Coolidge Elementary
Coolidge Elementary PTA has been busy over the summer organizing the start of our school year. We completed an overhaul on our PTA website to give families a place to go for information about PTA events, fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, meetings and our store. New items were added to our school store to show off your Coolidge Cougar spirit!
In August, we organized a Spirit Wear Swap for our Coolidge families. Families were encouraged to donate their previous year’s grade level shirts and any outgrown spirit wear so that other families would have an opportunity to reuse the shirt for another child. We collected over 25 donated shirts for this event!
We had a Chalk the School event on August 25th where families could stop by and add some color and fun to the school’s sidewalks before the start of the school year. Students and staff enjoyed seeing all the fun chalk messages and drawings on the first day of school.
We helped our media center host their fall Scholastic book fair the first two weeks of school. We set up a classroom wish list board for families to browse if they wanted to choose a book to donate to their child’s classroom for use during the school year.
The PTA partnered with Schwartz’s Greenhouse for our first ever fall mum flower fundraiser that began in August and goes through mid-September.
We are changing things up this year, instead of having a fall fun run, we are having a dance-a-thon! This fundraiser will take place in September with the Monster Mash dance-a-thon taking place on Halloween. This is our PTA’s largest fundraiser of the year!
We are hosting our first family skating night of the year on September 24th from 6-8 pm at Riverside arena. This is a great opportunity for Coolidge families to meet up outside of school.
Coolidge Elementary PTA is once again partnering with DQ Grill and Chill (6 Mile and Middlebelt) for a restaurant fundraiser. This will take place on 10/1 which is also a professional development day for our staff. Consider dining out for lunch, dinner or even dessert to support Coolidge Elementary PTA! The PTA earns 20% of sales when you mention our PTA at checkout.
Meet our 2024-25 PTA Board:
Melissa Austin, President: This is her first year as president of the Coolidge PTA after being involved for the past three years, most recently serving as vice president during the 2023-24 school year. She has three children who attend Coolidge - a daughter, Jane, who is in fourth grade, and twin boys, Tommy and Theo, in third grade. She also works part-time as a kindergarten paraprofessional at Coolidge. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, spending time with her family and cuddling with her two cats, Oliver and Belle.
Elizabeth Vacheresse, 1st Vice President: As a second-year vice president, she has been involved in several facets of PTA activities, including serving as committee chair for Youth Making a Difference, supporting staff appreciation efforts, encouraging parents and staff to attend meetings, and sharing information through the Coolidge PTA social media channels. She has five kids, including a son who recently moved onto Riley, twin girls in fourth grade, a son in second grade and a daughter in kindergarten. She also works at a local business, Merri-Craft Florist. She can't wait to support the Coolidge community in the year ahead and see how we can continue to grow and support our school!
Jessica Maracou, 2nd Vice President: She first became involved in the PTA several years ago when her daughter, who is now in second grade, started kindergarten as a way to stay connected to the Coolidge community. It was important for her to know what was happening, and the PTA's nighttime meetings continue to allow her to stay involved, meet other parents and play an active role in the school. She has a four-year-old in preschool and loves spending time outside gardening, hiking or kayaking. Her family also love exploring new places.
Jenna Kuhn, Treasurer: She has been a proud Coolidge Cougars parent for six years now with a son in third grade and a daughter in fifth grade at Riley Upper Elementary. While this is her first year serving on the PTA board, she have been an active member in the PTA during her time at Coolidge. She ran the Book Fairs last year and looks forward to doing so again this year as well asd being a regular volunteer at the Coolidge Media Center. She works part-time as a physical therapist and enjoys crocheting, sewing and spending time with her family. She looks forward to a fun and exciting year.
Stephanie Street, Secretary: This is her fourth year being involved in the Coolidge Elementary PTA and second as secretary, where she loves taking an active role planning and scheduling exciting events for the school families and staff. Her youngest daughter, Julia, attends first grade here at Coolidge while her eldest, Makayla, recently transitioned to Webster Elementary. She serves as one of the troop leaders for the girl scout troop at Coolidge and volunteers around the building as often as possible. She also works part-time as a math professor at Schoolcraft College. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, listening to podcasts and audiobooks, and grabbing dinner with her girlfriends.
Hoover Elementary
The Rockets are ready to launch school at Hoover!
We had our annual Popsicles on the Playground to welcome everyone back and meet some of the Hoover staff! It was a great turnout as always!
We also had First Day Donuts, a time for parents to come have a donut after drop off, join the PTA, and see what we're about. This year, the Hoover PTA launched their new website/newsletter, The Launch Pad. It's meant to be a source of info not just for the PTA, but the school and district.
https://sites.google.com/view/hoover-pta-launch-pad/Livonia-Hoover-PTA-Newsletter
We are looking forward to jumping into things! We're ready to blast off!
Kennedy Elementary
Back to school at Kennedy has been a hit!
The PTA hosted two playground meetups during the summer and everyone who attended had a blast! All who attended stayed cool as well, thanks to Kona Ice and popsicles provided by the PTA.
We also hosted a fun “Chalk the Walk” to get everyone pumped for the first day of school. Families always look forward to this event every year. The drawings and encouragement never fail to bring a smile and calm first day jitters.
Kennedy won the Yard-a-Gram “Back-to-School” banner contest this year and our PTA happily supplied grade specific banners as well. They were on display for Open House and the first day of school for those special family photos.
Our PTA sponsored a yummy Chipotle luncheon for our awesome teachers and staff the Friday before school. Everyone loved it and it was a great way to boost morale as summer break came to a bittersweet end.
Later this month our PTA will be hosting our much anticipated Color Run. Kennedy’s students, staff and PTA alike are very excited as always for this spectacular fundraising event.
Getting Connected to Michigan PTA and National PTA
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/
About us...
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