Upcoming Events
Ninth District 2nd Annual Suicide Prevention Symposium
Oct 12, 2019
8:30am-3:30pm
Rady Children's Hospital
PUSD College and Career Fair
Oct 17, 2019
6-8:30pm
RB High School
PCPTA General Meeting
November 5, 2019
6:30pm - Dinner
7:00pm - Meeting
PUSD District Office
15250 Avenue of Science, San Diego, CA 92128
Also - Unit Reflections entries due November 5th.
**NEW** 2019-2020 Reflections Local Leader's Guide
Leadership Tip
As a leader, you may feel that you have to do everything yourself. This is not true, nor is it advisable… One of the advantages of a PTA is that you are not in this alone. The entire PTA board, including chairman, can help with the work.
Whether you're a new or seasoned leader, delegation is going to be a major key to keeping your unit, council and district PTA’s performing at capacity and serving the children and families in your community in addition to keeping yourself sane during the term!
Delegating tasks is a skill that, like any skill, can be learned and improved on over time. This can also lead to building capacity of your leaders and increase motivation to take on more responsibilities by some.
Put these delegation strategies into practice and remember not to “micromanage” the process. People work differently and it is the end result that counts.
Learn to let go. The biggest problem leaders’ face is the inability to let go of their own work. Sometimes they feel so dedicated to completing their own work that they refuse to let other people help. Other times, they fear that nobody else has the skills or abilities necessary to execute the work effectively.
Whatever the case may be, your first priority needs to be to learn to let go. Start small, delegating only the smallest tasks, and gradually work your way up. Get to know your team better and improve the trust among you and your board members. Take baby steps and know that eventually you will have to let go of your work if you want your team to be successful.
Play to your board members/volunteers strengths. As a leader, you'll have to learn the subtleties of your teammates. You should know each individual's strengths and weaknesses, including his or her current, and potential, range of skills.
Always include instructions. Even if the task process seems obvious to you, make sure to include instructions with each task you delegate. If you have specific preferences for how the assignment will be carried out, include that information. If you have a strict deadline or milestones you need to hit, be clear about them.
Including details and straightforward instructions from the get-go will avoid most communication gaps and will allow your tasks to be executed effectively.
Trust, but verify. Once a task is delegated, trust your team to execute it on his or her own terms. This will allow the person to tackle the work the way he or she feels is best. However, don't be afraid to occasionally step in and verify that the task is moving along as planned. For example, if you made an assignment a week ago that's due tomorrow, trust that they are on top of things, but send a quick verification email to make sure the person hasn't hit any snags. Doing so encourages more trust and respect within your team and helps prevent breaks in communication or understanding.
Announcements
ONLINE TOOLKIT FOR LEADERS
California State PTA's Online Toolkit for PTA leaders is an important resource. Click on the drop-down menus to find key topics or use the search tool to quickly find the information you are interested in. You can also easily switch back and forth between the English and Spanish versions, as well as download and print individual pages, chapters or the entire Toolkit.
Plus, the Online Toolkit is now is even easier to use, thanks to printer-friendly and PDF-friendly formats. Simply click on the green "Print Friendly" button at the bottom of each page to share key info with your PTA leaders and volunteers. The Online Toolkit now also includes “fillable” versions of some of our most frequently used forms.
The Toolkit has been recently revised to reflect changes to procedures and policies. Updates include amended California State PTA Bylaws, newly adopted resolutions, revised job descriptions for several positions and changes to the “Running Your PTA” section. A complete list of changes is available online. The Toolkit is reviewed on an ongoing basis and updated in June and December.
View the Online Toolkit at toolkit.capta.org.
UNIT TAX FILING HELP - WE ARE HERE FOR YOU
PTA tax forms must be filed by the 15th day of the fourth month after the term begins. For units, councils and districts whose fiscal year starts on July 1st, tax filings are due to the IRS, Franchise Tax Board, and California Attorney General’s Registry of Charitable Trusts by November 15th.
California State PTA knows how intimidating this task may seem and offers special tax filing assistance to help your PTA/PTSA meet deadlines. Detailed tax assistance information and advice is available online with California State PTA's Tax Filing Support Center at www.capta.org/tax-filing-support-center.
If you need more information or assistance, please contact your council or district. Need even more help? California State PTA’s Tax Filing Assistant, Donna Broussard, can be reached at taxinfo@capta.org.
Tax filing assistance will also be available at both of our upcoming Regional Leadership Conferences – August 24 in Visalia and September 7 in Southern California (location TBD). Remember, we are here to help you!
