Future of the PSO?

Like many service & community organizations, the Covid crisis hit EW’s Parent Staff Organization hard significantly diminishing the connection, involvement and momentum built over many years. Since then, we’ve operated with a small, dedicated band of volunteers keeping our mission of serving students & staff at Edmonds Woodway alive… though struggling to grow back to the vibrant organization of the past.

Today, we’re looking toward the end of the 2024-25 academic year with grave concerns about the future of the PSO ability to continue to operate simply due to lack of active members and potential board members.

What Is The PSO?

We are one of 4 key non-governmental organizations serving the students, staff and administration of the Edmonds Woodway High School.

• Associated Student Body (ASB) – the student led group serving students, and providing leadership, management and resources to student groups, clubs, arts & sports.
  
• Athletic Booster Club (ABC) – the parent led group supporting athletics programs, activities & initiatives.
  
• Music Boosters – the parent led group supporting athletics programs, activities & initiatives.
  
• Parent Staff Organization (PSO) – the parent led group providing support to students & staff for all other areas not covered by athletics & music… including arts, classroom & activity grants, library resources, tutoring, food & housing hardship, community building, teacher/staff appreciation and so much more. In addition, we provide an opportunity to connect with administration & staff to discuss ideas & concerns for our school and community.

(*PSO vs PTA? Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is a specific licensed organization/trademark which requiring membership and related fees from the school group and members. Through paid membership, the national, state and local PTA organizations provide value to members through education, advocacy, resources, insurance, etc… which help groups operate and thrive. That said, like many other schools in our region, the early leaders of our parent group elected to be independent of the PTA organization for a number of reasons including costs, which is why we are known as a Parent Staff Organization.)

Why Is A PSO Important?

While we all may differ on nature and severity of the resource & funding crisis in our schools, nearly everyone in our community will agree there are critical gaps in all schools, including Edmonds Woodway, which diminish the opportunities for a full, enjoyable and productive education and experience for our students. While a PSO cannot make up for all of these gaps, we can make a difference in closing some of these gaps through fundraising, volunteering & advocacy.

Even without funding & resource gaps, PSOs play an important in enriching the education and experience of our students through support of trips, projects & initiatives, as well as gratitude for the staff & administrators who work tirelessly to keep our school safe, fun and achieving at high levels.

How To Get Involved?

It’s not difficult, expensive or time consuming… nor do you need any specific academic, work or administrative background. You just need to have a passion for helping our students & staff, a bit of time to attend meetings from time to time and hopefully a couple of hours every month or two to attend an event, volunteer or help us keep our mission moving forward.

Of course, if you have more time, energy and initiative, there’s always ways it can be put to great use to make even more of a difference.

What’s On The Agenda?

Quite honestly, the agenda changes based on your involvement… the ideas of our members are what grow into the vision for tomorrow.

Over the past couple of years, here are key programs of the PSO:

• Joy of Giving: helping students facing hardship enjoy brighter holidays.
  
• Library Grants: making up the gaps in resource funding to ensure students have access to the latest literature.
  
• Tutoring Grants: funding & resources for special after school tutoring programs to keep students on track to graduate.
  
• Teacher & Staff Appreciation: 4 to 5 events each year showing support & appreciation especially on the longer days & weeks around end of term, conferences, etc.
  
• Community Building: the welcome back BBQ events to bring together parents and students of all classes at the start of the year.
  
• Classroom & Student Group Grants: funding to help provide the resources teachers & student groups need for success and enrichment.

What Isn’t Getting Done?

We want to do more, but simply lack resources… primarily members & volunteers, though funding is helpful too. Some of the ideas which are gathering dust at the moment:

• Edmonds Woodway Alumni Association – a committee which would help organize communication & events for student, staff & parent alumni of Edmonds, Woodway & Edmonds Woodway High Schools with the goal of building a greater, lifelong sense of community for all.
  
• Parent Education & Resource Events – speakers & other resources helping parents navigate the regular and latest challenges of helping our students and families through high school & beyond… from dealing with drugs, depression, bullying, etc…. to helping our kids create, build and fund a vision for their future career whether through college, vocational education, internships, etc.
  
• _____________ <<< Your Great Idea Here – what do you think we could do to help parents, students, staff and our community?

What If?

In order to keep our non-profit status with the Federal Government, as well as qualify for certain state programs to enable us to host fundraising and other events, we need to maintain a board of 4 members (President, Vice President, Treasurer & Secretary) and an active membership of 20+ more members who vote to elect our board. While we have far more than 20 people on our mailing list and various social accounts, the our highest attendance at a meeting in the past years was 15… with 9 parents not on the board ( this doesn’t not count the welcome back BBQs which were attended by hundreds).

Presently, we have a vacant Vice President seat on the board, and our current board members are either graduating out of the school or are considering not renewing their roles after multiple years of service.

If we are not able to find sufficient active membership and a board for 2025-26, we may need to consider fundamental change to the PSO organization & mission, or simply an organized shut down until there is sufficient interest & involvement in the community to bring in back.

What’s Next?

If having a vibrant, active & contributing PSO for your student’s school is important to you, we encourage you to:

Contact Us… email us and share your ideas on how we can strengthen the future of the PSO and/or let us know how you’d like to get involved.

Join Us For A Meeting… join us for our upcoming meeting Thursday, February 20th at 630pm in the EWHS Library (or via Zoom) where we’ll be discussing this issue and more.

Thank You!

If you’re still with me… thank you for reading this far! I appreciate you, and your interest in the PSO and serving our students & community. I sincerely hope we can work together to bring the PSO back to great times we experience in prior years.

Jamie Reece
EWHS PSO President 2024-25