Livonia PTSA Council Courier

Greetings! I'm excited to start my second year as Council President with you all! It has been great to meet many new faces and it's always a pleasure to see returning faces!

It's important to remember that as a PTA/PTSA board member, you are viewed as a leader of your school community by many parents. They will look to you for guidance, for answers to questions, and sometimes for things you have no involvement in or control of -- especially at the beginning of the school year. It can sometimes be overwhelming, but please do the best you can with kindness and grace. And when answering questions on social media, please remember that tone is something that can easily be interpreted in a negative way. Do your best to answer in a pleasant and informative manner. This goes a long way for families!

Remember that Council is always available to help you in all PTA related manners. Your Council liaison is your first point of contact should you ever need help. You can always feel free to contact me as well.

Council is ready for another great year and we're looking forward to working with you all! Welcome back!

Kindly,

Andrea Malenfant

Livonia PTSA Council President

Now that school is starting - schools are having their open houses, school tours, and we're all getting back into the swing of things - it's time to start figuring out how to implement all those great ideas of how to gain and increase membership. Maybe you have a PTA/PTSA table at Open House with membership forms, possibly with a device ready for individuals to purchase a membership right there. Maybe you have a QR Code to direct members to your MemberHub Store to purchase a membership on their own device. Maybe you have an incentive to offer members. There are so many options that can be done. The first time families walk into the school is a perfect time to gain those memberships, encourage volunteers, and really get families, students, staff and everyone excited about this school year!

There are still a few things to remember. Your annual Livonia PTSA Council membership dues are due no later than October 28th. Please mail or deliver the payment and form to the correct address on the form (see pdf below). Please DO NOT send your dues to the Central Office. Also, your unit is to remit their state dues to Michigan PTA by the 28th of every month for all members that were new that month. This information can be found and paid for on MemberHub.

Any questions, please feel free to reach out and email Membership at: nicoledant816@gmail.com

Nicole Dant

Livonia PTSA Council Membership Chair

Welcome to the 2023-24 school year! Some may be asking "What is PEP?" PEP stands for "PTA/PTSA Excellence Program." This is a program created to help your PTA/PTSA unit to be in compliance and to submit required documents and information on time. It also gives you points for every submission. What do the points mean? The top ranking PTA/PTSA units in Livonia will receive a gift from Livonia PTSA Council in May. The rankings from every unit also gives Livonia PTSA Council the order in which the next year's Council liaisons will be chosen.

To get PEP points, simply complete each task on the PEP checklist on time and email PEP. When your email is received and points are awarded, you will receive an email confirmation from PEP. These totals will be shared every month in this newsletter and can also be found on Livonia PTSA Council's website under PEP.

* Due to some technical difficulties with our email system at the moment, please send all PEP emails to lptsacouncil@gmail.com.

Please reference the PEP Checklist to know when everything needs to be completed and submitted on time. Once you have your first meeting, be sure to upload items such as your budget, audit, 990, bylaws, etc. into Memberhub's Compliance hub. After you meet as an executive board, have each member of the board sign the Financial Best Practices and Bylaws Acknowledgement forms, then email the signed copy to PEP. Don't forget to invite your Council liaison to your monthly meetings and CC PEP for an easy 100 points a month! Submit a newsletter article to be published, CC PEP, and receive another easy 100 points a month! Also, be sure to have your executive board members updated in Memberhub by October 1st for an easy 100 points!

It's going to be a great year! Let's earn those PEP points!

Sara Bennett

Livonia PTSA Council PEP Chair

To celebrate our staff returning back to the building, the PTA stocked the staff lounge full of ice cream, beverages and tasty snacks for the staff as they set up their classrooms.

The PTA provided Kona Ice during the incoming kindergarten event where the children can enjoy their snow cones and play on the playground and get to interact with their other future classmates.

Cleveland PTA has hit the ground running this year! Our executive board was excited to meet with our new principal, Dr. Owens, to start planning the 2023-2024 school year. Over the summer, we hosted several playground meetups, where students and families could reconnect and enjoy a popsicle or two! In August, we held an incoming kindergarten picnic, where families could meet our K team of teachers, have lunch, and purchase PTA memberships and Cleveland swag! We also stocked and decorated the staff lounge and assembled goodie bags for staff members to enjoy at their first PD day of the year. To round out our summer break, we invited families to come "Chalk the Walk" to welcome back our Cleveland community. We're looking forward to SOARING into the new year!

