Hello Falcons! Welcome back to the 2023-2024 school year! PTAs (AKA Parent Teacher Associations) come in all shapes and forms, so for those who are new or haven’t engaged with us in the past, here’s a little bit about us.

Our PTA is led by five elected board members: Kristina Baldridge (President), Jenny Elliott (VP Teacher Appreciation), Alex Alonso (VP Communications), Jill Stuart (Secretary) and Nathan Marvelle (Treasurer). We encourage every grown-up and staff member affiliated with Forest View to join the PTA. You can do so here. 

Why join the PTA? You’ll have a direct pipeline into opportunities to engage and enhance your student(s)’ experience at Forest View. Here are the four ways our PTA supports the school – join us for our first PTA meeting on Wednesday, September 6th from 6:30-7:30pm to learn more in detail and see if we’re a good fit for your goals at Forest View.

Connecting Volunteers with Opportunities at School

“It takes a village.” Whether families and caregivers have a few minutes or multiple days available, we’d love to connect you to opportunities to engage at school. All volunteers need to be registered with Durham Public Schools, so take a minute to check out this link . Volunteers must now re-register every year. As soon as the District provides the necessary form for volunteers to fill out, we will share it with you!

Community Engagement and Family Fun

Forest View thrives because of its community. We enjoy coming together after school hours to build friendships, meet other families and foster school spirit. We host monthly Spirit Nights at family-friendly businesses where we relax and raise a little money for school at the same time. Keep an eye out for an invite to our first event at La Vaquita next month! In addition, we’ll be hosting our Fall and Spring picnics along with many other fun events throughout the year.

Funding “Big Ideas,” Supplies, and other Teacher Needs 

A major part of our fundraising efforts support the needs of our teachers and staff. Our teachers have amazing ideas for their classes and we love funding exciting projects and activities for our students. Last year, the PTA funded new brooders for the second grade chick project, purchased and installed the new Forest View Disc Golf course, and made sure our STEM classroom is filled with robots. 

And of course, we make sure our teachers feel the love by sponsoring surprise lunches, treats and other events throughout the year. 

A note on fundraising. No one likes to do it – but it’s how we pay for all the good stuff we do. That’s why we sponsor one annual “Unfundraiser” each fall. There’s no wrapping paper for students to sell, no one is begged to buy magazines or chocolate. Phew. Instead, we ask folks who are interested donate what they can, whether it’s $1 or $1,000. Our goal this year is to raise $30,000. Look for more info in the coming weeks!

If you’re a Harris Teeter shopper, make sure to link your Vic card to Forest View so we receive cash back! Our code is 3720. Note: This must be re-linked YEARLY! 

Communications + Collaboration

We’re making some changes to how the PTA communicates this year.  We’ll share a monthly newsletter at the end of each month. These will be printed and sent home in folders, as well as shared digitally if you provide your email to us. Expect to find info about upcoming events, teacher spotlights and other news from school. We’ll also continue to use our private Facebook page for notifications and updates and will post all our newsletters, PTA business info and our Spirit Item/Membership links to our website www.forestviewpta.net. 

Principal Boyce will also be sharing a weekly update every Sunday evening via phone call and a follow up email. Think of his update as the pressing things to know about for the following week, and our newsletter as a broader look at school activities. 

Come Join Us!

At the end of the day, the PTA is every family and staff member’s opportunity to share ideas for the school and make magic happen together. Have questions? Ideas? Concerns? Please feel free to email us directly at
ptaforestviewelementary@gmail.com. 

Thank you! We are excited to partner with you on another fantastic year!