PAA-Roanoke VA leader on education panelLaura Bowman, leader of PAA-Roanoke VA, was recently on an education issues panel for a think tank sponsored by Dell. You can read more about the session
here.
Laura took PAA talking points with her to the Think Tank. She says, "I appreciate all of the advocacy efforts of those in this group. You help give me the courage to speak up for children and public schools." Laura, thanks for helping make parents' voices heard!
More from Laura: I've had a busy fall advocating for public schools. As the head of the Roanoke County Council of PTAs I led an Education Town Hall Meeting, and as a result of it, our PTA Council is organizing a Resolution Committee to adopt a Resolution Against High Stakes Testing.
I met with Terry McCauliffe, our newly elected Governor of Virginia, while he was running for office. I spoke to him about proven reforms and my presentation was well received. I also spoke with gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli and shared my concerns about charters with him.
Successful PAA conference in Indianapolis 
The "Active in Urban Education Conference," organized by PAA-Indiana leader Delana Ivey, was a great success.
PAA co-founder Julie Woestehoff presented a session on PAA's national action network including federal ESEA reauthorisation, student data sharing, testing, and boycotting WalMart.
You can download and share the
Take Action handout Julie brought to the conference along with the fact sheet,
Why would anyone who cares about public schools shop at WalMart?
The best parts of this conference were the people and the discussions. Here's a photo of PAA member Nate Harris in an exchange with an Indy student who asked where the solutions are. Nate says we need to come together to address the bigger picture -- that school systems are designed to serve the majority culture.
And that's what we have to change.
PAA affiliate Sacramento Stand for the Silent to host another "Bully" 
screening
From Tannia Chavez, leader of PAA affiliate Sacramento Stand for the Silent:
Hello Everyone!! Here's our poster for the Screening of the "BULLY" on Saturday January 18th at 9am. DON'T FORGET to join us!! and DON'T FORGET to Share and Forward our post.
Let's make this event BIG!! Lets fill up all the seats like when people go see Transformers on opening night. The only difference is that this movie will Transform you. Instead of being a bystander it will Transform you to be a upstander. To help and Stand Up For The Silent.
Come Join Us!!!
More news from PAA founding member Helen Gym