Hello Genesee Hill Families! 

The legislative session in Washington has started. We would like to take this time as a PTA to focus on advocacy for public education in our state. As families of public school students and PTA members, this is an opportunity for us to advocate for our children and children across our the State of Washington.  

How exactly can we do that though?  

Below are some concrete ways we can take action over the coming months. Many of these actions are simple, and some only take a few minutes to do.  

If you only do one thing … sign up for Action Alerts from Washington State PTA. They will send you emails that both inform you about what is happening with education legislation in this current session AND give you ways to take concrete action, such as stating your position on some proposed House and Senate bills.  

If you want to stay informed about education bills during the current legislative session… read Marie Sullivan’s  articles in the Advocacy section of the WS PTA site. Marie is the WS PTA’s Legislative Education consultant and her articles are informative and easy to understand.  

If you want to take in-person action… attend the WS PTA’s Advocacy Day in Olympia on February 20. Visitors can network and hear speakers from the WSPTA’s Advocacy Committee, the State Board of Education, OSPI, and Governor Inslee’s office. They can also take docent-led tours of the Capitol grounds and potentially meet with local legislators. If you’re interested in going, please email me at victoria@victoriabhegani.com. If we have enough interested people we can organize a group to go. Also, don’t forget to get your free tickets here. FYI this event is not designed for children.  

If you want to financially support education advocacy, become a PTA member… Washington State PTA is the longest-serving grassroots organization that supports children in WA state (hurrah!), and a large percentage of our GHE membership dues goes to it. If you aren’t a PTA member already, join!  

And finally… if you are interested in doing the legislative chair role for the GHE PTA, please contact me or a member of the Board. I did it from 2020- 2022 and would be happy to support you. Advocacy is the foundation of the PTA’s work, and we really need someone to step into this important role.  

Thank you!  

Victoria Brown Bhegani, Michael Brown, Lia Barros, and your PTA Board

victoria@victoriabhegani.com 

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The December PTA newsletter has the latest on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and new Genesee Hill gear in the school store. Plus, details on a parents’ night out scheduled for March.

Check it out!

Dear Genesee Hill Families, 

Our PTA has achieved several accomplishments in the first two months of the school year, and we wanted to reach out to share what we’ve done together so far and to thank you for your continued support and participation.

In October, we have:

• Funded DEI training for our staff
• Co-hosted our first Parent Education Series event on kids and screens with viewing and discussion of “Screenagers Part 2”
• Hosted our first in-person social event with the Monster Mash
• Completed our first month of listening sessions
• And, for our second consecutive year we have received a PTA Member Growth Award!

Thank you to everyone who completed our family and staff surveys and participated in our listening sessions. We successfully completed three in-person sessions, one for families with neurodiverse students, one for our staff members, and one for all our GHE families, hearing from a total of 126 individuals and families (which represents 24% of our community). This input has given us a deeper understanding of our collective needs, and we’ll be spending the next few months synthesizing what we learned and preparing to share the results with you. 

One message is already abundantly clear: Every one of us is looking for a community that is trusting, inclusive, and a place where each of our voices is heard and appreciated toward the common goal of supporting our children’s educational experience and academic excellence.

It is our role as your Parent Teacher Association (PTA) leadership to name the issues we are facing and make space for us to come together and find the solutions. The changes and growth required for all our members to feel a sense of belonging often involves a certain level of discomfort as we adjust to new community norms and broader inclusivity. As your PTA Board, we are committed to making the space for each of you to be heard, valued, and included when building the best community for our children. 

To this end, you can expect your PTA board to be working hard this year to have challenging and explicit conversations with the goal of supporting a strong Genesee Hill Community. Looking ahead, we will be sharing additional resources on microaggressions (thank you Genesee Staff for helping lead this work!), holding our first community conversation, resources for our neurodiverse students, designing FAQs held on our website, hosting a Kindergarten Q&A, and in January continuing our Parent Education Series.

Thank you in advance for your engagement, your time and your passion so that together we can raise strong, educated, compassionate, and resilient children.  This is your PTA; please reach out with any questions.

In partnership,
Lia Barros and Michael Brown, Co-Presidents