Please see the flyer here on the upcoming meeting of the Black Family Advocate Support Group.

Attached are the slides from our first Friends of TM meeting this year.  James Alyson, Jill Colasurdo and Kai Kunkel created a presentation full of tips to better support your students with virtual learning.  We will post the meeting minutes from the meeting soon but we wanted to get these slides up for reference.

https://tmlink.org/files/2020/11/Supporting-your-child-with-virtual-learning-10.27.20.pptx

Dear Thurgood Marshall Families,

Friends of Thurgood Marshall Elementary would like to welcome new and returning families to our school community. While the start of the 2020-21 school year is very different than normal, we know collaboration between parents/guardians, teachers, and school administration will continue to be incredibly important to make this a great year. We would like to make you aware of a few updates as well as a few upcoming virtual events.

What is “Friends of Thurgood Marshall Elementary”?

• During the 2019-20 school year, Thurgood Marshall PTA Board members proposed a transition from a formal Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to a type of Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) known as a site council. This change was approved by PTA members at our June 9 meeting. Our PTO site council is named Friends of Thurgood Marshall Elementary (FTME) and operates under our former non-profit 501c3.
• Changes to the structure of our organization include the following:
  • Instead of registering members and collecting dues, our site council automatically includes every parent, guardian, teacher/staff member and administrator at our school.
  • Membership is free. This is one important step towards our goal of equity and inclusivity, and we hope you’ll be inspired to participate.
  • FTME will continue to do the things families have told us they value most: coordinating bulk purchase of school supplies, coordinating our after-school enrichment program and scholarships, holding community-building events, providing classroom grants for every teacher, and more.
• We are working on updating our website, email addresses and accounts to reflect our name change. We ask for patience during this transition.
• We will be working to draft updated bylaws for our 501c3 and a charter for the site council. We are looking for community input and help- if you would like to learn more or help out, please let us know!

Upcoming events (Zoom links have been sent by Katie May- check your email for these!)

Please feel free to attend either session (or both!) that makes the most sense for your family!

• Thursday, September 3rd at 6:30 pm
• Tuesday, September 8th at 6:30 pm, especially families with students in Kindergarten

Actions to take:

• Pay for remote learning/classroom supplies (pay if/what your can)! (Pay by credit card/EFT at tmlink.orghttps://tmlink.org/school-supplies/)
• Read about our Annual Giving Fund and consider donating! https://tmlink.org/fundraising/annual-giving-fund/
• Sign up to receive our occasional emails. (if you have not already) https://tmlink.org/newsandevents/pta-e-list-sign-up-updates/
• Consider Volunteering! We have many different opportunities for getting involved and volunteering, many of which take less than 1 hour per week and can be done via email or phone. Please email pta@tmlink.org if you’d like to learn more.
• Keep checking our website, tmlink.org, for the latest event information, to subscribe to an electronic calendar for all school events, and to learn about our organization. events, and to learn about our organization.

Feel free to contact any of us with your questions. We look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Best regards,

Friends of Thurgood Marshall Elementary Board

Chantel Hazlewood, President – chazlewo@gmail.com or PTA@tmlink.org
Aaron Schneider, Vice President – durstann@yahoo.com
Kristi Hendricksen,  Secretary – khendrickson33@yahoo.com
Todd Roehl, Co-Treasurer – treasurer@tmlink.org
Sandra Millard Fundraising Co-Chair – giving@tmlink.org
Melissa Carper, Fundraising Co-Chair – giving@tmlink.org
Donna Dugan, PEACE Academy Teacher Liaison – ddugan@seattleschools.org
Sarah Gese, Teacher Liaison – sdgese@seattleschools.org