• Hillsborough County Council PTA (Florida)
• Huntsville Council PTA (Alabama)
• Nassau Region PTA-10 (New York)
• Northwest ISD Council of PTAs (Texas)
• Orange County Council PTA (Florida)
• Parma Council of PTAs (Ohio)
• Richardson ISD Council of PTAs (Texas)
• Ventura Council of PTAs (California)

• Florida PTA
• Illinois PTA
• New Mexico PTA
• New York State PTA
• Tennessee PTA
• Utah PTA
• Durham Council of PTAs (North Carolina)
• Fairfax Special Education PTA and Fairfax County Council PTA (Virginia)
• Montgomery County Council PTA (Alabama)
• Montgomery County Council PTA (Maryland)

2021-2022

• Arleta School PTA (Oregon)
• Bertha Casey Elementary PTA (Texas)
• Big Creek Elementary PTA (Ohio)
• Bromwell Elementary PTA (Colorado)
• Catonsville Elementary School PTA (Maryland)
• Earl Warren Middle School PTSA (California)
• East Silver Spring Elementary PTA (Maryland)
• Elmont Memorial High School PTSA (New York)
• Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School PTA (Virginia)
• Foothills Elementary PTA (Colorado)
• Francis Nava Elementary PTA (New Mexico)
• Harrison Park School PTA (Oregon)
• Homestead PTA (Illinois)
• Lincoln PTA (Illinois)
• Little Run Elementary PTA (Virginia)
• Lynbrook High PTA (New York)
• May Watts PTA (Illinois)
• PHACT PTA (Connecticut)
• Ridgeview Middle PTA (Texas)
• RISE PTA (Kentucky)
• Robinson High School PTSA (Florida)
• Rock Creek Forest Elementary PTA (Maryland)
• Rockdale Elementary PTA (California)
• Roger Ludlowe Middle School PTA (Connecticut)
• Scott Libby PTA (Arizona)
• South Shore PTA (Washington)
• Swanson Elementary PTA (Colorado)
• Windsor PTA (Illinois)

2020-2021

• Albert Einstein High School PTSA (Maryland)
• Davidson Middle School PTSA (Florida)
• Douglas Elementary PTA (North Carolina)
• Horsemen PTA (New York)
• James Lane Allen Elementary PTA (Kentucky)
• James River Elementary PTA (Virginia)
• Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary PTA (Wisconsin)
• Orem Junior High PTSA (Utah)
• Palmer Way PTA (California)
• Price Elementary School PTA (California)
• Rancho San Diego PTA (California)
• Ridge Creek Elementary PTA (Georgia)
• RM Moore Elementary STEM PTA (Georgia)
• Wilcoxson Elementary PTA (Connecticut)

• Austin Council of PTAs (Texas)
• Duval County Council of PTAs (Florida)
• Hillsborough County Council PTA (Florida)
• Pinellas County Council of PTAs (Florida)
• Vancouver Council PTA (Washington)

• Austin Council of PTAs (Texas)
• Lake Washington PTSA Council (Washington)
• Pinellas County Council of PTAs (Florida)

• Colorado PTA
• Kentucky PTA
• Minnesota PTA
• New Jersey PTA
• New York State PTA
• North Carolina PTA
• Ohio PTA
• Oklahoma PTA
• Oregon PTA
• Tennessee PTA

The fellows are listed below.

• Dr. Latonya Cooper 🎓 (Florida)
  Dr. Latonya Cooper is the principal of Sea Castle Elementary School in Miramar, Fla. Dr. Cooper has over 23 years of experience in education. Through the fellowship, Dr. Cooper looks forward to networking with other school leaders who are taking innovative approaches to family engagement so that her school can engage all their families to help them feel safe on campus and comfortable speaking up about their needs as a community.

• Demetria Geathers (Florida)
  Demetria Geathers serves as assistant principal for instruction at Sheehy Elementary School in Tampa, Fla. Geathers has over 15 years of experience in education, predominantly in Title I schools, and is actively involved in her school’s PTA. Through the fellowship, she hopes to find innovative ways to engage families despite limited resources available to do so.

• Dr. Julie Haake 🎓 (Illinois)
  Dr. Julie Haake is the principal of Twin Echo Elementary School in Collinsville, Ill. Dr. Haake has over 30 years of experience in education, with 23 of those years in her current role. Twin Echo Elementary PTA was recognized with the 2023 Phoebe Apperson Hearst Family-School Partnership Award of Merit. Through the fellowship, Dr. Haake hopes to learn more about involving extended family members in the school and increasing membership in their PTA.

• Katrina Long 🎓 (Georgia)
  Katrina Long is the principal of Reese Road Leadership Academy in Columbus, Ga. She has over 16 years of experience in education and is also involved in many civic and community organizations. Long wants to use this fellowship experience to expand her school’s positive culture to be one of belonging for families who speak a language other than English and families of students with disabilities.

