Livonia PTSA Council Courier

Registration is open for the MI PTA Convention. It’s being held locally in Dearborn so it’s a great chance to check it out.

The workshop schedule and list of topics has been released. If you are fairly new to being a PTA officer, this is a great chance for training in many areas. Training is so important to make sure your board is doing its best for all the students and staff. It’s also the perfect place to meet other PTA minded individuals and share ideas.

Your PTA budget should have a line item to pay for the registration fee.

As most of you know, the 2024 delegates at the National PTA Convention voted to raise National PTA dues by $1 from $2.25 to $3.25 effective July 1, 2025. MI PTA dues of $3.25 and the $100 dues to Council (Niji-Iro and LECC pay $75) will remain the same. Combined National PTA + MI PTA dues will equal $6.50 beginning July 1, 2025.

This change may require an increase to your unit's membership dues. A bylaws amendment is required to reflect the $1 increase paid to National PTA. We have created a guide for units to follow so that this change will be reflected before your unit starts accepting memberships for the 2025 - 2026 school year. Please follow the guide and information regarding more questions is also in the guide.

Thank you,

Andrea Malenfant

LPTSAC 2nd VP & Bylaws Chair

Can you believe it's already April?!?! At this point in time, you should either be reaching out your members to find nominees for next year's board or have your slate already selected. Remember, those on your slate should currently be members of your PTA/PTSA.

Are you getting ready for or having celebrations that will carry on throughout the remainder of the year? Those who are volunteering to help, are they members of your PTA/PTSA? If not, get them to join. It's never too late to join! Just remember, if you become eligible to receive PEP credit for those new members, they have to become members in April to be counted.

There are still a couple of months left of school. Plenty of time to gain members!

Kindly,

Nicole Dant

Treasurer and Membership Chair, Livonia PTSA Council

We are coming to the end of the year so please keep uploading your documents and emailing me when you have earned some points!!

If you have any parent programs planned send me the information!

I still need YMAD and Reflections participation numbers from the units, so please ask your chairs to send that information my way!!

Please feel free to reach out with any questions and I will do my best to answer them or find the answer. You can email me at pep@livoniaptsacouncil.org

The current standings are below. If you feel like some points haven’t been entered please reach out and we can get any mistakes or omissions corrected.

Keadin Parish

Livonia PTSA Council PEP chair

Cleveland started the month of with Skating night. This was probably the busiest event for skating we have had all year and possibly the last of this school year. We made sure we had all the 4th graders get a picture together!

One of our favorite events of the year - Donuts with grown-ups. We ordered over 500 donuts and made sure that even the kiddos that couldn’t make the event received a donut! We had amazing help from the staff passing out treats and drinks.

We ended the month with providing and passing out popcorn to all the classes and staff to end March is reading month.

Emerson has been busy! The students were able to send shamrock shoutouts as a act of kindness. We held skate night on St. Patrick's Day and for the March student PTSA meeting we had a March Madness/open gym.

The Emerson PTSA was also excited to be part of the incoming 7th grade preview night. This was an amazing opportunity to showcase how students can now be part of the PTSA and meet new potential members.

Our talented 3rd and 4th grade Gators recently had the chance to tap into their artistic side at Canvas and Cookies, where they painted an adorable sloth hanging out on a branch. Guided by our own Mrs. McDougall, they learned step-by-step how to bring their sloth to life with colorful paints, brushes, and plenty of imagination. The best part? Each Gator went home with their very own masterpiece!

Lights! Camera! Read! Reading Month in Full Swing

March was nothing short of magical at Grant Elementary as we celebrated all things reading

during National Reading Month! With exciting activities lined up throughout the month,

students, teachers, and families came together to share the joy of books and reading.

Our annual Read-In invited our gators and their adults to grab a delicious donut, find a cozy

corner, and dive into the world of books. It was the perfect way to start the day, with sugar,

stories, and smiles all around!

March was also filled with the mystery of surprise guest readers! Mystery readers were popping

in throughout the month to read aloud to classrooms, keeping everyone on their toes and excited

to find out who would show up next. It’s always a fun way to mix things up and show our

students how much we value reading.

And of course, we couldn’t forget our Read-a-Thon! Once again, our Grant Gators stepped up to

the challenge, reading as many minutes as they could, all while raising money for the amazing

events and programs that make our school so special.

Kennedy Elementary was busy this March.

Students, families and staff alike enjoyed the dine-out this month at Las Palapas. Our PTA offered the dine-out on a “Teacher Work Day” which provided staff the option to grab lunch there as well if desired.

Our yearbook cover contest winner was determined and the link to order the yearbook has been provided. Some of our PTA board is working on finalizing everything and we are looking forward to sharing the completed project.

Our PTA offered a fun family night out at “USA Hockey Arena” where our Stars had the opportunity to skate with the team and get autographs after the game. There was a nice turnout of families and everyone had a great time.

Four of our students submitted pieces for this year’s Reflection theme “Accepting Imperfection.” We are proud of all of them and would like to give a special shoutout to Nora (2nd grade) for her writing submission receiving an Award of Excellence and Julia (4th grade) for her dance choreography for receiving an Award of Merit at the District Level.

In April, our PTA is excited to see our much anticipated Mileage Club returning along with our rescheduled Hearts Aglow Dance.

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

2025

APRIL

4/16 – LPTSA Council Meeting with elections | 6-8 p.m. | Central Office

4/23 – YMAD Event | 6-8 p.m. | Churchill High School

MAY

5/21 – Officer Training | 6-8 p.m. | Frost Middle School

JUNE

6/11 – LPTSA Council Meeting | 6-8 p.m. | Central Office

JULY

7/16 – Audit Party | 6-8 p.m. | Central Office

AUGUST

8/20 – LPTSA Council Meeting | 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 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 Mandy Gerstenbrand at president@livoniaptsacouncil.org

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