Child Identity Theft: Don’t be so Social with Social Security Numbers

PTA-LifeLock-Social-Media-ImageSponsored Post

LifeLock is a financial sponsor of National PTA, and has been invited to submit a blog post as part of their engagement with PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product, or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.

When my wife was pregnant, I gave my information out to everyone. My wife’s doctor. The hospital. The lab. The pharmacy. You name it, they wanted my information. And in most cases, even my Social Security number.

When my daughter was born, places started asking for her information too.

In my line of work, I think about identity theft a lot. Last month I talked about some of the ways identity thieves can use your stolen information. It’s scary to think about. And it’s even scarier when I think about what that could mean for my daughter. The thefts can take the form of loans and credit, but some also in the form of utility accounts. Identity thieves may target children because their Social Security numbers may not be frequently used. If there is no credit history, bad credit may not get in the way of the crime.

And I confess, I’ve never checked my daughter’s credit report. I’m guessing that goes for most of you too. Once a thief gets his/her hands on a child’s information, it could be used for years before anyone notices.

So what’s the big deal? It’s not like our kids are using their credit, right? Unfortunately, identity theft could affect a child’s future credit, and may cause problems when he or she applies for an apartment, a job or even college.

In my last post, I provided some easy steps to help protect you from identity theft. All of those can work for your child too. But what if something does happen? How would you even know?

There are some signs you should look for:

  • Your child receives calls from collections agencies.
  • Your child starts getting pre-approved credit card offers, or an actual credit card in the mail.
  • You receive a notice from the IRS saying that your child’s information is listed on another tax return.
  • You or your child is denied government assistance because income or benefits are already assigned to his/her Social Security number.

If any of these things does happen, or anything else that makes you suspicious, take action immediately! If your child is enrolled in an identity theft protection service, call them. LifeLock offers a product designed specifically for children, LifeLock Junior™ protection, that is an add-on to LifeLock’s existing suite of protection products.  If your child is not enrolled in an identity theft protection service, contact the three major credit bureaus and report it.

Identity theft shouldn’t be something you think about all the time, but we all need to be aware of the risks. Especially for our children. Be cautious with their information, and pay attention to any warning signs. As for checking those credit reports…I’m going to order my daughter’s today.

Did you know?

PTA members are entitled to a special rate on all LifeLock identity theft protection products. Get one month free plus a lifetime 10% discount using coupon code PTA. Call 1-800-Life-Lock or visit lifelock.com.


Jaramy Conners is the Corporate Communications Manager at LifeLock.

Connected Educator Month: Worldwide Free Professional Learning Every Day in October

Connected Educators Month Starter KitWhat is Connected Educator Month?

Connected Educator Month was started in 2012 by the U.S. Department of Education as a way to get educators proficient with social media to improve their practice, help schools integrate connected learning into their formal professional development efforts, and stimulate and support innovation in the field of education. This year, more than 350 educational organizations, schools, and school districts are participating in Connected Educator Month, and more than 750 free, national professional learning events and activities are scheduled around connected education.

Get involved

Here are our top 10 ways to get involved with Connected Educator Month in 2014, whether you’re an individual educator, a school or an organization.

1. Download your free Starter Kit

The Connected Educator Month Starter Kit is loaded with helpful links and embedded videos. It takes a 31 days approach for this special month, giving you one simple way to get more connected every day.

2. Get to know our 2014 themes

Learn more about this year’s themes, chosen by the people, for the people. The themes cover everything from blended learning to the maker movement and are led by top educational organizations.

3. Create a calendar profile, find and add events

The Connected Educator Month calendar is packed with more than 750 events. Create a free personal account, and then make a custom schedule that you can integrate with your own calendar system. Learn more here and watch tutorial videos. You can also add your own events to the calendar.

4. Earn graduate credit

The University of North Dakota is offering 1 or 2 graduate credits for participating in Connected Educator Month activities and events. Learn how you can earn graduate credits and how to register.

5. Listen to Connected Educators Radio

Tune in to Connected Educators Radio to hear the latest developments on connected educator initiatives around the globe, highlights from connected events and the back stories on the people and programs involved in the drive to connect the entire education community worldwide.

6. Support the cause

From donating prizes that can be awarded in our weekly crowdfunding contests to starting a crowdfunding team and raising funds, there are lots of ways to get involved. Find out more about our crowdfunding campaign, and how we’re encouraging individuals and organizations to own a piece of Connected Educator Month this year.

