myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Women of Burbank: Charlene Walters, Burbank Council PTA President
myBurbank reporter, Ashley Erikson, chats with Charlene Walters, the Burbank Council PTA President and Burbank Arts and Education Foundation (BAEF) Outreach Chair. Charlene shares her passion for the PTA, and how she went from Box Tops Chair, working her way up to President at her elementary school and then President of the Burbank Council. She talks about the importance of being in involved with your child’s school and the long-lasting impact PTA programs have on students. She also shares some history of the PTA and its mission on advocating for children, showing that the organization has a much greater purpose than what many perceive. Charlene also shares how BAEF is helping to fund arts and education throughout the district, and how you can donate to support Burbank students.
Burbank Arts and Education Foundation website: https://burbankartsanded.org/
This episode was sponsored by Compass Realtors Mike McDonald and Mary Anne Been. https://burbankarealiving.com/
From deep in the Burbank Media District. It's time for another edition of my Burbank Talks, presented by the staff of my Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program.
Speaker 2:Hi, my Burbank reporter, ashley Erickson, here with another episode of Women of Burbank, and today I have my friend, charlene Walters, who is our Burbank Council PTA President and she's also the Burbank Arts and Education Foundation's Community Outreach Chair. We're going to learn what all of that means and talk about something that's very passionate to me and you, which is the PTA. But first, thank you for being here, thank you for joining me and tell me a little bit about yourself. I know you were not born here, you were born in Canada, correct? Yes? So tell me what brought you to Burbank, what brought you to the States, you know? Give me a little rundown of your life.
Speaker 3:Okay, so yes, I was born in Canada and to Caribbean parents. I'm first generation Canadian. That made me very ambitious. But I guess what brought me here really was my husband. He had industry dreams and so we moved to Burbank. When he was a bodyguard for Evanescence, oh, yes, and, and then we established a little business and then we, we love it and we it stuck on us like we just love Burbank.
Speaker 2:That's a little treat of fun facts right there. I was a big Evanescence fan. Yes, back you. Yes, back in high school. So that's pretty awesome. Yeah, so you came to Burbank. You followed dreams and then you built your family here. Yes, absolutely so how?
Speaker 3:old are your kids. So I have a 13-year-old and I have a 16-year-old and they're both in BUSD, they're in the DI program. Um thriving and um you know, that's why we love Burbank is we love the schools here. So, um, my daughters have had a great life here in Burbank, for sure DI is dual immersion, right? Yes, sorry, it is dual immersion. They're doing Spanish.
Speaker 2:Okay, awesome, and so you, you're. You are the PTA president at the Burbank Council. Um, pta stands for Parent Teacher Association, and some schools have PTSA I'm learning right which is Parent Teacher Student Association. Yes, okay, so we're going to be talking about a lot of different lingos. Yes, so let's break it down. We are going to use a term, I'm sure unit a lot, and that means school level. Right, and so then what happens from school level? How does that move up all the way to California?
Speaker 3:Okay, so you start off with your unit, so Bret Hart or Disney, they have their unit PTA. Then it goes up to council, which is the Burbank Council PTA. That's all 16 schools together working together to make sure things are happening in the district. They're working together to make sure things are happening in the district. Then after that we go up to a first district, which is anywhere from Burbank all the way to Pomona, and after that we are all a part of California State PTA.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And then State PTA is a part of National PTA. Which are all the states included in making those big decisions? Which are all the states included in making those big decisions?
Speaker 2:And people think that it's a fundraising group and they make money to put on programs and events. But it's much more than that, right. What is the real reason PTA was created?
Speaker 3:PTA was created for advocacy for children. You know, way back in the day you know children were working and one of the things that PTA did was to make sure that there were child labor laws available so that children would be going to school and not to work. So that's one of the beginning things that PTA has done over the 127 years now.
Speaker 2:I love how you just like pull those little facts from your brain. I didn't know that about the child labor laws. That's interesting. Yes, was there a PTA where you grew up in Canada? Do they have anything like that?
Speaker 3:They had something similar, but it wasn't called the same thing. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Were your parents or anyone involved in that. It wasn't like a big thing like it is here.
Speaker 3:No, and you know, I think my parents' experience with my schooling was very hands-off and I think that's why I'm so hands-on. Yeah, yeah, and it's not their fault. They were working all the time shift work so it was very hard for them, but I always wanted them there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think that's where we lose a lot of people in the PTA is you think you do have to be hands-on and there are a lot of things people can do from the sidelines and things like that and we'll talk about. I mean, there's so much to get into when it comes to PTA, but I wanted to talk about how you got started in the PTA first. I know you mentioned Box Tops was your first position, and so tell us what Box Tops is Okay.