We are so excited to get the school year going at Hoover!

Over the summer, we have had weekly playdates at the school playground for Hoover families to come see friends that they maybe wouldn’t normally see over the summer. It was lovely to meet new faces and see returning ones, too!

On August 24th, we had a welcome back night with Popsicles on the Playground. Although it was hot, the weather held out for us. It was a huge success! Our principal, Mr. D., and some of the teachers were there to introduce themselves, and we saw lots of new faces!

On August 25th, we hosted a welcome back breakfast for our wonderful staff!!

As a welcome back for students and staff, we had a Chalk the Walk the weekend before school started, August 26th and 27th. Families came and decorate our walkways with chalk!

This year’s PTA Board is already (and has been!) deep into planning for the year ...

Our first fundraiser of the year will be our Color Run, in September. It was a huge success for us last year and we hope to make it an even bigger one this year! Also in September, we are hosting an Outdoor Movie Night, which was an event we hosted many years prior to Covid, so we hope that everyone will enjoy that again!

Looking forward to a great year!

The Randolph PTA is excited to start our school year. To kick off the year, Randolph hosted Popsicles on the Playground on August 22nd. We welcomed our new incoming kindergarteners as well as any new families coming to Randolph to come enjoy a sweet treat and meet Mrs. Linn. We know it can be intimidating being a new family and we hoped to make that transition for families as smooth as possible. It was a big hit! We also kicked off our Color Run fundraiser! This year we wanted to do one big fundraiser and this is the best one! This year we will have a raffle added. Kids who contributed will get their names added to a drawing. For every $25 raised, they get added to the drawing. Everyone has a chance to win! We also have some really great prizes for our top fundraisers! We hope everyone had a great first week of school!

Mark your calendars NOW for Founders’ Day, Officer’s Training, and the Audit Party!

2023

September – IEP Binder Organization Event | TBD

9/20 – LPTSA Council Meeting |6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

October – Council Meet and Greet | TBD

October – Costume Closet | TBD

11/15 – LPTSA Council Meeting & Workshop |6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

11/16 – Food Service Appreciation

December – LPTSA Council Family STEM Event | TBD

2024

1/17 – LPTSA Council Meeting | 6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

1/20 – LPTSA Council Chili Cook-Off | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. | TBD

January – Reflections Ceremony | 6 p.m. | TBD

2/21 – Founders’ Day | 6 p.m. | TBD

3/20 – LPTSA Council Meeting & Workshop | 6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

3/21 – Transportation, Maintenance & Warehouse Appreciation

4/17 – LPTSA Council Meeting & Elections | 6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

4/24 – YMAD Celebration | 6 p.m. | Churchill High School

5/22 – Officer’s Training | 6 – 8 p.m. | TBD

6/12 – LPTSA Council Meeting | 6 – 8 p.m. | Central Office

7/17 – Audit Party | 6 – 8 p.m.| Central Office

If you are a PTA/PTSA officer or committee chair, please make sure to join our group for important information, discussions, and more! Be sure to answer the questions when you request to join. A lot of great information is shared on this closed group page. It's also a great way to network with other units, share ideas, and ask for help.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/541318689333449/

Michigan PTA Website: https://www.michiganpta.org/

Michigan PTA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/everychildonevoice

National PTA Website: https://www.pta.org/

National PTA Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ParentTeacherAssociation

National PTA Blog: https://onevoice.pta.org/

The Livonia PTSA Council is a group of 22 local PTA/PTSA Units within the Livonia Public Schools District. The Council is organized under the authority of the Michigan PTA for the purpose of promoting conferences, communications, leadership development and coordination of the efforts of the local units.

Interested in joining Council? There are chair opportunities available! Contact President Andrea Malenfant at andrea.malenfant@livoniaptsacouncil.org

Email: newsletter@livoniaptsacouncil.org
Website: www.livoniaptsacouncil.org
Location: 15125 Farmington Road, Livonia, MI, USA
Phone: .
Facebook: facebook.com/LivoniaPTSACouncil
Twitter: @LivoniaPTSAC