Category: PFLASA

Please help PFLASA correctly budget for next year.

The online directory software we use costs $850 per year, so we would like to know how important the online directory is to our PFLASA community.

Please complete the survey to help us decide if this is a good use of our funds. If you have additional comments, you can email directory@pflasa.org.

Thank you!

Sorry about any confusion I caused last week by dating my post incorrectly. I was in fact referring to the 2/21 joint meeting with PTSA not 12/21! If you skipped my post last week because you thought it was old, I encourage you to look it over. I’m not sure if that’s why but there was some confusion over whether there was a meeting this past Friday. But the meeting is this Friday, 3/7 at 8:15 am in the PFLASA Portable next to the tennis courts. Just a quick reminder all the meeting dates are listed here: https://pflasa.org/pflasa-meetings/.

I know we are all anxious for Spring Break and this year we get an extra Friday but believe it or not the busiest times of the year lie ahead. If you thought the fall semester went quickly, hang onto your hat because it’s going to fly by. Before we quit March, we have the New Parent Coffee on Saturday 3/29. We need lots of volunteers to talk to Parents of new baby Raptors (sign up coming soon). Then April and May (and very early June) are when we need lots and lots of help (AP Tests, AP Breakfast, Coffeehouse, Senior Salute and Project Graduation-updates to come on all of this). Just in case that wasn’t enough PFLASA also needs to prepare a budget for next year and elect new officers to the Board.

This is a crucial time to get involved in PFLASA if you care about any of the specific programming we offer (tutoring, petting zoo, teacher grants, appreciations, etc.). The budget is our guiding tool for all next year. And the Board is the entity that makes all the hard decisions (we also have some fun and get a unique perspective on this fabulous school). This year we are also planning to amend our bylaws to allow for flexibility in scheduling meetings. So now is an excellent time to get involved in all these decisions. Specifically, the Board needs an assistant secretary for next year. All Board positions are two years with the first year to help, shadow, and train. For reasons, I don’t fully understand but this position seems to spook people. It is not intensive note taking and we aren’t asking for a full transcription. But we do need someone to record our votes. If you are interested in joining the Board, any other volunteering opportunities, or just have questions, please email me at president@pflasa.org.

Please join us,
Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President

Okay, so that title is a little misleading. There’s not much of meeting to recap. We had a few updates on upcoming Master Classes, tonight’s event from the Raising Healthy Raptor committee (Managing Difficult Feelings, 6:15pm at Yarborough Library) and a plea for every one to buy tickets to the 3/8 All Grades Fiesta Happy Hour (https://pflasa.org/store/fiesta/). We ended with a QR code to our 1-question survey about why people do (or do not) attend PFLASA meetings. That information is crucial to our planning for next year. You can find it in a separate Raptor post from our VP Anna Land.

Our short meeting let PTSA get some crucial business done. Most importantly, it gave us time to hear from Trustee Lynn Boswell about the dramatic and severe budget cuts that AISD must make to stay solvent. At the moment everything is on the table including magnet transportation, 7 out of 8,* school closures (no concrete plans), cuts to programming, and larger class sizes. These cuts will hurt because they will impact student learning. Saying no to all these proposals is not possible. This is a time that calls for hard decisions. I encourage everyone to figure out what is the top priority and advocate for that. A few things to know: 1) The higher tax rate resulting from the election does not change the need for cuts; 2) The deficit is larger than anticipated because home values are projected to go down; and 3) no one currently knows if the Texas legislature is going to come in with more money (there are lots of bills being introduced on a variety of school and school funding issues but many will not advance further). And here’s where I get just a little bit political, because if your student is at LASA you are obliged to be invested in public school funding—this is an excellent time to advocate for public school funding with the Legislature, especially if you have friends or family in other parts of Texas. Our incredible PTSA will be more than happy to help you figure out how to advocate if you have questions.

Finally, there was quite a lot of talk about Rally Day (which was Monday) from PTSA, Trustee Boswell and Principal Crescenzi. In case you do not know, Rally Day is the day that PTSA’s from all over Texas come to the Capitol to advocate for public education. LASA was able to take two buses of students to participate if they underwent the proper training and some students were able to have meetings with a Representative. This is one of those glimpses into the best of LASA: the incredible kids who attend here, the learning opportunities available, the passion of our staff and teachers, and the dedication of our volunteers. Thank you to all who participated in making this event happen.

Please advocate now,
Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President

* 7/8 refers to teachers having to teach 7 classes of the 8 periods. This means middle and high school teachers have a planning period only every other day. There is also a discussion about going to 6/7 which decreases the availability of 8 classes to 7.

At the last PFLASA meeting, we shared a link to a one-question survey that asked, “What the top 2-3 reasons you attend PFLASA meetings?” Responses we have collected so far have begun to give us even more information about how PFLASA meetings can best serve our members.

If you haven’t had a chance to fill it out yet, there’s still time! The survey remains open and we need your input. The survey link is: https://forms.gle/nUMkPtDcYWHsjn6g9

By the way, all parents and legal guardians of current students along with teachers and administrators of the school are welcome to participate in PFLASA. We do not have a membership application or fee. PFLASA generally meets twice a month during the school year but meeting attendance is not required. We are a resource to LASA teachers, parents, staff and students and there are lots of ways to participate. We need your voice!

No meeting to recap but we are holding our joint meeting with PTSA and will welcome the Trustees. It’s really nice for them to get a sense of how involved our parents are so even if you don’t normally come, if you can, I highly encourage it. And we are stuffing acceptance envelopes afterwards! Say it with me now: Friday 2/21 @ 8:15am in the PFLASA Portable by the tennis courts.

In the spirit of transparency and inclusiveness. I’d like to highlight some other needs for next year. First, we need a Vice President for next year. The structure of the board is that the VP shadows the President and takes over the following year as President. Freshman parents I’m looking to you. You’ve had a year to acclimate to LASA and get some idea of all that PFLASA does to support your child’s education. The VP job is really fun and being President also has some unique joys. I love passing on praise that we get to our hardworking volunteers. I know it is a big commitment, but the organization will not run without a chief officer.

Did your kid love the petting zoo? Did holding a hedgehog or bunny melt their pre-finals stress away? We need two co-chairs to host this event next year. This is not a big-time commitment because it only requires being at the school the day of the event. And former chairs are still here for questions and it comes with a checklist made by past chair Geeta!

Finally, we have no takers for the PFLASA webmaster spot. This is an excellent job for a techy dad who doesn’t have the ability to make it to school. Again, expressing interest does not commit you to anything. Email me at President@pflasa.org

Again hoping everyone keeps water and power to survive the cold!
Ellen Stewart-Klein
PFLASA President