Five members of the North Country Region PTA recently attended the annual Summer Leadership Conference presented by the New York Congress of Parents and Teachers (NYS PTA) in Utica.

Ellen Galo, Region Director, and Carla Ingram, Past Region Director, both from Potsdam; Jean Levien, Secretary of Elizabethtown-Lewis PTSA, Angela Grant, Treasurer of Hermon-Dekalb PTA, and Sue Rau, Consultant NYS PTA, represented the North Country Region PTA at the conference.

Over 280 PTA members participated in the event. Representatives from the Massachusetts PTA, Tennessee PTA, and National PTA were in attendance. The local leaders were joined at Saturday’s dinner by representatives from the newly formed Puerto Rican Congress.

Over 40 workshops were offered. Strands focusing on diversity, technology and the literacy program, PARP (Parents as Reading Partners), were interspersed with “How to…” workshops for unit presidents, region board members and advocacy training for all.

North Country PTAs are already gearing up for the 2010-11 school year which starts in just a few weeks. In addition to individual programs and projects in each school, they also have access to all the rich PTA resources, including PARP – Parents As Reading Partners, and Reflections, the arts in education program.

The NYS PTA, chartered in 1897, is part of the National PTA which has congresses in fifty states, District of Columbia, Europe, Virgin Islands, Pacific Region and Puerto Rico. Through its 356,000 members, the NYS PTA advocates for all children.

For more information about National PTA, visit www.pta.org

For more information about the North Country Region, NYS-PTA, please contact region director Ellen Galo at 265-4268 or e-mail northcountryRD@nyspta.org.

You can also visit the North Country Region website for learn more about PTA, PTA programs, and parenting tips at www.northcountryregionpta.org.