Nominating Committee Report

Thank you to all of the candidates who self-nominated for the 2021-2022 TJ PTSA Executive Committee. We had top candidates who have a proven track record of service to the community. The winners of the voting, based on a candidate collecting at least three votes and a majority of the nominating committee’s votes, are the following candidates: 

1. President-elect: Harry Jackson
2. 1^st Vice President, Li Yang
3. 2^nd Vice President, Jun Wang
4. Recording Secretary, Julia McCaskill
5. Corresponding Secretary, Hanning Chen
6. Treasurer, Himanshu Verma

Their bios are below, and we support these candidates for the 2021-2022 TJ PTSA Executive Committee. 

We thank all of the stellar candidates who raised their hands to volunteer their time for our community. We hope that all candidates will continue to volunteer with the TJ PTSA and participate in leadership positions.

In addition to this slate of candidates, TJ PTSA members can self-nominate for the 2021-2022 TJ PTSA Executive Committee. We will have details coming shortly, so keep an eye on the website and your email.

TJ PTSA Nominating Committee 

Slate of Candidates for the TJ PTSA Executive Committee

President-elect — Harry Jackson

The father of a TJ Class of 2024 student, Mr. Jackson has been a volunteer in his children’s schools for the past decade, volunteering countless hours in athletics, parent groups and school activities. He is committed to leading the TJ PTSA with openness and transparency, and he is committed to supporting diversity and excellence within the TJ community. This year, he served as a member of the TJ PTSA Diversity Committee and established key partnerships and initiatives to improve TJ diversity. In addition to supporting the TJ PTSA’s Diversity Talks, he has collected a database of STEM providers willing to offer free and reduced-fee services to socio-economically disadvantaged children, partnered with the Black Student Fund to provide summer STEM enrichment for children from low-income households, and established a conference to put families in contact with these resources. 

Mr. Jackson has over 15 years of federal government experience in information system security, including risk assessment, information assurance and compliance, security test and evaluations, system security engineering, systems development, test and evaluation and project management. He is currently an IT consultant specializing in support to the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense. Mr. Jackson is also a member of the Washington Area Lacrosse Officials Association with 15 years of experience, He is also an assistant professor at National Intelligence University, and an adjunct professor at numerous universities. He has a bachelor’s in general engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MA in strategic intelligence studies from American Military University, an MA in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College, an MS in government information systems from National Defense University, and Ph.D. in strategic security from Henley-Putnam University.

1^st Vice President — Li Yang

As the current treasurer of the TJPTSA Executive Committee, Ms. Yang is well positioned to continue to serve the TJ community, as a mentor to the new incoming treasurer and in a role that will allow her to bring her experience to building a strong Executive Committee that serves parents, teachers and students over the coming year. She is a statistician at NIH Clinical Center and received her medical degree in Clinical Medicine, M.S. in epidemiology and biostatistics and Ph.D. in statistics. She has volunteered for school activities and numerous community organizations over the past ten years, including as an adult leader in Boys Scouts of America Troop 55G. She has three children who are TJ students in the Class of 2021, 2022, and 2024. In her free time, she enjoys playing with her family’s energetic goldendoodle, hiking and camping with scouts, watching TV shows and movies, running, reading, and playing Ping-Pong. 

2^nd Vice President — Jun Wang

Born and raised in a rural area of Beijing region, Mr. Wang did farming and construction work through elementary school to college on weekends and summer breaks. Even though he lived in a disadvantaged environment in terms of educational opportunities, he progressed step by step, participating in chemistry and physics competitions, and entering Tsinghua University, one of China’s top colleges, especially in engineering. Humble about his background, he understands deeply the importance of  helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds make progress and succeed in their studies. He has a BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering, with over 20 years’ experience in software engineering and web development with Oracle, SQL Server, Visual Studio.NET, HTML, CSS, Java Script, AJAX and JSON. As a result, he will be able to lead technology needs for the TJ PTSA. Since 2008, he has volunteered regularly at Hope Chinese Schools, leading student registration and the organization of large parties, reaching as many as 800 participants, and serving as an assistant principal and board member. 

