PTA Officers and Chairs

Zael Zura President* Magnus Johnson Vice-President* Casey Choppa Co-Secretary* Himela Bahadoorsingh Co-Secretary* Salim Mohammed Treasurer* Renee Huizenga Afterschool Programs & F.A.C.E.* Jenna Hitchcock Art Docent Program &Art Gallery Night* Vacant Auction Eliyah Smith Back-to-School BBQ Malia Caracoglia Bike Day, Science Docents & Science Fair* Kelly Frost Book Room & Reader Board* Michelle Kono Breakfast Club & Legislative Representative* Ryanne Spielman Class Commemorative Books Tom Lorusso Communications Chair* & Webmaster Darin Hanson Membership, Directory & Spirit Wear Vacant Emergency Prep* Brooke Giesbrecht Field Day, Fifth Grade Party & Staff Appreciation Vacant Festival of Cultures Mary Irving Health Screen Day & Staff Appreciation Michelle Lee Historian/Photographer*, Social Media, Read-a-thon & Library Volunteer Coordinator Sarah Landis October Family Event AKA Monster Mash Vacant Office Volunteers Vacant Parent-Child Event Danielle Dolbec Reflections & Social Media Kimberly McShane School Photos & Special Education Representative Marin Kaetzel Community Outreach*, Food Pantry Vacant Staff Liaisons* Vacant State Testing Support Rae Lutters Read-A-Thon Jessica Schulte Read-a-thon Catherine Alberstson Reader Board Douglas Waugh Watch D.O.G.S.

*denotes a voting board position (one vote per position)

PTA Committee Descriptions

Below you will find a brief description of all the Maywood Hills PTA Committees:

Afterschool Programs – Coordinates all afterschool student enrichment programs.

Art Docent Program — The Art Docent Program is a quality arts literacy enrichment program provided by volunteers that visit the classroom each month to introduce children (and teachers) to the wonders of art appreciation.  Art Docent volunteers facilitate the following program goals:

• To expand children’s ability to form definitions of their visual world.
• To familiarize elementary school children with artists in history.
• To examine elements of art that the children can apply to their own creative endeavors.
• To acquaint the children with varied media as a means of expression.
• To provide a resource for teachers.
• To emphasize that lessons are a springboard for creative exploration and not limited to information gathering. To establish the legitimacy of art as a critical part of the basic curriculum.

The committee is responsible for arranging docent training, purchasing and maintaining art docent supplies, and planning the annual Gallery Night that occurs the same evening as the Science Fair.

Auction Fundraiser – This committee is responsible for the planning, organizing and coordinating of the annual school auction fundraising event.

Back to School Barbeque – Organizes the annual Maywood Hills Back-To-School Family BBQ in September.

Book Room – Helps to organize and maintain the teachers’ book room.

Breakfast Club – The Breakfast Club is a fun way to spend 30 minutes serving breakfast to our Maywood Hills kids. It is a simple job, requiring little to no set up, a minimal time commitment (once a week or once every other week for 30 minutes–8:15-8:45 a.m.) and the chance to start our kids off with a smile and a warm breakfast. The chair arranges the volunteer schedule and help to recruit volunteers.

Class Commemorative Books – Works with the school librarian to select new books donated by the PTA in honor of each Maywood class. Honorary labels with the teacher and student names are placed inside each book and students receive a bookmark  stating which book has been given in their honor.

Community Outreach – Organizes and facilitates a variety of programs provided by Maywood Hills and the PTA, most notably the weekend backpack food program. Also works with ASB as a PTA liason to support student-led outreach efforts such as food drives, sock drives and more.

Directory – This committee is responsible for the annual publication of the Maywood Hills student and family directory.

Emergency Prep Team & Health Room – This committee helps with the following items:

• Maintains classroom emergency supplies that are found in the first-aid buckets
• Maintains the inventory of emergency supplies/information in the container car located east of the upper field
• Updates emergency nametags for each student at Maywood
• Assists with school-wide emergency drills and potential real-life emergency situations
• Participates in a phone-tree in the event of an emergency
• Members sell glow sticks to help increase the budget and purchase emergency supplies. (Glow sticks are sold during the annual BBQ, at Halloween time, or throughout year as needed.) During the last month of the school year, committee members determine who will be available during the summer (a few days before school starts) to get the emergency information transferred to the new classroom emergency buckets.

