March 2022 – Takoma Park Elementary School PTA

Takoma Park Elementary School(TPES)

Piney Branch Elementary School (PBES)

Parent & Teacher Meeting (PTA)

Tuesday, March 1, 2022 from 7-8pm on Zoom

Please mark your calendar for our next PTA meeting on April 5 7-8pm

7:00 Welcome from Chris Campbell, TPES PTA VP of Communications, and sharing of Upcoming Dates and Announcements by Emma Cheuse, PBES PTA VP of Communications

Upcoming Dates and Announcements from the MCPS School Calendar 2021- 2022

Upcoming Dates and Announcements:

— Many thanks to Jumana Musa and Sharon Gaskins, our NAACP representatives for the PBES and TPES PTA for arranging for Ben Jealous to speak at our Feb PTA meeting and for organizing a fantastic virtual Black History Night event last Thursday. More than 100 kids joined to learn, share, read passages, listen to music, and create quilts with the theme “My Life Matters because…”

— Feb 25-March 4: TPES Scholastic Book Fair. Over to Shivani Sutton for a quick update and thank you to volunteers. For more details about the fair, including shopping hours, popular titles, and no-cash payment options, check out our homepage. Please contact Shivani Sutton if you’d like to help out: shivani.sutton@gmail.com.

— March 2 and throughout March: COVID-19 Vaccine clinics will be held at PBES every Wednesday. Volunteers are needed both to help out at the clinics and to provide snack donations, which can be dropped off at PBES’s main office. Please keep an eye out for emails from Alisa O’Brien & contact her if you can help: Alisaobrien10@yahoo.com.

– Feb. 28-March 6: Sign-up for PBES After School programs. Scholarships are available. https://www.hisawyer.com/little-scholars-llc/schedules?sched_ids%5B%5D=101681&schedule_id= Scholarship sign-up link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScOLDcHUffny8zAg2oB4myGSVmL2ROWo3fzujRkcTdYSFL_lw/viewform

– Thanks to our awesome volunteer Abby Anna, TPES is also offering a range of afterschool programs through Little Scholars starting late spring through the school year. An email went out from Margaret McDonnell this afternoon. Registration will be from March 9-14 (see link in chat: www.littlescholarsllc.com/takoma-park/). If your child is interested but the cost is a barrier for your family, please consider applying for a scholarship by this Friday, March 4 (see link in chat: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeAbNSei_bHWy1b0FOW5ZS79SYqlQ3a08GtUXQ-7vDYxJh45g/viewform). We have funding for approx 25 scholarships for families in need. If you’re eligible and approved, we will give you a special code to use instead of payment at registration.

— March 4-31: TPES Read-a-Thon- Chris Campbell and Sara Lewis will present at end of event announcements.

— March 9 at 7pm: Family Tech Talk presentation with an internet safety expert from Trend Micro [please see info in chat]

“Texting, gramming, Roblox, Minecraft, TikTok, YouTube. Technology is changing fast, and many of us are struggling to stay one step ahead of our kids and learn everything we can about being online. (Not an easy task when most of them know more about it than we do!)

Join us for a virtual Family Tech Talk presentation with an Internet safety expert from Trend Micro, who will share the latest trends, give advice on how to help your child use the Internet responsibly, and answer parent questions in a Q&A session. The Zoom event will be on Mar 09, 2022 (Wed) at 7pm. Click the link at the bottom to join the event.

We’ll discuss what our children are doing online—and how to teach them to be smart, safe, and respectful digital citizens. We’ll also cover privacy and security issues, how to encourage responsible Internet use, and even more.

In addition to learning some helpful tips, you could win a Trend Micro Internet security product! Five copies of Trend Micro Maximum Security will be raffled off to families attending the event.

We hope you join us on March 9th 2022 at 7pm to learn more about this important topic.

Event link: https://trendmicro.zoom.us/j/97682566330?pwd=QTRjT2EvWnJsdXJhNG41QURaeEo2UT09

— March 11 and April 1: MCPS Early Release Day for Students (April 1 was formerly a day off)

— April 11- 18: MCPS spring break

— May: the City of TKPK has decided that the 5K will be virtual again this year. On a related note, TPES’ Health and Wellness Committee is considering organizing a fun outdoor event- perhaps a kickball tournament- for TPES and PBES teachers, families and students who’d like to join for sometime this spring. Stay tuned!

7:10: TPES Read-a-thon, Sara Lewis and Chris Campbell

7:15: Introduce guests, Margaret McDonnell

7:20: Presentation from representatives from four local non-profits that have kid-friendly service/volunteer opportunities (5 minutes each)

– Drennan Lindsay, A Wider Circle

– Abbe Spokane, DC Diaper Bank

– Roxanne Yamashita, Small Things Matter

– Meg McDonald, Tommy’s Pantry

7:40/45: Time for Q&A with Dr Gadsden and Ms Oberdorf regarding the anticipated lifting of mask mandate, TPES’ loss of designation as a focus school, etc

7:50 Treasurer’s Reports

Stephen Tippett, TPES Treasurer and Kate Bauer, PBES Treasurer

Become a PTA member:

Takoma Park Elementary https://www.tpespta.net

Piney Branch Elementary https://pineybranchpta.membershiptoolkit.com