Indiana PTA Press Room

Indiana PTA membership success stories:

Congratulations to the following PTA's across the state that increased membership so far this year:

Blackhawk PTSA, Bunche/Towles PTA, Croninger PTA, Elmhurst PTSA, Glenwood Park PTA, Harrison Hill PTA, Indian Village PTA, Jefferson PTSA, Kekionga PTSA, Lane PTSA, Northcrest PTA, Portage PTSA, Shawnee PTSA, South Wayne PTA, Levon Scott Academy PTA, Washington Center PTA, Prince Chapman Academy PTA, JE Ober PTA, Eastwood PTA, Mt. Tabor PTA, Maple Creek PTSA, John Voor PTA, Williams PTA, Eggers PTSA, Ben Franklin PTA, Joseph Hess PTA, Morton H. S. PTSA, Boston PTSA, Indian Trail PTA, School # 2 PTSA, Fishback Creek Academy PTA, Glenns Valley PTA, Grassy Creek PTA, Hawthorne PTA, Irvington PTSA, Perry Meridian M. S. PTSA, Moorhead PTA, Pike Central PTA, Rosa Parks-Edison PTA, Southport M. S. PTSA, Mark Frank PTA, Battell PTA, Hums PTA, Central H. S. PTSA, Culver PTA, Harper PTA, Harwood PTA, Hebron PTA, Highland PTA, Lodge PTA, Reitz H. S. PTSA, Thompkins PTSA, and Vogel PTA.  (This list was compiled from dues reported to the Indiana PTA by the November 15th deadline.)

 Indiana PTA programming success stories:

Indiana PTA programming success stories:

The Glenwood Park PTA Holiday Craft Bazaar will be held this year on Sat. Dec. 13th from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.. Please plan to attend, it's a great place to get some holiday shopping done! (Note - this craft bazaar is in Fort Wayne.)

The Fort Wayne PTA Council gave out several "Big Heart Awards" at their November 25th meeting.  Congratulations to the following who received the awards:

Brentwood PTA Board Members: Lynne Rigler, Tina Sorg, Michelle Bittner, and Megan Lytle:  "Our Brentwood Elementary PTA Board is being nominated for a "Big Heart Award" because they do every school event in an exemplary manner.  These selfless ladies put together a memorable, well organized 50-year celebration for our school.   The event was enjoyed greatly by all who attended.  Every detail was handled meticulously.  They also never stop looking for ways to support the students and staff.  They find ways to keep a limited art budget fortified to let students create and express themselves beautifully through art.  They support the school counselor with the behind-the-scenes details to help families at Christmas time.  They spoil the staff with beautiful meals prepared with great care.  They work hard throughout the year to keep funds available  to purchase school needs and many beautiful new books for students, many of whom do not have books at home.   We love these ladies and think that Brentwood School is a greater place for all that they do to support our students and us."  This nomination was written by Brentwood Principal Diana Chadd.

Rachelle Hall won a "Big Heart Award" because of all of the hard work she did on the green discount cards with Theresa Distelrath who nominated her.  "Rachelle is one of the Co-presidents of Jefferson PTSA. The Fort Wayne PTA Council had over 6200 green cards to sort and stamp in one day and Rachelle came over and spent many hours helping.  I did not ask she saw all of the cards and just jumped in and started stamping.  By the end of the day, all of the cards were stamped and sorted and ready to be dropped off to the right field reps."

Steve & Gayla McMurray from Indian Village Elementary were nominated for "Big Heart Awards" by Principal Stephany Bourne.  "Mr. & Mrs. McMurray are the grandparents of two boys at Indian Village.  Their interest, enthusiasm and willingness to make a difference for kids is BEYOND measure!  They work tirelessly to:  paint a United States map on the playground, put up basketball goals, renovate the softball diamond, and volunteer long hours at every fundraiser and the school carnival.  Mr. McMurray was instrumental in helping us erect a pavilion in our newly established environmental habitat!"

