march 29 acpta meeting without notes
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Advocacy in Action
March 29 ACPTA Meeting
Advocacy in Action
How to Make Your Voice Heard With Your PTA With the Austin Council of PTAs At the Austin ISD Level
What is advocacy?
Why should I be an advocate? How do I get started?
The focus today is LOCAL ADVOCACY
AISD Public Input Meetings ACPTA AISD UpClose AISD Committees District Advisory Council AISD Board of Trustees
AISD Public Input Opportunities
Community Meetings Surveys
ACPTA
With your PTA’s approval of a resolution, you could bring an issue or concern to the ACPTA level for discussion and possible action
http://acpta.txpta.org/
AISD UpClose
http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/initiatives/upclose/index.phtml
AISD CommitteesStanding Advisory Bodies
Boundary Advisory Committee Budget and Finance Advisory Committee Community Bond Oversight Committee District Advisory Council English Language Learner Citizens Advisory Committee School Health Advisory Council Special Education Citizens Advisory committee Strategic Compensation Steering Committee
Ad Hoc Advisory Bodies Capital Improvement and Bond Planning Advisory Committee (CIBPAC) Performing Arts Center (PAC) Task Force
Periodic Advisory Bodies Calendar Task Force Citizens Bond Advisory Committee
http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/advbodies/
Previous Related Task Forces Strategic Plan 2010-15 Facility Master Plan Task Force Community Committee on Neighborhoods & Schools Facility Use and Boundary Task Force Early Childhood Task Force African American Quality of Life Task Force Hispanic Quality of Life Task Force Safety Task Force Cultural Connections to Teaching & Learning Task Force East Side Action Coalition Report
http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/initiatives/strategic_plan/relatedreports.phtml
How could I get involved with an AISD committee?
http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/advbodies/application.phtml
Welcome!
Andrew Smiley, Chair, AISD School Health Advisory Council
http://archive.austinisd.org/schools/shac/accomplishments.phtml
http://www.sustainablefoodcenter.org/about/staff
What if your PTA wanted to get involved with this issue?
What could you do?
Texas PTA Resolution: School Recess
Because Texas PTA has already taken a position on this issue with a resolution, your PTA has the “OK” to proceed in taking action!
Be it resolved that the Texas PTA and constituent associations recommend that Texas school districts develop policies for school recess that include unstructured outdoor play, unstructured indoor play for inclement weather days, educating students on safe playground rules, ensuring the safety of playground equipment and developing an adequate adult to student ratio that should not exceed one adult to 30 students, and
Be it resolved that the Texas PTA and its constituent associations oppose any child being refrained from school recess as a disciplinary measure, for academic reasons, or inappropriate classroom behavior.”
2012 Texas PTA Resolutions
Strong school libraries Reduction in childhood obesity Violence prevention in schools Fine arts in the core curriculum Cement kiln regulation
http://www.txpta.org/resource-library/entry/legislative-resolutions/
In 2011, Texas PTA worked to:
Minimize cuts to funding for public education Pass legislation to address bullying, including cyberbullying, in
schools Pass legislation to ban possession of K-2 or Spice, a powerful
synthetic cannabis sold as incense Maintain class size limits in grades K-4 and maintaining the
parental notification requirement when a waiver of class limits is obtained
Maintain School Health Advisory Councils Maintain Fitnessgram, although it was reduced Maintain the Back to School Sales Tax Holiday
http://www.txpta.org/legislative/
Texas PTA Resolutions or Legislative Positions
There is a process through which a local PTA, council PTA, area PTA or the Texas PTA board can submit resolutions or legislative positions for consideration by the Texas PTA convention body. The resolution or legislative position must have been presented to and adopted by the voting body of the submitting group.
http://www.txpta.org/legislative/resolutions-and-positions/
Criteria
Each resolution or legislative position submitted to the Texas PTA is subject to consideration by a committee of the Texas PTA Board of Directors and must meet the following criteria: Concern the program of the Texas PTA; Be in harmony with national and state PTA policies -
noncommercial, nonpartisan, nonsectarian; Concern a matter of national or state scope, not merely local
interest; Request action that is both physically and financially feasible for
the Texas PTA to undertake; and State a position not previously adopted by the Texas PTA.
Many topics can be covered by either a resolution or a legislative position; a resolution
says, "We believe something should happen..." while a legislative position says,
"We want a law requiring something to happen..."
Your School’s CAC
Because your CAC includes both school employees and parents, a recommendation through the CAC can be powerful.
CACs can address a variety of topics, like school safety or new initiatives.
http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/cac/index.phtml
The PTA and/or the CAC are on board….now what?!
It’s time to visit the AISD Board of Trustees and speak during Citizens Communication!
General Guidelines for Citizens Communication
2 minutes to speak Prepare handouts, like a letter describing the
situation and the requested action The day of the meeting, you can sign up between
7:45 am - 4:45 pm in the Superintendent’s Office or between 4:45 pm - 7 pm in the Board Auditorium
Because you’ve done all of your homework, you can say you are speaking “on behalf of” your PTA and/or CAC
Before you go, check out the board’s agenda so you know what’s ahead for the night and what time to expect Citizens Communication to start
http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/board/meetings.phtml
District Advisory Council
Another group you could share your position statement with is the District Advisory Council. This could help raise awareness of an issue at the district level. The DAC provides review and comment of:
District Educational ProgramDistrict PerformanceDistrict Improvement PlanStudent Code of ConductDistrict Staff Development PlanWaiver Requests to the StateDistrict Budget
DAC Membership
68 total members 2 parents and 2 teachers from each vertical team Principals Employees Community & business representatives 2 ACPTA members 3 at-large members
http://archive.austinisd.org/inside/dac/index.phtml
Initiating An Advocacy Project
An advocacy project is: In alignment with Texas PTA purposes Educational, promotes participation, or supports
an adopted position/resolution regarding an issue A collaboration for parents, schools and the
community at large Approved by membership
Local PTA Resolutions
If there is not a Texas PTA resolution or legislative position on the topic your PTA is pursuing and you are starting from scratch: DO get approval of membership DO adopt positions that benefit all and are not
divisive to the association DO NOT adopt a position that duplicates or
conflicts with an existing position/resolution of Texas or National PTA
Your Advocacy Project
Things to keep in mind if you want to pursue a local advocacy project:
How will this benefit ALL the children in your school?
How are you going to keep your members informed?
What if you need to change or modify your plan? What issues are important to your school or
community?
Have any of your schools adopted positions with your PTA or CAC and spoken before the AISD Board of Trustees?
We all need to learn how to be the best advocates we can be.
Because you are a leader at your school, you already have a lot of tools and traits to be a successful advocate!
You can also identify other volunteers who have these skills and recruit them to coordinate advocacy actions.
It’s about more than your children’s school campus…..
In fact, it is bigger than Austin ISD.
The question really is:
“How can you support the school district as a whole and potentially even public education in Texas??”
The 2013 legislative session is coming at us fast!
There are big issues to face: Budget School finance STAAR and end-of-course exam
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Educate yourself about the issues Talk to other public education supporters about what
is going on VOTE (at all levels)!! Stay tuned for updates from Texas PTA and ACPTA
leading up to the legislative session Be prepared to take action during the legislative
session (January – May 2013)
What’s Next?
Take a look at the some of the web sites mentioned in today’s presentation.
Be on the lookout in the fall for more information about state legislative issues.
“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” –Theodore Roosevelt
