FCCPTA Newsletter

Welcome!

FCCPTA General Membership Meeting: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 at 6:30 pm with Superintendent Scott Brabrand Virginia's Voter Registration Deadline is Monday, October 16th. Many students who were born before November 7th, 1999 are eligible to register now. New Special Education PTA: SEPTA PTA leaders: Join the discussion on our Facebook Best Practices' Group Reflections' Program: Registration, Drop Off dates and more Membership Database: Virginia PTAs set to Beta Test Reminder: submit your 2017-18 PTA Contact Information Opportunities for Students to Volunteer: House of Delegate Candidate Forums and Civic Engagement Voters' Guide and Videos of Candidate Forums for the Fall 2017 Election Please don't hesitate to write to Beth Tudan at president@fccpta.org or to the officers at officers@fccpta.org.

FCCPTA General Membership Meeting Tuesday, October 17th at 6:30 PM Gatehouse Cafe First Floor 8115 Gatehouse Rd. Falls Church, VA 22042 Come Meet Dr. Scott Brabrand, our new FCPS Superintendent, discuss the FCPS 2017-18 Calendar and our FCCPTA Budget

FCCPTA invites all local PTA officers and members to our first General Membershp meeting of 2017-18. Please arrive at 6:30 pm to welcome new Superintendent Scott Brabrand back to Fairfax County Public Schools. We will then follow with our General Membership meeting. On the agenda: Report on Whole Foods' Food for Kids Drive and Fundraiser The Audit The Budget The FCPS 2017-18 Calendar Our own local FCCPTA Advocacy Day Our Voter Registration Challenge for FCPS Reflections Fairfax County Spelling Bee Meet Dr. Brabrand, connect with fellow PTA officers and learn about education priorities for the 2017-18 school year. Tuesday, October 17, 2017 6:30 p.m. Gatehouse Cafe FCPS Headquarters 8115 Gatehouse Road Falls Church, VA 22042 Park in the underground garage at the back of the building. Come up to the first floor for the meeting.

Meet our the FCCPTA Officers 2017-18 FCCPTA Officers: Beth Henson Tudan, FCCPTA President Sandy Glotfelty, President-Elect Jane Miscavage, VP of Outreach Tony Shivers, VP of Legislation Ramona Morrow, VP of Programs Michelle Leete, VP of Training Dottie Andrews, Secretary Brendan Mulvaney, Treasurer For more, go to fccpta.org/about-us/officers/

Virginia's Voter Registration Deadline is Monday, October 16th Students who are US citizens and otherwise eligible who were born on or before November 7th, 1999 can go ahead and register to vote. The voter registration deadline is this Monday, October 16th. Click here to register .  You can also update your voter registration if you have moved, apply for an absentee ballot, find your polling place and more .

Learn More about SEPTA

New Special Education PTA: SEPTA On the left, Catherine Read discusses Fairfax County Public Schools' new Special Education PTA with Diane Cooper Gould, President of the Fairfax County SEPTA, and Joanne Walton, SEPTA delegate to the FCCPTA. Visit SEPTA's website: fairfaxcountysepta.org/ Visit their Facebook page: FairfaxCountySEPTA/

Fairfax County Council of PTAs National PTA Reflections Program 2017-2018: Within Reach Information and Important Dates For more information on the Reflections program and how to get started visit www.pta.org/programs and search “Reflections” Local Unit Entry Turn In: Thursday, November 9th, 4:00 pm – 7:30 pm Friday, November 10th, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm NEW LOCATION: Willow Oaks Administration Center 8270 Willow Oaks Corporate Drive First Floor, Room 1000 Fairfax, VA 22031 For more information contact Denise Bolton,  reflections@fccpta.org or Ramona Morrow,  vp.programs@fccpta.org Local Unit Reflections Chairs: Please email your contact information to Denise Bolton,  reflections@fccpta.org   For more, including links to flyers and registration information, click here.

FCCPTA 2017-18 Calendar Here's the 2017-18 calendar, including our General Meetings, Reflections and such. This Google calendar has all of the FCPS holidays in addition to all of our meetings. If you have an @ fccpta.org email, it should be in your calendar section. We'll also put it our our new website, which is under development.  You can find our calendar on our new website at fccpta.org/calendar/ You can  click on this to add this to any calendar using iCal Please save the date for Tuesday, October 17th at 6:30 pm for the first FCCPTA General Membership Meeting. It will be riveting! 

FCCPTA's Whole Foods 5% Day: Earn Money for your PTA AND Fill the Bus Drive for FCPS Students in Need We collected over 3,000 pounds of food for Food for Others to help FCPS students. On ​Wednesday,  September 20th, the FCCPTA and Whole Foods invited shoppers to donate food to Food for Others' Power Pack Program to provide weekend food for elementary school-aged children. Whole Foods donated 5% of the day's proceeds to support the  Fairfax County Council of PTAs​ (FCCPTA)​.  Fairfax County Council of PTAs represents and supports 175 PTAs through advocacy and programs such as Reflections and the Fairfax County Spelling Bee. Food for Others' mission is to distribute free food to neighbors in need. Thank you for helping us Fill the Bus to benefit our neighbors in need.  Many thanks to Sandy Glotfelty, President Elect  president-elect@fccpta.org, for organizing the drive.