Speaker 3:So way back when on the packages you had little tiny 10 cent coupons on certain brands and you'd have to cut them out and send them to the school, and that 10 cents all added up to make some money for your programs. Well, some people didn't really cut them out the way the company wanted you to, so you would sit in front of your TV and start cutting out these little tiny tabs, collecting them, counting them, and then we would send them into the box top organization and get money back for our schools.
Speaker 2:And that's a fairly low-impact job right?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I had a little. So when my eldest was in first grade I really wanted to help, but I couldn't bring my little one with me, so that was something I could do at home to help and that's what I love is there's the executive board, which you know.
Speaker 2:They're going to meetings, they're making decisions and then they bring it to the association, but then you have parents that can sign up for all these like chair positions, like box tops, exactly. Or small things where you may be one day of your time versus. You know the entire school year Exactly, and it's funny because my first PTA role was the Bourbon Coordinating Council.
Speaker 2:holiday baskets which is another very easy one Right Collect, you know food, drive in the boxes and then turn it in. It was like a four day program, but very impactful it is. But it's funny how you can go. Did you go right from box tops to president? Or how did you work the way up? Because I went right from baskets to president?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was a very big jump. I've heard stories of people going from box tops to president. No, so once I did that and I started getting a little more free time, I could go into school. I could do more things. I was asked to be the parliamentarian.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:So I had to learn all the rules, all the Roberts rules on how to conduct our meetings and how to get our bylaws ready.
Speaker 2:Your quorum and all that fun stuff.
Speaker 3:It was a great way to learn about why all those things are important, even though they seem kind of boring. Actually, I shouldn't say that, because I have some people that absolutely love it.
Speaker 2:You know, it is like one are like born to be treasurers and born to be parliamentarians. I get it.
Speaker 3:So when I did that, I then stayed on for a couple of years and I just slowly moved up the different positions. Membership was my next jam.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 3:It was really fun just getting people involved in PTA and explaining why it was important to be a part of PTA and then, once that happened, I believe I moved to executive vice president.
Speaker 2:Okay, you like moved up the ladder like in a normal fashion. Yeah, I feel like those are very good steps to becoming president. You really understand the PTA, yeah, right, and so you know, know, as a new parent and this new school, what really brought you to want to be a part of the PTA so um way back when I I taught kindergarten and I was able to teach in three different countries, oh wow.
Speaker 3:So I taught in Australia, I taught in Canada and I taught in the United States, and so with that I was able to see what made schools successful, and one of the things that really made an impact on schools was the parent involvement. How involved were the parents at that school? It didn't matter if it was public.
Speaker 2:We have a. We have a. We have a. We have Dodrick. Where's our Dodrick Kim? He's taking over the show right now. He's beautiful, by the way, people. He's. He's got a toy and he's not letting anyone take it. I love it, it's okay. Oh, dodrick, come back, bring the toy. Okay, see if he'll come back with it later. Okay, so you taught in all these different countries.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it didn't matter if it was private or public. Parent involvement is what really helped make that school an environment. That was great for the kids, and so I knew that was important, yeah. So when I saw that PTA was this organized organization, I decided, yeah, I'm joining that because I can make a difference there.
Speaker 2:You don't really realize how much happens at a school. That is from the PTA. You just think that this is what the school does, the school handles it, they celebrate Earth Day and Red Ribbon Week and you know all of these special things, and it's parent volunteers that are putting this together and making this happen. And I think that's where you know. I got initially started because I wanted to be closer to my kids. Yes, you know you want to be there. And then you realize, like gosh, this takes a lot of time. And then I stayed because of the parents. I really loved the relationships and the friendships that I built along the way Absolutely. And if you are looking for a community, pta is where it's at Absolutely.
Speaker 3:If you're lonely, yeah.
Speaker 2:You're a new parent and you need your friends.
Speaker 3:You get automatic friends with you and it's amazing because it's a great support system that you can build from PTA.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. Well, we're going to take a quick commercial break and hear a word from our sponsor.
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Speaker 2:All right, we're back and I'd love to get back into the PTA. We were talking about how important it is for schools and friendships, but there is such little involvement when it comes down to it, when you think about the amount of families at a school versus the amount of parent volunteers that are chairs or board members, and I think there is a lot of stigma when it comes to PTAs, board members. And I think there is a lot of stigma when it comes to PTAs. You see it in the movies, the little click of like PTA moms walking around together, right, and the fact that like, oh, I can't, you know, I can't spend the time.