Matt Schiebel, Principal from Shawnee Middle School was nominated by the Shawnee PTSA.  "Mr. Schiebel is being nominated for a "Big Heart Award" because our PTSA is truly blessed to have such a great PTA supporter as the head PTA cheerleader at our school.  His kind comments every time we do something keeps us all going. His instantaneous replies to emails makes our jobs much easier.  We knew we won the "principal lottery" when Mr. Scheibel came to Shawnee, but we truly didn't get just how wonderful that could be for our PTSA, staff, and teachers.  We are a team because of Mr. Schiebel and our PTSA is going to be great because of the terrific relationship we have with him!  It is not a wonder at all that he was the Indiana PTA Outstanding Principal last year!"  (Note:  Your PTA/PTSA can nominate your principal for this award.  Nominations are due February 1st, 2009.  See your President's CD for details.)

An Indiana PTA Update:

SAVE THE DATE:  What: INDIANA PTA 2009 LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE “EDUCATION MATTERS!”   When:  Wednesday March 18, 2009;   8:30 a.m. – 2:30 P.M.; Eastern Standard Time.  Where:  2nd Floor, ISTA Center, 150 W. Market Street Indianapolis, IN.  Adults and Students - $20.00 each (after March 4th $25.00 each).    This is a legitimate PTA expense which should be included in your budget.  Make plans to attend, and have lunch with our Indiana Legislators.   Watch for frequent updates, Legislative Alerts, and Registration Information.  For more info: Contact Indiana PTA 317-357-5881, visit www.indianapta.org  or email Julie Klingenberger at jklingberger04@comcast.net.  Students are encouraged and welcome to attend!

The Indiana PTA Membership Team would like to "Find What’s Cooking in Indiana!" We all have our own “Recipe for Success” and we want your recipes! The Indiana PTA is putting together a cookbook highlighting parent and student recipes and art. We will use some of the Reflections art submissions in the book too! These keepsakes will be sold and distributed at the 2009 Indiana State PTA Convention and we want YOU to be a part of it! The cookbooks will have recipes from all over the state and you will be able to purchase one for only $10.00. Pre-orders will be taken by your school PTA/PTSA.  Your unit will sell the cookbooks for $10.00 and make $1.00 profit off of each book. That’s right…for each cookbook your unit sells, you will get to keep $1.00 profit!  How do you submit a recipe? Recipes need to be submitted via email cookingwithpta@yahoo.com using the following format: 12 point font; Times New Roman font;  please make sure all of the necessary information is included (a sample is attached to the form in your November email from Indiana PTA); and we will not accept any recipes not submitted in this format.  If you have questions about the cookbook, please contact: Natalie Jones at natalie.jones@evsc.k12.in.us.  Deadline for recipes: February 1, 2009 and deadline for cookbook orders:  March 1, 2009.

Indiana PTA programming success stories:

Irving School PTA is thankful for celebrating Thanksgiving with over 600 participants during their Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner which is held each year on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.  The colors were posted by Boy Scout Pack/Troop #206.  Each staff member and family is asked to provide a side dish or dessert while the PTA provides turkeys, hams, vegetables and other items.  The food represented the different cultures of our community and a great time was had by all.  Donations are made by community businesses to help defray the cost.  In addition, this year we had Kung Fu Panda Movie Night.

Hammond Council PTA, Team Hammond Robotics, and School City of Hammond have developed a partnership to support and thank our troops.  We are collecting items to send to our troops for the holidays and beyond.  The items needed include: gloves; socks; hats; hand, foot and/or body warmers; beef jerky; snacks such as granola bars, peanut butter crackers, individual packs of cookies, etc; licorice; outdoor, car, or sports magazines; DVD's of popular movies or sports events; puzzle books; Eraser Mate pens; and hand lotion.  Please keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers.  If you would like to support our troops, consider partnering with someone to show your support.