Complete the Circle FOODRaiser   Help Us Complete the Circle!  Join Britepaths and Lorton Community Action Center at Complete the Circle FOODRaiser. Sunday, October 29 from 1-2:30 p.m. at Fairfax High School. This is a fun and inspirational community service project and public art event to help the hungry in our community. Wonderful for companies, community groups, youth groups, faith communities and families and friends! Run a food/donation drive in advance to help even more. Register as a Team or Individual/Family. Registration encouraged by Sept. 29 to reserve your event T-shirt. Learn More and Register at:  http://www.CompleteTheCircleFx.org . For more, contact Chris Garris, Programs Director of Britepaths 703.273.8829  office britepaths.org

Virginia PTAs Selected to Beta Test New Membership Database

Virginia PTA is one of four state PTAs selected to participate in the beta roll out of a  new PTA membership database . Use of the database changes the way we conduct membership transactions between local, state and National PTAs. Virginia PTA sought early participation in the beta to bring benefits to our members and leaders.   For questions, write Jane Miscavage at vp.outreach@fccpta.org  For more, go to   http://www.vapta.org/members-only/membership

New FCCPTA Website

New FCCPTA Website Our VP of Programs, Michelle Leete, has created a new website for us at  fccpta.org , that is much easier to edit than the old one. The officers will all have editing privileges. Please let us know at  officer@fccpta.org  if you have something you want to add. You can always write me separately at  president@fccpta.org .

House of Delegate Candidate Forums & Opportunities for Civic Engagement for FCPS Students

The  Fairfax County Council of PTAs is co-sponsoring Candidate Forums in the fall of 2017 for the 17 House of Delegate seats that are up for election in Fairfax County . There is one more forum on October 25th in the Sully District. It's a great opportunity for civic engagement. House of Delegate Candidate Forums Wednesday, October 25, 2017 7:30 pm to  9:00 pm Location: Sully Government Center, 4900 Stonecroft Blvd., Chantilly, VA 20151 Sully District Delegate Districts: 36, 37, 40, 67, 86 To find your district, go to  http://www.elections.virginia.gov/citizen-portal/index.html To submit questions for the Candidates, go to  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6M5CF5Q  To  volunteer, click here . For  the flyer, click here .  For Voters' Guides, click here. For the November 7th General Election, find out who is running, dates and deadlines, absentee voting information and more in  What's on the Ballot ?

Fall 2017 Videos of Candidate Forums for the House of Delegates from Fairfax County Watch the Western District Candidate Forum for the House of Delegates filmed at Fairfax Public Access on October 2nd  .  The featured districts are  34, 36, 40, 48, 67 and 86.   Watch the  the Candidate Forum for the House of Delegates' Districts of 38, 39, 43, 44, 45, 49  filmed at Fairfax Public Access on September 11th.  Watch  the Central Region Delegate Districts: 35, 37, 41, 42, 53  filmed at Providence Government Center on Sept. 28th.    Click h ere to watch the action before it starts at Fairfax Public Access . Click  here to watch part 1 of the Candidate Forum for the VA HoD in the VA 2017 election -- Western Region: Districts 34, 36, 40, 48, 67, 86  filmed at Reston Community Center.  Click  here to watch part 2 of the Candidate Forum for the VA HoD in the VA 2017 election -- Western Region: Districts 34, 36, 40, 48, 67, 86  filmed at Reston Community Center.

Reminder: Submit your 2017-18 PTA Officer Contact Information

If you've already done so, thank you! If not, why delay? Please go to our website or click here: fccpta.org/running-pta/local-unit-board-information-form/

Wishing a Successful Back to School to all our PTA/PTSAs!  How is your first week of school? Virginia PTA just emailed and / or mailed the Back To School Local Unit information so please check your school mailbox to pick up the printed materials. We appreciate those who elected to receive information via email. Please  download information to share with your board.  Also, the new membership data system is up and running and each PTA/PTSA has been provided information about how to set up their system to process membership payments and maintain communicatons.  Learn more now!  National PTA Back-To-School Kit The 2017-2018 Back-To-School Kit has launched and available for download at:  www.ptakit.org There are several new changes with the Kit so please explore to learn about your position. The Kit can now be accessed on your smart phone, tablet or laptop-anyplace, anytime. You just need to register and login to access the Kit. Once you register, you will receive a Recruitment Tool (a packet of PTA marketing materials) and a poster-sized calendar of PTA events for the upcoming school year in the mail.

PTA Programs – Student programs for your PTA to promote are the Citizenship Essay, Power Plates and Reflections PTA Audits and Budgets - Should be completed in time for your first general membership meeting to be adopted. Copies of your approved audit should be sent to Virginia PTA.

Beware of Phishing Scams aimed at PTAs Please be aware of phishing scams aimed at PTAs. Emails addressed from one officer to another requesting money needed immediately are more and more common. Please pick up the phone and CALL your PTA officers. Also, remember that PTAs do require two signatures on all financial transactions.