He has been a MATHCOUNTS team coach at Greenbriar West ES, Churchill Road ES and Cooper MS. He chaperoned school field trips many times at Churchill Road ES, Longfellow MS, Cooper MS and TJ. He has also volunteered as an AP exam proctor at TJ. He has regularly driven his Toyota Tundra pickup truck to schools to haul food boxes, watermelons, water, ice cream cakes and instruments  for parties, TJ iNite and other events. A business owner, he facilitates helping people with diverse views find common ground. This past year, he has been actively involved in donation drives for personal protective equipment at the New York City Javits Center and local northern Virginia hospitals, COVID test stations, nursing homes and shelters. Mr. Wang has been volunteering with FCPS schools, including TJ, and Hope Chinese School for nearly 15 years. He wants to make more contributions to the TJ community and serve TJ parents, teachers and students, keeping the community united during this period of drastic changes.

Recording Secretary — Julia McCaskill

A former high school teacher from China. Ms. McCaskill  has been volunteering in all of her three children’s schools and classes over the past decade. With her youngest child graduating from elementary school this year, she is positioned to volunteer more of her time to serve the TJ community. She has worked as a recording secretary on a part-time basis early in her career. She describes herself as very systemic and well-equipped to document and share minutes and news and announcements from PTSA activities to the TJ community. 

Hanning Chen — Corresponding Secretary

Born in China, Mr. Chen earned his undergraduate degree in China, before moving to the United States to pursue his doctoral degree in chemistry. As a college professor of chemistry, he has managed a productive research group that has persistently secured financial support from many federal agencies, non-profit organizations and industrial partners over the past decade. Mr. Chen is the parent of TJ student of Class 2023. Since his eldest daughter’s enrollment in Fairfax County Public Schools almost 10 years ago, he has been a parent volunteer for a wide range of school events, including the Fun Fair at Spring Hill Elementary School, International Night at Cooper Middle School and Welcome Greeters at TJ. In addition, has volunteered in numerous sports competitions as a record keeper and officiating staff member. 

Most recently, he was co-organizer of Summit 2021, a two-day conference sponsored by the Chinese American Parents Association-Northern Virginia Chapter (CAPA-NOVA), which drew about 500 parents, students, educators, community leaders and elected officers  from the D.C. metropolitan area to the event for constructive discussions on pressing issues related to education. As co-organizer, he communicated with potential panelists via email, phone call and in-person meetings to enlist them to speak at the summit, coordinated a one-hour virtual panel discussion with ten panelists and hundreds of participants; and summarized the panel discussion in a report shared with panelists and summit organizers. As a member of the TJ PTSA Diversity Committee, he has been trained on how to use the AtoZ platform through which newsletters are currently sent to members to send communications to TJ PTSA members. He is sending out the next “Faces of TJ” feature to TJ PTSA members, and he is getting trained on sending out the newsletter through AtoZ. His commitment to community service and community service makes him an ideal candidate to serve the TJ PTSA as corresponding secretary and amplify messages about the talented students of the nation’s No. 1 high school.

Treasurer — Himanshu Verma

The father of TJ ninth grader, Mr. Verma has a B-tech degree in engineering physics from Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay, and he has a master’s degree in information systems from the University of Akron in Ohio. His family and he have lived in Fairfax county since 2006, and he specializes in data analytics and artificial intelligence application development. His current interests include developing COVID-19 apps, mental health AI apps and reading about theories of missing dark matter and dark energy. He has also recently started working with the Black Student Fund, a nonprofit that provides advocacy and academic and retention support to academically motivated Black students and other underserved students to facilitate their access, admission and successful matriculation and graduation. He hopes to work with the Black Student Fund to students from underrepresented communities at TJ. He looks forward to being a part of the TJ family over the next few years, and he is happy to volunteer his time to support the TJ PTSA. As the owner of a local data analytics company, he has a good understanding of managing accounts and account automation. He has also been on the board of a housing association for about four years, so he understands the accounting requirements for nonprofits. His goal is to automate as many processes as possible within the TJ PTSA and provide PTSA members data visualizations that will improve the transparency of TJ PTSA accounts.

