January 2010

Welcome everyone,

My name is Sam Macer and it is my honor and pleasure to serve as your President of Maryland PTA for the next two years. I will introduce myself and share just two of the many priorities of my administration.

My wife Lisa and I have been married for 25 years. I am the proud father, grandfather, foster father, and uncle to 20 young people who are attending or have attended public schools in the Central Maryland area. My family has a lot vested in the success of Maryland’s Public Schools.

As a 25 year PTA member, I have served in every elected office at the local PTA level. In the PTA Council of Baltimore County, I served eight years as the Parent Involvement Chairperson, an Area Vice President, and First Vice President. As a member of the Maryland PTA Board of Directors, I have held the position of Parent Involvement Chairperson where I also had the opportunity to serve on Dr. Grasmick’s, Maryland Parent Advisory Council (M-PAC) as the Parent Involvement Chairperson, where I was honored to receive the M-PAC Parent of the Year Award. I was elected to the President Elect position and now currently serve as President of Maryland PTA. National PTA has trained me to be a certified presenter in their Training and Capacity Building Initiative (TCBI), where I provide training upon request and assist in developing future PTA leaders.

When I am asked why I support PTA, my short answer is, I have children. When my children started school, the PTA was the only organized parent group available year round to advocate for children and support parents and teachers. The support was not only available for my family, my home, and my school community but the PTA voice was also there at a national level speaking for all children.

In the coming months, you will learn about the numerous programs and activities of the Maryland PTA. Let me share with you just two of those many activities, training and promoting two way communications.

During my term in office, Maryland PTA will continue its program to support all Maryland families in their efforts to support their children and their schools. We will provide parents, PTAs, schools and the community with numerous trainings and professional development opportunities. These opportunities will help you and your local PTA to become the primary educational resource in your community. Will we do this alone? No. We will collaborate with our partners, the Maryland State Department of Education, the local school districts, and the Maryland Parental Information Resource Center (the MD PIRC).

In addition to providing a comprehensive training program, Maryland PTA will strengthen the lines of communications between the local PTAs, Maryland PTA and National PTA. Our membership dues enables National PTA to create and develop a wide variety of programs as well as provide incentives that recognize the commitment parents make to their students and schools. Maryland PTA will promote those programs. National PTA has committed to increase its effort to communicate with all Maryland parents. National PTA has assigned a NPTA Representative to serve the Maryland area. We will invite her to address you through our web site, our newsletters and our state wide events. Maryland PTA will share with you National PTA’s effort to support the Common Core Standards and the introduction of federal legislation to strengthen parent involvement. Maryland PTA will invite you to contact us to provide input about how to offer you effective and relevant “customer service”. Our Web Site is being upgraded to be our primary communication tool. Make certain that we have your email address so that we are able to provide you with our newsletter and real time PTA and education news. There will be satisfaction surveys intended to evaluate your PTA needs, identify your concerns, and provide an opportunity for you to initiate changes.

I encourage you to contact Maryland PTA. If you have general comments or questions, you can call the office at 410-760-6221 or 800-707-7922 or email officeadministrator@mdpta.org. If you are seeking technical operational assistance on any PTA issue or requesting a small group TCBI training to better inform your officers and increase their leadership skill, you can make your request using our “Helpline” at HELP@mdpta.org. Being able to contact Maryland PTA to share your thoughts or request assistance is easier than ever. We are waiting to hear from you!

Thank you,

Sam Macer

President

Maryland PTA

president@mdpta.org