• Richard Schwartz 🎓 (New York)
  Richard Schwartz serves as assistant principal of Seaford Manor School in Seaford, N.Y. He has multiple years of experience in education with this year being his first as an assistant principal. Schwartz is interested in learning how schools across the country are finding a balance between consistency and innovation so that every family is engaged positively and meaningfully in their child’s education.

The fellows are listed below.

• Danni Kim 🎓 (California)
  Danni Kim is president of Benjamin Franklin Magnet Elementary School PTA in California and is an advocate for empowering children through social and emotional learning and development, diversity, equity, inclusion and art. She has a wealth of experience implementing relevant programming having previously chaired the culture of kindness committee.

• Ashley Miller (New Jersey)
  Ashley Miller is president of Benjamin Franklin Elementary School PTA in New Jersey. Professionally, she holds a master’s degree in social work and is an adjunct professor, teaching introduction to sociology and student success. Miller uses her social work expertise to enhance families’ understanding of mental health terminology, policies and concepts.

• Laura Mitchell (Maryland)
  Laura Mitchell is involved at every level of PTA and is the president of her grandchild’s school PTSA, and vice president of advocacy and chair of the substance use prevention committee for Montgomery County Council of PTAs. She is particularly passionate about ensuring equity in mental health and substance use prevention and treatment, trauma informed care and other issues that create barriers to student learning.

• Michelle Smith 🎓 (Texas)
  Michelle Smith is president of Northwest High School PTSA, vice president of programs for Gene Pike Middle School PTA, vice president of advocacy for Clara Love Elementary School PTA and programs chair for Northwest ISD Council of PTAs. Smith believes strongly in diverse and equitable learning for all children, focusing on the whole child. She also values providing volunteer opportunities for students and parents to model mentorship and build a strong sense of community.

The fellows are listed below.

• Caridad (Mini) Martinez 🎓
  Caridad (Mini) Martinez is the former President of Crystal Lake Elementary School PTA (a 2017-2019 National PTA School of Excellence) in Lake Mary, Florida. Mini is committed to exploring new ways to create and maintain a culture of inclusion in her PTA by ensuring that there is intentional leadership training and development around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Mini believes that DEI training is both crucial and the first step in making sure that efforts of engagement align with a school’s needs. She is passionate about providing access to resources in multiple languages, as well as a growing knowledge and capacity for PTAs to be fierce advocates for all students and families. Through the fellowship, Mini is working towards increase awareness and accessibility to DEI resources within her PTA and beyond. She is engaging local units in planning DEI programming and empowering them to continue advocating for DEI initiatives in the future.

• Katrina Long 🎓
  Katrina Long is the principal of Reese Road Leadership Academy (a 2018-2020 National PTA School of Excellence) in Columbus, Georgia and is an active member of her school’s PTA. Katrina recognizes that her school’s demographics are quickly changing while PTA leadership has not. Katrina is dedicated to developing her own skills and strategies to become a more culturally responsive educator. Through the fellowship, Katrina is identifying and addressing barriers of representation and inclusion in her site PTA. She is progressively accomplishing her goal of making her PTA’s membership and leadership reflective of her school’s population.

• Heather Zirke 🎓
  Heather Zirke is the President of Berea-Midpark Middle School PTA (a 2019-2021 National PTA School of Excellence) in Berea, Ohio and is a firm believer that more inclusive groups create better outcomes. She is passionate about including parent, teacher, and student voices in conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Throughout the fellowship Heather has been designing a yearlong, equity-focused panel series led by parents, students, educators and community members on a variety of topics. She believes that this series will particularly help students feel empowered and encouraged to share their stories and experiences. Heather’s intention is that creating these spaces will not only bring different voices to the conversation, but also cultivate a more inclusive school and PTA.

• Valentina Conetta 🎓
  Valentina Conetta has just closed out her second term as President of APPLES PTA in Stamford, Connecticut (a 2019-2021 National PTA School of Excellence) and is transitioning into her new position as treasurer. Valentina decided to take part in the fellowship to learn new ways to engage families from diverse backgrounds because in her words, “you can’t succeed in your mission until all families are engaged and represented.” Valentina is passionate about early childhood and special education, particularly in linguistically diverse communities. During her fellowship Valentina has been working on strengthening parent-teacher partnership and making way for meaningful membership and leadership in her PTA.

• Tiffany Foster
  Tiffany Foster is the current president of Durham Council of PTAs in Durham, North Carolina and a member of the National PTA Membership Committee. She is a longtime child advocate, committed to championing children and families to have positive, empowering and enriching experiences. Tiffany’s work in membership has driven her to look deeper into PTA communication strategies and diversity in leadership. She understands the importance of communication tactics and the direct correlation between who communication efforts reach and who gets involved. Throughout her fellowship Tiffany has been focused on attracting and retaining new and diverse members by organizing fireside chats, virtual panels and by building partnerships with local non-profit organizations that have helped her PTA reach and assist families facing various realities.

