vp/chairs/board resources

Information for all PTA Committee Chairs and Board Members

Thank you for volunteering your time to the Wood Acres PTA! Below is an outline of resources available and documents you may need to begin your new role.

General Resources & Helpful Tips

  • Who is who on the PTA Board:

    • Visit Who We Are to learn the names of the current PTA Board members (a.k.a., VPs) and to view the most up-to-date PTA Organization Chart, which includes all Committee Chairs.

  • Important PTA documents:

    • Please visit PTA Forms & Docs, for budget, Bylaws, sales tax-exempt letter, check/cash deposit form, and event template form.

  • Your role and position description on the WAES PTA Board:

Planning a PTA-Sponsored Event

Share all event details and promote upcoming PTA events in three ways:

  • on our PTA PTA website

  • in Dr. Zaks’s Sunday emails 

  • in the PTA’s weekly Wednesday emails 

Please follow the below steps to create your event content to be shared with the school community on the PTA website and in weekly emails.

Please note: If your committee feels that your event requires promotion beyond the above, please reach out to your VP and wildcatanswers@gmail.com to gain Membership Toolkit newsletter access and discuss a plan to send additional emails to the school community. If needed, this step-by-step training video is available to assist with sending newsletters via Membership Toolkit.

1. CREATE A COMPREHENSIVE FLYER FOR YOUR EVENT

  • 6 weeks prior to your event, meet with your committee’s VP to begin solidifying your event details. Review the completed PTA Event Chair Template from previous years, or speak with last year’s Committee Chair if available.

  • Create your event flyer to include the who, what, where and when for your event in a concise manner.

  • Draft your flyer in a text-only word document or email for ease of transferring to the PTA website. 

  • Selling tickets?  Include a link to purchase tickets (see below).

  • Need volunteers? Include a contact email for interested volunteers or create a SignupGenius link for inclusion in the flyer. Parents and MCPS students needing SSL hours are two potential sources of volunteers.  

    • For student volunteers: MCPS Student Service Learning (SSL) Form — you can print copies and complete your section in advance.

    • For parent volunteers: MCPS requires Online Training on child abuse and neglect for adults volunteering on school grounds during school hours.

2.  SET UP TICKET SALES

  • If needed, set up ticket sales for your event by contacting the Online Payment Systems volunteer: onlineforms@woodacrespta.org

  • Be sure to include ticket price, number of available tickets and cut-off date.

  • Be clear regarding who requires a ticket. Should parents/caretakers purchase a ticket to attend or just students?

  • Once set up, include the link to the ticket store in your event flyer.

3.  EMAIL YOUR FLYER TO THE COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

  • Send your flyer 2 weeks before you wish to start promoting your event. Please provide this time to allow the Webmaster to upload the content and for Dr. Zaks to plan her Sunday emails.

  • The Communications team does not develop content for you, but they will organize and edit the provided information for the website.

  • Your flyer will be posted on the PTA website and linked in both Dr. Zaks’s Sunday emails and the PTA’s Wednesday emails.

  • Please inform the Communications team if details change e.g., event sells out.

4. COMPLETE POST-EVENT TASKS

  • Please send the following to your VP to save to the PTA Archives to establish institutional knowledge for the next round of Board members and Committee Chairs:

    • Completed PTA Event Chair Template found here

    • Notes to share with the next VP or Event Chair

    • Emails with important decisions made related to your role

  • Use the Check Request Form to get reimbursed for event expenses paid out of pocket or invoiced expenses ahead of time.

  • Use this form to deposit any funds collected onsite at your event: Check/Cash Deposit Form

  • Submit any event “thank yous” (Committee Chairs thanking volunteers and VPs thanking Committee Chairs) to include in the PTA’s Wildcat Wednesday email by Monday at noon. 

When planning your event, please consider these plastic-free options and ideas compiled by our PTA Green Team.

Important  Postscript:

Only emails regarding PTA-sponsored events, activities and initiatives are authorized to be sent via Membership Toolkit. Emails promoting personal businesses, non-profit ventures, opinions or requests are strictly prohibited. The ability to send school-wide emails is limited. If you feel you need to, please reach out to wildcatanswers@gmail.com to request access.