To all Pattison PTA Members and Volunteers,

Well, this GAME CHANGING school year is coming to a close – and our students are the big WINNERS!  I want to thank the 1,064 parents, staff, grandparents and community members who joined Pattison PTA this year.  It’s through your membership and continued support that the PTA was able to accomplish some amazing things this year for our school, and be recognized by Texas PTA with numerous awards to boot.  

There is nothing like the heart of a volunteer!  Pattison PTA Leadership volunteers were hard at work even before school started.  PTA Officers took training classes over the summer, Beautification was busy planting flowers and organizing Scout clean-ups, Sprit Wear was designed and sold, and our Youth Protection chair made sure all the classroom emergency bags were properly outfitted.

Before school began, 1st Day Packets were stuffed, our new PT-Avenue platform launched and school supply packs were delivered to classrooms in preparation for Meet-Your-Teacher night.  The Hospitality team welcomed the teachers back with a luncheon.  This team continued celebrating our amazing staff with monthly events such as mailbox treats, luncheons and desserts.

The PTA hosted our Tears and Cheers event to celebrate our first day of school and immediately started the process of recruiting PTA Members & Volunteers as well as selling and designing Yearbooks and compiling the PTA Directory.  PTA had our Home Room Parent team in place by September and conducted the first of four PTA General Meetings that month.  Each was held in conjunction with a grade-level specials program.  PTA funds supplement the cost of these programs.  

We launched our Colt Bolt Fun Run Fundraiser with an energetic pep rally.  We also had the honor of hosting the Texas PTA President on our campus and launched the annual Reflections Art Program with “Let Your Imagination Fly” as the theme.  Two of our school’s entries advanced to State!

In October our School Store started its monthly sales, and the PTA offered the first of three sets of Pattison Coupons.  PTA hosted our very own, customized Colt Bolt Fun Run due to the excellent leadership of our Fall Fundraiser Chair and Committee.  It exceeded our wildest expectations, and students rose to the challenge to meet a $60,000 goal, resulting in Mrs. Barker kissing a pig!  What a memory!  

Muffins with Mom was oh so yummy, and little red paper dolls lines the halls for Red Ribbon Week (a national Drug Prevention Program)! November saw the PTA host our annual Family Social with food trucks and free ice cream in conjunction with Pattison’s Open House. In December the Home Room Parents hosted the Winter Party that included some wonderful entertainers and classroom fun funded by PTA.   The PTA bestowed the Lifetime Achievement Award on five honorees, and the Extended Service Award to one.  These dedicated people were honored at the Founders’ Day dinner in February.  Throughout the year volunteer parents made Junior Achievement happen on our campus.  This program touched each grade level through “JA in a Day” events. This national program uses parent and community volunteers to teach children different aspects about the business world. We ended the month with our annual Donuts with Dad program, which was moved to the gym to accommodate growth.  It worked so well, PTA plans to use the gym for all breakfast events next year.

February marked the Valentine’s Day party for grades K-4, and the 5th Grade Sock Hop. The student-anticipated PTA-Member- Thank-You event at Mason Road Skate Center also returned. The Pattison Auction kicked off in March and concluded with item pick up in conjunction with our annual PTA Carnival in April.  That night brought in approximately $25,000 to our school thanks to the generosity of our parents, sponsors and donors.  We can’t thank you enough! Due to the huge success of Colt Bolt we were able to continue offering a huge reduction in wristband pricing again this year!  Next up was our annual Volunteer Breakfast where Pattison acknowledged all volunteers and honored Kim Myers as Volunteer of the Year.  On behalf of the students and PTA members, PTA’s Hospitality committee celebrated Teacher Appreciation week with five day’s worth of events at the end of April.  

May and June wrap up our year with our annual general membership meeting.  Yearbooks will be distributed May 26th, and the 5th Grade party will take place.  We also already are planning for next year.  Our budget is set, and our excess funds have been allocated to support the items teachers say are needed and will help our student body the most. (See sidebar above for details.)

In addition to all these events, we also had an insightful website maintained by our Communications Chair and supported by a committee who produced a weekly Pattison Post newsletter and managed our PTA Face Book page and other Publicity.  Our PTA has two volunteers representing Pattison at the Katy Council meetings, and our VP of Volunteers representing Pattison at monthly Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPs ) meetings.  Our Library Liaison and her volunteers ensure that our library has volunteers to help with checkouts and shelve books.  Our Kindergarten Centers and Workroom Coordinators and their volunteers keep the Centers operating, copy machine humming and the laminating machine rolling respectively.  Our Merchant Rebate team collected Box Tops and Labels for Education, and advertised other rebate programs.  Our Historian has been documenting our year and will be producing a year in review scrapbook (you can see previous year’s in the Pattison Lobby).  We also have people working behind the scenes: a Secretary, Treasurer, and Parliamentarian.

All of this is thanks to our PTA members and our 305 Pattison Volunteers who so far have logged over 25,025 hours (that’s the equivalent of 16+ full-time staffers).  We couldn’t have had such game-changing influence on our school without you.  Thank you for allowing me the privilege to serve as your PTA President this year, and for all the wonderful ways you have supported Pattison and our PTA.  

Pattison Proud,

Shelley Eastland

2015-16 PE PTA President