National PTA News

10/11/2021 11:34 pm

• Listen to National PTA's Notes latest from the Backpack podcast:  What is Social Emotional Learning, Anyway? What life skills does your child need to thrive? There’s a lot of learning happening in schools that goes beyond academics. Karen Van Ausdal talks about what Social and Emotional Learning looks like, why it’s important and how families can help. Listen now.

• October is LGBTQ+ History Month.  National PTA believes that schools should be a safe, supportive and respectful environment for all students.  PTAs believe that every child deserves to go to school excited to learn—without the fear of bullying, violence or discrimination.  To read more and find out how you can become an advocate for LGBTQ youth in our community, click here:  LGBTQ Community Inclusivity in PTA - Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• October is National Arts and Humanities Month.  Encourage your student to enter the National PTA Reflections program.  (See information below about how to participate in our SMS PTA Reflections program.)

Letter from National PTA about Social Media

10/11/2021 11:31 pm

Dear Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers,

Recently there have been a number of worrisome headlines about social media, such as illegal and dangerous ‘challenges’ that have resulted in the destruction of school property by students. 

We all want our teens to use common courtesy whether they're online or offline. 

On behalf of our PTA, we are sharing two resources that we hope will help you and the youth in your household to have a positive, open dialogue about these current events and issues.

Have The Smart Talk. 

This is a free online tool from National PTA that guides kids and caregivers through a conversation together about social media, technology, apps, etc., and helps families set (or revisit) household rules. 

Note: The Smart Talk originally was designed for kids getting their first device, so older teens may feel the tool is not for them, but the actual content is great for kids of any age. Give it a try if you are feeling unsure how to have this conversation, or feel unsure about what topics to address – or simply use it as inspiration for an offline talk with your teen.

Check out the TikTok Guide for Parents. 

This downloadable guide (PDF file) covers a lot of ground about how TikTok works, how to use the safety features and privacy settings, step-by-step instructions on how to report inappropriate content in the app, and more. 

October is National Bullying Prevention Month, and we know kids can experience a lot of social pressures that feel amplified by our increasingly digital lives. It can be hard to know how to broach these topics with our kids, so we hope these two resources help make it a little easier.

October Events

10/4/2021 10:49 am

Thank you for your donation!

10/4/2021 10:48 am

A Message from TikTok: Teen Safety

10/4/2021 10:47 am

We are hearing of offline teen dares being suggested as future ‘TikTok challenges’ and want to be clear: dangerous challenges and illegal behavior are not allowed on our platform and will be removed. While we do not currently see evidence of these supposed 'challenges' on our platform, our safety teams have and will continue to work tirelessly to enforce our Community Guidelines and remove violative content, including content promoting 'devious licks'. We expect teens to use common courtesy whether they're online or offline.

TikTok is committed to reaching parents and guardians by supporting messages on the importance of ongoing conversations with teens about being good citizens online and offline, as we are doing through our collaboration with National PTA. We want to make you aware of the TikTok Guide for Parents we created with National PTA, as it contains critical information about the parental controls available to families on TikTok as well as digital safety information.