Frisco ISD Council of PTAs News

July/August 2024

LETTER FROM DR. WALDRIP

July 2024

Dear PTA Members,

With the summer in full swing, the work in Frisco ISD has not stopped! Trustees recently adopted District priorities for the school year, and soon after, all departments, including business operations, transportation, and communications, gathered to explore how we can work together to address these. Frisco ISD is a destination district because we continually work as an organization to make sure each year is better than the last.

As you drive through the community, you may see campuses under construction. Thanks to 2018 bond money, we are able to move forward with several scheduled renovations. Notably, the Career and Technical Education Center expansion will be complete in time for the new school year, and we will soon welcome 2,000 more students each day!

Also, if you drive on Legendary Drive next to Hunt Middle School, you’ll see the beginning stages of the FISD Visual and Performing Arts Center. It’s an exciting time.

We look forward to seeing everyone again in August!

Enjoy the summer,

Dr. Mike Waldrip

Frisco ISD Superintendent of Schools

LETTER FROM COUNCIL PRESIDENT

August 2024

Welcome Back!

It is hard to believe that we will be starting school next week. August 12th will be here before we know! This time of year always proves itself to be busy, fast and full of activity and that certainly holds true for all of our Local PTA’s and their Board Members. We are extremely thankful to all of our local PTA’s that are working behind the scenes on their campuses in preparation for the First Day of School to ensure each and every student is supported. You are making a difference and we look forward to celebrating all your successes this year.

Having said that, we would love to highlight that over the summer we had over 100 PTA Volunteers from Frisco ISD attend the Texas PTA LAUNCH Training Conference. They joined almost 2500 PTA volunteers from across the State in participating in several training sessions and networking with other local leaders from across the state and within our district. We are so appreciative of taking time out of their summer break to ensure they were ready and prepared for this year to serve their communities.

LAUNCH was also a time of celebration for Frisco ISD! We had the opportunity and honor to celebrate 3 FISD Students at LAUNCH. Emma Dachowicz, a student from Independence High School, received Texas PTA’s Outstanding Student Advocate Award. In addition to Emma, we had two students be recognized at LAUNCH for their outstanding results in National PTA’s Reflections Program. Gauri Binup, a 2024 graduate from Lebanon Trail High School and Tatum Lyle, a student at Pioneer Heritage Middle School. Gauri was awarded National PTA Outstanding Interpretation for her poem, “Hopeful” and Tatum Lyle received National PTA Award of Excellence for her Music Composition "You will Make it". Both young ladies were honored by Texas PTA at the “Back to Future” Brunch where they shared their award winning entries. In addition to Gauri and Tatum, we did have a third FISD Student receive National Honors. Edward LoCicero, a student from Memorial High School, received the National PTA Award of Merit for his Special Artist Literature "Embracing Hope: The Heartbeat of Resilience".

Emma Dachowicz

Independence High School

Texas PTA’s Outstanding Student Advocate Award

Gauri Binup

Lebanon Trail High School (2024 Graduate)

National PTA Outstanding Interpretation for her poem "Hopeful"

Tatum Lyle

Pioneer Heritage Middle School

National PTA Award of Excellence for her Music Composition "You will Make it"

Dr. Todd Fouche - Frisco ISD Deputy Superintendent

Dominica Sequeria - Frisco ISD Council of PTAs | 1st VP, Aide to the President

Gauri Binup - Lebanon Trail High School

Tatum Lyle - Pioneer Heritage Middle School

Cyndi Arakas - Frisco ISD Council of PTAs | President

(pictured back row center, middle row center)

Edward LoCicero

Memorial High School

National PTA Award of Merit for his Special Artist Literature "Embracing Hope: The Heartbeat of Resilience".

Last and certainly not least, we were also able to celebrate our two Local Campuses, Robertson Elementary School and Cobb Middle School, who received the Platinum Voice for Every Child Award, which means their PTA Membership was 100% or more of their student enrollment, achieving the goal of a Voice for EVERY Child.

Robertson Elementary School PTA (pictured)

715 PTA Members, 660 Students

Cobb Middle School PTA

1,097 PTA Members, 905 Students

Speaking of Membership, PTA Membership is officially open for the 2024-2025 School Year. PTA is the oldest and largest child advocacy association in America and your membership is a voice for YOUR child and the more members, the louder our voice! If you have not yet joined your local PTA before or renewed your annual membership, please consider joining, your membership truly matters and will make a difference on your campus. Our kids are our future and we want EVERY CHILD’S POTENTIAL TO BECOME A REALITY and we can do this as a CommYOUnity! Additionally, if you do not have a home campus or would love to become a member of one or several campuses, you can join as a Mission Supporter through our Council Website.

As a Council Board, we are continuing with our motto “Together We Shine”. We truly could not do what we do without our PTA members and volunteers and we certainly could not do it without the tremendous partnership we have with FISD. Our goal is to do our best to ensure that every PTA Board Member, Volunteer and Member in our community feels supported, celebrated and appreciated. You are making a difference on your campus and as a result, the community, and that in itself is remarkable!

Thank you for being part of our PTA family and please let us know if you have any questions!

Joyfully,

Cyndi Arakas

President, Frisco ISD Council of PTAs

FRISCO ISD 73 PTAs

TEXAS PTA LAUNCH JULY 2024

FRISCO THREADS

Frisco Threads was invited to help kick off North Texas Giving Day along with WFAA and Amazon.

What is North Texas Giving Day?

Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day is an 18-hour online giving event designed to empower every person to give back to their community by supporting local causes they care about in one easy-to-use platform.

North Texas Giving Day is the largest community-wide giving event in the nation.

Please remember Frisco Threads on North Texas Giving Day on September 19, 2024