Issaquah PTA's earn statewide recognition

Issaquah PTA members are amazing! Our PTA units are recognized at the state level for their exemplary membership rates and consistent leadership in regional and even national education issues. Our PTA members create social and learning opportunities for every child in the District every day. If Issaquah schools do so much with so many disadvantages in funding, it's due largely to the effort of every PTA member and volunteer whose generous gifts of time and energy help turn our good schools into great schools.

This school year, our local PTA units continued to earn awards and recognition. Almost one out of every 10 PTA memberships in the entire state belongs to a parent in the Issaquah School District! Our units have over 13,100 paid members, which covers 87 percent of all students in the District. Comparatively, the Bellevue School District has 8,400 PTA members for a similar student population. Issaquah tops the state for the number-of-PTA-members-per-student ratio, and comes in second only to Lake Washington–which has twice as many students-in terms of actual number of PTA members.

Furthermore, 10 out of the 28 individual PTA units in the state that have 100-percent membership rates are in the Issaquah School District: Cascade Ridge, Cougar Ridge, Discovery, Grand Ridge, Maple Hills, Newcastle, Sunset, Pine Lake Middle, Issaquah High, and Skyline High. Grand Ridge Elementary has made state history by becoming the only school in its first year to achieve this goal.

The Issaquah PTSA Council's theme for this school year has been "Leading through Change," and each school unit has certainly bolstered students through a transitional year that included hiring a new superintendent, creating a new roadmap for construction for the future, and looking ahead to a comprehensive boundary review next year.

Each unit provided input and helped guide student-centered decisions in the following areas:

• Whether to build a fifth middle school;
• Community values regarding contract negotiations;
• Adoption of a new elementary math curriculum;
• Education funding;
• Status of Washington Learns;
• Status of Legislative session;
• Whether to endorse Simple Majority for Levies;
• The Superintendent Search process;
• Prioritizing student end statements;
• The simple majority campaign;
• Ensuring sufficient capacity and flexibility in secondary course requirements so that kids can get what they need from our high schools.

By working so diligently for students and following best practices in setting goals, communicating, serving members, training leaders, recognizing volunteers, and managing finances, 14 PTA units in Issaquah received the state Standards of Excellence this year–and only 35 of these prestigious awards were handed out statewide!

PTA units that received the Standards of Excellence award:

• Maple Hills Elementary
• Liberty
• Beaver Lake Middle
• Cougar Ridge Elementary
• Newcastle Elementary
• Challenger Elementary
• Discovery Elementary
• Issaquah Middle
• Grand Ridge Elementary
• Sunset Elementary
• Issaquah High
• Cascade Ridge Elementary
• Endeavor Elementary
• Pine Lake Middle

Other state awards that local PTA units won this year:

• Honors Units (Standards of Excellence plus proof of child-focused activities and involvement in state activities): Issaquah High, Grand Ridge, Sunset, and Pine Lake.
• Taking Significant Action: awarded to the Issaquah PTSA Council for its education funding campaign.
• Communications: Issaquah High (third place, Newsletter category, and second place in Other Communications category); and Endeavour (second place, Website category).