Surprise PTSA

Surprise Elementary PTSA of El Mirage, AZ today announced a partnership with Target in recognition of its efforts to further arts education for all kindergarten through 8th grade students at Surprise Elementary School. The “Together We Can” program works in conjunction with the National PTA Reflections program and offers students the opportunity to further their arts education in four areas: literature, musical composition, photography, and the visual arts which include art forms such as drawing, painting, print making, and collage.

Beth Simek, PTSA President said, “Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts education can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork. Thanks to Target and this $2,000 grant, we are able to provide these elements which are crucial to the continued success of our students both academically and socially.”

This grant is part of ongoing efforts by Target to strengthen families and communities throughout the country. Since opening its doors, Target has given 5 percent of its income to organizations that support education, the arts, social services and volunteerism. Today that equals more than $3 million every week.

“At Target, our local grants are making a difference in the communities we serve,” said Laysha Ward, president, community relations, Target. “We’re proud to partner with [nonprofit organization] as part of our ongoing commitment to give back to the communities where our guests and team members live and work.”

Additionally, Target also gives through signature programs that are designed to inspire learning in children and families. Programs include:

· Take Charge of Education®, a school fundraising program;

· Target School Library Makeovers, a program that provides year-round volunteer opportunities for Target team members to get involved with their local school;

· Target Field Trip Grants, a program that helps educators bring learning to life outside the classroom through the distribution of grants;

· Target House®, which serves as a home away from home for families of children receiving lifesaving treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® in Memphis and the St. Jude School Program presented by Target, which is staffed with accredited teachers and helps patients stay on track academically while undergoing treatments that can last months;

· Target Volunteers, a nationwide network of Target team members, retirees, families and friends who volunteer millions of hours to community projects.

About Surprise PTSA

The Surprise PTSA is committed to enhancing the learning environment and experiences of all students at Surprise School. Established in 2002, this unit has volunteered many hours to assist with the school’s academic success while providing opportunities for family engagement and community involvement. Two of its educators, Dr. David Dumon and Ronni Fredrickson, were named Arizona PTA Educator of the Year in back-to-back years. Surprise PTSA is the 2010 Arizona PTA Local Unit of the Year. Surprise PTSA is led by President Beth Simek (Arizona PTA’s 2010 Honorable Mention for Volunteer of the Year), Vice President Steve Chesney, Secretary Ronni Fredrickson and Treasurer Darlene LaBarbera.

About Target

Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) serves guests at 1,740 stores nationwide and at Target.com. Target is committed to providing a fun and convenient shopping experience with access to unique and highly differentiated products at affordable prices. Since 1946, the corporation has given 5 percent of its income through community grants and programs like Take Charge of Education. Today, that giving equals more than $3 million a week.

Surprise PTSA will be having our 4th annual Ice Cream Social on Thursday August 5 from 5-6:30PM in the cafeteria! Join us for some delicious Blue Bell ice cream and meet up with all your old friends or make some new ones after you meet your teacher that night! We will be giving away prizes including backpacks, school supplies, gift cards and much more! And don’t forget to bring some $$ to buy the all new Cubs t-shirt to wear on the First Day! Spiritwear will be on sale that evening! Prices will be mentioned soon!

Hope to see you there!

We are so excited about the first day of school on August 9! Don’t forget, we are not a late-start school which means the doors open at 8:40 for breakfast with the final bell at 9AM! Release time is at 3:45PM except on Mondays where we release at 3PM. Our PTSA Executive Board met last evening and is planning some great events this year, but one of the most exciting changes is our new membership dues! Our individual memberships are now just $5! This is $2 less than in previous years. Our family memberships are now $15 for a family of 4 and all 4 members now each have a vote whereas before it was only 1 vote per family! Business memberships are $30 which includes membership, a business card size ad in our newsletter, a business card size ad on our website AND a mention in our yearbook! Remember, our membership dues are paid every year so sign up today online at www.surpriseptsa.com/Join_Us_Online or just send a check or cash to the Surprise PTSA’s attention at Surprise School!

Avery-Dennison is offering up a great opportunity where our school could win $10,000 in school supplies! If our school is among the Top 10 schools voted for in their Back To School contest, we could win $10,000 in school supplies!

http://averydennisongivebacktoschools.com/schools/show/54808

Vote every day and pass the word on to your friends and family!

Please check out the Arizona PTA’s YouTube channel to watch the Candidates Forum that was held on June 4 for the candidates for Superintendent of Public Instruction. This is the highest education position in the state and elections will be held this November. It’s important to educate ourselves so we can be informed voters.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ArizonaPTA

And make sure you have registered to vote so you can participate in the upcoming elections for El Mirage City Council, Dysart Governing Board, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Attorney General, and even Governor!

http://www.azsos.gov/election/voterregistration.htm

You can even vote from the comfort of your own home with an early ballot!
https://recorder.maricopa.gov/earlyvoteballotnet/evbrequest.aspx

Our Executive Board will be having a planning meeting on Monday July 12 @6PM to plan for our upcoming school year. Members who are interested in attending to share ideas and help us create fun and memorable events for our kids, please email Beth Simek at president@surpriseptsa.com to receive details about the location of our meeting.

Remember, just 5 weeks until school! We will be sharing lots more information with you soon!

We know that it’s over 100 degrees outside, but it’s still incredibly important that our kids get at least 60 minutes of exercise each day! Whether it’s swimming, playing in the sprinklers, or moving along with their Wii Fits, kids need exercise to fight off those summer pounds! Check out http://letsmove.gov/ for ideas on summer fitness!