7. Blog, Tweet, and help spread the word

Want to show your support for Connected Educator Month and what it stands for? Check out the supporter toolkit— where you’ll find a large collection of graphics, written copy, Tweetables, and other promotional tools to help spread the word through blogging or social media.

8. Join a Book Club

The Connected Educators Book Club is an opportunity to read books about or related to connected learning and online communities. You can discuss the books with your peers and authors through self-paced dialog and get involved in other scheduled activities such as Twitter chats, webinars and more.

9. Make connections with edConnectr

edConnectr is an app that uses tags and maps to make it easy and fun to create profiles to collaborate, get help, or just connect.

10. Make friends with Connected Educator Month

Follow Connected Educator Month on these social networks:

@edconnectr on Twitter | #ce14 | Facebook | Pinterest | Google+

We can’t wait to learn with you

Connected Educator Month 2014 is already bigger and better than ever before thanks to our partners, participating organizations, and most of all, thanks to you! However you can get involved—whether it’s attending a Twitter chat, watching a free webinar or leading an event—we can’t wait to learn with you!


Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach has been a classroom teacher, technology coach, charter school principal, district administrator, university instructor and digital learning consultant. Sheryl is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Powerful Learning Practice, where she works with schools and districts from around the world to re-envision their learning cultures and communities through the Connected Learner Experienceand other e-learning opportunities. She is the author (with Lani Ritter Hall) of The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age and serves on the executive board for ISTE (The International Society for Technology in Education).

ENGAGE! in the Power of Positive Thoughts

Sherri_WilsonI really believe in lifelong learning. I try to model behavior for my kids to show them I really believe in it and also because it makes me a better person! The class I’m currently taking is The Science of Happiness from UC Berkeley. I’ve just started but the topic is fascinating and I can already see how parents and teachers would benefit from understanding some of the brain research coming out of this field!

Positive Emotions Yield Student Success

According to Dr. Barbara Frederickson, a highly respected researcher of positive emotions, cultivating positivity can make us more creative, resilient, and better connected to others. Dr Frederickson says positive emotions open us up or broaden our perspective and transforms us by bringing out the best in us.

Opening us up has some impressive results. People become more creative and are better at problem solving. They are more resilient and better able to cope with challenges. One of the most interesting findings she cited was an improvement in the academic performance of kids. According to Dr. Frederickson research has also shown that kids do better on tests if they’re asked to sit and think of a positive memory right before they take the test.

Parents can empower their own children by helping them start their day in a positive way. Make sure they feel good about the day ahead as they walk out the door, send them off with positive messages about what a great day they are going to have. When they get home ask them questions that help them reflect on the positive experiences they had at school before discussing any problems. When they come home with something they are really proud of ask them how they felt when they got their scores. Some of the questions you can ask might be “What was the greatest thing that happened in school today?” or “What was the best part of your day today?” or even “How great did you feel when you saw you aced that exam?”

Positive Emotions Yield Positive Leaders

Dr Frederickson also found positive emotions help us make better connections to others, even across groups. Positive emotions help us look past racial and cultural differences and see the unique individuals behind those traits. They help us see the universal qualities we share with others, instead of our differences. And other experiments have shown bringing out positive emotions, makes people more trusting and allows them to resolve situations with more win-wins.

That’s why it’s important for PTA leaders to remember the power of positive emotions as they recruit new volunteers, celebrate successful programs or events, and build relationships with school leaders. Starting each meeting with a positive message and a heartfelt thank you to any volunteers will make everyone feel good about being a part of the group!

How Much is Enough?

So how much positivity do we need? Dr Frederickson says high functioning people are those who score well on things like self-acceptance, purpose in life, environmental mastery, positive relationships with others, and personal growth and they typically experience a ratio of about three positive emotions to every negative one.

John Gottman’s research found unless married couples have at least five positive comments or interactions for every negative one, their marriage is likely to end. Also, high performance teams have almost six positive “utterances” for every one negative.

What Does it Mean for Us?

If you believe, as I do, that relationships are the secret to the universe, shouldn’t we make an effort to have positive interactions with everyone we meet? Certainly, sending the kids to school with a happy memory will help them start their day on a positive note. Also, interactions with teachers and administrators are more likely to result in win-win situations when we approach each other from a positive place.

