Podcasts about pto today

Parent expressed concern about ties to slavery The cakewalk at the Garrison School PTA's annual Fall Festival has been canceled out of concern that it is insensitive to Black people. This year's festival is scheduled for Saturday (Oct. 19) from noon to 2 p.m. While there are many accounts of the origin of cakewalks, most say they date to the 19th century when slaves would dance in a circle in what may have begun as a mockery of the formal dancing of plantation owners. The best dancers won a cake. The cakewalk later became a regular part of minstrel shows, with whites performing in blackface. The phrase "takes the cake" comes from the cakewalk. In the PTA cakewalk, which had been part of the festival for at least 10 years, participants purchased tickets to walk in a circle, stepping on markers with numbers while music played. When the music stopped, a number was drawn and whoever was standing on that number could select a homemade cake. The game continued until all the donated cakes were taken. This year, a parent expressed concern that the cakewalk "has historical roots tied to slavery," said Gregory Stowell, the superintendent. After research, Stowell said "the PTA and the district collaboratively agreed that in its current iteration, we just couldn't continue it, given what we now know about the history of the cakewalk." Stowell added that the district is striving to set an example consistent with its Vision of a Graduate, which includes diversity, equity and inclusion and integrity and empathy. "The district does not want to sponsor any event on our grounds that is, in any way, shape or form, making any of our community members feel like it's not inclusive and it's not welcoming," he said. In a statement on Thursday (Oct. 17), the PTA said: "The school's administration brought the controversial history of the cakewalk to the PTA's attention. We did our own research on the tradition's historical ties to slavery and, after discussion, our board was in full agreement with the administration that the cakewalk was not aligned with our school's and community's inclusive values. "We feel we can create a really fun event that builds community and raises money for both the PTA and the eighth grade, while being culturally sensitive, without the cakewalk. We care about the entire Garrison community and want to be thoughtful about the types of events we support." The statement also said the PTA had discussed replacing the cakewalk with a cake-decorating contest, "but given the breadth of festivities we already had planned" - including a chili cook-off, touch-a-truck, face painting, an auction, bouncy castle and pumpkin-themed games - "we ultimately decided to forgo it entirely." Brandon and Sheila Williams, the parents of two Garrison School graduates and three children currently enrolled, expressed frustration at the decision. Brandon Williams suggested renaming the cakewalk after diversity, equity and inclusion. "We could call it the DEI Walk," he said. "Why can't we just have a Fall Festival without everyone freaking out that we're hurting people's feelings?" Williams argued that the PTA version of the cakewalk is not insulting to anyone. "It's musical chairs," he said. "They're walking around. When the music stops, they freeze. You call the number. If you're on that number, you win." In 2022, PTO Today, a magazine for parent-teacher organizations, published a guide on how to set up a cakewalk as a carnival game but noted that "because of the history of the term cakewalk and the activities it represented, we have updated this article with the term musical cakes instead."

an  EDUCATION IN AMERICA podcast .....  Lani Harac , Director of Content at PTO Today, is my guest...

an  EDUCATION IN AMERICA podcast .....  Lani Harac , Director of Content at PTO Today, is my guest...

PTO Today has named the Parent Teacher Association of Weatherstone Elementary in Cary as the Parent Group of the Year for its outstanding focus on Academics and Enrichment for its Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program. Kelly McCullen reports on this school's achievement.

PTO Today has named the Parent Teacher Association of Weatherstone Elementary in Cary as the Parent Group of the Year for its outstanding focus on Academics and Enrichment for its Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program. Kelly McCullen reports on this school's achievement.

