I am a new Chairperson/Volunteer. Where do I start?

Please make sure the prior Chair/Volunteer has handed off any binder, electronic forms, budget worksheet and any other documents you might need. Please contact your VP(for Chairs)/Chair(for Volunteers/Committee Members) with any further questions. You can find your VP or Chair on the Committees page or PTA Organization Chart.

Do I have a mailbox of my own?

Yes, each chair has their own mailbox in the PTA Room. Most chairs also have a PTA email account set up for them.  Contact the PTA webmaster to access your PTA email.

How can I get copies made for my committee?

Please find the form and instructions here and ask your VP for the code OR you can find the information in the PTA Cabinet in the back work room in the school office. Please make sure you have your VP or Director and Committee and Document name on the Project Title (e.g. Special Events, International Festival, Program Flier).

How do I book a space for my event? 

• If you need to book the PTA Room for a meeting, please review the Reserve the PTA Room page and the Secretary will make arrangements.  Please remember that you are responsible for cleaning up and leaving the room as you found it.

• If you need a space other than the PTA Room, please fill out a Building Use Form found in the school office. Once filled out, place the form in the folder TO BE SIGNED in the PTA Cabinet in the back workroom of the school office and email president@puestadelsolpta.org and treasurer@puestadelsolpta.org to let them know it is waiting for them. After both a President and a Treasurer have signed the form, please hand it in to the school office manager.  When your event is finished, you and your team are responsible for picking up after the event before the custodian does his final clean up.

With the Bellevue School District’s new Anaphylaxis Prevention and Response Procedure, we need to follow these specific guidelines below for when food is being served DURING the school day in conjunction with the PTA and Puesta del Sol Staff like Math Olympiad, Field Day, Classroom Parties, and Fifth Grade Events.

If you are serving food to students in the course of the program or event you are running during the school day, the following process must be followed:

1. The School Staff that you are working with is responsible to inform the School Nurse 10 days prior to the event what food will be served.
2. The School Staff will work with the School Nurse to gather the names of the students with any life-threatening allergies due to privacy laws.
3. The School Staff will inform each family with students with severe allergies about what food will be served. If the family permits their student to consume food items, the School Staff will ask for documented authorization from the parent/guardian (email is fine) for the distribution of specific food items to the student.
4. The School Staff will include language that makes the students feel inclusive in regards to food. To support inclusiveness, families are welcome to request that alternate food be served, or provide their own alternate food.
5. The PTA Committee Chair can mention there will be food served in any communication but will not mention that the Committee Chair themselves need to be contacted by parents with allergy students.
6. For large school-wide events, like Field Day, we ask that whatever food is served is completely allergen-free (not made in a plant that processes nuts, etc.) so that we are as inclusive as possible. Store bought, packaged food with clear ingredient lists is also strongly encouraged.

What if I want to serve food during my event held 30 minutes or more AFTER the school day?

With the Bellevue School District’s new Anaphylaxis Prevention and Response Procedure, we need to follow these specific guidelines below for when food is being served AFTER the school day 30 minutes before or after the school bell:

“Ensure that all activities, clubs and events that occur outside of instructional time and organized by outside groups including the PTSA, take into consideration those students with life threatening food allergies and reduce the exposure to allergens. We ask that pre-packaged allergen friendly options are always available. School nurses are available to outside groups for consultation at least ten school days before the activity or club begins or the event.”

PTA - We ask that in any communication that you let parents know there will be food served or for sale. Please let them know that allergy friendly pre-packaged options will be available or that they are welcome to bring their own food. We do not ultimately have to have permission from the nurse or principal to serve what we want as a PTA. But we do need to allergy aware, friendly and inclusive.

I’d like to print this information for future use.

Please click here.

Marketing Guidelines

How do I get the word out on my event or class?

You can market your event or class by having an article posted in the the bi-weekly El Sol newsletter, the PTA website, and/or the Puesta del Sol Facebook page.  Each of these marketing options is unique, meaning they require separate communication requests to the appropriate individuals.  Please review the Communication Standards page before sending a content request to promote your program or event.   Make sure your content has been approved by the VP or Director that oversees your program before sending it to each marketing outlet.

For the El Sol Newsletter:

Please send all requests for El Sol Articles to: newsletter@puestadelsolpta.org  no later than Tuesdays @ 6pm. When drafting submissions, please keep in mind:

• Include article title in the Subject line
• Indicate time/date at the top as a line item, 
  e.g.: Event Name, Tuesday, November 3  6:30pm
• Keep word count to 100 words or less
• If you make an error or omission and need to resend, please resend the entire content and indicate "UPDATE: Use This One" in the subject.
• For best results, If article runs for multiple weeks, please resend each week OR
  indicate "PLEASE PICK UP LAST WEEK". If there are changes from the previous week, it's really helpful to identify just those edits 

For the PTA Website:

Please submit your change request to the Web Content Team. The following are specific guidelines on which person handles which particular area:

The following changes go to webcontent@puestadelsolpta.org.

• Changes to the home page - new marketing announcements, updates on your event or class
• Changes to pages listed in the fundraising and resources sections
• Changes to the programs and events sections such as Passport Club, RAD, Reflections, Art Appreciation, International Festival, etc.
• Updates or contributions to the community page
• Calendar changes

The following changes go to webmanager@puestadelsolpta.org. 