At 4:15 a.m. on Black Friday morning The Evansville Area Council of PTA was already hard at it at their local, Westside Wal-Mart location! Eleven PTA/PTSA members were up bright and early to get those great sale items for local children in Evansville. Everyone was armed with two carts per person and a game plan in their mind of how to get to what we needed when the clock struck 5! The word" Go!" sparked a frenzy of $8.00 bubble coats and blue jeans of all sizes and shapes going into shopping carts piled as high as the eye could (or couldn't) see! People in other lines were heard making comments about how large our order was while our assembly line of little elves helped pack and move the items to Santa's sleigh in the Wal-Mart parking lot. When we told them what it was for, some even left their line to help us bag up our treasures. When it was all said and done, The Evansville Area Council had worked with our local community partner and amassed 25 shopping carts piled to the sky with  bubble coats, hoodies, and jeans totaling almost $7,000.00 for local children in need! PTA in Evansville means spreading good cheer for all the boys and girls!

A National PTA Update:

Is Your PTA an Outstanding Advocate for Children?

For more than a century, PTA’s members have been a powerful voice for the health and education of children. Your advocacy efforts have ensured that all children continue to have the opportunity to meet their potential in safe and nurturing settings.  In recognition of that hard work, the national PTA organization will present the second annual Outstanding Advocacy Awards at the March 2009 National Legislative Conference.  The 2009 Outstanding Advocacy Award will be presented to a PTA that, through their dedication and leadership, affected child related policy, regulation, or legislation to support PTA’s mission and goals.  Two awards will be presented, one to a state PTA and one to a unit, council, district or region PTA.  The state PTA will receive $1,000 and the unit, council, district or region chosen will receive $500.  The monetary award may be used only to cover direct expenses for PTA work.  In addition, awardees will each receive two all-expense paid* trips to the 2009 National Legislative Conference and be recognized at an awards ceremony on Capitol Hill on March 12.  Criteria and application materials are available at www.pta.org/AdvocacyAward. The deadline for nomination for both awards is December 1, 2009, so nominate your PTA now!

PTA Advocate of the Year Award

Do you know an impassioned and compassionate leader, dedicated to moving PTA forward and committed to ensuring that others would follow?  2008 marked the passing of one of PTA’s greatest child advocate leaders, PTA national president (2001-2003) Shirley Igo.  Shirley was a model of public service and volunteerism throughout her life.  To honor Shirley, the national PTA organization will present an annual award to one individual who most exemplifies the qualities that made Shirley a true advocate for all children. The nominee must be a current PTA member and submitted by someone other than the nominee.  The person chosen to receive this award will receive an all-expense paid* trip to the 2009 National Legislative Conference in Washington, DC and be recognized at an award ceremony on Capitol Hill on March 12.  Please visit www.pta.org/AdvocacyAward for details on how you can nominate someone you believe is deserving of this award.  The deadline for nomination is December 1, 2009. 

To learn how you can attend the 2009 National Legislative Conference, visit www.pta.org/LegislativeConference.

An Indiana PTA Update:

Indiana PTA membership success stories:

Blackhawk Middle School PTSA is heading into the Thanksgiving break with 226 registered memberships so far this year, and more are still coming in!  In an effort to have 100% staff participation, a special drive was held during a luncheon for teachers and staff.  We received so much positive feedback that it seems our goal is in reach.  The students and staff can also be very proud of their achievement with our Holiday Fundraiser. This year we chose to have a Pie Sale through Gordon Foods.  The Kick-off for the sale was held during the October 30th Parent/Teacher Conferences, and included free samples of the pies.  At the end of the day, there wasn't a single bite left -- and that showed in our sales. More than $1100 were earned from the two-week sale.  But we're not done yet.  Planning is already underway for Blackhawk's annual Family Fun Night next April.  And this year's event is looking bigger and better than ever!  GO EAGLES!

