These initiatives include:
- Anti-Bullying
- Anti-Racism
- Mental Health Support
- LGBTQ+ Inclusion
- Disability Advocacy and Education
Anti-Bullying
National PTA released the findings in June 2023 of a national survey exploring the mindsets of parents and caregivers as the 2022-23 school year ended. One of the key findings of the survey showed that school violence and bullying is the lead concern of parents and caregivers. More than 6 in 10 parents surveyed reported that they worry a lot or somewhat about school violence, and this worry experienced the largest increase over the course of NPTA’s three surveys exploring parent/caregiver mindsets.
Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Both kids who are bullied and who bully others may have serious, lasting problems.
In order to be considered bullying, the behavior must be aggressive and include:
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An Imbalance of Power: Kids who bully use their power—such as physical strength, access to embarrassing information, or popularity—to control or harm others. Power imbalances can change over time and in different situations, even if they involve the same people.
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Repetition: Bullying behaviors happen more than once or have the potential to happen more than once.
Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
Types of Bullying
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Verbal bullying
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Social bullying (ie: relational bullying)
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Physical bullying
Mill Creek Elementary PTA (MCEPTA) is committed to advocating for institutional and systemic changes that ensure equity, justice, respect, and inclusion of all children. MCEPTA strives to be anti-racist. Advocacy is a key pillar of MCEPTA’s mission. Therefore, we recognize that working to dismantle institutional racism and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion is an integral part of PTA’s work and its vision of making every child’s potential a reality. Our commitment to this is in alignment with the commitments affirmed by National PTA.
"Courage is contagious. To scale daring leadership and build courage in teams and organizations, we have to cultivate a culture in which brave work, tough conversations, and whole hearts are the expectation, and armor is not necessary or rewarded. If we want people to fully show up, to bring their whole selves including their unarmored, whole hearts--so that we can innovate, solve problems, and serve people--we have to be vigilant about creating a culture in which people feel safe, seen, heard, and respected." - Brene Brown
LGBTQ+ Inclusion
National PTA believes that schools should be a safe, supportive and respectful environment for all students. However, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) students are more likely than their peers to be bullied, feel unsafe in school and skip school due to safety concerns. Within this climate of hostility, one in six LGBTQ youth report being physically assaulted within the past year because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. And LGBTQ students are two to four times more likely to commit suicide than their non-LGBTQ peers.
PTA believe that every child deserves to go to school excited to learn—without the fear of bullying, violence or discrimination. When PTA respects differences-yet acknowledges shared commonalities, it unifies their communities and allows them to develop meaningful priorities that broadly represent their students, families and school. This strengthens the community they serve with effective volunteer and resource support.
In May 2024, MCE PTA was recognized with the National PTA Jan Harp Domene Diversity and Inclusion Award:
”Mill Creek Elementary PTA in Washington state has dedicated its efforts to fostering an inclusive school community. Despite socio-economic shifts and challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, Mill Creek Elementary PTA has prioritized accessibility, offered free events and programs, and provided language support for diverse families. The PTA’s support for LGBTQ+ families, increased social media presence, and multilingual volunteer efforts have further enhanced inclusivity in their school community. Mill Creek Elementary PTA has set a high standard for and remains steadfast in its commitment to diversity, inclusion and outreach.”
MCE PTA is committed to providing programs and practices to ensure that everyone is provided with an equitable and inclusive experience. The DEI chair description includes examining current community needs and best practices for meeting them, for example the need for land acknowledgements, preferred language usages, sensitivity issues, and any other DEI needs of our community.
Land Acknowledgement
The heart of MCE PTA's work, members, and meeting place exists on Indigenous land. We acknowledge the ancestral homelands of the Coast Salish Tribes, in particular the Stillaguamish, Snohomish, and Tulalip Tribes who were the original caretakers of the magnificent landscape in what is now known as Mill Creek. We are grateful to respectfully serve, advocate, and work as guests on this land as we strive to unlearn colonialism. MCE PTA is deeply committed to equitable and inclusive advocacy work for all within our school community and this land acknowledgement is one small act in the recognition and importance of centering Indigenous sovereignty and ensuring historical truth-telling.
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