• Requests for new event registrations such as Walkathon, Science Fair, and summer camps
• Requests for class signups such as Tambores del Sol, Math Olympiad, drama club
• Additions or edits for volunteering positions in our online volunteer packet
• Requests for online purchasing such as Spirit Wear, yearbooks, drama tickets
• Edits for any of these online workflow packets
• Reports for any of these online workflow packets

My Program Chairperson Needs to Update the Web Page "In Real Time", i.e. we have frequent updates that are best managed ourselves and not going through the bottleneck of waiting for the Web Content Team to make updates.

• Some web pages are best managed by the program chairs due to the number of updates that are needed.  The VP or Directory that oversees your program needs to request this and actively review the content.  All content updates on the website should be reviewed by a member on the PTA Board of Directors before "going live."
• To make updates in real time, the Web Content Team needs to set up a special page "frame" for you. http://puestadelsolpta.org/Page/WebsiteStandardsResources/PTAWebPageUpdatesUsingI-FrameFormat
• The program chair needs to create and manage a Google Doc (or other approved resource, e.g. YouTube, etc.) with attention to our Communication Standards.
• If using a Google Document, then the link for the page should be sent to the Web Content Team using the correct format:  http://puestadelsolpta.org/Page/WebsiteStandardsResources/GoogleDocManagement.

For Facebook posting, please contact facebook@puestadelsolpta.org.

For All-School Emails with urgent information not in the El Sol, please contact communications@puestadelsolpta.org.

*Information on the Communications Request Process is also available in the Forms section of the website.*

What is the PTA's policy on the online use of student names and photos?

Our PTA Internet policy prohibits the display of students’ full names and also the display of student photos in which students' identities can be determined.  For names, the PTA will use the student's first name followed by a single initial for the last name, e.g. "Jane D."  For photos, permissible exceptions are those which do not show students' faces (e.g. taken from the back side) or photos in which the students' faces are too small for identification even when the photo is enlarged digitally.

The purpose of this policy is to protect the privacy of our students and their families.  This policy extends to all forms of online posting for PTA-sponsored programs and events and includes and is not limited to the PTA website, the PTA Facebook page, PTA registration tools such as SignupGenius.com, Auction websites, etc.  Student full names and/or photos may be used with express written permission from the student's parent or legal guardian.  This written authorization must be submitted to the PTA president and/or the PTA webmaster and will be stored in our PTA records.  

I need to make some flyers and forms for my event or program.  Are there guidelines I need to follow? 

All flyers and forms that are PTA-sponsored must have the PTA logo on them.  This guideline applies for posting to the website or newsletter, or for distribution on campus.  The PTA logo can be found here:      

PTA Logo - Black and White      
PTA Logo - Color

All Puesta del Sol references must say Puesta del Sol, not Puesta, PdS, PDS, or any shortened version.

Unless there is a good reason to have a Word Document (.doc, .docx) file on the website, you should convert your document to a PDF file format before sending it to the Web Content Editor or the Newsletter Editor.  By using the PDF file format, you are protecting the document from unauthorized edits made by others. 

Flier Distribution Policy

If you have a paper flyer that needs to be handed out, you are responsible for counting it out (class numbers are on the wall above the desk in the PTA Room or on the inside of the door of the PTA Cabinet in the workroom) and putting it into the teacher boxes. 

Online Workflow Packets

How do I set up an Online Packet or Online Workflow to have my class or event registration accessible online, or to sell my event tickets and/or products?

You will need to provide the following information to the webmaster at webmaster@puestadelsolpta.org:

1.  Information about your class/event/product

• who - what grades or ages are being targeted
• what - what is the nature of your class/event/product; please provide sufficient details on the event/class/product to be incorporated into an informational page
• where - place where your class/event will take place
• when - for classes, how many sessions will there be and start/end dates; for events, start/end times
• cost - for classes, how much will it cost per session; for events, are there any fees involved or tickets to be purchased ahead of time; what is the last day to pay, i.e. when do online sales end and is there a different day for last day to pay by check

2.  Registration details - when will registration begin and end, what is the maximum number of people that can register

3.  Do you need volunteers for your event? - If so, please indicate the types of volunteers needed and the number of volunteers for each position.  Please note that if more than one parent in a single family wants to sign up for the same volunteer position (e.g. two parents want to volunteer for "Field Day Set-up"), you will need to instruct the parents to have one of them go through the volunteer sign-up packet twice to be able to enter both parent names for that particular position. Also, when recruiting volunteers, you may need to use an external volunteer sign-up website such as SignupGenius for detailed sign-ups that include multiple days and times.

4.  Other - who to contact for questions; are there forms that need to be filled out prior to attending the first class (i.e. health release forms, etc.)

5.  Reports -  identify who should have access to the registration, payment, and/or volunteer reports

Please note that confidentiality must be maintained for all student and family information accessed through online reports.  Student and family information should only be used to support classes, activities and events held at Puesta del Sol Elementary School. The information is not to be used for any other purpose and may not be used for commercial actions, solicitations or other non-school purposes.  It may not be disseminated except with the express written consent of the school Principal or PTA Board of Directors.

6.  Once your class/event work flow has been set up and registration has begun, please follow-up on registration payments. if your class or event requires a payment and a parent chooses to pay by check instead of by credit card, the check payment must be received within 7 days in the PTA Payments Maibox located in the Main Office.  If payment is not received within the 7 day time frame, then the webmaster should be notified to delete the student's registration.

What if a parent decides to withdraw his or her child from my class or event, or changes his or her mind about purchasing a product and wants a refund?

Please refer to our PTA Financial Policies page and read the section on refunds for specific guidelines.  All refunds are reimbursed by check only.