turn away a qualified candidate because they also possess strong family values are not the norm as the Lean In post asserts. The Lean In post was based on an article written in 2007 based on questionable research from 2001. If in fact someone with an agenda commissioned a survey 15 years ago to accomplish some unknown purpose, it probably wasn’t accurate then and certainly isn’t relevant today. We’ve all been told to be aware of “fake news”. Consider the source and platform from which this message was delivered and assess it accordingly!

If you do not serve in a leadership position in your local PTA, consider doing so. If you currently serve at the local or region level, consider stepping up to join the New York State PTA! Our Leadership Development Committee has just launched a new Letter of Interest. Please click here for more information, and here to apply online.

Remember not to let the words of uninformed individuals with an unknown agenda minimize in any way the great work and experience gained by being a member of PTA – your efforts ensure a better future for our greatest resource – OUR CHILDREN. Because of the hard work and advocacy efforts of PTA volunteers and members, there are seat belts on school buses, kindergarten in public schools, a federal school lunch program, strengthened child labor laws, and a ban on corporal punishment. These are just a few of the many accomplishments.

I suggest that the folks at Lean In consider purchasing a membership to their local PTA so that they too can join the efforts of millions of PTA members across the nation to help to Make Every Child’s Potential A Reality!

Warm regards,
Gracemarie Rozea, President

Monday, November 21, 2016

Message from New NYS PTA President

Dear dedicated NYS PTA advocates,

I am excited and humbled by the opportunity to serve as your new President. While I know many of you attended our 120th Annual Convention, many were unable because of family or other commitments. I wanted to share the speech that I gave at our annual banquet as well as my email address, president@nyspta.org.

I look forward to meeting and hearing from you all over the next two years, and hope you will embrace my theme ‘Leading the Way’. As always, continue the amazing work you do each and every day to support our children and families and don’t forget to share your ‘Why PTA’.

Warm regards,
Gracemarie Rozea, President
                                                                                             

Thank you and good evening.

I am humbled by your decision to have me lead the work of New York State PTA and partner with the most outstanding volunteers in New York State as your President. I have traveled a long trail to arrive at this moment, and have learned so much from so many along the way. My path was not through a career in education or involvement on school boards. My experience is what one gains through the eyes of a parent, and has afforded me the ability to consistently offer perspectives and opinions closely aligned with those of the majority of our membership.

When my husband and I started our family, we lived on Staten Island, in New York City. We chose to send our children to a Montessori school as an alternative to enrolling them in a New York City public school system that we felt to be overburdened, understaffed, and unable to provide enough of a challenge for those curious minds we knew so well. We knew it was important to find an education that would inspire and motivate our children, and acted to make choices that would accomplish exactly that. 

So, when we decided to move to Massapequa Park on the south shore of Long Island, the real estate agents quickly came to understand that the only possibility of earning a commission from us involved showing us homes in School District 23. That was a non-negotiable requirement. We had done our research and we were determined to land in that District. We eventually found our home, and I immediately set out to be involved with my children’s education.

After I enrolled my boys in the Birch Lane School, I had my first exposure to PTA, at back to school night. The PTA was there, selling memberships, and I felt it – this was where I could make a contribution. A new neighbor told me that I needed an invitation to go to a PTA meeting. I didn’t know any better – what I knew of PTA came from a song about Harper Valley. You all know how that one goes! 

Curiosity got the best of me and I started searching for information about PTA. I found my way to some PTA websites, which weren’t quite what they are today, but I soon learned that despite my neighbor’s warning, PTA was not an exclusionary club for the in-crowd. I joined the Birch Lane PTA and became a class mother, and my journey with PTA began. 

So when people asked me, “Why PTA?”, the answer came quickly. My ‘why’ was Matthew, Steven, Grace, Tom and George - my five children and a determination to do whatever I could do to optimize their educational experience. I felt a responsibility to be sure that it was the best it could be for them

I am so proud that they all went through the public school system successfully and went on to higher education. PTA was there with them - every step of the way – providing programs to enhance their academic program while actively advocating for them and all children. 

