HELLO HIGHLANDS COUNCIL PTA MEMBERS!!!
Here are a few announcements for the month of September:
- First and foremost, a BIG welcome to Highlands Council Parliamentarian, Emerald Ivy of Mayberry Elementary!!! She has graciously accepted the position as appointed by the President. I know she’ll be very busy as we will need to update our council By Laws this year. Units who have By Laws dated 2015 or earlier will need to update theirs as well. We will be contacting those units shortly to see if they need any help.
2. We’re off to a great start on our E-membership campaign with almost 1/3 of our units already up and running at the time of writing of this update.
My personal goal is to have each and every PTA unit set up and running this year. Once set up, joining is as easy as clicking on the link, inputting some personal info, paying and even donating additional funds right from the person’s phone. The best parts are that it automatically divvies up the membership dues, keeps tabs on who joined (even from out of state or out of the country), and members can instantly download their membership card.
If your unit hasn’t set up their e-membership platform, here are the steps it takes to be up and running:
A) Accept the leader invite email from Totem (the email will come from Totem and be entitled: Accept your invite as (Officer title of _____PTA).
This was sent over the summer and when I received one, I thought it could’ve been spam or a virus and didn’t open it. Our membership chair assured me that it was the link to start the process of getting set up. If you deleted it, please let Jason Li know and he’ll send you another link. His email address is: membership@highlandscouncilpta.org.
B) Once accepted, at least 2 other board members need to accept and verify
Invitations were sent to all officers, so if they did not receive them or deleted them, you can resend or add others who did not get the invitation.
C) Connect and verify your bank account.Â
The President adds the account, the Treasurer confirms the information.
D) Verify settings and membership dues.Â
Add your unit membership dues, breakdown of those dues will automatically be calculated as:
– Highlands Council: $0.20
– 10th District: $1.25
– CA PTA: $ 2.00
– National PTA: $2.25
Units only need to enter the total membership dues. The $5.70 will automatically be deducted.
E) TOTEM will send email confirmation once its ready. YOU ARE READY TO BEGIN ACCEPTING E-MEMBERSHIPS!!!!
3. Please make sure and send a representative from your unit to our Monday September 17 meeting at Sotomayor Learning Academies in the Parent Center (park in the far back staff parking, the room is almost to the farthest end of the parking). The address is 2050 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles, CA 90065. Time 4:00pm-5:30pm, there will be refreshments and there is extra space to bring your children, if it is needed.
We will have a representative from the Smart and Final Foundation explain how each and every unit can receive a check for $250 as a donation plus obtain a Smart Advantage card from Smart and Final. This card will allow the purchasing items at Smart and Final for which you will automatically not pay sales tax on many items. Lastly, I was told they will be bringing coupons for a $20 discount off your first purchase of $100 or more.
As always, we as a council are here to help you with training, provide answers to procedural questions, and provide whatever support is needed in order to help you have a successful year. Please don’t hesitate to contact me or any of our board members with questions or help!
Respectfully,
Take Tada
President
Highlands Council of PTA’s
president@highlandscouncilpta.org