Justice High School PTSA

Our mission is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.

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PRESIDENT'S TWO CENTS

I hope everyone enjoyed their four-day week-end! And I hope that your first 10 days of school have gone as smoothly as can be! I am definitely grateful to have our students back in the building and I am hopeful about what the year could bring. Yet, I have to be honest, the frenzy of the beginning of a school year has me dragging a bit. It is hard not to become both excited and overwhelmed - wanting to take leaps and bounds forward - but steady does win races (notice, I left out the “slow” part of that:). Our efforts to help the Justice High School PTSA be more relevant and engaging in our community are a work-in-progress. Those are the buzz words, the goals, of the year: relevance and engagement. In order to achieve our goals we really do need your help - we need your input and your time. Admittedly, this whole “President of the PTSA” thing is also a work-in-progress for me and I really need to elevate my delegation game, but in order to do that we need more volunteers, please read our “wish list” below.

 

I would like to again THANK all of the folks who have volunteered their time thus far: handling school supply deliveries; at the Wolfpack Welcome table; feeding kids for Senior Sunrise; and those who have been in the background providing a sounding-board! I would also like to especially THANK those persons who have so far stepped-up to take on a role:

 

James Wilkins (Parent) - Communications Co-Coordinator

Ann-Marie Ward (Parent) - Communications Co-Coordinator

Jenna White (Parent) - Advocacy Coordinator

Laura Coates (Parent) -  Membership (Volunteer) Coordinator

Paola Vasquez-Brown (Parent) - Senior Caravan and Carnival

Kim Wilkins (Parent) – Trivia Night Coordinator

Wint Ngon (Student) - VP Events

Justin Tetelman (Student) - VP Student Involvement

Omar Mohamed (Parent) – Treasurer

Kathleen Brown (Parent) – Secretary

 

Believe me, I know time and energy are in short supply, but I am hopeful that you will find a way to support these volunteers in some capacity at some point this year. I welcome (aka beg:) you to join us: one-time/one-off volunteers, single-project managers, or position-holders are ALL welcome!

 

We have been working on our communication – which includes these new bi-weekly newsletters being distributed via News You Choose (we said good-bye to members-only news), a new Instagram account, an in-mid-update revised website, and a developing WhatsApp organization account. We’re trying to stay connected to you – so please share our FB/Instagram/Twitter posts (see links below) and newsletters as widely as possible. (Note: we will be attempting to go “live” on FaceBook and/or Instagram for events when possible (for viewing only), including for our first member meeting.

 

Please join us for our re-scheduled Monthly Member Meeting TONIGHT in the Little Theater or online (link here)!

 

Peace,

Kim Lanoue



IT TAKES A VILLAGE

We need volunteers for the following, please email us if you are even a little bit curious (questions encouraged, no blood-oaths required):

1. Member of the fundraising committee. First meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 14, 3pm (virtual).

2. VP of Communications.

3. Committee Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

4. Coordinator of the virtual portion of the monthly meetings.

5. Coordinator of grant requests from staff and students.

6. Coordinator the filing of grant applications for various funding opportunities.

7. Coordinator of Reflections Program.

8. Coordinator of translation/interpretation. (If you speak ANY foreign language and willing to interpret/translate, please click here).

9. Special-Education Liaison.

10. Post-Graduate Planning Liaison.



CONTRUCTION ZONE

We are working on a few things, please email us if you’d like to be a part of any of it or to make a suggestion:

 

PTSA President’s Roundtable: Food Pantry and Swap Shop. We will be hosting a roundtable discussion including school staff, student organization representatives, and local community organizations to dialogue and plan for community services such as a school-families food pantry and in-school store (free, trade, or donation-cost items) for formal-wear, athletic equipment, coats, shoes, school/tech/arts supplies, etc.

PTSA President’s Roundtable: Support for Activities. We would like to host a roundtable discussion, including school staff, booster organization representatives, and team and club representatives, on supporting students with such things as after-school food on special days (games, performances, etc.); free/reduced passes for games/performances; athletic or artistic supplies (i.e. shoes, instruments, etc.); middle-school enrichment programs; guest-trainers/directors/consultants; and any other ideas to help support students to be involved in extra-curricular activities.

Global Calendar. We are working on a one-stop Google calendar having dates for PTSA events, Justice academics and activities, and important pyramid-school events.

