Get Ready for 2025-2026

Hello, Sacajaweans!

Another school year is almost upon us, and we hope you’re enjoying the last bits of your summer vacation.

As we roll into Kindergarten JumpStart and the start of the school year, we want to ensure you can stay connected with our school and PTA updates.

Get Connected

Here are a few things to do (or double-check) as we head toward September:

1. Register for our email list for periodic updates and event notices.

2. Join our Facebook group for more discussion on life at Sacajawea.

3. Interested in volunteering? Contact our volunteer coordinator, Charlene Shanahan, for details: cyshanahan@seattleschools.org.

4. Become a PTA member at Sacajawea.

5. Put our first PTA meeting on your calendar for Thursday, Sept. 11th. PTA meetings will generally be the 2nd Thursday of each month.

Get the Pizza Party on Your Calendar

We’re having a back-to-school pizza party event on Tuesday, September 2nd. We'll meet on the upper playground from 5:30pm - 7:00pm, and we'll have (free) pizza and fun. Come have a bite, see old friends, and meet our newest community members, too. Please bring your own water/drink.

Pay for Your School Supplies

We are pleased to announce that our PTA pre-purchased all homeroom supplies for students for the 2025-26 school year, reducing supply costs by purchasing in bulk and ensuring all students have the necessary supplies. This means families don’t need to go out and buy supplies for their student. Instead, parents only need to provide their child with a backpack and a water bottle.

While we are pre-purchasing the supplies this year, we need families to help cover the costs. The requested amount per student is $40. If purchasing supplies would be a financial burden, the PTA will cover your costs via our scholarship funds.

PTA to Pre-Purchase School Supplies for 2025-26

We are pleased to announce that our PTA will pre-purchase all homeroom supplies for students for the 2025-26 school year. This means families will no longer need to worry about supply lists over the summer. Instead, parents only need to provide their child with a backpack and a water bottle. This change aims to reduce supply costs by purchasing in bulk, ensuring all students have the necessary supplies.

While we are pre-purchasing the supplies this year, we need families to help cover the costs. The requested amount per student is $40. If you need a scholarship, please let Karen Murphy (the Sacajawea Family Support coordinator) know. Her email is ksmurphy@seattleschools.org.

The PTA allocated scholarship funding for these supplies in our budget for the upcoming school year, increasing the importance of our fundraising events, such as the Move-a-thon, Direct Ask, and the Spring Auction. Your contributions during these fundraisers are crucial, as they now help cover the costs of school supplies, ensuring that every student is equipped and ready to learn from day one.

We also want to highlight the ongoing need for volunteers to make this program successful. We are looking for dedicated individuals to assist in various tasks, including finding the best prices for supplies, making bulk purchases, delivering supplies to the school, and organizing them for distribution. The volunteering opportunities are designed to be flexible, allowing parents to contribute in ways that fit their schedules. If you’re interested in helping or have any questions, please get in touch with us at supplies@sacpta.org.

Family Support Resources for Summer 2025

Summer Meals

SUN Bucks

Do you know about Sun Bucks?

SUN Bucks is a new program that provides $120 in food benefits for every eligible child in your family. These benefits can be used to purchase groceries during the summer months.

Eligibility:
Eligibility is primarily based on participation in public assistance programs such as SNAP, TANF, or an approved application for free school meals. Families can also qualify based on household income. There is no citizenship requirement, and SUN Bucks is not considered under the public charge rule.

How to enroll:
Most eligible families will be automatically certified for SUN Bucks and do not need to apply.

• Sun Bucks Screening Tool (English only)

• More info about Sun Bucks

For local meal sites and eligibility requirements, text FOOD to 509-509.

Hunger Intervention Program (HIP) – Free Summer Eats

HIP’s Summer Meals for Kids provides freshly made, nutritious meals from the HIP kitchen at kid-friendly, accessible locations around North Seattle. Recognizing that food insecurity impacts the whole family, parents or caregivers are invited to share a meal with their child.

