February 1, 2024

Hello Thunderbirds!

What a SUPER month we have in front of us! We are tee'ing up for our fun Valentine's Day parties, Spring Flight Time and Spring Picture Day!

Wasn't our Family Fun Science Night a blast? It's just one of the many events that our Trailwood PTA is able to host because of our fundraising and our generous community. I hope you have the date (March 23rd) saved for our 2024 Trailwood Auction! It's our biggest event of the year and you don't want to miss it!

Lastly, join us on Tuesday evening, February 13th- 7:00-8:00 pm, for our next General PTA Meeting. Come hear, in person an update from Mr. Lawrence and information about volunteer opportunities from our PTA Committee Chairs. I hope to see you there!

Go Chiefs!

Jamie Reasons

February Events

Winter Wonderland Decorating Event: February 4, at 12:00 pm

Parent/Teacher Conferences District Night Event: February 8

No School - PreK - 6th Parent/Teacher Conferences: February 9

PTA Meeting: February 13, at 7:00 pm

Classroom Valentine’s Day Parties: February 14, at 2:00 pm

Spring Flight Time Begins: February 15, at 3:15 pm

Mathletics Regionals at Diemer: February 15, at 4:00 pm

Spring and Classroom/Group Pictures: February 16

No School - President’s Day: February 19

5th & 6th Grade Field Trip to the KU Engineering Expo: February 26

5th Grade Band and Strings Concert at SM South: February 28, at 6:00 pm

6th Grade Strings Concert at Indian Woods: February 29, at 7:00 pm

Home Language Survey for February Celebration

As a school, we are celebrating International Mother Language Day in February. We are hoping to create a video celebrating all the languages that families speak at Trailwood. If your family speaks another language other than English at home, please complete this survey so that we can make sure to include everyone!

The link to complete the survey is: Here

Room Parents Update

Hello Room parents! Thank you for all you have done planning parties and collecting for teacher gifts, you’ve all been doing an amazing job! Our next party is Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, February 14 from 2-3pm. As a reminder this is the party food policy: Classroom teachers are responsible for knowing their students’ food allergies and can make the best decisions on party foods that are safe for their class. To assist teachers with this responsibility, we ask that you submit food ingredient labels at least two school days in advance of classroom parties. Any food that is not approved in advance by the teacher will be sent home with the student.

Below is general guidance for classroom parties:

- we encourage fruits and vegetables as much as possible

- soda and energy drinks are not allowed

- any non-fruit or vegetable food that is brought in must be prepackaged and include an ingredient label (no homemade goods)

- classroom teachers need at least two days notice to review ingredient labels before party days

Save The Date

Just a reminder that our biggest fundraiser of the year, the Trailwood PTA Auction, will take place on Saturday, March 23rd, at the Johnson County Arts and Heritage Center at 6:00 pm. We'd love for you to be part of this fabulous adults-only event dedicated to supporting the students, staff, teachers and families of Trailwood Elementary!

If you’re new to Trailwood, this is the perfect event to get to know some fellow parents and see what we’re all about! And, if you've been to one (or many!) of our annual auctions in the past, well, you know how much fun the auction can be! Tickets will go on sale this month, so stay tuned for more details coming soon!

For updates on the auction, please visit https://www.trailwoodpta.com/auction_2024. You'll find lots of important details, including the following:

- Volunteer Roles

- Sponsorship Opportunities

- Donation Requests

- Party Host Needs

- And more!

Check it out, and be on the lookout for tickets to go on sale later this month!

PTA Memberships and Yearbooks On Sale Now

Support our PTA by purchasing a membership. We’re managed solely by parent volunteers, and our funding comes from membership dues and fundraising. Becoming a member does not obligate you to attend meetings or volunteer (although, we’d love to have you!). Our PTA provides students, staff and families with a variety of fun and educational opportunities here at Trailwood. Our success depends on your support!

You can also purchase your child’s yearbook and pay their yearly activity fee here. Yearbooks will be delivered in May.