If you are interested in learning more about the Science of Happiness, consider joining the course! For more information, about that one and many others check out the EDX site and you can read more of these studies and sign up for free newsletters at the Greater Good Science Center.

ENGAGE! is a weekly column on Family Engagement written by Sherri Wilson, Senior Manager of Family and Community Engagement at the National PTA. Sherri is the former Director of the Alabama Parent Information and Resource Center and is currently responsible for developing and implementing programs related to family and community engagement at the National PTA.

The Power of Working Together

Raider3My first year of Presidency really consisted of a lot of learning; reading PTA Publications (newsletters, e-newspapers, magazines), exploring the NYS PTA and the National PTA websites, attending Western Region meetings, and most importantly going to PTA conferences and workshops. We only had a handful of people, who is all you really need to start a PTA, but we also had the backing of our School Board, Administrators, Teacher’s Union, Grounds and Maintenance, Transportation Department, and the support of the community. Without this, our visions and hopes and dreams for what we saw possible to happen within our schools, would not have been able to become a reality.

Raider4During my second year of being President, one of my goals was to try to communicate with the whole school community, and find out how the Eden Central PTA could be of assistance to them. I started with the Superintendent, whom had actually asked me to meet with her. I told her that we were in the process of forming committees, and that we had started two already, the Academic Competition Committee and the Parents of Special Education Committee. Then, I attended a Teacher’s Union meeting. I explained that what they were fighting for in education, were the same things that the PTA was fighting for. I told them that through the National PTA, there were already a number of people across the country whose voices were backing them, and that their voices were making a difference. In turn, I asked them to support us. I talked with the Transportation Department to find out if they had any concerns and asked how the PTA could be of assistance to them. Grounds and Maintenance were just always there for us, helping us in any way they could; we thank them for that. And of course the community, it takes a community to raise a child. We reached out to local businesses to let them know that we wanted to support them, and they supported us right back; helping us with our Autism Walk and other various fundraisers. Then we utilized community resources to help enrich parent’s lives. I formed eight more committees based on the conversations that I had with all of these people, hoping to meet the needs of the community. In doing all of this, I still always felt like I wasn’t doing enough, there were so many more people and organizations that I wanted to reach out to and connect with.

Besides being PTA President, I also joined The New York Educators Voice Network, which was a network for teachers to have a voice to support the Common Core Curriculum. And now, as Associate Director of Western Region PTA, I am helping out with family engagement in the Buffalo School District. What I am seeing in both of these “jobs,” is that everyone is disjointed. We are all trying to do the same thing; accomplish the same goals, support the same worthy causes. As I have been partaking in these various roles, I have been making many personal connections and linking people together. As these organizations connect they become more knowledgeable and can pool resources, making them stronger. Their voices also unite and become stronger.

Raider2Message: The more people work together, the more they share. The more people share, the more they know. The more people know, the more they want their voice to be heard for what is right for children across the country. The more people are making their voices heard, the stronger their voices are. I urge you to learn about the other organizations that are working towards the same goals as yourself and unite your efforts. There is strength and power in numbers, and in people working together; pooling resources, knowledge, and their voices!

Tiffany Kwas grew up outside of Buffalo, New York. She attended SUNY Purchase for her undergrad work, studying in both Women’s Studies and Psychology. Then she pursued her Masters in Education from D’Youville College. Tiffany has been teaching for 19 years and is currently a member of the New York Educator’s VOICE Network; supporting the Common Core Curriculum. She is also an associate Director for Western Region PTA.

 

Start Planning Your PTA Take Your Family to School Week, February 16-20, 2015

ParentsAtSchoolNational PTA’s Take Your Family to School Week will be from Feb. 16-20, 2015. In celebration of PTA’s Founder’s Day, this year’s theme will be Supporting Student Success, focusing on family engagement solutions that are proven to help prevent the risks associated with high school dropout rates.

PTA’s Take Your Family to School Week is a great time to:

  • Increase family engagement in education by showing families interactive ways to support student achievement in reading and math. Host a PTA Family Reading Experience, math event or workshop for parents on the ways to support student success.
  • Increase student access to arts education, which is proven to increase attendance rates, family engagement, and social connectedness to school. Host a Reflections celebration or a creative career fair event.
  • Build safer, more supportive school climates full of healthy student relationships, through bullying prevention and cultural awareness activities.

