Dear Dayton Oaks Community,
 
Dayton Oaks Elementary School needs your help! The DOES PTA supports our school community in many ways. Throughout the year, the partnership between families, teachers, and students is strengthened by activities, resources, and the support of our PTA.  Your children greatly benefit from this collaboration. As you may be aware, at the end of this school year we have a number of members of our PTA who will be ineligible to continue to serve our school in their board positions either due to their child moving on to middle school or rules in the bylaws that limit how long an individual may remain in a specific position.
 
We are seeking interested parents who would like to directly support and influence the educational experiences of their children by working with the PTA and school administration to maintain the positive school culture.  Research has shown that parent involvement through participation in PTA increases student success by sending a clear message to children that you care and are invested enough to be involved in their day to day school life and that you value school and education.
 
But, outside of the research-based benefits for your children, participating in the PTA is fun!  You will have the opportunity to meet, collaborate, and network with other parents in our school community.  Your ideas and input will be valued and utilized to provide students and staff with new and exciting opportunities for learning.
 
Being an active member of the PTA can feel intimidating at first, especially if you’ve never attended a PTA meeting before or are worried that you don’t have enough time to commit to the organization.  We encourage you to come out to the next PTA meeting (April 17th at 7pm in the media center) to check it out and to hear more about the positions available. Bring a friend! You may be surprised to find out that one of the available positions would suit your schedule and availability.  Whatever your interest, we would love the opportunity to talk with you about how you can support the DOES PTA and students.
 
Another reason we are trying to encourage more people to become involved is that, based on the bylaws, our PTA cannot continue if some of the specific board positions remain unfilled.  The list below is just a sampling of the activities that our PTA supports.  We are in jeopardy of having these opportunities discontinue for our students and families.  Please consider helping!  Your children and all of the children at DOES will benefit from your time and talents.  We hope to see you on April 17th at 7pm in the media center at our next PTA meeting!
 
The following activities/opportunities are supported by our PTA:
 
Purchase of iPads to support instruction
Purchase of incentives (tickets, medals, prizes) to support PBIS program
Walking Club during recess
Coordination of after school clubs and activities
Financial support to launch First Lego League at DOES
Cultural Arts assemblies presented to students during the school day (i.e., Gymkana, Eric Energy, etc)
Food on the 15th
Ice Cream Social
Harvest Moon Festival/Fall Festival
Culture Night
Bingo Night
Movie Night
Yearbook
Student Directory
Staff Appreciation activities
Gifts of Gratitude

If you are interested in finding out more about how you can help, please contact me at nigel_laroche@hcpss.org or 410-313-1571, or Jen Bush,liljenwi@gmail.com.
 
Sincerely,
 
Nigel La Roche Principal