Ohio PTA convention nears
Staff report
columbus
Ohio PTA is gearing up for its 105th Annual Convention on April 8-10 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 6500 Doubletree Ave.
The event includes opportunities for PTA members and others to learn more about a variety of topics including bullying, healthy nutrition and working with school districts during tough economic times.
About 300 participants are expected.
This year’s convention is combined with an Emerging Minority Leaders Conference and a Male Involvement Summit, both April 8.
“We have partnered with Ohio PIRC [Parent Information and Resource Center] and CCSSI to provide the EML training on Friday,” said Debbie Tidwell, Ohio PTA president. “The purpose of this event is to help identify and train potential leaders.”
Chris Broussard, a senior writer for ESPN, The Magazine and ESPN.com will speak at the EML conference. The award-winning journalist specializes in basketball coverage, particularly of the NBA. He frequently serves as an NBA analyst on shows such as “SportsCenter,” “Outside the Lines,” “ESPN’s First Take,” and “NBA Fastbreak.”
“The Male Involvement Summit is a way for men who are involved or interested in being involved with PTA to connect and collaborate on ways for men to be involved in their local schools,” said Tidwell.
A focus of the Convention will be the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) and grass-roots advocacy training. Ohio PTA supports the Ohio State Board of Education’s decision to adopt the Common Core State Standards and, since September 2010, has worked with National PTA to educate and train Ohio parents about the standards.
Anne Wald, National PTA representative, will be the key note speaker at the first meeting of the convention. The guest speaker for the second meeting is Deborah Johnson, also known as “DJ, the Football Mom.”
Other highlights include installation of the 2011 – 2013 Ohio PTA officers and recognition of the Ohio PTA District Educators of the Year, Ohio PTA District Helping Hands and Ohio PTA School Nurse. Tim Dove, 2011 Ohio Teacher of the Year, will be the speaker at the recognition luncheon.
For more information about Ohio PTA, for a copy of the preliminary convention program, or to register, go to www.ohiopta.org.