Dear TC Community,

June greetings! We are almost to the finish line of this extraordinary and abundant school year! Thank you, everyone for hanging in there!

I had so much fun being in the community at our All Family Dance on Friday night! Thanks to everyone who came to help, party, eat, and be together. We have a beautiful community and it was a joy to pause to celebrate all that has been accomplished and supported this year. If you have photos from Friday's dance party you'd share, please email them to me.

The rest of the month is likely to fly by so let's make sure to pause and reflect on all that has happened and is yet to be celebrated all the way to the last drop of June. Important dates for final school events are listed at the top of the page.

TCPG ANNUAL MEETING: Tuesday, June 13, 6:30PM - 8:30PM, is the Thornton Creek Parent Group Annual Meeting and it's important to have your participation. (Join on Zoom, 6:30-8:30pm, HERE and find the Agenda HERE). Comments and questions can be submitted for consideration on the budget by June 10th HERE.

This is the meeting in which our TCPG budget for next school year is voted on - if you're a parent/caregiver with a student at TC, you are entitled to a vote in this decision. We will have a presentation from TCPG Treasurer Roddy Theobold, and then have a discussion to answer questions prior to our advisory membership vote. If you cannot make it to the meeting but wish to vote on the budget, please reach out by June 9th to communications@thorntoncreekparentgroup.org. (May's TC Community Meeting minutes and slides which includes the presentation of proposed budget can be found HERE and HERE).

With appreciation for all you do for our community,

Erin

TCPG Chair, 2022-2023 School Year

NOTE: Gmail may clip the content of this newsletter. View the full version on the web HERE.

Starting today, we will open voting for next year's TCPG Board of Directors. All parents/caregivers of currently enrolled TC students are TCPG members and can vote in our election for Board of Directors. Link to online voting is: https://forms.gle/TELez9fEQriwZCbU7. Online voting will close on June 13th at 9:00PM. If you need to cast a paper ballot, please come by Friday, June 9th from 2:30PM - 4:00PM at the school library courtyard entrance. One ballot (online OR paper) allowed for each parent or guardian of one or more currently enrolled TC students.

Meet the parent volunteers who have stepped up and are ready to continue TCPG's mission - to support the programs and staff at Thornton Creek Elementary School. Show your appreciation by approving the board! Vote at the link at the bottom of the page.

Erin MacDougall is a parent of a rising 3rd grader at TC, a rising 5th grader at Hazel Wolf K-8, and an almost 3-year-old. This school year, she has served as Chair of TCPG. For the last few years, she has also supported the equity in education learning events at TC. She hugely values serving the TC community. She is passionate about her professional work at Public Health - Seattle & King County to increase equitable access to health care through school-based health centers. She loves to garden, read, spend time in nature, and find joy in everyday life.

Jessica Knaster Wasse is a parent of a rising 2nd grader and a graduating 5th grader. This school year, she has served as Vice Chair as well as the lead room parent. She served previously on the Health and Safety committee and as a room parent. Jessica has honed her community leadership skills during her career in homeless health care at Public Health. - Seattle & King County. Weekends you will find her baking, attempting to stand up paddle board, taking long walks on the Burke with her adorable dog, or bribing her children tho hike.

Roddy Theobold is the parent of rising 3rd grade and 1st grade students at Thornton Creek and has served as TCPG treasurer for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. He does education policy research for American Institutes for Research in Seattle.

TCPG is seeing an Assistant Treasurer (who will train next school year and then transition to Treasurer in 2024-25 school year). Please email Roddy if you might be interested.

Kristi Straus is the parent of a rising fifth grader at Thornton Creek and a rising seventh grader who learned so much through K-5 at TC. Kristi served as the TCPG secretary for the 2022-23 school year and found that she liked contributing her fast typing skills for note-taking at TC meetings. In her professional life, Kristi teaches sustainability and Environmental Studies at the University of Washington.

