Hello parents and friends! Welcome to our first PFLASA blog post of 2022!
Before reading further, you may be asking, with so many ways to communicate and stay connected at LASA and within PFLASA, what will this blog add to the mix? My hope is to provide informal updates and news that may provide a fuller picture of PFLASA activities and involvement than you might piece together from other sources, such as the Lots of LASA Newsletter, Google Group emails, Principal’s Messages, announcements on the LASA website or even our PFLASA meetings at the school. Each of these platforms has its own function, traditions, style and limitations as to space and time. Here, we can be a little more flexible.
One note before we jump in is to say that this blog is not conceived as subscription-based communication or specific promotion of events or drives. It is more of a letter to you, to read when you feel like it. Posts will live on the pflasa.org website for folks to check out at their leisure. If you are subscribed and would like to unsubscribe, feel free to do so. You will still see the link promoted in various places as a reminder and, of course, can check it out at any time. At the moment, I do not have a regular posting schedule established, but will try to post at least once per month.
SUMMER 2022
We had a busy summer as we on-boarded the new members of our board and did some deeper planning for the year ahead. You can read more about PFLASA and see a list of current board members here: https://pflasa.org/about.
Several board members took the lead to plan and organize events that happened before school even started, namely the New Teacher Bus Tour (Aug 4) and the Back-to-School Teacher Luncheon (Aug 11). Several of us were also on hand to welcome parents at New Parent Orientation that same day (Aug 11).
The New Teacher Bus Tour is a full day of activity. As part of the tour, a LASA parent hosts a breakfast for the new teachers and a panel of current LASA parents in their home, while another family hosts lunch for the same teachers and a panel of students later in the day. This year’s tour involved a bumper crop of new teachers, nearly 20, I believe. Many thanks to our hosting parents and their families who let us invade their space for a few hours in early August.
In July, the Latino Outreach Committee hosted a dinner at the LASA campus, after something of a hiatus in terms of such in-person events. It was fun and well-attended!
Our treasurer also worked hard over the summer to organize records, so that our annual financial reconciliation could be accomplished. PFLASA is a 501(c)3, and this is one of our annual “must dos”. We appreciate the volunteers who stepped up to do the needed review.
Check out a list of our committees and events here: https://pflasa.org/committees/
A NEW SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS!
Once the school year began, PFLASA supported teachers with a hearty meal of BBQ before they met with parents at Back-to-School Night in September. We also kicked off our 2022 No-Hassle Fundraiser that same week. Both efforts are being led by new parent volunteer chairs and we are grateful for their service. The board also put together a tutoring and study groups program, which began this past week and will be chaired by another new parent volunteer we are very fortunate to have. (PS—Not naming names here, but I am working on a THANK YOU page to properly appreciate our many parent volunteers).
Meanwhile, the board has already fielded and approved several requests from teachers and staff for professional development and classroom support. In addition, we have committee chairs and members who have been working hard to get our Project Graduation Auction up and running, plan our teacher and staff appreciation activities for the year, review venue options for some of our celebratory major events, and much more. You will hear more about all of these efforts in future posts.
Never a dull moment when there is so much going on!
PFLASA MEETS
PFLASA had our kick-off meeting for the year on Aug 26th and enjoyed a wonderful turnout. We followed with our second meeting of the year on Sept 9th and saw many new and returning faces there. We know these meetings are hard for many folks to attend and we appreciate the effort that those who can and do come put forth! Even if you can only come occasionally, we would love to see you. Please introduce yourself when you do! Our next meeting is Sept 23rd.
Our meetings generally consist of some brief business (like approval of minutes), updates on committee activities, announcements on upcoming events and needs, and a report from our principal, Ms. Crescenzi, after which she takes questions from the group. See our list of scheduled meetings here: https://pflasa.org/pflasa-meetings/.
What questions do you have for PFLASA board members? What else would you like to see shared on our dedicated website (www.pflasa.org) or addressed at our meetings? What are the ways you would like to contribute to the organization? Let us know at president@pflasa.org.