The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

The National PTA launched their Million Hours of Power to encourage fathers, uncles, grandfathers and all men to get involved in their community through their local PTA.  In Florida, Parent Teachers Association (PTA) recently was honored with National Advocacy Award . With Father's Day next week, it is a perfect time to think about how you or someone you know can get involved in helping children in your community. Bryon Garrett, CEO of the National PTA and Mom Congress Advisor , believes that a male mentor can make measurable positive impact on kids social, physical and educational well-being. Parenting.com interviewed Bryon Garrett and he offered a few tips to get fathers engaged in volunteering: Just ask! Don't make the assumption that dads are not interested in being involved. "The number one reason they're not involved is that they're not asked." Create a schedule with your educator "so you have shared ownership in the proc...

From Florida to Memphis, Tennessee the Parent Teachers Association covers our nation through education, parents, teachers, children and our community. June 10th launched the 114th National PTA Convention .  Karin Brown is the President of the Florida PTA and is representing our state.  She was honored this morning as the President of the PTA, Chuck Saylor, introduced each representative from all over the country. Parents Matter is one of the themes at the convention.  Don't fret the sweat is part of being a parent and helping your child surf through the journey of adolescents.  Body odor is not a topic that is always on a parents "talking points" however when puberty hits, it is an issue that needs to be addressed. When tweens, teens or even children that are starting younger, parents are encouraged to talk to your kids about finding the right deodorant for them before teasing or even bullying starts due to body o...

Here is a great guest Blog from Ganda at Parenting.com - Like myself, she also attended the National PTA Conference. Dads: Come Work for the FBI How do you get fathers to become more engaged with their children's education? All you have to do is ask. That's what convention attendees and speakers hammered home at today's Male Engagement Summit. Men now make up 12% of the PTA. That number could (and should) grow. And an invitation may be all the incentive they need. Michael Robbins, guest speaker and Special Assistant to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, advocated for key strategies like early engagement before conception and making dads feel more welcome in the education discussion. "We should talk about what dads do right," said Robbins. The meeting's other guest speakers, leaders of the Fort Wayne Area Council (FWAC) PTA , galvanized their local units into recruiting dads to join. Julie Klingenberger, President o...

Collaboration committed to educating kids, parents and teachers about responsible and safe Internet use Memphis, Tenn. and Palo Alto, Calif. – June 10, 2010 – Today, National PTA and Facebook announced a formal collaboration to promote responsible and safe Internet use to kids, parents and teachers. Together, National PTA and Facebook will establish a comprehensive program that will provide information, support and news to encourage citizenship online, reduce cyberbullying and advance Internet safety and security. The partnership is founded on the belief that awareness is essential to supporting safe and responsible Internet use. Thus, in addition to creating comprehensive and engaging resources, PTA and Facebook are committing to aggressively promoting Internet safety information to their respective audiences. National PTA will use its Website (www.pta.org), and actively reach out to the 24,000 local PTAs across the country with a goal of reaching every American public school. Fa...

On June 10th through June 13th the National PTA (Parents and Teachers Association) will have their annual conference .  There will be many workshops, book signings, lectures and learning experiences for all the attendees.  They will bring back to our local areas the vast amount of resources and informational tools to continue to educate and help the children of today and tomorrow. Forty years ago this month, the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers (NCCPT) and the National Congress of Mothers united to form the National PTA , adapting the same mission they had operated under separately: to improve the education and well being of every child? Today, while many great accomplishments have been made there are still obstacles that we must conquer, both inside and outside of the classroom and across ethnic backgrounds. So at this year’s national convention there will be much to tackle: The nation’s K-12 public education system is in crisis. Our stu...