Category: PTA Meetings

PTA Membership, Budget and Positions

We’re entering the third week of the school 2023-34 calendar year and your PTA Board is rolling up our sleeves to:

  • Support children’s health, well-being, and educational success
  • Build strong parent, family and community involvement
  • Provide funds for teacher and classroom resources
  • Support school volunteers
  • Support our school’s Cultural Arts programs
  • and so much more — but we can’t do it without you! We pay for these initiatives and programs through membership fees and fundraisers.

Action Item #1: Join the PTA

First and foremost, if you haven’t already, please join the PTA! (There are no volunteer requirements of members. Membership simply shows your support, and keeps you in the loop for volunteer opportunities, if interested.) PTA membership supports vital programs at Douglas that enrich your child’s education and help our talented teachers deliver the best classroom experiences possible. We are dedicated to creating the kind of school community where children can thrive and teachers and administrators can do their best work. Just by paying your $12 membership fee (tip: you must renew every year!), you can make a difference. We understand that money can be an issue, and we don’t want this to be a barrier to joining the PTA. Please reach out to your child’s teacher and let them know that you are still interested in joining.

Action Item #2: Vote at the First PTA General Meeting

Secondly, we are ready to present our proposed budget for this school year to meet the needs and ambitions of the PTA’s planned programs and activities. You can view the proposed budget here. In addition, we also have a proposed slate of 2023-24 PTA Executive Board positions that will fill current vacancies. Scroll down further in that link and you’ll also see other committee and open role needs that we need your help with. We will formally present both the budget and proposed executive board slate on Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the Open House Night and PTA General Meeting. We’ll need PTA members (see action item #1!) to vote on both of these items.

With your membership and support, our school can thrive. We’re looking forward to getting started together!

Virtual Open House and General PTA Meeting Are Wednesday

Douglas Elementary Virtual Open House and PTA General Meeting graphic

Mark your calendars!

The Douglas Virtual Open House is Weds., Sept. 15. There are two sessions: 5:30-6 p.m. and 6-6:30 p.m. Your teachers will provide their individual Google Meet codes, or you can keep an eye on this page on the school website as the teachers fill in their codes.

Following the Open House, the Douglas PTA General Meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. Principal Burns will provide an update at the PTA meeting. Join here: https://meet.google.com/cuu-dbxw-ppf

Join us for the 1st PTA General Meeting of the Year!

We hope you’ll be able to join us at our PTA general meetings this year. All are welcome! We’ve tried to adjust the times to make the meetings more accessible for working families.

Our first PTA general meeting of the year will take place Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 7 p.m. Join the meeting here.

Hope to see you there!

Sept. 19 PTA General Meeting Minutes

Location: Douglas Media Center
Date: September 19, 2019
Time: 6:30 p.m.

I. Call to Order
Meeting called to order by Morgan Blue, VP Membership, at 6:35 p.m.

II. Open Issues
2019-20 budget was distributed for review by membership

III. President’s Overview
a) PTA Membership. Your $12 allows you to have a voice on a national level with advocacy for schools, and at Douglas, we want to give every child a voice. Membership dollars, on a local level, go toward cultural arts programming, STEAM supplies, teacher grants, hospitality for our teachers, technology, etc. The News & Observer highlighted water issues and elevated levels of lead in many Wake County schools recently. The PTA was ahead of the curve and made budget arrangements to have seven of our water fountains retrofitted with water bottle fillers and filters this year. We’ve received our approval form from the county.

Beginning of the year special education training was fully funded by the PTA for the staff. We are also paying for the Positivity Project this year. Parents may be hearing about the Positivity Project from their students and teachers.

b) Dragonfire is happening this week! 100% of proceeds go to the PTA and we’ve made donating as convenient as possible with cash, checks and online options. Students are also participating in a coin war this week. The winning classroom will be awarded a day with Mr. Burns as their teacher.

Dragonfire is the only Douglas campaign where all of your donation stays at school. Every other fundraiser splits donations with another organization; book fair, Boosterthon, spirit nights etc… Giving to Dragonfire ensures that your dollars stay here. Please stop by the amphitheater on your way out and take a look at our fundraising focus for this year. Vision boards are hanging in the hall and you can see the essentially blank slate we have to work with.

Another financial focus for the year is a new Angel Fund for the cafeteria. The PTA will make sure that all baby dragons leave the cafeteria with full bellies, regardless of their MySchoolBucks account balance.

c) We do have some volunteer openings that we’ll be highlighting in the next Dragoneer. Most of our committee chairs are full, with just a few exceptions. If you did not receive a copy of the Dragoneer, please let a board member know or email dragoneer.dpta@gmail.com.

d) We have set all of the general meetings for this school year. All of our meetings will coincide with evening school events, and we’ll alternate before and after times. Since this meeting in particular is so well attended, we’ll monitor the future success of attendance and times. Please mark your calendars for the following. Our next meetings will coordinate with Family Nights and will be committee-update focused.
i) November 13, 7 p.m.
ii) March 26, 5 p.m.
iii) May 6, 7 p.m.

IV. Principal’s Update
Mr. Burns thanked parents for making the choice to attend our school. Wake County families have so many choices with regards educational experiences, he appreciates that Douglas is still the preferred school for so many. He thanked the PTA for the support in a great start to the year. Class sizes are good considering that we have added so many additional classes this year. The staff benefitted greatly from the special education training in August. The school is grateful for the collaboration and ideas the PTA brings to the table each year. He encouraged participation.

V. Foundation Update
Jason Cunningham introduced himself as President of the Douglas Foundation. The Foundation was created two years ago to fund staff position and bridge the gap between government funding and student needs. The Foundation fully funded the STEAM position last year and will again this year. This position aligns well with our magnet theme.

The Foundation is in a position this year to extend additional positions, so be on the lookout for an announcement soon regarding a new staff member or members.

VI. Membership Vote
The proposed 2019-20 PTS budget was passed.

VII. Adjournment at 6:55 p.m.