National PTA’s Take Your Family to School Week Kit has all the tools needed to get started.  For the first time this year, National PTA will ship a PTA Take Your Family to School Week Toolkit to:

All kit and grant recipients must be in good-standing with their State PTA and be a 501(c)(3) organization. Below are the steps to take advantage of this opportunity:

  1. View the sign up and grant application form to prepare for your online submission.
  2. Visit PTA.org/TYFTSW to see the 2014 toolkit and consider the type(s) of event(s) you will host. We have tools for events focused on family engagement, literacy, math, bullying prevention, Reflections celebration, career fair, or celebrating many cultures.
  3. Complete event sign-up form by Monday, November 3 to be considered for the kit shipment.
  4. Click “YES!” to answering a few more questions on the event sign-up form and apply for a $1,000 grant. Grant application deadline is Monday, November 3, 2014. Applicants that do not receive a grant but were among the first 150 sign-ups will receive the free kit.
  5. Celebrate Take Your Family to School Week with hundreds of other PTAs across the country February 16-20, 2015 and be featured on National PTA’s interactive map and in promotion tools.

All PTAs are encouraged to celebrate Take Your Family to School Week! National PTA will promote a master list of events and interactive map available at PTA.org/TYFTSW.

Thanks to Our Sponsor
The AXA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AXA US, is the proud sponsor of PTA’s Take Your Family to School Week. Its signature program, AXA Achievementsm, helps students and parents take the next step toward college. The AXA Foundation has been a proud National PTA spo

Celebrating Connected Educators Month with Some Common Sense for Families About Digital Citizenship

At Common Sense, we often hear from parents who want to get their school or community involved in a discussion of how media, tech, and the digital world are impacting kids. But many parents don’t know where to begin. Well, now you can help parents get started!

ConnectingFamiliesConnecting Families is a new three-part program that offers everything you need to get families in your school or community involved in raising great digital citizens.

Today’s media and technology present many challenges as well as opportunities — from text messaging and using social media to online gaming — and call for new ways to raise conscientious digital citizens. Connecting Families offers everything you need to facilitate meaningful community dialogue and thoughtful conversations between parents and kids.

Our focus group testing in Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles allowed us to design the program to meet the needs of parents and teens. Our resources include a step-by-step hosting guide, conversation topics, and printable resources to share — all carefully researched and crafted by Common Sense educational technology experts.

Here’s how you can implement Connecting Families:

Host a teen panel. Teen panels are an excellent way to kick off the school year because they put the voices and experiences of teens in your community at the center of the conversation. Our step-by-step guides cover every detail from the teen panel selection process to managing question-and-answer sessions during the event. You also get a field-tested list of best questions to ask the panel in order to foster a vibrant conversation.

Discuss a series of conversation cases. The program’s conversation cases are designed to help parent discussion groups have authentic and productive conversations on a range of issues including sexting, cyberbullying, photo sharing, digital drama, privacy, sexual imagery, multitasking, social media, and much more. Each conversation case provides relevant, real-life stories along with key vocabulary and targeted discussion questions. You also get our Family Tip Sheets and Digital Dilemmas handouts, which you can use to bring the conversations home to kids. The Facilitator’s Guide includes our favorite adult-appropriate icebreakers, pointers for managing group conversations, and step-by-step directions on how to make the actual event a big success.

Share our family toolbox. This toolbox is packed with resources that you can share throughout the year. You’ll find a digital glossary of topical vocabulary, age-appropriate family media agreements to help you set guidelines around technology use, and how-to videos on a range of media and tech subjects.

We hope you’ll find Connecting Families a must-have resource for your school and community. Please let us know how it’s working for you, and share any insights that may help your school connect with families and strengthen the vital home-to-school connection.


 Darri Stephens is the director of digital learning at Common Sense Education. You can also read the blog on Common Sense Media.

Engaging Youth in Physical Activity in Kailua, Hawaii

Reposted from the Fire Up Your Feet Blog:

For Max and Mikey, twin brothers and third graders at Ka’elepulu Elementary in Kailua, Hawaii, staying active is an important part of their family’s lifestyle. The boys enjoy running with their parents and taking hikes on Hawaii’s lava fields. When their family decided to participate in Fire Up Your Feet, the boys discovered the fun in keeping track of their activity throughout the month – and using it to motivate each other and their parents to find more ways to be active together.

