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Dear TPES Community:

I would like to introduce myself to all of you as the new President of the PTA for the coming year. I have a child in 1st grade and have been a part of the TPES executive committee as the V.P for the year 2008-09. Thank you for electing me as your new President and all the support that so many of you have already extended my way. I am very excited about being in this new leadership position and hope that my enthusiasm and energy will make our PTA stronger and more connected.

I have been involved with my children’s schools for 4 years now since they started in preschool. I have worked as a substitute teacher, chaired school events and been on the development committee at that school. At TPES, along with being on the executive & Grosvenor committees, I was involved with many school events and organized some events like the 1st Grade Play, Grand Friends Day & class activities as the room parent of my child’s class. I also immensely enjoyed working with the children during Junior Great Books. It has been an awesome year and now I am looking forward to leading the PTA.

My work background is in management. I bring with me many positive, new ideas and strategies for improvement.

For many weeks now I have been coordinating with various MCCPTA officers to understand the bylaws and the role & responsibilities of all executive board officers so we understand what we need to do. We not only took a training offered by MCCPTA to all PTA officers but also had our first executive board meeting in June to work as a team and come up with a plan and vision for next year.

I have been working with our Principal, Mrs. Gadsden; Assistant Principal, Mr., Kerlina; and the new executive committee members in planning for the next year. There has been tremendous support from everyone. We also had a meeting for “All Committee Chairs” to get everyone on board, which was very well attended.

I would like to introduce the other officers of the Executive Committee that have been elected for the year 2009-10:

V.P (Fundraising): A. J. Campbell
V.P (Volunteers): Vacant
Treasurer: Katie Bocock
Secretary (1): Frances Cook
Secretary (2): Cathy Ocheltree

The other officers and committee chair information will be available and updated starting July 2009 on the PTA web site at www.tpespta.org

The executive committee wants to make sure that our community is better informed next year about important dates, information of upcoming events and what is happening at school or with PTA events. For this purpose we will have a weekly newsletter.

Everything that the executive committee plans will be done keeping in mind that the PTA is working to support programs for the children. The executive board and all Committees are mindful that we are representatives of the community and every penny donated to the PTA will be used after careful consideration and in the best interest of the children.

As the President of the PTA, I will be meeting with the Principal on a weekly basis, during the school year, to keep her informed of PTA activities. Mrs. Gadsden will be involved and will give her input as head of the school and any input the staff may have to help us plan activities that will benefit the children. In the time I have had to work with her closely for the past two months, I have learned that she carries the children close to her heart and always puts them first. With her support and involvement with the executive committee, the PTA and school will work together and become a stronger community.

With our school moving to Grosvenor, there will be changes in how we have done things.  We will need more parent involvement to make things work efficiently. I am looking forward to many more parents stepping forward in helping the PTA, either by volunteering at school events, recess and lunch duty or wherever required both at school or from home. There is always much to do and every helping hand makes us one step closer to getting things done sooner and better.

Join hands with me as I move forward in planning for next year. Your input is important at all stages.

If you would like to share things that you would like to see happen at your PTA, if you have concerns, questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am here to listen, help and work with you. We are a team and together we make the PTA.

I will be working with the executive committee for next year so you can contact me anytime. Write to me at shruti_bhatnagar@yahoo.com or call me at 301-949-8006.

I hope to see you all at our PTA meetings which for next year will be held on first Tuesday of every month at Piney Branch Elementary School.  Have a great summer.

Sincerely,

Shruti Bhatnagar
President TPES PTA 2009-10

Coming Up ...

2009-2010 Class Listings
(subject to change)

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

**Boundary Study Updates**

**Grosvenor Updates**

REVISED (06/09/03) DRAFT bus schedules for Grosvenor have been posted.

To go directly to the MCPS transportation page for the latest route info, click here. (Select Takoma Park ES).

For tip sheets and other Grosvenor information, click here.

Informacíon de Grosvenor en Español.

For FAQs in Amharic, click here.

Dolphin Appeal

We're SO CLOSE!!! to reaching our goal for the Dolphin Appeal. But we're not there yet! Please consider making your gift by the end of May. Click on the DONATE button on the top of the page to give now.

Or send a check in your child's Dolphin Folder made out to
TPES PTA.