Newspaper Page Text
Council of PTAs works for unity among schools
By Belinda Fraser
Forsyth County PTA Council
i The Forsyth County Council of
PTAs serves as a support group for
the PTA schools in this county. For
-the past year, the Council has
'Btempted to teach every parent in
I (fie county and explain the differ
ences between PTA and PTO, real
ising that many parents really did
know what PTA is. PTA is
involved in legislation, speaks
fefore congress and has been
Instrumental in developing the tele-
Dijon rating system. PTA has
three major purposes:
—#To support and speak on behalf
lot children;
J * To assist parents in developing
Itfe skills they need to raise and
; protect their children; and
To encourage both parental and
‘public involvement in schools.
jj?TA is an education source for
Workshops and training.
9 The first countywide meeting of
the year was a major success. In
attendance were presidents from
PTAs and PTOs throughout the
county and principals from both
. PTA and non-PTA schools. Guest
speakers included Forsyth County
School Superintendent Dr. Allene
Science teachers study science with Amoco
'Fourth and fifth grade science
teachers from Forsyth County
Schools received special science
education training recently at
Vickery Creek Elementary School.
A group of 25 teachers learned
how to use the Amoco Foundation’s
‘’Celebrating Science” program. The
value of equipment and training at
the teacher workshop represents a
gift of approximately $30,000 from
Amoco.
; “Celebrating Science” is an
inquiry-based, hands-on science
program developed by Amoco and
the AIMS Education Foundation.
Designed to supplement existing
curricula, the program encourages
students to have fun with science by
pursuing their natural curiosity.
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Graded Classes In
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Magill; PTA 14th District Director
Jean Bannister; Georgia PTA
Council Chairman Nancy Van
Wyk; and Forsyth County Board of
Education members Sherry
Sagemiller and Eddie Taylor. The
theme of the meeting was “Forsyth
County Schools United.”
One of the more exciting ways
the Council attempted to promote
unity in the county and foster
cooperation was to hold two round
table discussion meetings, one on
Nov. 16 and the second on Feb. 22.
These meetings allowed the entire
PTA and PTO groups to come
together very informally and share
ideas. Each PTA or PTO spoke on
its fundraisers, parties, successes
and failures and asked for help
with certain problems. It turned out
to be a lot of fun for everyone. All
who attended learned a lot about
what the other schools were doing
and got some good advice. Several
principals were also in attendance.
The Forsyth County Council of
PTAs launched a school bus safety
campaign in early October. It was
a smashing success as they enlisted
the help of Carlton Allen, trans
portation director for Forsyth
County Schools. He was very
excited about the safety program
The value of
equipment and
training represents
a gift of
approximately
$30,000...
“Amoco has been making mean
ingful donations to Forsyth County
science programs for years,” said
Dawn Souter, science curriculum
coordinator. “This group of teachers
was ready to learn how to use these
resources and I think most of them
had a lot of fun over the two day
workshop. This program uses
scales, microscopes and other tools
EDUCATION
and provided encouragement, sup
port and even appeared on the
local cable channel. The help of a
key member of the Forsyth County
Park and Recreation Department,
Lynn Hendricks, was also enlisted.
The Council purchased safety
cards for all of the children in
kindergarten and first grade at
PTA-affiliated schools in the coun
ty. The local cable station showed
the “School Bus Safety” video on
television numerous times
throughout the month. Posters
were distributed to the schools and
all the PTA schools received a
copy of the video. The School Bus
Safety program was so well publi
cized and received in the commu
nity that a private school in neigh
boring Hall County (Lakeview
Academy) purchased materials
from the National PTA and had its
own School Bus Safety program.
The Council also distributed the
“Be Cool Follow the Rules” color
ing page to 18 Forsyth County
restaurants during the month of
October. This helped make School
Bus Safety a part of family discus
sions.
Reflections is an intercollegiate
art competition held by the
National PTA. Although it is a
of science to better equip our teach
ers to do their job.”
“Our Amoco Polymers business
unit is head-quartered here and we
market a lot of gasoline in Forsyth
County,” said Amoco’s Richard
Judy. “We work hard to maintain a
technically astute work force and
we believe ‘Celebrating Science’
will help students to overcome fear
of math and science. Ultimately,
they will be better potential employ
ees.”
The Chicago-based Amoco
Corporation is a world-wide petrole
um refining, marketing and petro
chemical company. The AIMS
Foundation, based in California, has
developed a wide range of national
ly acclaimed education programs.
PTA program, the Council made a
great deal of effort to include all
the schools in the competition.
Everyone kept in mind that the
non-PTA schools who participated
would not be able to advance to the
state competition.
Regardless of this fact, tremen
dous effort was made to treat all
the children the same. All of our
county winners were invited to the
Reflections/Arts in Education
reception. They all received rib
bons. It was a wonderful way to
unify the county and at the same
time send a positive message about
the state and national PTA pro
grams.
A great deal of thought has gone
into how to interest the middle
schools in the county in PTA pro
jects. One idea was to launch an
Internet safety program to educate
parents about the dangers of chil
dren on the Internet at home. At
the last Council meeting on Feb.
22, the guest speaker was Bailey
Mitchell, technology director for
Forsyth County Schools. Mitchell
has spent a great deal of time per
fecting the county system’s screen
ing capabilities for all classrooms.
This ensures that students using
the Internet don’t log onto inappro-
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Academy /
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Ib*** g" / Call us at 77®f532-4996 to find out if it's right for you
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796 Lakeview Drive
Gainesville, GA 30501-2099
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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS—Sunday, March 28,1998-1
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Photo/Tom Brooks
Above, winners of Midway PTA’s “Reflections” art competition.
priate web sites.
While the Forsyth County
Council of PTAs is still very new -
three years old- the group feels it
has had a very successful year.
Forsyth County has grown so
much that the need for the Council
to provide unity has become
greater. This area has been the
organization’s strength as it was
one of the group’s goals for the
year.
Some of the goals and projects of
the Forsyth County Council of
PTAs for the 1999-2000 school
year include:
• Launching an Internet Safety
program throughout the county for
all schools.
• Providing a report writing
workshop for all PTAs.
• Reflections program (continu
ing to enlarge it and include all stu
dents)
• Providing the local PTAs and
PTOs with a newsletter complete
with a calendar so they can attend
each others events and avoid date
conflicts. This will also serve to
help the Council communicate
with the schools and promote state
and national programs.
Left, science teachers Joyce
Millwood of Chestatee
Elementary, Karen Weinman
of Cumming Elementary and
Beth Melton of
Chattahoochee Elementary
| practice a lesson in the
I Amoco Foundation-sponsored
“Celebrating Science” pro
gram. Two-day training for a
group of Forsyth County
teachers took place recently
at Vickery Creek Elementary
School.
Photo/submitted
PAGE 7H