I mentioned that feeling I had as a young mom – a responsibility to make my children’s educational experience the best it could be for them. I knew it was the right thing to do. I had learned that from my parents. Working as a class mother and later a newsletter editor, I hadn’t yet had experienced the revelation that the best way to make it better for my children was to make it better for every child. I continued to volunteer and take on new challenges from PTA, and at some point; I’m not exactly sure just when; I realized that my mission was the mission of PTA. 


It was no longer just about my children. There was indeed, a “bigger picture”. My answer to “Why PTA?” had certainly changed. I came to understand that it was imperative that we harness the awesome energy of our hundreds of thousands of Parent and Teacher members to advocate for those who hold the keys to the future, yet have no voice of their own – our children.

I’d imagine that each person sitting in the room this evening has at some point thought about what their ‘why’ is. I suspect that many of you were like me, and your ‘why’ came from within your own home. But those of us here tonight have seen the PTA accomplish great things, and the answers to our ‘whys’ have morphed into a passion – a passion to widen the reach and influence of PTA. 

We no longer ask ‘why’– we just get out there and DO. We see the canvas that needs to be painted and the tasks in front of us to make that “bigger picture“ more and more beautiful. That kind of passion is what has supported 120 years of advocacy on behalf of children in New York State and in our country.

Having had the incredible experience over the past two years of working with the field and grassroots, I have become acutely aware of the need for a pipeline of future leadership. Many units have had difficulty finding individuals to serve in leadership positions. Unaddressed, this problem is one that will eventually find its way to the state level, as without organic growth, our ability to progress will be suppressed and our effect will be diminished. To ensure a stable future for New York State PTA we must chart our course and adjust our direction now

Over the course of the next two years, there will be a focused effort to develop a robust Leadership Development program – at the State level, at the Region level and at the unit and council level. We will be implementing exciting new opportunities for training, offering micro-training sessions, regional conference call trainings, and a redesigned structure of training events, recognizing the lifestyles and considering the needs of the modern-day volunteer. 

We will also take a fresh look at the configuration of our regions. Some regions enjoy the luxury of having many volunteers, while others struggle with just a few, and the load is carried on too few shoulders. We will find the way to ensure that we have strong units, councils, and regions in every corner of our state.

It is appropriate now that I share the theme for my administration - New York State PTA – Leading the Way. The theme is depicted by a compass with an eight-point compass rose. A compass’s needle will always point north (except for some places in the Adirondacks, the North Country people can tell you about that) – but it points to the magnetic north.

You’ll notice the little shift between the two norths on the pin. True north is the north you see on a map – your destination. It’s very important to know where you are heading, but equally as important to consider how you will get there. I chose the compass because it reminds us that by relying only on the narrow advice of the north-pointing needle without compensating and making necessary adjustments, it is easy to drift off course.

I have recently given great thought to those who came before me and encouraged me every step along the way in my PTA journey. I remembered all the times I received their counseling. They guided me well, and noticed when I strayed towards a ‘magnetic north’. They gently guided me back to the more direct path. I ask each of you to discover the way to your true north destination. 

Think of your goals and what you want your legacy to be. Use your moral compass - your values already align with those of our great association. And don’t forget, someone will always be there to redirect you if you lose the trail. Together, by using PTA values, purposes, vision, mission and beliefs as our guide we will continue the great legacy of PTA and carry the association forward into the future.

During my term as your President, I plan to use my compass to guide me to each of our regions. I want to hear what our members have to share so that we, as an association, can be supportive and responsive, actively working together to help stay on our course. All children must have the same opportunity for educational success. 

We need to enable each and every Region, Council, and Unit to develop the strongest leaders possible to carry our association forward, embracing the mission of PTA, and continuing our advocacy, collaboration, and communication to ensure that opportunity and potential for success remains in place for every child for the next 120 years and beyond.

Please let the compass on this pin be a reminder and direct you to the resources that New York State PTA has available for you. We have a resource guide, strategic plan, our bylaws, our advocacy documents, and will soon be developing a new website. Use these resources; let them set you in the right direction for your work on behalf of children.