More info

Seattle Summer Meal Program

Summer 2025 meal sites will operate from June 25 through August 22.

Each youth can receive up to two meals or one meal and one snack per day to be eaten onsite.

All Seattle residents are eligible for these programs and services regardless of immigration status (unless otherwise noted).

More info

Note: As of June 17, food sites have not yet been listed on the website.

Resources

Akin Summer Resource Fair

Join us for food, fun, and essentials at the Akin Summer Resource Fair:

Date: June 24th
Time: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Families can access:

• Fresh produce

• Hygiene kits

• Arts & crafts kits

• Children’s books

• Diapers

• Beanie Babies

• Reduced fee state IDs and Real IDs (Dept of Licensing & DSHS on site)

First come, first served! Please bring your own bags.

Questions? Call: (206) 364-7930

FamilyWorks

FamilyWorks offers food access and family support programs in North Seattle, helping families thrive.

Services include:

• Rental Assistance

• Utility Discount Programs

• ORCA Lift

• SNAP/EBT

• And more!

Drop-in Hours:

Family Resource Center

• Wednesdays: 2:00 – 5:00 pm

• Fridays: 11:00 am – 2:00 pm

Wallingford Food Bank

• Tuesdays: 12:00 – 2:00 pm

• Thursdays: 3:00 – 6:00 pm

• Fridays: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Contact to schedule a one-on-one appointment:

• Email: theteam@familyworksseattle.org

• Phone: (206) 647-1770 ext. 4

More info

Food Banks

University District Food Bank

Our U-District Pantry is open for in-person shopping on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. We offer fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy, eggs or frozen meat, canned and dried goods, toiletries, baby formula, diapers, and pet food plus connections to important community resources. 

We try to provide food for several days, but please follow posted  guidelines so that food is available for all our customers.

More info about University District Food Bank

Weekly Pop-up Food Pantry at North Seattle College

North Seattle College and University District Food Bank have partnered to offer a weekly pop-up food pantry:

Date: Tuesdays | 4:00 – 7:00 pm
Location: 9600 College Way N (Southeast end of campus, inside parking garage)

The pantry serves students and community members from surrounding neighborhoods.

Offerings include:

• Fresh produce

• Milk or non-dairy milk

• Meat or eggs

• Canned foods

• Other pantry staples

Food is available through both walk-up and drive-through options. (Please note: short wait times may occur for the drive-through.)

North Helpline – Lake City Location

Neighbors may access our two food banks up to six times per month. A visit to either of our two food banks counts towards the same six visit limit. It is not 6 visits per location. You can visit each of our two food banks once per day. If you visit both of our food banks on the same day, it will count as 2 of your 6 visits. You will be told at check-in when you are on your final (sixth) visit of the month. Your six visits begin again on the first of each month.

More info

Congrats to our 2025 PTA Award Winners!

Congratulations to our PTA Award Nominees and Winners! At Sacajawea, we are fortunate to have so many dedicated and amazing individuals who contribute their time and energy to make our school community thrive.

This year, we are thrilled to recognize seven exceptional people whose efforts have made a significant impact. We truly appreciate each and every one of you for your unwavering commitment and hard work. Let's celebrate their achievements and dedication to making Sacajawea a better place for all our children.

Golden Acorn Awards

Our Golden Acorn Awards recognize exemplary and outstanding volunteerism and service to our PTA, school and community.

Jane Demel (Eben’s Mom)

For the past three years, Jane has been our PTA Advocacy Lead and this year, it was a doozy!  When we learned that Sacajawea was on the recommended school closure list, Jane spearheaded the efforts against this by organizing rallies, inviting board members to tour our school and bringing the whole community together to fight against these recommendations. She spent countless hours attending meetings across the district and state to learn how to better fight against the closure. We’ll be open next year because of her efforts! 

This Spring, Jane pushed to get the word out about free lunch being available to all Sac students. Without her, our community would never have known. Her efforts are relentless, and they make a meaningful difference for the kids in our community.