Dear TJ Community,

It is time to select the TJ PTSA Executive Committee (EC) officers for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Please see the descriptions below for details on the roles and responsibilities of Executive Committee officers. You can also see the descriptions at this PDF. The TJ PTSA bylaws are at this link.

The PTSA is an important place to make a valuable contribution to the TJ community. Our PTSA enjoys the support of hundreds of volunteers for activities hosted by our many committees, including Health and Wellness, College Outreach and Diversity.

You will learn a lot about how TJ works, and you will make lifelong friends as you contribute to our dynamic TJ family.

• If you would like to serve on the 2021-2022 EC please fill out this Google form: https://forms.gle/6AziWFxDrxsvbXw2A. 
• The deadline for applications is Wednesday, March 17, 2021, 7 PM ET.

The TJ PTSA Nominating Committee will recruit candidates and conduct online interviews. When it is finished with its interviews, the committee will present its report and slate of recommended candidates to the membership at the next general PTSA meeting. If we cannot meet in person, we will vote online.

Only TJ PTSA members may serve on the PTSA EC, so if you are not a 2020-2021 member and wish to serve (and vote), please purchase a 2020-2021 membership in AtoZ (https://tjptsa.org/join)

Sincerely,

TJ PTSA  Nominating Committee

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Important Dates

1. March 17: Deadline for receiving nominations.
2. March 18 – March 21: Nominating Committee will contact applicants to schedule interviews for the week of March 22-28.
3. March 22 – March 28: Interview candidates. (In blocks of time.)
4. March 28: Nominating Committee Vote to select slate of candidates. 
5. March 31: Submit slate and biographies to the TJ PTSA Executive Committee for presentation to the TJ PTSA membership. After this point self-nominations will be open to all members, and then then 30 days later the vote for officers will happen.

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Duties of the Officers of the Executive Committee 
of the TJHSST PTSA Academic Year 2021-2022

1. President: (Official Bylaws Description) 
   1. Preside at all meetings of this local PTA/PTSA 
   2. Coordinate the work of the officers and committees of this local PTA/PTSA in order that the purposes may be promoted. 
   3. Submit this local PTA/PTSA officers’ contact information form and verification of this local PTA/PTSA’s employer identification number (EIN) to the Virginia PTA state office immediately upon election of officers annually; 
   4. Perform such other duties as may be prescribed in these bylaws;
   5. Serve as an ex officio member of all committees of this local PTA/PTSA except the nominating committee; 

Additional duties not explicitly stated in Bylaws 

1. Expected to attend all PTSA meetings and events; 
2. Primary Liaison with TJ Principal, staff and faculty;
3. Voting member of the TJ Partnership Fund Board of Directors, thus expected to  attend all TJ Partnership Fund meetings; 
4. Call special meetings of the Executive Committee Board as needed; 
5. Develops, in conjunction with the executive committee, goals for the association  for presentation to the executive board and voted on at the first general  membership meeting 

Expected time commitment: 10 – 15 hours/week 

2. President-Elect: (Official Bylaws Description) 
   1. Act as aide to the president; 
   2. Perform duties of the president in the absence or inability of that officer to act; 
   3. Understand that by accepting the nomination of president-elect, they agree to automatically succeed to the office of president at the end of their term as president-elect;
   4. Perform other delegated duties as assigned. 