I know that I can count on each of you to continue to enrich New York State PTA as we chart our course over the next two years, ‘Leading the Way’ to make every child’s potential a reality.


Friday, October 14, 2016

Throughout the State

Over the past few years I have had the opportunity to take part in region and unit events throughout the state: from Long Island to Niagara Falls and most areas in between. I was invited to speak or give training to unit and region members, but the cool part is what I learned from speaking with you, the members.
  • What you want from your PTA 
  • What you want for your schools
  • What you want as teachers
  • What you want as parents 
  • What you want for your student
Members throughout the state may have different ideas on what is more important or how to get there, but the end result is the same. Whether the background is rural, urban or suburban, the one thing that everyone agreed on, is that all of the above should make a difference to helping every child make their potential a reality. 

Parents and teachers want to know they are being heard. The voice that we have as parents and teachers is critical, which is why we have been excited to participate this past year with various NYS Education Department initiatives which included having parents from the grassroots represented on the:
  • Standards Review ELA and Math Committees (These 14 parents from throughout NYS have decided to continue to meet with NYS PTA to keep their voice heard.)
  • Committee of Practitioners (There are now parents from the grassroots from Westchester-East Putnam and Central Hudson representing us to bring the voice of parents with children in school to the table.)
  • ESSA Think Tank (Although a Federal program, our voice is being heard on how it will be implemented in NYS.)
  • Committee for Principal Standards (The NYS PTA Rural Schools Specialist from the Northeastern Region will bring the parents voice to this process.)
  • Connecting members across the state with BOCES superintendents for greater statewide collaboration
You can continue to have your voice be heard by us and the powers that be at state and federal level. For NYS PTA we have put out a survey to ask "What you Want" and we will be releasing those results soon.

The NYS Education Department has extended the period to provide comments on their proposed ELA and Mathematics Standards from November 4 to November 14. To review the proposed ELA Standards and submit your comments, click here. To review the proposed Mathematics Standards and submit your comments, click here. If we want change, we need to let them know what we want; so please take a few minutes to submit your ideas.

There are still more exciting events about to occur throughout the state including our Reflections Roadshow in Genesee Valley this coming weekend and our 120th Annual Convention in Saratoga Springs from November 11-13. I am so excited to participate in these and other events and hope to see many of you there so that we can continue to hear the voice from the grassroots member!

~Bonnie

Bonnie M. Russell
NYS PTA® President
Communicate to Advocate!
everychild.onevoice.®
president@nyspta.org

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Back to School, Already?

Can you believe that school is starting this week? Although summer vacation is coming to an end, the start of school is a time of excitement for our students, teachers and us as parents.

With the new year comes new opportunities for our children as they meet their new teachers, figure out their new schedules and meet new friends on the bus, playground, classrooms and cafeteria.

We as parents can sometimes feel just as nervous as they do when all of these new beginnings come together. We want to be confident and available to help support our children through their transitions, but we sometimes are just as excited and nervous.

NYS PTA is glad to offer parents and teachers resources and programs that can help make the new year a great one. We offer resources and articles from our many different publications available on our website and sent directly to our members that have provided email addresses with their membership form (click here for the publications page).

Our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and recently added Pinterest) are other great places to get daily updates on many different topics from different sources. If you don't already follow us on the Mobile app, please start!

Our Mobile Phone app is a great resource that can be downloaded from your app store. Download the app to your phone today for access to many resources including our publications and access to our Take Action web page to help you advocate on your own throughout the year.

Starting this year we will also be sending out bi-weekly member newsletters that will sometimes include video messages from myself or other guest bloggers. Below is our first video message:



We hope you will continue your membership or consider joining us for the first time. Just click here to access our newest online membership system where you can Become a Member in a matter of a few minutes! #CarryTheCardToBeAPartOfChangeAndTakeAction

Wishing you and your family a great school year as we work together for every.child one.voice® to help make every child's potential a reality.

~Bonnie

Bonnie M. Russell
NYS PTA® President
Communicate to Advocate!
everychild.onevoice.®
president@nyspta.org