Season’s greetings, Brentwood families!

We hope you are feeling cozy and calm, getting ready for the holidays… This is our last Bulldog Bark before Winter Break, and we have just a few quick notes and reminders for you before year’s end. 

If you want to get more involved in the coming year, help us plan Brentwood After Dark 2025, the PTA's annual adults-only night out and fundraiser, to be held at St. John’s Studio, on March 1. You are a talented bunch of parents and community members, so reach out to Christina Hungria (or go to the Brentwood After Dark committee on Konstella) if you are interested in showcasing your skills in planning or managing this fun event. We’re currently collecting silent auction items—feel free to send those our way as well!

Join the PTA Diversity Committee in honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, January 17 from 10 a.m.–12 p.m. with family-friendly, all ages service projects that serve our community. This special day of service will feature projects centered around food insecurity, animal welfare, and homelessness. Stay tuned for more details!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our PTA general body meeting last month. Our featured presenter, Chandra Villanueva, from the organization, Every Texan, illuminated the many facets of school funding, including the history behind recapture, the fact that it’s not keeping pace with inflation, and the need to increase the basic allotment. (If you missed the talk, this video offers a good crash course on school funding.) She highlighted 3 goals that all advocates of public schools should be working toward:

1) Establish long-term funding that counts every child and creates a sustainable revenue model that supports public schools.

2) Increase funding for special education, pre-k, low-income students, and emergent bilingual students.

3) Protect against programs that take crucial funding away from public schools.

In order to succeed, we will all need to work together. Get your loved ones involved as well. The group Grandparents for Public Schools is an easy way for community members to join the fight for public education. Another great way to get involved is showing up at Texas PTA Rally Day, on February 24. Attendance at this event helps to show legislators how much we value public education, the positive impact teachers have on our community, and that Texans deserve an increased basic allotment in per student funding from the state budget.  

Does the idea of going to the Capitol to advocate make you nervous or confused? You are not alone, as it can be an intimidating space. Grab a friend or neighbor and meet us for a short and informal tour of our Texas State Capitol on Friday, December 13 from 10–12 p.m. We'll meet inside, just past security. Brentwood PTA Parliamentarian Steve Bruno, who has years of professional experience at the Capitol, will lead our group in getting more comfortable in the building and with visiting our representatives there. Feel free to drop Steve a message on Konstella if you have questions. Email hello@brentwoodpta.com if you are interested in carpooling to the tour.

In January, the school library will start collecting gently used children's books, puzzles, and games for the annual Used Book Sale, in March. Donation bins will be in the Community Room for easy drop-off. If you are tidying up your bookshelves and cleaning out over the winter break, please keep us in mind. (Note that we do not collect adult books, magazines, or used activity books or journals.)

This beloved Brentwood tradition involves collecting books from Brentwood families and organizing a sale for students in March, keeping great books in circulation among the school community and offering students the opportunity to choose books on their own and come home with a bunch of great finds for only a few dollars (hardcovers are $1 and paperbacks are 50 cents). Students and staff love this event, and it generates excitement in discovering new books to read! Funds raised from the sale are used to purchase new books and materials for the library.

This year, we are also collecting costumes for the Storybook Parade (in April for grades Pre-K–2). If you have costume elements for a storybook character that you’d like to donate, please drop them off in the Community Room starting in January. More details about the Storybook Parade will be shared closer to the event.

Please make sure to reclaim your missing items in the Lost and Found (located in the Community Room) before the winter break!

Do you happen to have a program, event, or volunteer need that you would like published in the Bulldog Bark, on the PTA website, or sent out via social channels? Simply email communications@brentwoodpta.com for consideration.

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