Additional duties not explicitly stated in Bylaws 

1. Encouraged to attend all PTSA meetings and events to understand processes for  when he or she assumes duties as president 

Expected time commitment: 5 hours/week

3. First Vice President: (Official Bylaws Description) 
   1. Primarily responsible for all training; 
   2. Act as aide to the president; 
   3. In their designated order, perform the duties of the president and/or president-elect in the absence or inability of those officers to act; 
   4. Act as liaison to school organizations and PTSA committees as agreed upon by the president; 
   5. Perform other delegated duties as assigned 

Additional duties not explicitly stated in Bylaws 

1. Expected to attend all PTSA meetings and events; 
2. Oversees volunteers;
3. Primary liaison to the Directory, Jefferson Learning Community, Health & Wellness, and Reflections and Hospitality committees  

Expected time commitment: 10 – 15 hours/week 

4. Second Vice President: (Official Bylaws Description) 
   1. Primarily responsible for fundraising; 
   2. Act as aide to the president; 
   3. In their designated order, perform the duties of the president and/or president-elect in the absence or inability of those officers to act; 
   4. Act as liaison to school organizations and PTSA committees as agreed upon by the president; 
   5. Perform other delegated duties as assigned 

Additional duties not explicitly stated in Bylaws 

1. Expected to attend all PTSA meetings and events; 
2. Oversees budget and membership; 
3. Primary liaison to the Academic, Faculty Support, Free Money, and Government Relations committees.

Expected time commitment: 10 hours/week

5. Recording Secretary: (Official Bylaw Description) 
   1. Record the minutes of all meetings of the local PTA/PTSA; 
   2. Keep the official copy of the local PTA/PTSA bylaws in his/her files: 
   3. Maintain a membership list as required by the Virginia PTA; 
   4. Perform other delegated duties as assigned. 

Additional duties not explicitly stated in Bylaws: 

1. Required to attend all PTSA meetings and executive committee meetings;
2. Record action items from the executive committee meetings; 
3. Submit draft meeting minutes to Executive Committee for review;
4. Submit final meeting minutes to the Webmaster to post on the PTSA website. 

Expected time commitment: 5-10 hours/week 

6. Corresponding Secretary: (Official Bylaw Description) 
   1. Conduct such correspondence as assigned; 
   2. Perform the duties of the recording secretary in the absence or inability of that  officer to act;
   3. Perform other delegated duties as assigned. 

Additional duties not explicitly stated in Bylaws: 

1.  Expected to attend all PTSA meetings and events; 
2. Coordinates and executes all communications from the PTSA; 
3. Oversees This Week@ TJ; 
4. Ensures that the PTSA website is up-to-date, and coordinates with Webmaster, as needed. 

Expected Time Commitment: 10 hours/week 

7. Treasurer: (Official Bylaw Description) 

1. Have custody of all funds and finances of the local PTA/PTSA; 
2. Keep a full and accurate account of receipts and expenditures as described in these by laws; 
3. Make disbursements as authorized by the president, executive board, or  general membership in accordance with the budget adopted by the general membership; 
4. Have checks or vouchers signed by two (2) officers, preferably the treasurer and the president; 
5. Present a written financial statement at every meeting of the local PTA/PTSA and at other times when requested by the executive board;
6. Prepare an annual financial report at the close of the fiscal year; 
7. Have the accounts examined according to the auditing procedures outlined in  these bylaws; 
8. Submit a copy of the fiscal year-end audit report to the Virginia PTA state office within fifteen (15) days following the adoption of the audit by the membership; 
9. Submit a 990N, 990EZ, or 990 form per IRS regulations. A copy of this form shall be sent to the Virginia PTA state office within fifteen (15) days of filing; 
10. Remit by November 1 to the Virginia PTA state office, Virginia PTA and National PTA dues for membership received prior to November 1. Remit by December 1, dues received after November 1. Remit by March 1, dues received after December 1. Remit by June 30, all Virginia PTA and National PTA dues received after March 1. 
11. Perform other delegated duties as assigned. 

Additional duties not explicitly stated in Bylaws:

1. Required to attend all PTSA meetings to deliver the Treasurer’s Report; 
2. Work extensively with PayPal online payment system and QuickBooks business  management software; 
3. Work closely with membership chairs to keep up-to-date inventory of  memberships; 
4. Run PayPal reports to track income as needed by the executive board; • Issue reimbursements to members in a timely manner; 
5. Pay vendors in a timely manner; 
6. Weekly or biweekly trips to TJ to retrieve PTSA mail and dispense of it  accordingly. 