FUYF_1

Max and Mikey hike the volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island.

“I like Fire Up Your Feet because it is fun to track my exercise and it helped me feel more awake during testing,” Mikey said. “It’s making us stronger and we have a fun time,” added Max.

Max and Mikey’s mom, Lisa, is the PTSA Vice President at Ka’elepulu. Lisa was drawn to Fire Up Your Feet because it seemed like an easy way to raise money for the school’s PE program. Unlike other schools where PE is funded by the school district, at Ka’elepulu it’s up to the PTSA to raise money if they want to fund the staff position and purchase PE equipment.

“We are so appreciative of what Fire Up Your Feet offers for Ka’elepulu,” said Lisa. “The best part is giving the kids a chance to be involved in raising money for their school by being active and healthy.”

Lisa’s whole family took advantage of the online tracker to motivate each other to be active. “It was like a fun competition between the four of us, and the kids really liked being able to track and add up the miles and minutes,” she said.

Even dad Eric got in on the action. “My twin boys love to keep track of how their old man is keeping up. I’ve lost a few pounds and the whole family is outside everyday, including our 3 dogs!” he said.

Thanks to great participation from the whole school, Ka’elepulu won second place in the 2014 Spring Challenge. The PTSA plans to use the award money to purchase new equipment for the PE teacher – and they will definitely be signing up again next fall!

Increased Access to Healthy Foods for SNAP Participants Through New USDA Funding

shutterstock_220126873On Sept. 29 in Richmond, Va., the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that $31.5 million will be available to assist those who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to easily access and afford fruits and vegetables. The funding will come from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture through the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program, which was established in the 2014 Farm Bill. SNAP recipients encounter many barriers when accessing healthy foods, such as finding fresh fruits and vegetables. However, this program will involve stakeholders to work together to improve healthy eating among SNAP participants and remove the barriers that they face.

Grant recipients will work closely with others at the community level to initiate pilot projects as well as large-scale and multi-year projects. These pilot projects will work closely with the SNAP agency within the specific state and may include incentives for SNAP participants by working with SNAP retailers, improving marketing for healthier food options and supporting for local and regional agricultural producers. In addition, these incentives will make their products more accessible to SNAP participants, which specifically targets underserved communities.

A goal of SNAP is to replicate the successful initiatives that this funding supports. This may be technological advances of the benefit system or the increase in purchases of local and regional agricultural products by SNAP participants. Ultimately, the outcome for the projects that receive the funding will be an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption among SNAP participants that is sustained well beyond after the project has ended.

Learn more about the Food Insecurity Nutrition Incentive Program and read the press release announcing the funding.


Stephanie Simms is the School Nutrition Policy Fellow for the National PTA.

Reading, Writing and…Identity Theft?

PTA Blog - Part One Back to School ID Theft Explainer (2)LifeLock is a financial sponsor of National PTA, and has been invited to submit a blog post as part of their engagement with PTA. National PTA does not endorse any commercial entity, product, or service, and no endorsement is implied by this content.

Summer’s over and we’re quickly settling into the new school year—putting our kids on the bus and trusting in someone else to keep them safe and help them succeed. And that means it’s also time to start worrying.

Did we get them everything they need? Will they get along well with their teachers? Will they make new friends? Will they pass all their exams? Will they become victims of identity theft?

Wait—identity theft? What’s that?

Good question. Identity theft is when a criminal steals someone’s personal information and uses it to assume that person’s identity. The criminal can then commit all kinds of fraud under the assumed identity—from filing tax returns to opening a bank loan to even undergoing medical treatment—before the victim ever finds out.

In an increasingly connected world, we share our personal identifying information (PII) in new and different ways. And your PII is precisely the information thieves need to assume your identity. It includes such things as your Social Security number, driver license number, and birthdate.

Think about how many times you have shared this kind of information, from your employer to your doctor’s office to your bank. Can you trust each of them to safeguard your personal data? Even with the best of intentions, it can get out. It could be as simple as a careless worker leaving an important document in plain sight of a passerby, or as we see regularly in the news, a crime ring hacking into a company’s computer system to steal the PII of thousands—even millions—of customers.

