President’s Notes, Jan. 2023

Hello out there, Chehalis families!

Welcome to a new year! I hope this update finds you well and rested after a wonderful holiday season. We’ve just finished our fourth month as a newly-formed, independent parent-teacher organization (PTO) and I have so many exciting updates and fun things to share with you.

Back in October, in case you missed it, our Special Events committee coordinated “The Principal’s Book of Secrets” at both James Lintott Elementary (JLE) and Orin Smith Elementary (OSE). Staff and students alike were delighted by this fun, clue-gathering and critical-thinking intercom announcement series that challenged students to figure the identity of the mysterious “Al.” On the final day, Mr. Fox was kind enough to dress up as the mystery character — Abraham Lincoln (A.L.) — for a video reveal!

At the end, Chehalis PTO provided 1,400 Halloween-themed cookies to our elementary schools to reward our students for their participation — and to celebrate the season! Who doesn’t want a special cookie for Halloween? Chehalis PTO also helped fund the kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch. Our PTO-awarded funds helped defray the cost of admission for families ensuring that all students could fully participate.

Also in October (and into November), our Staff Appreciation Committee treated our educators to special snacks and goodies during things like conference week and special recognition days, like School Counselor Week, to make sure our staff all across our elementary school campus feel thought of, valued, and appreciated.

In November, PTO volunteers helped with the Orin Smith Veterans Day assembly, hosted a hot cocoa bar for OSE Student Council, and hosted the Chehalis School District School Security Officers during our monthly “Coffee Chat” meeting (first Tuesdays @ 9am). Watch the recording of that conversation on the “Videos” tab of our Facebook page (Facebook.com/ChehalisPTO). And, join us for future “Coffee Chats” with more staff members from around our school district giving us updates on all kinds of interesting and timely topics. Our Fundraising & Merchandise Committee also launched our online storefront for Bobcat and Cougar-themed items in November, too (ChehalisPTO.org/Store).

Also in November? Our Helping Hands and Comfort Packs Committee brought in dozens of winter coats during our coat drive! These gently-used coats will go into our “Community Closets” at both JLE and OSE. This same committee has also done a great job of keeping our schools stocked with handwarmers and meeting the “wish list” needs of our school nurses. And, how could we forget … Watch Dogs returned to our schools, too!

In December, WHEW! PTO volunteers were busy! The *first-ever* movie night — Polar Express Movie Night — at JLE was a success! Numerous families joined us for a movie in the gym, got a picture with our incredible Santa, and enjoyed snacks and goodies served by our PTO volunteers. It was an incredible event that brought out a wonderful cross-section of our school community. We were exceptionally pleased to see students and families from our special education programs in attendance. We also hope to encourage any homeschooling students and family to join us for PTO events, too! 

Also in December, PTO helped promote the recent food drive, coordinated a membership drive, sourced 1,000 candy canes at the request of OSE Student Council (courtesy of Western Washington Merchant Patrol), and rewarded our top-earning and top-performing classrooms with pizza parties (courtesy of Mills General LLC). Our students especially enjoyed the pizza parties. Thank you to Sahara Pizza in Chehalis for helping us make that special recognition possible!

At the end of 2022, the Chehalis PTO building received some upgrades from Chehalis School District Facilities. We got a new set of stairs and future improvements to our ramp are already in the works. We also got some signage! Besides a banner created for us by two W.F. West High School students, we received donated outdoor signage for our building that will help our community find us. Check out the photos on our website at ChehalisPTO.org.

Speaking of our website, if you haven’t already formally joined Chehalis PTO yet, there’s never been a better time to get started! You can sign up to become a member right on our website — as an individual, couple, or family — and 100% of your membership dues go back to our PTO projects, programs, and, ultimately, our schools.

Our “Dance Subcommittee” is just getting started on planning our upcoming mother-son and father-daughter dance events. Both events will be semi-formal “dance” type of events, as opposed to the traditional mother-son activity night, per request from our school community. So, watch for upcoming details on that and contact us if you’d like to join the planning committee now! Message us on Facebook or email ChehalisPTO@gmail.com.

We have fundraisers, events, and so much more coming your way the second half of this school year. Our Publicity and Membership Committee has been organizing membership drives, taking photos at our schools, and will continue to be hard at work getting print flyers into take-home folders and notifications out to our administrators and staff, so keep an eye out for details on more ways to support, connect, and engage with Chehalis PTO!

As always, nothing we do as a parent-teacher organization is possible without the tireless work of our incredible team of volunteers. As president this year, I couldn’t be more pleased with the wealth of talent and depth of knowledge and experience of our volunteers — or more proud of the team we are building together. Watching this group accomplish things together has been an absolute joy and I’m continually amazed at this group’s collective creativity and problem-solving abilities. I look forward to all the future successes and wonderful things our committee chairs and volunteers are planning through the end of the school year — and beyond!

Thank you for your continued support of Chehalis PTO. Whether you are a member or not, just by attending one of our events or interacting with us on social media, you’re supporting us! And we appreciate that more than you know.

See you at a future meeting or event,

Brittany Voie

President, Chehalis PTO