Expected Time Commitment: 20 hours/week

The election is closed, congratulations to our Nominating Committee (NC) which consists of the top 5 candidates:

Li Yang – 146
Helen Miller – 136
Asra Nomani – 108
Bonnie Qin – 106
Suparna Dutta – 100

Thank you to the other parents that also were willing to volunteer their time!

Bhaskara Moole – 77
Michelle Gilles – 59
Anna Lee Kim – 57
Anna Kim – 57
Penny Dunlop – 44

The NC will now meet and elect a chair, and develop their application form for Executive Committee candidates, as well as a list of questions for candidate interviews.

If you have interest in volunteering for the TJ PTSA Executive Committee please keep an eye out for news about the NC’s next steps. They should complete their work in March so that we can present our slate 30 days ahead of our election in May.

Thanks again to all the candidates and to everyone who participated.

Deadline to apply is Februaray 19, 2021.

We will hold PTSA Officer (Executive Committee) elections in May ideally, in June as a worst case scenario. A Nominating Committee is required to compile and recommend the slate of officer candidates (one candidate per position). The 5-member Nominating Committee will be elected by the membership in an online vote before the end of February (date may change if we don’t have enough volunteers).

If you are interested in nominating yourself as a candidate to serve on the Nominating Committee, please read the following requirements and then fill out the TJ PTSA Nominating Committee Candidate Self-Nomination Form linked at the bottom.

• To serve as a volunteer of the TJ PTSA, you must be a member of the TJ PTSA.
• Experience with PTA/PTSAs is not required but highly recommended.
• Involvement in the TJ community as a parent, student, faculty/staff is also highly desired. Having volunteered in the past is a plus.
• Familiarity with the TJ PTSA Bylaws, specifically the sections regarding officers and their responsibilities, elections, and the nominating committee, is good.
• Familiarize yourself with the VA PTA training material for Nominating Committees and Elections. Our process is tailored a little bit (we vote online with ezvoteonline.com rather than in person at meetings due to COVID), but it is otherwise very close.
• Be willing to devote a fair amount of time during March (or as soon as you are elected to the Nominating Committee) to conduct a search for Officer candidates. You will have to evaluate and interview multiple applicants, and then as a committee recommend one candidate per officer position. You will have resources from last year’s Nominating Committee to use, such as questions for the candidates, self-nomination form, etc. and you’ll get technical help from the EC as needed.
• You will need to present your slate of officer candidates for the general membership to vote on. Self-nominations will be accepted for the officer positions as well, after the slate is reported.
• The slate must be presented by the end of March to give the membership 30 days to consider the candidates prior to elections in May.
• At that point you have fulfilled your responsibilities and the committee is disbanded.

If you’ve read all of the above and are still willing to serve, thank you!

Please fill out this TJ PTSA Nominating Committee Candidate Self-Nomination Form.

The form indicates when the self-nomination period will close; we may have to extend it if we don’t get the minimum number of self-nominations.

Bylaws Reference

For reference, here are the Bylaws sections related to the Nominating Committee:

Article 4 Section 11: The members of the nominating committee for officers of a local PTA/PTSA shall be elected by the general membership.

Article 6 Section 3: Nominating committee
a. Each member of the nominating committee must be a member of this local PTA/PTSA.

b. The nominating committee shall consist of five (5) members, who shall be elected by the members of this local PTA/PTSA at their regular general membership meeting at least two (2) months prior to the election of officers. The committee shall elect its own chairman.

c. The nominating committee shall nominate an eligible person for each office to be filled, except the office of president, and report its nominees to the members at a regular general membership meeting at least thirty (30) days prior to the general membership election meeting. At the general membership election meeting additional nominations may be made from the floor.

d. Only those persons who have signified their consent to serve, if elected, shall be nominated for or elected to such office. It is understood that the president-elect, by accepting the nomination is agreeing to automatically succeed to the office of president at the end of his/her term as president-elect.