Welcome to  episode five!Run time: 15:03Community Divas on iTunesA podcast about communities and social media toolsIn this episode:- Eden interviews Kathryn Lagden about community building at PTO Today, we discuss one of the issues raised in the interview and we have some community news.- We discuss Kathryn's concern about managing multiple tools within one community website.- Community News: Podcamp Toronto - Feb. 21 & 22 at Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University, sign up on the wiki at http://podcamptoronto.org~~~The Avon Breast Cancer CrusadeIn support of breast cancer research, Avon Canada begins the ‘Call for the Cure,’ a grassroots awareness campaign raising funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance.A call to 1-900-561-PINK will automatically donate $2 to breast cancer research (land line phones only). For more information on this and other related Avon crusades: Canada - http://avoncrusade.ca/U.S. - http://www.avoncompany.com/women/avoncrusade/U.K. - http://www.avoncrusade.co.uk/~~~Kathryn Lagden is Director of Web Operations for School Family Media. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with her about community building at PTO Today . She also blogs at That Kathryn Girl. ~~~ 00:01 Intro by Jay Moonah00:09 Eden Spodek and Connie Crosby00:15 Summary of today’s episode00:27 Eden introduces Kathryn Lagden00:43 Kathryn explains what  PTO Today is - School Family Media is the umbrella organization, and  PTO Today is a main media property. Help parent group leaders of parent groups (PTO or PTA).01:22 She discusses her role in community development.02:36 How do subject matter experts know when to jump into the conversations when there is no designated community manager to suggest they do so?03:38  PTO Today has had an active community for a very long time, starting with a message board. Kathryn discusses the different ways the community interact with the community website.04:30 How the different tools are similar and overlap in content. It is difficult for someone new to see where all the content resides. Kathryn talks about how they redirect people to other parts of the site so they can find the rest of the discussion.05:54 Getting members to move to another tool by directing traffic over.06:51 The PTO File Exchange is a feature created to allow parent groups to share documents and hopefully therefore solve similar issues.08:04 They are tracking usage of the File Exchange with two metrics: number of page views and number of downloads on each document. They have incredible usage on some of their documents; these are very popular.09:20  File Exchange includes a rating feature. Kathryn explains how this works.09:58 Has  PTO Today been successful in moving free community members into paid level members? They have a lot of free content on the site including their magazine which brings a lot of people into the site. They have some programs and tools that are paid services and link to them from the appropriate places on the free site.11:24 Eden thanks Kathryn for joining us.11:39 Eden asks Connie about Kathryn's challenge of  migrating community members from one tool to another when the conversation is suited for another area. 12:57 Eden invites our listeners to give your suggestions.13:10 Community news13:18 Podcamp Toronto 2009 announced13:45 Avon Breast Cancer Crusade announced14:16 Eden wraps up the episode.Our cool theme music “Get Out of My Face” is by Uncle Seth and is from the Podsafe Music Network. We hope to hear from you! Send your comments to communitydivas@gmail.com or post them on the blog at communitydivas.com. Follow us on Twitter, our Facebook page or our FriendFeed room. Some registration may be required.

This week Maria speaks with Kimberley Clayton Blaine, founder of The GoToMom.TV.  Next, Mary Kay Sommers, talks about The Parents' Back to School List.  Then, Lisa Druxman M.A, founder of www.strollerstrides.net, author of L.E.A.N. Mommy®.  And Tim Sullivan, President PTO Today.  back2school2007.com.  Back2School2007.com was developed by the experts at PTO Today, Inc.

This week Maria speaks with Ellen Cockrill, creative executive in charge of the production for Universal, Land Before Time TV series.  Next, Tim Sullivan, President PTO Today.  Talks about back2school2007.com. Then, Attorney General Bill McCollum talks about Cyber Crime - protecting children from those who would prey upon them through the Internet. And, Jill Stamm, author of Bright from the Start, The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3.   

This week Maria is joined by Helen Hames, of BackPack Toys who talks about Teddy Ruxpin.  Next, Kelly Carson, founder of www.TheBodyScrub.com.  Imagine experiencing the world's most luxurious spa treatment in your home … at a fraction of what you would pay at any spa.  Kelly Wade-Arnel, author of SuperWoman-Simple Steps to find the real you & become a superME, superPARTNER, superMOM….SuperWOMAN! And, PTO Today president Tim Sullivan and founder of the Go Play! program a new school program that helps kids stay healthy.  He offers tips on how to help kids be more active and be advocates for physical education.