WHAT: Get a jumpstart on building your membership for the upcoming school year. End selling current year memberships and close current year’s sales Plan how you will implement your early membership campaign Promote & sell early memberships in spring/early summer before the rush & expense of back to school. WHY host an Early Spring Membership … Continue reading Steps to Plan & Implement an Early Bird Spring Membership Campaign:
Sign Up Now for School of Excellence
How is your PTA doing? Awash in volunteers? Families eagerly joining your PTA and appreciating all you do? Moving PTA meetings to bigger rooms to accommodate the crowd? If not, the National PTA School of Excellence program could help improve your PTA’s performance with volunteers and family engagement. And if your PTA is already checking … Continue reading Sign Up Now for School of Excellence
Have School-Aged Children? You May Be Eligible for Grocery Benefits During Summer
Summer EBT provides families with a monthly grocery benefit to feed their children for three summer months (June, July, August) when children are not receiving free or reduced-price meals at school. In summer 2024, families will receive a one-time benefit of $120 for the summer for each eligible child. Benefits are distributed on an electronic … Continue reading Have School-Aged Children? You May Be Eligible for Grocery Benefits During Summer
5 Nominating Committee Problems (and How to Fix Them)
The nominating committee is an essential part of a successful PTA. The committee’s charge is to slate one person for each officer position at least 30 days before the election. However, nominating committees often run into problems in completing this seemingly simple task. Here are five problems that nominating committees most commonly have and how … Continue reading 5 Nominating Committee Problems (and How to Fix Them)
Show Your PTA Volunteers Some Love This Valentine’s Day
PTA runs on volunteers, from the person helping out at the book fair all the way up to the National PTA President. One way to build your PTA’s volunteer base and strengthen your PTA as a whole is to support your volunteers. Here are some ways you and your PTA can make sure your volunteers … Continue reading Show Your PTA Volunteers Some Love This Valentine’s Day
New Report on Gun Death in Illinois
In 2021, Illinois PTA Convention delegates adopted a resolution on safe gun storage. Since then, we have advocated for safe gun storage laws in Illinois and educated members on firearms issues. A new report by One Aim Illinois called Gun Death in Illinois looks at the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) … Continue reading New Report on Gun Death in Illinois
How to Work with Your Child’s Teacher
With the winter break from school coming up, the school year is at a rough halfway point. It’s a good time to assess how your child is doing and to work with your child’s teacher regarding areas where your child is struggling. The Child Mind Institute has recently updated an article on how to work … Continue reading How to Work with Your Child’s Teacher
Integrating Membership into your PTA Programming: Reflections
It’s Reflections season with art projects & entries being turned in. Students and families are excited at the ability to create projects in the 6 art categories and share their talents and creativity! Did your PTA sponsor the Reflections Art Program at your school? Have you ever thought of integrating your Membership campaign with those … Continue reading Integrating Membership into your PTA Programming: Reflections
Have a Healthy Start to the School Year
The start of a new school year can bring a lot of challenges—new classmates, perhaps a new school building, new routines. If your child is anxious about the new school year, check out National PTA’s Healthy Minds resources for families, part of the Healthy Lifestyles program. National PTA’s Healthy Minds resources for families provide tools … Continue reading Have a Healthy Start to the School Year
Help, I’m the New PTA President!
So the previous PTA president just dropped off a box of stuff and sped off down the street (and was that a cackle you heard?). The person from the nominating committee had said it was an easy job, just run the PTA meetings, but there’s so much stuff in the box and nothing about running … Continue reading Help, I’m the New PTA President!
6 Steps to Grow Your PTA Membership
July kicks off the start of a new PTA membership year. As a PTA leader, you know that members are the lifeblood of your PTA, but perhaps you are unsure how to grow your membership. Here are six simple steps to growing your PTA membership. Have a membership goal. It’s hard to grow your membership … Continue reading 6 Steps to Grow Your PTA Membership
Soar into Summer with Reading Field Trips from RIF
Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) has been supporting childhood literacy since 1966. This summer, they are supporting summer reading through their Summer Reading Field Trips. RIF is inviting children across the country to explore their communities and the world around them through reading. The website has everything you need to help your elementary school child traveling … Continue reading Soar into Summer with Reading Field Trips from RIF
Advocacy, Legislation, and Results: Lead in School Drinking Water
Illinois PTA has a long history of advocacy success, and one of the biggest successes in recent years—testing school drinking water for lead—just had a follow-up article in the Chicago Tribune (Note: The Tribune has lowered its paywall for this article) along with a tool to see the results of your school district’s lead testing. … Continue reading Advocacy, Legislation, and Results: Lead in School Drinking Water
Go Beyond Grades this Summer
Our friends at Learning Heroes have just launched Go Beyond Grades, a program aimed at helping families support summer learning. Go Beyond Grades is a national campaign with a focus on six cities across the country, including Chicago. As with almost all Learning Heroes resources, the materials are available in Spanish as well. Go Beyond … Continue reading Go Beyond Grades this Summer
6 Keys to Running a Successful PTA Election
In January, we discussed the five keys to running a successful nominating committee. Now, as your school year nears the end, here are six keys to running a successful PTA election. Your election must be held at a general membership meeting. Much of the day-to-day running of a PTA can be handled by your PTA … Continue reading 6 Keys to Running a Successful PTA Election
Tweaking Your PTA’s Course in the New Year
New Year’s is a time of fresh starts for a lot of people, but for PTAs, it’s the middle of the year. Your PTA doesn’t need a fresh start, but perhaps you could use a few minor “course corrections.” Here are three such changes your PTA should be considering now. Membership Your PTA got off … Continue reading Tweaking Your PTA’s Course in the New Year
Elections—A Guide for PTAs
Local elections are coming up on April 6, 2021, and it is these elections, often featuring school board races and school funding referenda, that PTAs and their members are most often involved with. Because PTAs are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, the IRS sets specific limits on what PTAs can and can’t do regarding elections. Failure to … Continue reading Elections—A Guide for PTAs
Online Learning and Mental Health
One of the things that stood out from the Illinois PTA-Advance Illinois Town Hall was the struggles families are facing around remote learning. Many parents reported that their children have not wanted to get on Zoom calls, turn on their video during class, or otherwise engage with their teacher and classmates. The sudden shift to … Continue reading Online Learning and Mental Health
NO SMALL MATTER – High quality education for all isn’t just powerful — it’s possible!
The League of Women Voters of the Palatine area, in partnership with the Illinois PTA and the Save the Children Action Network (SCAN) hosted a showing of the powerful documentary No Small Matter. An in-depth look at the value of high-quality early childhood programs, No Small Matter presented compelling evidence on the difference high-quality programs … Continue reading NO SMALL MATTER – High quality education for all isn’t just powerful — it’s possible!
Human Trafficking: A Primer for PTAs
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. While you may not think that human trafficking is an issue in your community—a 2017 poll in Illinois indicated more than half disagreed that it was happening in their area—in fact, Illinois ranks 11th in the nation in the number of cases of human trafficking. What … Continue reading Human Trafficking: A Primer for PTAs
One Voice Illinois 