In addition to advocacy, Jane is a friendly presence at all our events, she’s often the one in the know on our Facebook page and helps in the lunchroom when her schedule allows!

Stephanie Schroder (Lucas’ Mom)

Stephanie has been a reliable and consistent volunteer for our PTA for several years. She has quietly taken on more roles, making a huge positive impact for our community. Whether it is updating the reader board, running field day, hosting the walk & roll to school, helping on picture days, taking yearbook photos, or most recently co-leading the Move-a-thon.  Which was a blast! The classroom colors were genius!  She is super organized and knows all the fun things that the kids love.  

In addition, Stephanie is a Room Parent and has taken over writing our S.DOT grant (which funds the Safety Patrol, Walk to School event and provides safety books for the library).  She does all of this so efficiently; she makes it look effortless.  She has jumped in to help wherever she is needed and is a huge reason that stuff gets done!

Heather Platisha (Luca’s Mom)

As PTA co-chair for the last two years, Heather brought a thoughtful and approachable leadership style to the role. She's open to all ideas and discussions while being mindful of time.  Her ability to navigate these conversations while being productive and respectful has been really appreciated. Heather is always a friendly face at events and welcoming to new families to the school.  She can be counted on to be a Field Trip chaperone and has also been a Room Parent for many years, is taking on the task of helping to organize this year’s 5th Grade Graduation.  Heather SHINES and Sacajawea is lucky!

Outstanding Educator Award

This award recognizes a member of the staff who has made exceptional contributions at Sacajawea to enhance the educational outcomes of our students.

Susie Bunker (PE Teacher)

Ms. Susie - Is a Sacajawea Favorite!!!  She has brought such joy, positive energy, and empathy to teaching PE.  Her classes are well thought out and prepared. It’s clear how much she cares about the kids by the engaging and inclusive activities she arranges for students of different ages and abilities. She works hard to make sure everyone can participate and more importantly, she treats everyone with kindness and respect. 

Ms. Susie has also brought Athletic Skills Night to Sacajawea- a talent show for athleticism that was so popular this year, the gym was standing room only!! She is the Shining Star point person for the Upper Grades , she created and leads the Recess Crew - a huge leadership opportunity for our 3rd through 5th graders. With her help, the Crew put together sports equipment for each class room.  This year they held a bake and craft sale to raise money to buy and install a Buddy Bench on the playground.  

In addition, Susie coordinated the Seattle Storm assembly and secured a $5000 grant for PE equipment!!!  Plus, she arranged for every grade to go to the Kraken Community Complex for an ice skating field trip on four different days. This took a huge amount of time and coordination. She is amazing!

As a co-worker, Susie also SHINES.  She is a member of the BLT, she is a caring and supportive friend and a talented cook who shares her delicious treats with us when we need it most!

One nomination sums it up perfectly:

“Ms. Susie, You truly SHINE. You've taught our children safety with bike riding, roller skating, archery, and so many amazing activities! You help in endless ways throughout the school and pta events, You have had such a positive impact on our school. Our children, the staff, and our community absolutely adore you and see you SHINE every day.”

SHINE Award

The Roy Norman SHINE Award is given in honor of Ms. Norman’s (our Admin Secretary of many years) late husband. Roy was an amazing man who fully embodied the SHINE principles at Sacajawea of being Safe, Helpful, Inclusive, Neighborly, and Engaged!  Roy was an amazing man and the type of person who would jump in to help anyone, anywhere. He fully embodied the SHINE principles at Sacajawea of being Safe, Helpful, Inclusive, Neighborly and Engaged!

Becca Cahall (Wiley’s Mom)

Becca has been a behind-the-scenes force at Sacajawea for years, consistently stepping up to fill in whenever a need arises. Becca has helped with classroom activities, and volunteered at school events, been a Room Parent for many years, volunteers at all events and has been especially critical as a longtime member of the Equity team. With Equity she helps write newsletters, organizes events, and has been responsible for coordinating the entire BLM t-shirt contest and distribution. 