Fundraising Committee. Come help us brainstorm and plan new fundraising activities, including, but not limited to a: trivia night; casino night; talent showcase; spring field day; and Senior caravan and carnival.

Member Meetings. We have 8 monthly member meetings left this year and we have a list of presentations/Q&As that are our goals for each meeting (not necessarily appearing in the order below), please email us if you have a suggestion:

  1. FCPD SRO and Community Outreach Representatives
  2. School Construction Update: FCPS Facilities Dept. and Fairfax County Park Authority
  3. School Board, County Board of Supervisors, and State Congressional Representatives
  4. Mental Health Wellness (First-Aid)
  5. A panel on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Racial Justice
  6. What is a PTA?

PTSA Listening Tour. We heard you and we will be continuing our efforts to come into neighborhoods and have dialogues. In order to streamline our time (let’s face it, no one wants to go to more meetings than they have to) and make it more convenient for people to attend, we are combining this with our monthly membership meetings. The sessions will begin at 6pm prior to the start of the 7pm member meetings (the videos will also be posted online) and our meeting will alternate locations (including, but not limited to: Glasgow; each of the pyramid elementary schools; apartment complex meeting rooms; the public library; parks, etc.). Please email us if you would like to suggest a location or host/plan one of the meetings.



DONATE

NEEDED: BACK-PACKS!!!!

Please donate new (or gently used) back-packs for our students! Drop-off in the front-office or when you see a PTSA table at a home game.



CALENDAR

EVENT DATE/TIME LOCATION VIRTUAL LINK
PTSA Monthly Meeting Sep. 8, 7pm Little Theater Google Meet
PTSA Fundraising Committee Meeting Sep. 14, 3pm n/a Google Meet
PTSA Listening Tour Oct. 6, 6pm  TBD  Google Meet
PTSA Member Meeting Oct. 6, 7pm TBD Google Meet

NOTE: PTSA Monthly Meetings are the first Wednesday of each month at 7pm. They are hybrid: in-person and via Google Meet. Videos will either go live on FaceBook/Instagram and/or will be posted on our website/YouTube.

Click here see our online calendar.



JOIN

BECOME A MEMBER

Please click here to join us!

ALL are welcome to participate in our programs and events, receive our news and information, volunteer time or resources, and attend and contribute during general membership meetings! However, there is one members-only privilege: voting – having a voice in decisions about our programming, events, and spending. The National and Virginia PTA provide supportive resources (see below for examples) and your membership fees support those efforts as well as our local efforts (we need a basic level of financial support to have such things as virtual meetings, digital workspaces, online bookkeeping, etc. and additional funds for any other programming we elect to have).

Soon, at the link above, you will also see options to sponsor memberships so fellow wolves can join the PTSA-pack and to register for a free membership if you need one.



FEEDBACK

We welcome your input. Please click above to provide us comments, questions, and suggestions.



RESOURCES

FCPS Community Health



ADVOCACY & EDUCATION

HELPFUL LINKS

National PTA Advocacy Resources

Virginia PTA  Advocacy: Positions and Resolutions

Virginia PTA  Advocacy: Coalitions and Commissions

Virginia PTA Advocacy: Legislative Priorities

Virginia PTA Advocacy: Webinars

Virginia PTA Advocacy: Take Action

FCCPTA Advocacy: Positons



DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION

HELPFUL LINKS

National PTA DEI: Resources

Virginia PTA DEI: Resources

Virginia PTA DEI: Webinar

Virginia PTA DEI: Position Papers



KEEP IN TOUCH

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2021-2022

President: Kim Lanoue (president@justicehsptsa.org)

Treasurer: Omar Mohamed (treasurer@justicehsptsa.org)

Secretary: Kathleen Brown (secretary@justicehsptsa.org)

VP of Events: Wint Ngon (events@justicehsptsa.org)

VP of Student Representation: Justin Tetelman (student@justicehsptsa.org


Website: https://justicehsptsa.org

Facebook: @justicehsptsa

Twitter: @JusticeHSPTSA

Instagram: @justicehsptsa

You Tube: Justice HS PTSA

WhatsApp:


Fairfax County Council of PTAS

Northern Virginia District PTA

Virginia PTA

National PTA