Order here: https://www.trailwoodpta.com/packet/4625

Wingman

Trailwood dads and father figures! We'd love to see you volunteer as a Wingman this year. Check out the Signup Genius below to find a date and time (morning, afternoon, or both) that work for you! And, don't hesitate to reach out to Leif Peterson (leifepeterson@yahoo.com) with any questions you might have.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090944A8A82EA7FF2-trailwood3#/

PTA Executive Board 2024-2025

You can help fill PTA Executive Board positions for the 2024-2025 school year! The following positions will be filled:

- President Elect - 3 year term

- Treasurer Elect - 2 year term

- Ways and Means - 1 year term

- Corresponding Secretary - 1 year term

If you, or someone you know, would be a good fit for one of these roles, please fill out the nomination form found on the PTA website, www.trailwoodpta.com. Please submit all nomination forms to Mrs. North by January 29th.

Legislative Update

Legislative Update February 2024

The 2024 Kansas legislative session is underway! Bills move fast, so watch the Trailwood PTA Facebook page for timely action alerts on public education policies. Below are two policy issues related to public education:

Special Education Funding Update: The state legislature is responsible for state funding for K-12 education, including special education.

Since 2011, the state has underfunded special education.
To cover the state shortfall for special education, SMSD has to use about $10 million from our general education budget (the part of the budget that funds teachers, staff, resources, etc.) The learning of every student is impacted when general education funds are reduced.
The State Board of Education, the Governor, and members of a Special Education Task Force have all endorsed similar plans to phase in full funding of special education. Now we need our state legislators to agree to fully fund special education.

TWO-MINUTE ACTION ITEM! SMAC PTA is calling for as many emails as possible to be sent to our SMSD legislators, asking them to fully fund special education! Customize this sample email, with email addresses of SMSD legislators included: bit.ly/SMACFullyFundSPED

Flat Tax Bill (CCR 2284): This bill passed and has been vetoed by the Governor, but the veto could be overridden. It is a significant change to the Kansas tax system and is estimated to reduce state revenues by $1.6 billion over three years. Large reductions in state revenues have resulted in major cuts to education funding in the past, as K-12 education makes up nearly half of the state general fund budget. Votes on the veto override of CCR 2284 are likely to happen in the coming weeks, so contact your legislator now!

Room Party Host Volunteers

Trailwood Elementary Parents- we are in need of hosts for grade level parties!

One of the many ways in which we strive to foster a sense of community here at Trailwood is through our annual grade level kid parties. These parties are hosted by parents and guardians, usually in the spring and summer, with tickets being sold at our March 23rd auction. These parties are an amazing chance for you to support Trailwood, while your kids have fun with their school friends!

How it works: you can sign up with a few families or go solo for your child's grade level. Let us know what you have in mind- parties in the past have included pool parties, backyard movies, backyard bouncy houses, but you can do whatever you want! We will put the parties for sale on Bidpal to be purchased during auction. You hosting the party would be your donation to the PTA and tickets sold would go towards the PTA's efforts in funding activities.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Lori Tritsch (nurseholcomb@hotmail.com). Please consider signing up, without hosts these parties can't go on!

Thank you!

Lori Tritsch

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D49ACAC28AAF58-47311888-grade

Flower Sale

PTA Flower Sale -Coming Soon!

The annual Trailwood PTA Flower and Plant Sale will open in early March. Look for a link and instructions to order a wide range of annuals and perennials early next month!

Volunteers needed for flower pick-up on May 10^th. Contact Emily or Christina if you’d like to get more involved in the PTA flower sale or help on May 10^th to babysit plants (they are very well-behaved and quiet) and load them into cars.

Grade Level Baskets

We still need parent volunteers for the Grade Level Baskets for the Trailwood Auction!

Currently we still need: Kindergarten, 4th grade and 6th grade. Thank you to those of you who have already volunteered!

Grade-level auction baskets are a great way to help the Trailwood auction be a success. The auction is the PTA's primary fundraiser, and all money raised helps support our students, teachers and the school.

Responsibilities include:
-Choosing a basket theme
-Emailing your grade level parents asking for contributions
-Collecting contributions
-Physically putting the basket together

We have had themes such as Brunch in a Basket, Retro Coco-cola, Chiefs swag, Ladies Favorite things, and Legos. Feel free to team up with another parent. We would really like to have volunteers by Thursday, February 2nd or ASAP. Baskets will be due Friday, February 23rd.

Thank you for your support!

Click here to sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E054BA4AB22A5FD0-47492760-grade#/

Trailwood PTA

5101 W 95th St.

Overland Park, KS 66207

SUBJECT: February 2024 PTA Newsletter