Welcome Letter from President Hallacy

Fellow PTA Leaders and Members,

Welcome to the 2020-21 school year, a year like no other. On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you for your support and dedication to PTA. PTA is the oldest child advocacy association in the United States and our mission is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate on behalf of all children. We encourage you, our PTA leaders, to reach out to parents, teachers, school staff, community members and all those who care about children, to become members of your PTA. Together we create a powerful voice that speaks for all children and cannot be ignored. Georgia’s children need you!

A new year with new challenges invites us to develop new approaches to the way we serve our
members. A year ago who would have thought we’d be meeting electronically and learning virtually. As PTA leaders and members have always done, we look at our changing environment as an opportunity to evolve and meet those challenges. Our documents need to be available electronically so they can be filed and accessed anywhere, our trainings must be available at times convenient to our members, and our membership drives need to reach our parents and our communities in their homes. We must adapt to survive and thrive. Some changes can take place quickly - like using Zoom for meetings and workshops and using MemberHub to support membership drives. Some will take time, like updating our bylaws to meet the new reality and the need for electronic meetings. We hear you and are working to serve you.

Perhaps now more than ever, community is essential. As our schools operate virtually and we isolate more, we very much feel the need to be part of a community. We need that community to help us solve problems, to feel connected while we’re home, to support us when we need help. Your PTA can be the community your students, parents, and teachers currently need. Build and broaden the foundation of your PTA community by not only inviting those who are traditionally members, but also reaching out through new avenues to attract non-traditional members. With a large and diverse membership, your PTA community will not only be able to address its needs but will also have a strong voice to advocate for its children. Decision makers are currently faced with unique and difficult decisions – we need to use our collective PTA voice to apprise our decision makers about the impacts of their decisions. When we advocate as a community with one voice, we can achieve the changes we need for every child!

Our job at the State level is to help equip you to be prepared to lead your PTA. To do that we must work together as a team with two-way communication so we understand your needs and we can work to help meet them. You are our front line today and our leaders of tomorrow. We serve you and want to help prepare you to meet both today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.

Thank you for this opportunity to serve you, our children, our members, our schools and our
communities. There is no better time to than now to be a leader, and to advocate for education on
behalf of all children and youth in Georgia. Together, let us make Every child’s potential a reality!

Karen Hallacy
President
Georgia PTA

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