The Rocky River City School District has an active PTA in each building, and these parent/teacher associations provide parental community, education, and financial support to the district. Here is an overview of each building’s PTA and how you can get involved (you can be as involved—or not—as you want to be!).
Membership to all of the PTAs can be obtained via the RRCSD website, and it’s $11 for an individual and $22 for a family (note: this fee goes towards paying state and national dues and mandatory insurance coverage and is not a fundraising tool).
Rocky River Early Childhood PTA
PTA membership can begin before your child is in school. The Rocky River Early Childhood PTA is a group of over 220 families with children from birth to age five. The RRECPTA holds monthly meetings at the middle school (September through May, no meeting in December), which have included speakers on topics like kindergarten readiness, Love and Logic discipline, and Fresh Fork Market in the local food movement.
The RRECPTA has a very active calendar of member events, including playgroups and field trips for activities like hayrides, apple picking, and Memphis Kiddie Park. There are numerous family parties, as well, including holiday parties, a Pirate and Princess party, and “Winter Wiggles” for cold dreary months. There are even parties that are for adults only, like an evening at a local restaurant. “You'll also find our group within the community bringing cheer to the local nursing homes and assisted living facilities,” says President Tracy Geagan, “We enjoy doing crafts and sing-alongs with their residents.”
"We provide our members with opportunities to share in fun, unique experiences with their families,” Geagan continues. “This is done largely in part by a dedicated group of members, who volunteer their precious time to help out on one (or more) of our 35+ committees to help keep this organization running.”
Fundraisers for the RRECTPA include the very popular annual Holiday Auction and two Kids’ Klosets resales every year.
To get their member families ready for kindergarten, the RRECPTA offers a preschool/kindergarten information night in November, which is open to the entire community. More information is at their website, RRECPTA.org.
Goldwood Primary School
The meetings are at Goldwood, with some taking place in the evening and others during the day in order to work with a variety of parental work schedules.
After discussing PTA business, like budget issues or upcoming plans, the group welcomes a speaker. Last year, Assistant Superintendent Elizabeth Anderson, who oversees Curriculum and Instruction, spoke to the PTA about the new Common Core Standards. Superintendent Dr. Michael Shoaf spoke at another meeting about school funding. “Both of these are ongoing issues that directly affect our children and schools,” notes Goldwood PTA President Melissa Walsh.
Speakers this year will address topics including opportunities for families to take part in charitable acts and learn about social responsibility. The Goldwood PTA is also planning speakers on topics regarding nutrition and college planning. “These are issues that parents of our age group are talking about,” Walsh says.
The Goldwood PTA had a particularly exciting and satisfying year last year, spearheading an effort to build a new playground for Goldwood. They raised funds for the playground, which opened just before the start of this school year. “It was an amazing project,” Walsh reports, “that was hugely supported by the school district, Goldwood families, local businesses, and the Rocky River Community. The kids are having so much fun on this playground, it is awesome!”
Events like wrapping paper sales fund other aspects of Goldwood, as well. The Spring Book Fair raised enough for the PTA to fund a $3,000 grant for the school’s library and a $250 grant to teacher Anne Davis for the purchase of educational apps.
Everyone is invited to join the Goldwood PTA, President Melissa Walsh emphasizes—“moms and dads who work outside or inside the home. I am a working mom and I am proud to be a part of this organization. The volunteers who help coordinate and run all the events are awesome. It is really a well-oiled machine of parents who just get things done.”
Kensington Intermediate School
President Sharlene Marty reports that the KIS PTA has about 320 member families and many of the school’s teachers. The meetings take place approximately every 6 weeks, rotating between mornings and evenings. Marty explains that while many of the events take place during school, like Scholastic Book Fair and Food Drives, the planning and prep work for these PTA-sponsored events takes place outside of school hours and often can be accomplished at home.
Meetings generally last an hour, with Principal Todd Murphy providing an update on school issues and events, just as the PTA updates Mr. Murphy on their activities and events.
PTA President Marty is also proud of a joint PTS/Kensington assembly, “Kensington’s first annual Veterans Day Assembly, being held on Tuesday, November 11.” She explains, “This collaborative effort between 5th grade teacher Mrs. Armitage, Mr. Murphy, local military veterans and the PTA will provide historical information to Kensington students as well as up-close-and-personal accounts of what it means to be a United States veteran. The children will place over 600 small flags around the front school yard next month as a small visual token of thanks to all our veterans.”
The Kensington PTA is especially active, and their major fundraiser is Spooky Saturday, a twenty-year tradition that sees the school transformed into a Halloween carnival. Marty lists a few things the PTA supports, including organizing and serving pizza days every other Tuesday and a back-to-school popsicle social; providing various assemblies throughout the year; financial & organizational support for Camp Fitch (4th grade); Great Lakes Theater Festival Residency (5th grade); organizing and producing the Kensington Players Talent Show in the spring; funding various teacher and staff grants for technology, books and equipment; organizing and financially supporting the 4th grade mural project; and organizing the Lolly the Trolley field trip (3rd grade).
Rocky River Middle School
The Rocky River Middle School’s PTA has 120 member families and is growing, according to President Mary Amsdell. The meetings are every other month at 9 AM on a Wednesday (Amsdell, like all the other presidents interviewed, emphasizes that attendance is not mandatory for membership).
Meetings begin with a guest speaker. Last month the new counselors were introduced, and this month, Food Service Director Tina Wasserbauer will speak. PTA business follows.
The Rocky River Middle School PTA’s main fundraiser is Maroon and White Night, a very popular carnival night held every March for all three grades.
“The money we raise is given back to the school thru grant requests,” Amsdell explains. “Teachers and staff are encouraged to apply. This year we have already given money to fully pay for an all-6th-grade trip to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, paid for half of the 8th grade Lolly the Trolley trip and donated to the 7th grade Challenge Days, Right to Read Week, and others.”
Rocky River High School
The cost to join the RRHS PTA is ten dollars per member, via the RRCSD website. Meetings are held every other month on Thursday at 9AM. Meetings include an update from Principal Debra Bernard and a speaker. Meetings “cover a lot of college-based information,” explains PTA President Lauren Pichola, “concerning entrance exams, preparing your child at home and at school, course selection, college choices, and all the new and updated material your child will need to be a success in high school and on into college.”
She continues, “All of our high-school-based activities happen after school. So, there is plenty of opportunity for parent involvement. We always need volunteers for homecoming, our fundraisers, open house, teacher conferences, the National Honor Society reception and so on. Our fundraiser this year will be a one-day event before winter break—a big dance party karaoke night. It will involve a lot of student and parent involvement.”
Money raised by the RRHS PTA goes to many supplemental events and grants. Pichola says, “We give out multiple student mini grants up to $250 every year. Clubs, activities, sports, and classes have all been beneficiaries. We do as much as humanly possible with [the money we raise,] always working together with the teachers to provide the best possible learning environment for each and every student.“
Every two months, representatives from every PTA in the district come together for a council meeting, explains Council President Kathleen Haley, “in order to inform delegates from each unit what is happening throughout the district.” Each school’s principal attends the council meetings, which are held in the Fireside Room of the Rocky River Board of Education building. Members of the Rocky River Board of Education speak as well, and delegates take the meeting summary back to their units. The communication works both ways, in that “delegates also bring questions from their units to the council meetings,” Haley explains.
Together, the PTAs of the Rocky River City School District are determined to answer those questions and support their students and teachers.