Speaker 2:Even when I was membership chair, it was like can you join the PTA for $7 or whatever it is? And oh no, I don't have time, I don't have time. It's like just to become a member. I don't have time, I don't have time. It's like just to become a member. You don't have to have the time. We just need your support. Exactly, and why do you think it is so difficult to get these parent volunteers?
Speaker 3:What do you think is blocking people from saying yes to being in the PTA. I think what you said is absolutely correct. Especially now after COVID, people have limited time, limited bandwidth and they feel like if they have to give anything more of themselves they might not be able to function. But the thing that's great about PTA is all the jobs are spread out so beautifully that your part is only just a small part amongst a big pool of things happening. That I think it's doable. Yeah, it's beyond doable, especially when we have more people helping and doing things that benefit our kids.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do feel like, since we switched over from, like, paper packets to digital communication, which I agree is more sustainable, you can get more information out. But I feel like that, as much as we're putting communication in Facebook and emails and newsletters and text messages and the website, people are still not getting the information like in their backpacks they would take home, and I feel like that hurt us a little bit when we switched over. And, yeah, and this year, I just feel like I don't know if it's just like a weird year the volunteers are down. We've been struggling with it at our unit, yes, and I think we were talking about next year like having like a hashtag campaign called Just One Hour. I love it, you know, right, if every family just gave one hour across the whole school year. Yes, that's, I mean almost 500 hours.
Speaker 3:Absolutely and the burden then comes off of the few. And you know, I think when you do give that hour or two, the amount of I'm going to say joy you feel once that event is over, it's indescribable. When you have a child come up to you and say thank you, ms Charlene. I really love that event. Thank you for all that you do.
Speaker 3:There's nothing like that You're absolutely right and you've brought something really special, a core memory, to a child. I can't think of a better way to spend your time, yeah, and for your child to see you doing that having you there like creates that comfort for your child.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then when you're around, then other children feel comfortable. This is my 10th year at bretthart and when I walk on that campus, I mean if I'm going from one side of the campus to the other, it takes me a long time because there's so many little people stopping to say hello and because I've seen them for so many years and so many programs and so many events. And they hold on to familiar faces. They do. I mean, it doesn't matter what you they don't know what you were doing, spirit where, what, they don't care, they just know you're a familiar face.
Speaker 2:Yes, on that campus yeah and that's smiling at yes yeah, so it's important, yeah, so. So you went from your unit, yes, and then you went into Burbank Council and Burbank Council oversees all of the units. So what made you do that transition? Because that's that almost feels like it's stepping beyond your child, you know, like you're going to the bigger picture, yes, which you know, not a lot of people want to do that, no, and that's a bigger project. So what made you want to do that?
Speaker 3:I think it's the same thing. It's wanting to see a difference in the community. So it's not only the school community now, not only my little school. I want to see that difference go across all schools. I think there's just something about knowing that we can make that difference for everyone. That really impacts me. Yeah, it makes me feel good.
Speaker 4:I want to help me, yeah it makes me feel good.
Speaker 3:I want to help people, yeah, and knowing that you know every kid, no matter if they're in my child school or not, is going to get a program that makes a difference for them, yeah, it's worth all the time that it takes.
Speaker 2:And you get to lead these great meetings right as a president. We have president's meetings where all the presidents of the different units, different units, the schools come together and share ideas and learn from each other, which is so powerful because you don't know what other schools are doing and they might have a fantastic idea. So, um, where did you start in council and how did you move up to being president?
Speaker 3:right, so I started as corresponding secretary. I was appointed. That's the best position it really is. I was appointed by the lovely Wendy Harville. She called me up and I was like do you really think you want me? And she said yes, and I said OK, that was her gateway to get you into the council?
Speaker 2:It really was. Was that was a planned effort, a clever one?
Speaker 3:yes, she is um, and so she was a fantastic president I had, I was a president under her, and her passion and her compassion really um attracted me to council pta yeah, it does.
Speaker 2:it takes one person, yes, to make a difference right and make you feel welcome and supported Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I want to give that back to our presidents. It's not an easy job, yeah, and if I can help educate, help motivate, I feel like I can help make their jobs easier for them, and that's a goal for us is to make the unit's jobs easier for them is this your first year as president or second year?
Speaker 2:this is my first year, okay, so are you planning on doing a second?
Speaker 3:well, you know, they kind of asked me and I kind of said yes, dang that yes word.