The fellows are listed below.

• Amy Fox (Utah) 🎓
  Amy Fox currently serves as the National Standards Specialist for Utah PTA, leveraging her two-time experience as a National PTA School of Excellence lead to help PTAs across the state engage families using National PTA’s programs and resources. She is also passionate about reaching out to school administrators, particularly in her local Alpine School District, to inspire and support them in building more meaningful partnerships with their families.

• Heather Losneck (Ohio) 🎓
  Heather Losneck has served as president of the PTA for her child’s elementary school and middle school. She has also served extensively as a leader of the Berea City School District PTA. In these roles, she has created opportunities that bring multiple perspectives to family engagement, including the creation of a PTA Advisory Board for her school’s National PTA School of Excellence program. She has also advocated with other PTA leaders to include more robust commitments to home-school communication in their school district’s Strategic Vision.

• Michelle Montemayor (Texas)
  Michelle Montemayor is president of the PTSA for her child’s high school and serves as Field Service Representative for Texas PTA, supporting districts with non-English-speaking populations. She has also worked with Northside Independent School District PTA to bring awareness and support to the National PTA School of Excellence program from the mayor of San Antonio and the district superintendent.

• Tracie Potts (Maryland)
  Tracie Potts serves as Cluster Coordinator for Montgomery County PTA Council and is also a member of the Galway Lions PTA and Banneker PTSA. As a PTA leader in the country’s 14th largest school district—which serves students from over 150 different countries—she is committed to discovering new ways that transformative family engagement can empower diverse families as their child’s first teachers and advocates.

• Campaign for Grade-Level Reading's “Beyond Parent-Teacher Conferences: Partnerships That Maximize Student Learning” webinar – Featured speaker
  

• Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) & Coalition for Community Schools’ 2024 National Community Schools and Family Engagement (CSxFE) Conference – Facilitated “Family Engagement Solutions: Transforming Family-School Partnerships with Evidence-Based Programs” & “Elevating your Leadership Practices with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships” workshops

• Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Learning Network & Successful Innovations, Inc.’s 2024 Innovations in Family Engagement Symposium – Facilitated “Family Engagement Solutions: Transforming Family-School Partnerships with Evidence-Based Programs” workshop

• The Education Trust’s 2024 Equity Matters: Advocates in Action Bootcamp – Featured speaker for “Developing an Ecosystem for Authentic Family Engagement” workshop

• National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) 2024 Conference for Public Education Leaders – Facilitated “Elevating your Leadership Practices with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships” workshop

• The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development’s (ASCD) Annual Conference – Facilitated “Family Engagement Solutions: Transforming Family-School Partnerships with Evidence-Based Programs” workshop

• American Association of School Administrators’ (AASA) 2024 National Conference on Education – Facilitated “Engaging Families, Engaging Learning” workshop 

• Character.org’s 2023 International Forum – Facilitated “Raising the Bar for Family Engagement” workshop

• National Association for Family, School and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) & Successful Innovation, Inc.’s 2023 National Family Engagement Summit – Facilitated “Elevating your Leadership Practices with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships” workshop

• Committee for Children’s The Grow Kinder Podcast “Fostering Parent-Teacher Collaboration with Helen Westmoreland” episode – Featured speaker

• American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT) 2023 Together Educating America’s Children (TEACH) Conference – Facilitated “Where is the Love? Building Family-Educator-Student Partnerships to Get What Kids & Communities Need” workshop

• National Association for Elementary School Principals’ (NAESP) 2023 PreK-8 Principals Conference – Facilitated “Elevating your Leadership Practices with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships” workshop

• Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) & Coalition for Community Schools’ 2023 National Community Schools and Family Engagement (CSxFE) Conference – Facilitated “Elevating your Leadership Practices with the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships” workshop

• Coalition for Community Schools’ Research to Practice Network – Facilitated a virtual webinar on the updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

• National Association of Federally Impacted Schools’ 2023 Advocacy Institute – Participated on a panel in workshop “Building Trust with Families”

• National Governor’s Association – Participated in an expert roundtable on “Gubernatorial Opportunities for Addressing Student and Staff Well-Being”

• United States Department of Education Cross Departmental Points of Contact in Family Engagement– Facilitated a virtual discussion on the updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

• Statewide Family Engagement Center Community of Practice– Facilitated a discussion on the updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

• National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) 2023 Advocacy Institute – Facilitated “Engaging Your Community for Student Success” workshop

• National School Public Relations Association – Participated in a Leaders Learn virtual discussion on the updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships

• National Association for State Boards of Education (NASBE) - Facilitated a virtual discussion with their members on the updated National Standards for Family-School Partnerships