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| Supt. Kowba receives the Honorary Service Award from the PTA. Joining him are his daughter, Elizabeth, left, his wife, Maureen, and Barbara Flannery, President of the San Diego Unified Council of PTAs. |
The check may not have been real, but the amount was – it represents the monetary equivalent to the District of the 192,174.8 volunteer hours donated by PTA members this school year. A mock check for the amount was presented to Supt. Bill Kowba at the Council's Founders Day dinner on May 20.
"Even thought the PTA has assigned a monetary value to this, the real value to our kids is priceless," said Kowba, who will retire from the district at the end of June.
In addition, the Council of PTAs presented two service awards, recognized special unit PTAs who met the membership challenge and one National PTA award winner.
Superintendent Bill Kowba was presented an Honorary Service Award for the outstanding commitment he showed to the students of San Diego Unified School District these past seven years in his various roles from "CFO to CEO," said Barbara Flannery, President of the San Diego Unified Council of PTAs.
"The superintendent is known for his 4 a.m. emails and his calm in the face the state education budget crisis," she said. "He has become a true supporter of parent involvement and belongs to multiple PTAs in the district. The Honorary Service Award recognizes outstanding service to children and youth."
In attendance with him were surprise guests, his wife, Maureen, and daughter, Elizabeth.
Flannery was presented a Continuing Service Award for her decade of service to the students and families of San Diego Unified. She started out in PTA as just a helper, later becoming President of Language Academy PTA and moving up to Council PTA to serve as webmaster, secretary and president. She is presently the Council PTA representative on the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee for Prop S and Z and will continue her service to the community as vice-president of Programs for the Council.
Linda Zintz, Director of Communications, and Dr. Betsy Cook, Principal of Marston Middle School were recognized for their two years of service as liaisons to the San Diego Unified Council of PTAs Executive Board for San Diego Unified and Administrators Association of San Diego, respectively.
The Honorary Service Awards Program is the funding source for the California State PTA Scholarships and Grant Programs.
PTA programs at 19 schools units were recognized for membership increases of more than 25 members, 37 schools had an increase in membership. Six schools were recognized for having more than 300 members: Hearst PTA, Holmes PTA, Marshall Middle PTSA, Mira Mesa High PTSA, Spreckels PTA and with a high of 605 members La Jolla High PTA.
Lindbergh Schweitzer PTA received the California State PTA award, “Members Matter, Teachers Matter,” for an overall increase in members and with 100 percent of their teachers joining the PTA. The unit received a free State PTA Convention registration.
Cadman PTA was a recipient of the National PTA “Take You Families to School” grant.
Three schools organized this year's event: Creative Performing and Media Arts PTSA, America’s Finest Charter School PTSA and San Diego High School PTSA.
Karen Fleck, Ninth District President, presided over the installation of the 2013-15 Executive Board: President Derby Pattengill, Executive Vice-President Laura Schumacher, VP of Leadership Betsy Mueller, VP of Programs Barbara Flannery, VP of Communications Cathy Lackmann, VP of Legislation Celeste Bobryk-Ozaki, Secretary Bey-Ling Sha, Treasurer Janine Morrow, Auditor Michelle Cass, Historian Kelly Barnes and Parliamentarian NiChelle Cannon.
Also in attendance were Board of Education Vice President Kevin Beiser, and past PTA Council Presidents Barbara Peluso, Debbie Vincent, Patt Sloan, and Cindy McIntyre.
The San Diego Unified Council of PTAs is comprised of 80 school-level PTAs in the San Diego Unified School District. To start a PTA at your school, contact Vice-President of Leadership Betsy Mueller at sducpta@yahoo.com.