With summer here, our teens might be hitting more pool parties than ever before. Sometimes those parties might be undersupervised or poorly planned. Healthychildren.org has a great guide for parents with what to know about teen parties and other teen related topics.

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/teen/pages/A-Parents-Guide-To-Teen-Parties.aspx

The family dinner table–the original site for social networking! Family dinner proves to be a simpler, more effective way to decrease the risk of substance abuse, opens the lines of communication, and shows your kids they are a priority. Make time for family dinner at the dinner table tonight!

Surprise PTSA is looking for a new Treasurer. Please let us know if you are interested in taking on this position for the upcoming school year! Training is available! Be part of a winning team and help make Surprise School a great place for our kids! Please contact the PTSA at info@surpriseptsa.com or call Surprise School at 623 876 7400. We need your help!

Today, National PTA will host a CALL-IN DAY in support of H.R. 5211, the Family Engagement in Education Act. Please urge your Representative to cosponsor this important bipartisan legislation that will improve the lives of millions of children and families.
The Family Engagement in Education Act strengthens parent eng…agement in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which Congressional leaders have stated they want to reauthorize this year. The bill codifies NPTA standards on Family-School Partnerships and provides guidance and incentives to schools, districts, and states on how to use research-based strategies to engage families. This bill also strengthens and safeguards the sole federal parent engagement program, the Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs).
http://www.capwiz.com/npta2/issues/alert/?alertid=15125436&type=CO

To find your congressperson, click here: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Our Surprise PTSA President, Beth Simek, was honored this past weekend at the Arizona PTA State Convention with the honor of Volunteer of the Year, Honorable Mention! Beth has created numerous programs here at Surprise including establishing Field Day, running our annual Turkey Drive and Breast Cancer Penny Drive. Beth provided over 800 volunteer hours to Surprise Elementary School this year. She has also worked diligently with the City of El Mirage to help landscape the wash that runs behind our school. She helped the city to secure over $800,000 in funding by providing petitions and letters from our membership to share with the City as they applied for grants to help make the wash area safer for our children.

Beth serves not only as President of our PTSA, but she is also the founding President of the Surprise-El Mirage PTA Council, is Marketing Commissioner for the Arizona State PTA, served as Nominations and Elections Chair for the Arizona State PTA, and is Newsletter Editor and Website Administrator for the Arizona PTA as well. In addition, she is on the Planning and Zoning Commission for the City of El Mirage, she has been the Assistant Softball Coach for the Surprise Lady Cubs, as well as coaching for various City of Surprise Recreation teams that her son, Andy, has played on. Beth also received her Bachelor’s in Liberal Studies with an emphasis in History from Arizona State University this past May.

Congratulations Madame President! We are SO proud of you!

Pictured:
Arizona PTA President Betty Garcia-Pendley, Surprise PTSA President Beth Simek, and National PTA President Chuck Saylors

Huge Congratulations goes out to Surprise Kindergarten Teacher, Ronni Fredrickson, who was named by the Arizona PTA as the 2010 Educator of the Year at the group’s 106th Annual Awards Brunch on Sunday June 6, 2010. Ronni is Secretary of the PTSA as well as Membership Chair, helping to increase our business membership from 4 to 22 business members. She held 3 membership drives to increase our membership and we now have 240 members in our PTSA unit. Ronni helped to establish a positive classroom behavior program that is now used district-wide to help encourage students to make good choices. Ronni is a member of our schools’ leadership cadre which is a group of teachers who mentor new teachers as well as mentor those established teachers who need additional assistance. She lives the mantra of our school which is to help all of our students to learn, grow, and succeed. We are very proud of you Ronni Fredrickson!

Pictured:
Arizona PTA President Betty Garcia-Pendley, Ronni Fredrickson, and National PTA President Chuck Saylors

Pictured:
2010 Educator of the Year, Ronni Fredrickson with 2009 Educator of the Year, Dr. David Dumon both of Surprise Elementary School.

Congratulations to the hardest working PTSA in the West Valley! Surprise PTSA was named the Local PTA Unit of the Year at the Arizona PTA State Convention. Surprise PTSA earned 6 Membership Awards as well for their hard work. The PTSA earned the Focus on Fathers award, Grandparent Membership, Business Membership, 100% Teacher Membership, and 100% Support Staff Membership. The PTSA also won the Largest Increase in Membership for the Northwest Maricopa Region. Congratulations to our hard working volunteers, students, teachers, and community members for helping to make our PTSA one of the best in the West!

Pictured here:
Arizona PTA President Betty Garcia-Pendley, Secretary Ronni Fredrickson, Fundraising Chair Mary Ancell, PTSA President Beth Simek, Treasurer Darlene LaBarbera, National PTA President Chuck Saylors, and Principal Dr. David Dumon with the Local Unit of the Year Plaque

Pictured here:
Arizona PTA President Betty Garcia-Pendley, Fundraising Chair Mary Ancell, PTSA President Beth Simek, Secretary Ronni Fredrickson, National PTA President Chuck Saylors, and Principal Dr. David Dumon with their membership awards

Pictured here:
Principal Dr. David Dumon, Arizona PTA President Betty Garcia-Pendley, Fundraising Chair Mary Ancell, PTSA President Beth Simek, National PTA President Chuck Saylors, and Secretary Ronni Fredrickson with largest membership increase plaque

Arizona PTA is Walking Together For Youth and the Surprise PTSA will be there! This year’s convention includes a candidates forum for the position of Superintendent for Public Instruction, many workshops to help train and educate our officers, and an awards brunch to celebrate all the successes of PTAs across the state. Surprise PTSA is up for 6 Membership awards this year so keep us in your thoughts June 4-6 as we Walk Together For Youth!