Festival of Cultures – This committee plans and implements an event celebrating the cultures and ancestries of Maywood Hills families.

Field Day – This committee plans this fun event for students during the last week of school.

Health Screen Day – Assist the school nurse with Vision and Hearing Screening Day.

Hispanic Community Liaison – Leads the effort to build partnerships with members of Maywood’s Hispanic community, including providing Spanish translations for PTA flyers and seeking ways to participate with the Hispanic community in their cultural events.

Historian / Photographer – Collects photos of students and school activities to be used in the yearbook, slide shows and school displays.

Hospitality – Provides refreshments at PTA activities and seeks donations of food for meals at General Meetings.

Jog-a-Thon Fundraiser – The Jog-a-Thon is our Fall fundraiser. Proceeds from this event help to fund teacher grants and are used to benefit many programs at Maywood.  It is a fun event for the kids!

Legislative Representative – Advocates for local initiatives and issues that pertain to local children and education.  Attends the annual statewide Legislative Assembly and the annual PTA convention. Is encouraged to attend district board meetings and PTA Regional and Council meetings to stay abreast of issues.

Library Volunteer Coordinator – Helps coordinate the two Maywood PTA Book Fairs (Fall and Spring), as well as recruits and schedules volunteers for both fairs.  Also recruits volunteers to help in the library during the school year.

Membership – The Membership committee promotes the importance of becoming a PTA member and assists with membership enrollment.

Newsletter – Facilitates the creation of the monthly PTA newsletter called the Tiger’s Pause.

Nominating Committee – Committee helps to recruit potential officers to fill Board vacancies at the end of Spring.

October Family Event – This committee plans a social in which families typically have come in costume.  In the past, this event has been a BINGO night and Monster Mash family dance.

Office Volunteer Coordinator – Coordinates volunteers to assist the office staff with greeting late students, writing late slips, and doing the lunch count.

Parent-Child Event – Organizes a fun evening event which alternates yearly for boy or girl students. 2013-2014 held an event for mothers and daughters, the 2014-2015 event will be for mothers and sons, the 2015-2016 will be for fathers and daughters, and the 2016-2017 will be for fathers and sons, and so on.

PE Liaison  – The PE Liaison assists the PE teacher with various events and activities, such as the Jump Rope for Heart event.

Reader Board Sign Coordinator – Updates the reader board along 104th Ave. with PTA and school information.

Reflections – This is a National PTA contest that allows students to create works of art for fun and recognition. Students in all grades are encouraged to create and submit works of art in six areas: dance choreography, film production, literature, musical composition, photography, and the visual arts.

School Photos – Creates and posts the sign-up sheets prior to picture days, and then provides assistance during picture days.

Science Docent Program – The Science Docents assist the teachers in the classroom with providing hands-on science lessons.

Science Fair – The Annual Science Fair is a fun event where all of the students at Maywood can participate with science projects and demonstrations.

SEPAC Liaison – SEPAC is the Northshore Special Education Parent/Professional Advisory Council which is an active support and advisory group.  Comprised of parents, teachers, principals, industry leaders, and Northshore School District administrators, SEPAC collaborates for the benefit of the special needs children in the district.

Spiritwear – Coordinates the selling of t-shirts and sweatshirts with the Maywood Hills logo so the students, staff members and parents can show their Tiger pride.

Sixth Grade Party – This committee organizes the annual 6th Grade Party. The party is held during school hours.

Staff Appreciation – Plans and hosts several events during the year for all of the Maywood Hills staff members so the PTA can show our appreciation. To see a complete listing of our Staff Appreciation events and to learn how you can help, please click here.

Staff Liaison – To ensure that the Maywood Hills staff have a voice in all PTA meetings, and to help keep the staff informed about PTA events and activities.

State Testing Support – Organizes snacks and water for all students while they are doing state-mandated testing in the Spring.

Watch D.O.G.S. – Organizes this dads on campus program, by working together with the principal, teachers, and Maywood fathers. The purpose is to get dads, stepdads, granddads, and other male mentors into our schools and into students’ lives in a positive way by getting male role models on campus to spend a few hours or a full day.

Webmaster – Maintains the Maywood Hills PTA website.