Homework Meetings

If you live in the Issaquah School District you may have been asked to attend a "homework meeting." These meetings or otherwise known as "focus groups" are being organized by Betsy Cohen, Legislative Director for the Issaquah School District PTA Council.

These groups are to help get an idea of how parents and teachers view homework, collect your ideas, and present them in a meaningful way to our school board. If you did not get a chance to participate in your meeting, contact your PTA president and ask if they can direct you to a meeting that has not taken place yet. The results of the public comment collected by the groups will be used to construct a survey. You may participate in the survey even if you attended a focus group.

The purpose of the survey is to reach people who may not otherwise have an opportunity to participate or give comment, and to consolidate information.

There will be many opportunities for input on the homework discussion. Thank you if you did attend or lead a focus group.

Thanks for all you do for kids! 

Sandy Hook

With the aftermath of Sandy Hook Elementary school most of us are stunned and horrified.

The best thing we can do for our children is to make sure they know they are safe at school.

Many parents have bombarded their PTA legislative reps with questions about school safety and gun control. I actually have not been posed with one question, but I still want to make sure you have information.

PTA position on gun control is to reinstate the ban on military style weapons, close the gun show loophole, make it illegal for people with violent criminal history to buy weapons, make it harder for mentally ill people to buy weapons, and harder to obtain products to build assault weapons or buy assault weapons online.

For more information see the PTA website at www.wspta.org. 

As with other PTA issues it is important to be clear when we are representing our own opinion and the position of the PTA. Our PTA's are expected to reflect the position of National and State PTA.

Katie Walmsley of CNN provided some resources for giving to the PTA, and community of Sandy
Hook. This information was taken from her article dated Dec. 21 titled, Help for victims of Sandy Hook

To send a message of condolence:

The US Postal Service has added a PO Box for those who wish to send letters of condolence to the residents of Newtown. Please address mail to: Message of Condolence, PO Box 3700, Newtown, CT 06470.

Sandy Hook Support Fund: https://newtown.uwwesternct.org/

By Katie Walmsley, CNN

updated 11:46 AM EST, Fri December 21, 2012

Results of WSPTA Legislative Assembly

WSPTA Legislative Assembly concluded on Saturday afternoon October 20th. We have some wonderful positions put together by some passionate PTA members, and we enjoyed a weekend of debate, education, food, and friendly conversation.

One of my favorite things about Legislative Assembly is meeting people from other parts of the state and learning about their experiences with the public school system. Most of us are at Leg. Assembly for the same reason; we care about our children's education deeply and want to see them succeed.

One of the questions I'm asked over and over again from my professors at Seattle University is: What does success look like? This is where I think our PTA members start to disagree. For some, success looks like an education system that completely funds special education and includes highly capable learners. Others think that success looks like an education system that embraces and supports students with emotional difficulties. Others may believe the only way to have a successful environment for kids to learn in is if we have education funded fully and made a priority when our State does its budget.

Our debates on what makes education successful are important to our legislators. This is our process in getting our children's voices heard. We had the pleasure of having long time PTA member, and Legislative Representative Ross Hunter  explain to us how our voices influence legislation and that hearing from our PTA on education is imperative. I love hearing Ross's story about how many people write to him about puppies in comparison to children. Guess how many more people write about puppies! You should ask him!

Thank you for being a voice for our children. Thank you for trusting me with your voice at Legislative Assembly. Come with me next year and share in the lively debate, or just sit and listen and cast your vote.

For information on the PTA's platform adopted on 10/20/2012 visit : http://wsptagrassroots.blogspot.com/


Have a wonderful safe Halloween!

Care about this election!

This is a link to a Parent Map article. I hope you read it and vote in this election.

http://www.parentmap.com/blog/14623/why-you-should-care-about-the-2012-elections

Candidate Forum Canceled

The October 12th Candidate Forum has been cancelled due to the fact that many of the candidates cancelled in September.

Hopefully next election season we can partner with some education advocates and other PTAs in Region 2 to give us a great forum to help us make some better well informed voting decisions.

Speak Up! and Vote!

We have some exciting Legislative things upcoming in our IVE community. There are some very easy things you can do to SPEAK UP for your kids and be involved in the creation of a great learning environment for them. We are really lucky to live in a community that values education and we have wonderful teachers and principals. Affecting legislation that supports these things are vital to the community as a whole.

How can you help build this environment? 

Number one: Inform yourself! You can do this by coming to the October 12th Candidate's forum at IVE in the Multipurpose room from 7pm to 9pm. Legislative District 5 Candidates and a Candidate for the US Congress will be present.

Number two: Vote! If you are not registered to vote yet, you can follow this link:  https://wei.sos.wa.gov/agency/osos/en/Pages/myvote.aspx 

Number three: Fill out the WA State PTA Legislative Survey. This Survey will help PTA decide on which issues should be the focus in this legislative session. Follow this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/wspta2012

 The 18 issues will be worked down to 5 Key issues with your help. PTA puts the most resources toward to pass. PTA does not write legislation, they lobby for legislation in line with PTA platforms. That "platform" is guidelines PTA has for supporting legislation. If its not on the "platform" PTA probably won't support it. PTA gains this platform with your input. On Oct. 19th and 20th three delegates will attend the WA State PTA Legislative Forum and represent IVE PTA.

Number four: Tell your Legislative Chair what you think. Attend the October 16th General PTA meeting and learn about the 18 issues. You will meet your delegates, and help choose which five issues are most important to the IVE PTA family.

Primary/General Election

For the purposes of being concise, I'm providing a link to King County Elections for questions on caucusing, and primary and general elections. This website is full of valuable information to explain the process of electing delegates for presidential elections, and how the parties develop their platforms. There is also an explanation on the website for why Washington State is not holding a primary election this year. In short: the governor and legislature decided to suspend the 2012 presidential primary election to save WA 10 million dollars. The primary presidential election will resume in 2016.

The Washington State Primary election is Aug. 7, 2012. Ballots must be postmarked by Aug. 7. There is also a Ballot Drop Box at City Hall in Issaquah.

Nov.6th 2012 is the General Election date for State Legislature,  Congressional, Senatorial, Gubernatorial (governor's race), and Presidential races. Ballots must be postmarked by Aug. 7th.


If you are a mail in voter, its beneficial to vote, and send in or drop your ballot as soon as possible. It puts less stress on election staff. 


For more information on voting in King County click Here.