Sterling is very excited to serve the TC community in a more active way this upcoming year! With a rising 4th grader, a rising 2nd grader and two younger kids who will one day walk the halls of TC, she's very interested in the long-term success of the school. Her goal is to do everything she can to support a truly exceptional learning environment for every student that is sustainable year after year. She loves to play outside in the garden, build things and goof around with her family. This will be her second year fundraising, and she'd love to have a co-chair!

Kelsey is the parent of three Thornton Creek students, one daughter rising to 4th grade and twin boys rising to 2nd grade. Kelsey has enjoyed working with parents/caregivers from the TC community to help organize, plan and support school events. She served as the Volunteer Chair for the past school year and is looking forward to continuing her role for the upcoming year.

In her professional life, Kelsey co-owns Fairhaven Project Services which specializes in permit coordination and project management. In addition, she is a wedding coordinator, so event planning is one of her passions. You will also find her being a personal chauffeur to her three kids taking them to and from soccer, basketball, baseball, and a variety of playdates. On weekends, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends, reading, and playing golf.

Vacant If interested, please contact chair@thorntoncreekparentgroup.org

Vacant If interested, please contact chair@thorntoncreekparentgroup.org

Sarah is mom to 2 kiddos: a rising 9th grader (TC alum), and rising 5th grader. She's been part of the yearbook crew for 5 years, leading it the last 3 years. This will be her final year at TC, so she is looking for someone to co-lead, in order to pass the torch to someone who will carry on this beloved tradition after she's gone. As a retired Pediatric Nurse, she is an established resource in the neighborhood for extracting play dough from a toddler's nose. She likes to be in the know, so she volunteers a fair amount at various school activities, in particular our amazing library.

Jana Dilley is the mom of a rising Thornton Creek 3rd grader and a TC graduate moving on to middle school. She is a certified arborist and professional urban forester who believes deeply in the power of urban nature as a positive force for childhood development. As Facilities co-chair since the 2019/2020 school year, she has been working with parent volunteers and the District to care for the Thornton Creek landscape. She feels super lucky to have Sarah as a partner in landscape work and welcomes anyone who wants to join them on any level.

This will be my third year as facilities co-chair. I have been so fortunate to learn and work with Jana Dilley in this facilities role! I have a rising 1st grader at Thornton Creek. I appreciate having such amazing green space at school, and love how this work brings parents and families together to make connections and take acre of our beautiful school!

Robyn has rising 3rd and 5th graders at Thornton Creek. She has been a public school music teacher for the past 18 years. She is excited to work in the coming year on fundraising. She believes in the good faith effort which TC strives for and wants to help make it the best place for kids.

We need greeters to help us at EL Night. You will still get to see your student's expedition. We appreciate your help! Please sign up HERE

Exciting news - it's time to sign up to help water the young trees at Thornton Creek! This volunteer help is crucial to keeping our trees growing and thriving - they will not last the summer without it. We need old and new volunteers to help!

Details:

Ready to choose your weeks? Please sign up here:

Sponsored by the TC PTA, visit here more information

We appreciate your support and donations to keep our Pantry available! To volunteer to keep the pantry stocked, email pantry@tc-pta.org, or donate to the TC Pantry through Paypal or our Target wish list.

The spring is very full of fun school activities, we welcome your involvement, please consider volunteering! Please fill out the Volunteer Interest Survey! to get started. For other volunteering opportunities, reach out to Kelsey, volunteer@thorntoncreekparentgroup.org

Join TC PTA and TCPG as we wrap up this year's Parent Education programming focusing on Equity in Education. Leading up to the Juneteenth holiday, we have planned an evening that includes the whole family in the form of a documentary film (30 min), discussion and dinner. We will view the film Beyond Black and White, produced by Roosevelt Alumni for Racial Equity (RARE), and follow the film with a panel discussion that includes two Roosevelt High School alumni who were interviewed in the film. Accessibility: We will do our best to provide additional access and interpretation if needed. Please contact PTA Inclusion Co-Chair Christie Robertson to make a request: inclusion@tc-pta.org