Becca is someone you can always turn to if you need support getting something done, and on top of all that is just a fantastic person!"

Karen Murphy (Leonie’s Mom)

Karen was a Golden Acorn recipient two years ago but there were so many nominations this year for the continued incredible volunteering she does, we had to acknowledge her for the SHINE award! Karen's long commitment to Sacajawea shines as she fills various roles and capacities within our community.

It's hard to know all that Karen does because she does so much as both staff and a volunteer. She puts in so much time and thought into her role as Family Support Coordinator that goes far beyond the slated hours for the job. She organizes the Arts and Science Fair, is on the Arts and Culture Committee, is our former PTA president, has been a Room Parent, event volunteer, field trip chaperone and so much more!  You can't have been at Sac for long without her energy having positively influenced your experience in some manner. Karen, your passion and dedication to the families at Sacajawea is unmatched.  

Rebekah Santiago

Ms. Rebekah is a sunny and caring presence in the lunchroom who makes everyone feel welcome and seen. She is a cheerleader for every student and takes the time to really connect with them. She also knows every child's allergies, aversions, likes and dislikes.  She slices apples for kids with braces, she warms up home lunches, cuts open Gogurts, all while keeping up with the cafeteria lines! As the kids shared, “Ms Rebekah is so kind and cooks such great food!”

She continually goes above and beyond to creatively come up with healthy meals (when deliveries go wrong or orders get delayed.) In the spring when Rebekah was alerted to the free lunch for all Sac students, she jumped into action.  She immediately ordered more food and supplies to be able to feed everyone. 

Rebekah also takes extra time to mentor kids who want to contribute. Every day a different classroom gets to help clean up the lunchroom, making them feel valued for their work on behalf of the community.  She also spends her own money to give out Hershey Kisses to all the helpers.

She is always smiling and her school spirit is unmatched on Sac spirit days she goes all out and the tradition is that she is the parade finale!  The kids roar when she crosses the stage.

Thank You Jane, Stephanie, Heather, Susie, Becca, Karen and Rebekah!  Our school is a better place because of all your efforts.

Membership Vote for 2025-2026 Budget and Executive Board

On June 11th, we’ll hold our annual Ice Cream Social at 5:30pm on the lower playground. This gathering will offer us a chance to mark the end of the school year and to celebrate our teachers and volunteers.

The event will also serve as our final membership meeting of the year, and we’ll conduct a voice vote to approve our proposed budget and executive board for 2025-2026.

Proposed Budget

We believe this proposed budget supports the educational experience of every student at our school and is a concrete representation of our PTA’s values of equity, collaboration, community-centricity, and transparency.

This year, we are proposing a budget of $102.0K, a 1.5% decrease from our current budget of $103.5K.

The largest areas of spending are:

• Staffing, $44.5K. This includes funding for our Reading Specialist ($20.5K), Hourly Staffing and Tutors ($8K), Volunteer Coordinator ($8K), Family Support Coordinator ($3K), and Kindergarten Jumpstart ($5K).

• Classroom Support, $18K. This includes funding for classroom supplies ($8K), teacher stipends and reimbursements ($10K).

• Family Support, $17K. This includes supplements and grocery cards for our Packs for Kids families ($10K) and scholarship funds for various programs throughout the year ($7K).

• Arts and Culture, $9.5K. This includes Teacher Appreciation ($5K), Field Trip Buses ($2.5K) and Equity Team ($2.5K).

To review the entire proposal, along with prior years’ budgets, please see our PTA Budget page.

Proposed Executive Board

The PTA’s nominating committee is excited to announce the following slate of members to become our executive board for the upcoming school year.

• Co-Chair: Tiffany Elliott

• Co-Chair: Amalia Poquiz Mayor

• Secretary: Jailanie Kaganovsky

• Treasurer: Cheryl Davis

At the event, we’ll hold two separate voice votes, one for the budget and one for the board.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email exec@sacpta.org.