About Us
Our Mission
Our mission is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. We support our school and staff, and work to spread their message of Social Justice.
Our Values
Partnership: We work with Vestal’s leadership and staff to support students and families with our ideas and efforts. We work with community partners to identify and implement additional methods to support the community.
Equity and Support: We dedicate our resources to helping every student. We understand that individual and systemic issues affect students’ learning. We actively support Vestal’s social justice efforts in identity, diversity, local action, social justice, and academic engagement.
Adaptive Learning: Learning requires being open, humble, and ready for new ideas. Our community’s needs and resources are always changing. The Vestal PTA is committed to being flexible and working with Vestal and the Montavilla community to meet these changes.
Member Responsibilities
We encourage all members to get involved in ways that suit their lives. Whether it’s attending meetings, volunteering at events, connecting on social media, or staying informed through email or our website, your participation makes a big difference and your engagement helps build a stronger community for all our students and families.
Our Structure
The Vestal PTA is a subsidiary of the National and Oregon PTA organizations. As such it must have a Board with the roles of: President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The Board is authorized to act on the behalf of the Vestal PTA to help lead and coordinate initiatives the Vestal PTA decides to invest in, as well as perform organizational requirements such as lead meetings, take meeting notes, and track finances. The Board meets at least one additional time each month outside of the general Vestal PTA meeting to help in its coordination activities.
The 2024-2025 School Year positions will be:
Sr. Co-President David Jones – Parent of a 4th grader
Jr. Co-President Jake Sepulveda – Parent of a 1st grader
Vice President Renée Becerra – Parent of a 3rd grader
Secretary Justin Stoller – Parent of a 1st grader
Treasurer Nicole Hochstrasser – Parent of 1st and 3rd graders
Volunteer Coordinator Janice Lavy – Parent of a 2nd grader
Marketing Coordinator Emma Koehler – Parent of a 1st grader
Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity
The Vestal PTA, an affiliated constituent of Oregon PTA, and in accordance with the Portland Public School District, pledges that membership in the Vestal PTA and participation in any Vestal PTA event, shall be open, without discrimination, to anyone in our community who believes in improving the education of the children at Vestal Elementary.
Please see our complete Non-Discrimination Policy at https://vestalpta.org/non-discrimination.