Speaker 2:well, I feel like once you do a position and you've figured it out and you got, got it down, the second year is so much easier. Right, that's the hope, ashley, but you know that from past positions it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I think we're going to have some interesting things next year with the elections. We're going to be busy getting people out to vote yeah, Because you know you need to vote. There may be Prop 20. If we decide to campaign for that, then that's a big job, but we have to get together and decide if that's something we think is suitable for our bank.
Speaker 2:That's going to be a really big impact and something that you're going to be responsible for, right Like leading the charge, and how are you feeling about that?
Speaker 3:I feel okay, because I have a great legislative chair. When you build, a great team yes, right 100.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, um so I just lost my whole train of thought. Um, for those that are interested in joining the pta, yes, um, where can they go? Where? Where's the first step? Saying, okay, you know what? I've heard this, I want to get involved. How do I? What's my first step?
Speaker 3:The first step I would do is go on to your school's website and look for their calendar to see when the next meeting is, and go to the meeting. Yes, it'll give you a really great idea on what PTA does for your school. It'll give you great information about things happening at your school and a great way to connect with teachers and admin, who are often there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always try to warn people about that. First August meeting. Oh my gosh, Everyone wants to come to the first meeting. They're like fresh from the school year, let's go to the PTA meeting. People do not go to the August meeting. Well, actually I can't say that, Go to the meeting, but just know that it's not like that every time, not like that.
Speaker 3:Every time A lot of business needs to happen. Here comes the Robert's Rules of Order. So a lot of things need to happen in order for PTA to function and make sure they are on task, but it's no. It can be a scary meeting we're getting better at kind of getting through the business and doing a couple of fun things in that first meeting.
Speaker 2:I think if you can have fun with the meeting we started, like themed meetings you know, dress up yeah. We're doing nineties theme this this Thursday. Yeah, um, it kind of takes the pressure off of all the crazy business and the, the voting and the this. You know it's just when you're staring at somebody in an inflatable bee costume, it doesn't really matter what they're voting or saying at that point right and it makes it fun and they should be fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Another way to reach it is if you go to BurbankCouncilPTAorg. We have a list of all the PTA's leadership positions and you can reach out to the president and find out. Okay, the best way to learn more about that unit In the next meeting. There should be two more in most schools and definitely a May meeting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and do you have to be on a unit board or be in the PTA to then come to the council PTA?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so in order to be at the council PTA meetings? Yeah, you're part of the association and the association is made up of principals and we have school board and we also have the presidents.
Speaker 2:You can like join as a chair without having to have been on a board before. Yeah, you can come in as a chair?
Speaker 3:Okay, we need chairs. Okay, but it does help to have that type of experience yeah so most of our chair people have been on a unit board okay and you have a really special event coming up.
Speaker 2:Yes, we do. On april 20th, the burbank council, pta and busd is holding a welcome to burbank fair. Tell me where it's at. What can we expect from that day?
Speaker 3:Okay, we are super excited. So this is the Welcome to Burbank Fair 2024. It's new for us. Basically, I like to say it started as a forum. It was supposed to be a little online forum, oh, okay, and it was for our EL students who need English learners. Most of them are migrant families, immigrant families, and what we noticed is they were having a bit of a hard time adapting to the culture of the school, the community. Things are different. We have some that had a hard time even going to emergency room and what the procedure for that was. Oh, wow. So you know, we're like, how can we help? That's PTA, how can we help?
Speaker 3:And we decided we'd do a forum just to give basic information about the schools, the district and the community. But what we realized is forums are kind of boring. Yeah, no one's paying attention, no one's paying attention. And then we had several languages that would probably attend. How do we do this? Yeah, and we came up with the idea of creating like a fair. So there'll be different booths representing community members or organizations sorry, schools, district and the families can go around, get information, do a fun activity and the ones who need it will have translators. We're calling them ambassadors that are going to go around with each of those families and help them navigate the booths.
Speaker 2:Okay, Do you have almost every school signed up for it Almost?
Speaker 3:That's amazing. Yeah, the only ones that didn't. They really have a really large event that same day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been some busy Saturdays coming up yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so ours is April 20th. It's from 930 to 1230 at Memorial Field, that's at the John Burroughs High School.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right. So if you want to learn more and it can be, it's open to everybody, right?
Speaker 3:It's open to the public, it's right now it's open to our new families. Okay, so it's. You know we have some TKs and some kinder kids invited. Yeah, you know, they're new to the Burbank USC system.
Speaker 2:What about families that maybe have kids that aren't ready for TK kinder, but still want to get some information for the future? They can come as well. Okay, very cool, yeah, awesome, very cool, yeah, awesome. Well, before we move out of PTA into your other role, is there anything from your history of PTA, either at unit or council, that you just feel overwhelmingly proud that you've accomplished over these years?