And yes, children can be victims as well. In fact, they can be prime targets, since a child’s PII isn’t regularly used, the crime may not be discovered for years—perhaps when he or she applies for a first job or apartment.

We’ll talk more about children and identity theft in our next post. In the meantime, what can you do to protect yourself and your family?

  • Safeguard your personal identifying information. If someone asks for your Social Security number—or that of your child—ask how it will be used and whether it will be shared.
  • Use a crosscut shredder to dispose of documents with your personal identifying information.
  • Create strong passwords to protect your online accounts
  • Monitor your credit card and bank accounts, such as looking for transactions that aren’t yours—and report suspicious transactions, even small ones, immediately.
  • Consider using an identity theft protection service, such as LifeLock, that will alert you to potential fraud and help you resolve issues you may encounter.

Identity theft and the ensuing fraud is more than simple credit card theft. It can cause big headaches and take months to sort out. It can also hurt your credit rating and affect your ability to borrow money or get a job. Even with all the other things on your mind this time of year—with the start of school—it’s worth taking some easy steps to protect yourself and your loved ones.

Jaramy Conners is the Corporate Communications Manager at LifeLock.

Walk Around the World Challenge

 

Last summer, a team of school enrichment leaders, our school principal and me—our school’s PTA president—were brainstorming ideas how we should use the National PTA Healthy Lifestyles: Energy Balance 101 grant we received for the 2013-2014 school year.  We knew they we wanted to challenge our students to exercise regularly with their families, and so we developed the idea of a “Walk Around the World Challenge” where families were challenged to exercise weekly (by walking, dancing, swimming, running, etc.) and then logging the distance.  The goal was to reach 24,900 miles – the distance around the Earth.  Our dilemma was how to have families track their exercise.

FUYFHorizontal-Banner While checking out the National PTA site I found information on “Fire Up Your Feet” , a program launched in partnership between National PTA, Safe Routes to School and Kaiser Permanente as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Active Schools program. Fire Up Your Feet gives families, students and schools tools to create fun, active lifestyles that inspire our children and their families and schools to be healthy and physically active by walking before, during and after school.  Available to any elementary and middle school nationally, Fire Up Your Feet offers an online activity tracker.  This was the perfect tool for us to keep up with the miles walked!

Safe Routes to School staff worked with us on setting up the program and responded quickly with any technical difficulties that parents encountered.   We put a direct link to the website on our weekly e-newsletter, website, Facebook page and flyers.  Parents were able to register their family in 3 easy clicks and start logging in the miles at no cost to the PTA.  As families would sign up, we would send a pedometer home with each student. We distributed more than 300 pedometers using the Healthy Lifestyles funds.  PTA officers decorated a bulletin board in the cafeteria with a world map for the students to track their progress. We would send updates in our newsletters and Facebook pages. We also sent out information about community running events, such as the Rocket City Kids Marathon and local fun run events.

I’m sorry to say, we didn’t make it all the way around the world.  We did make the radius though!  We ended our challenge with a Family Fitness Night at the local YMCA.  Families had free admission to enjoy swimming, Zumba classes, racquetball, basketball and an indoor playground.  We served recipes from the Together Counts™ recipe list.

Looking back on the program, the PTA Executive Board needed to find a volunteer to support the program.  We tried to cover it as a board and didn’t devote enough time to promoting the challenge.  We should have also included a classroom incentive for the classes that logged in the most miles.  If we had done a better job of marketing, even having a walk/run night monthly at our school’s track, we would have logged in more miles.  Another thought after the fact was to add some cultural background information on the bulletin board about the countries we had “walked” to each month, such as information on Caracas, Venezuela.  There are so many ideas!

This is a very easy and low cost program to implement.  Our only expense was the pedometers, which most families can use apps on their phones or iPods for counting steps.  There are so many easy and cheap things that local PTA’s can do to promote healthy lifestyles, the first step is getting a team together to create ideas that work for your school.

Sonja Griffith currently resides in Madison, AL with her husband and two children. She serves on the Alabama PTA Board of Directors and is also the Rainbow Elementary PTA President, which received a 2013 Healthy Lifestyles: Energy Balance 101 grant and was recognized as a 2014 National PTA School of Excellence. Sonja is the former Madison City Council of PTA’s President, served as PTA President at Discovery Middle School, and is a former Spanish and ELL teacher.