Indiana PTA programming success stories:

The Evansville Area Council of PTA met on Monday, November 17 for a ton of good news! There are a  lot of great things happening in the Southern Region. Our meeting was hosted by Vogel Elementary PTA and principal, Tom Bennett. They were gracious hosts and served wonderful snacks and gave everyone a handmade pen in the shape of apples with Vogel Elementary stamped on the side of it. (They bought one of those machines to make pens at the state convention) What fun!!! Now for the really great news - Barb Bennett (a supervisor for Family Consumer Science at EVSC) had some money left over from a grant and decided to donate the funds to the Evansville Area Council PTA for the Clothing Bank to purchase warm winter coats and jeans! We can sure use them because we have already serviced almost 700 children from kindergarten through 12 grade here in the Southern Region! By the time you read this, we will be well over the 700 I am sure! The amount of the "leftover money" was over $3,500.00!!! I'll take those kind of leftovers any day of the week!

Is Your PTA an Outstanding Advocate for Children?

For more than a century, PTA’s members have been a powerful voice for the health and education of children. Your advocacy efforts have ensured that all children continue to have the opportunity to meet their potential in safe and nurturing settings.  In recognition of that hard work, the national PTA organization will present the second annual Outstanding Advocacy Awards at the March 2009 National Legislative Conference.  The 2009 Outstanding Advocacy Award will be presented to a PTA that, through their dedication and leadership, affected child related policy, regulation, or legislation to support PTA’s mission and goals.  Two awards will be presented, one to a state PTA and one to a unit, council, district or region PTA.  The state PTA will receive $1,000 and the unit, council, district or region chosen will receive $500.  The monetary award may be used only to cover direct expenses for PTA work.  In addition, awardees will each receive two all-expense paid* trips to the 2009 National Legislative Conference and be recognized at an awards ceremony on Capitol Hill on March 12.  Criteria and application materials are available at www.pta.org/AdvocacyAward. The deadline for nomination for both awards is December 1, 2009, so nominate your PTA soon!

PTA Advocate of the Year Award

Do you know an impassioned and compassionate leader, dedicated to moving PTA forward and committed to ensuring that others would follow?  2008 marked the passing of one of PTA’s greatest child advocate leaders, PTA national president (2001-2003) Shirley Igo.  Shirley was a model of public service and volunteerism throughout her life.  To honor Shirley, the national PTA organization will present an annual award to one individual who most exemplifies the qualities that made Shirley a true advocate for all children. The nominee must be a current PTA member and submitted by someone other than the nominee.  The person chosen to receive this award will receive an all-expense paid* trip to the 2009 National Legislative Conference in Washington, DC and be recognized at an award ceremony on Capitol Hill on March 12.  Please visit www.pta.org/AdvocacyAward for details on how you can nominate someone you believe is deserving of this award.  The deadline for nomination is December 1, 2009. 

To learn how you can attend the 2009 National Legislative Conference, visit www.pta.org/LegislativeConference.

From Battell PTA:  Come join us for: Kung Fu Panda Movie Night at our school! We would like to personally invite you to PTA Movie Night Live featuring an exclusive free showing of Kung Fu Panda at our school on November 21, 2008, at 7 p.m. in the Battell Gym.  Battell will also be sponsoring a RIF book night starting at 6 p.m. Every Battell student will receive a free book! Please come and spend some quality time with friends and classmates as we screen this new-release film! A permission slip was attached to the Bobcat News. Please fill out and return before November 14th for a chance to win the movie. NO children will be allowed without a adult. Check out these Kung Fu Panda reviews: ".... the picture provides a master course in cunning visual art and ultra-satisfying entertainment." Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine "Everything about Kung Fu Panda is a little better, a little sharper, a little funnier than the animated run of the mill. It's one of the few comedies in any style or genre of 2008 that knows what it's doing." Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune.  It will be a great time for all!

Lincoln PTA is getting ready for it's "VIP Days." The "VIP Days" are on Nov 25th and 26th. The 25th is for grades K, 2, and 4 and then the 26th is for grades 1, 3, and 5. Students are inviting 1 VIP (parent, grandparents, aunt, etc.) in their life to come join them in their classroom for an hour.  We are going to start with a short meeting with the Principal (more like a welcome type thing) and then the guests are dismissed to join their student's classroom. Many times the teachers will have special projects for the VIP and student to do together, the gym teachers have the parents participate, etc.