Speaker 3:Oh my goodness. Yes, I think one of the main things I'm proud of was my first year as a unit president. It was a challenging year, but it was also the most rewarding. We I called us the dream team. We kind of wanted to see more family engagement at our school. We had a great community, but we felt like there wasn't enough activities to really bring everyone together, so we added quite a few. Oh great, and with the team we had, we were able to successfully increase family engagement at our school. Especially, one part of our family engagement was bringing in more male volunteers. Yeah, we saw an increase.
Speaker 3:Probably we tripled our male volunteers that year by just providing some extra family nights that they would be highly involved in, one being a Sam and Me significant adult male and me dance. And once they kind of saw how a PTA event happens and what we do, we kind of asked them to come in and join and help.
Speaker 2:That's like the perfect way to bring them in. That's amazing yeah.
Speaker 3:We were very proud of that.
Speaker 2:And it trickles down after that. Once you've created and you put that line out, you'll see it continually to grow each year. Yeah, that's incredible. Yeah. So on top of PTA, I see you at events all over the city. Usually you meet parking lot, movie nights, all those fun things because you have a role in the Burbank Arts and Education Foundation I do. So tell me what that organization is and what your role is on there.
Speaker 3:Right. So the Burbank Arts and Education Foundation was really formed to, you know, engage and inspire the community to invest in our schools. Busd is, you know, it's doing well for where it's at. Money-wise, we are already one of the lowest funding per student. In this area, we get less funding than Glendale, la, pasadena, and now we have significant budget cuts coming from the state. So this foundation is there to help bridge that gap between what we're not getting from the state and what our students need to thrive, which is a very important role, a very important role, a very important role. And this year we became Burbank Unified School District's official fundraising, educational fundraising.
Speaker 2:And so all of the money that comes in through BAEF is through fundraisers, donations, things like that, and then you put out grants to different schools. Is that how it works?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we do grants for programs at schools and we also do teacher grants. Our teachers spend a lot of their own personal money in order to make sure their classrooms look and function in a way that's engaging for children, and we're here to help them with that, because it's unfair, yeah, that they use part of their paycheck to do that for kiddos, 100%, yeah, and we've applied for grants with you guys and we have a beautiful mural we have on our bungalow.
Speaker 2:Our most recent one was our new kiln, which was huge. That was amazing. Yes, and we use that all the time. We just did a little like clay night to like launch the kiln and get families out together to build together, and that makes my heart sing. It was very nice. Yeah, we're still. We're waiting on the glaze and it's funny because the Liz, who's the instructor. She was like the kids are going to listen to the instructions, but the parents are not, and I was like it's going to be fine, and then all of the parents were not listening to the little crisscross hat.
Speaker 2:And all of my stuff fell off of my pot. I was not listening at all, so she was not wrong. She was not wrong. The kids are way better listeners, yeah. So what is your role?
Speaker 3:at that organization. So for the foundation, I am a board member and I'm also the community outreach chair, so that's why you see me everywhere. I'm basically making sure that everyone knows who we are and that our committee is also making sure that we're providing educational and engaging opportunities for our community Do you have anything coming up? Actually for community outreach. Our next activity will probably be at the Yumi parking lot for Barbie on June 1st. I'm so excited.
Speaker 3:I didn't know that they're doing that, yes, but this past Friday we had a Dungeons and Dragons beginner level experience.
Speaker 2:And your husband is a big D&D guy, right?
Speaker 3:Yes, he is. Did he lead that for you? He led that, and we had some other DMs with our more experienced people. But this is really for beginners, like if you're child plays and you know nothing about it. It was a great opportunity to come and learn.
Speaker 2:How fun, well, and so this is a donation base. So how can people donate? If there is an event, how can they reach out and give?
Speaker 3:So the best way to do it is to go to our website, burbankartsandedfoundationorg, and you can donate there. You can donate through Yumi. It's one of our partners. If you donate, they often double, so look out for those opportunities and also the best way to do it too. We have an event coming up in September and it's called State of the Schools. You can be a part of that and that helps raise money for our foundation as well and gives you information about what's happening in the community fantastic.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for being here. You're so involved in the schools and the education and busd and how everything is impacting our kids as they're growing up. It's you're like the superhero behind the scenes that nobody knows that's happening and and making you know all of their lives more impactful. So I appreciate you and thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Well, thank you guys for listening. This is the end of a women of Burbank podcast. I'll see you on the next one.
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