Welcome to Laurel Ridge Elementary School! Whether you are a new family or returning to our school, we are excited to have you be a part of our Lion Pride!

Watch our 2025-26 Back-to-School Night Video!

The Laurel Ridge PTA is an organization made up of parents and teachers working together to support and enrich all our students. We support school staff, help promote students' social and emotional wellness, provide community for our families, and assist in efforts to solve school needs through volunteering and fundraising.

With the support of its members, the LRES PTA provides:

a private Facebook group for parents and families
a private Instagram page for event and program reminders
classroom supplies funding for each teacher
educational enrichment presentations and assemblies for each grade
field trip transportation for each grade
family nights like STEAM Night and Passport to the World
expert speakers on topics important to students and parents
new student welcome events
school supplies and spirit wear for LRES students in need
volunteer recruitment and coordination at school events
staff appreciation events and recognition
school improvement projects
advocacy for our students at the local, district, state, and national level
and much more. . .

Your participation in the PTA makes a real difference, and is vital to our success! We hope you will join the PTA and our efforts to bring parents, teachers, students, and the community together to make Laurel Ridge Elementary School an exceptional educational experience.

Again, welcome to Laurel Ridge, and we look forwarding to seeing you at our events!

Involvement levels - .png
LRES PTA Involvement Levels
LRES PTA What We Do.pdf

🎉 This year, Laurel Ridge is turning 55—and to celebrate this milestone, we’re aiming for 550 PTA members! 🦁

PTA membership is one of the easiest ways to support our school community. There’s no commitment to volunteer—just joining helps us reach our goals and shows your support for our students, staff, and school programs.

✨ To mark the occasion, we’re planning to create a time capsule once we reach 550 members!
What’s a time capsule? It’s a container we’ll fill with special items from this school year—things like:

Student artwork and writing
Class photos or yearbook pages
Notes from students about their favorite school memories
A list of popular books, songs, or games from 2025

The time capsule will be sealed and stored away to be opened years down the road, giving future Laurel Ridge students and staff a peek into what life was like during our 55th year!

We hope you’ll help us make this fun project happen by becoming a PTA member today. 💛

Why join Laurel Ridge PTA?

Laurel Ridge Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is a local unit of National PTA, the oldest and largest child advocacy association in America. Today’s PTA is comprised of 5 million parents, teachers, grandparents, caregivers, foster parents and other caring adults who share a commitment to improving the education, health, and safety of all children. We speak with one voice for every child.

Your membership in our PTA ensures that you are part of that advocacy and engagement. Members stay informed of local issues, get to know other parents and teachers, ask questions, and contribute to the conversations that go on with school and district leaders. We hope that every student will be represented by at least one PTA member at home.

Member Benefits:
Joining the Laurel Ridge PTA has its benefits! All donations are tax-deductible, as the Laurel Ridge PTA is a 501(c)(3) charity. Membership allows you to vote at meetings. All board members and committee chairs must have a current membership.

Beyond the obvious benefits to our school, opportunity for leadership, new friendships, and fun, PTA members also receive discounts through the National PTA website for companies such as Hertz, LifeLock, AARP, MetLife, Quicken Loans, Good Housekeeping, and more. See the full list here.

Membership will open soon! Stay tuned!

2025-27 PTA Executive Board

President – Kristen Bortner, president@laurelridgepta.org

1st VP (Events) – Rosanna Wallen, events@laurelridgepta.org

2nd VP (Fundraising) – Kerry Kares, fundraising@laurelridgepta.org

3rd VP (Communications) – Alessia Eiseman, communication@laurelridgepta.org

4th VP (Hospitality & Spirit Wear) – Elizabeth Barley, hospitality@laurelridgepta.org

Treasurer – Kristen Buzby, treasurer@laurelridgepta.org

Secretary – Jamie Austin, secretary@laurelridgepta.org

Top 10 Things You Ought to Know about PTA Meetings:

You do not need to be a member to come.
Joining the PTA does not require you to volunteer.
Our meetings are usually 30-60min, but you can always slip out at any time.
Some of our meetings happen before one of our PTA events, so you can attend both in one go.
Meetings are just a bunch of parents with a shared mission: creating fun activities for our kids and raising essential funds for our school!
Your whole family--kids and babies included--are welcome at meetings, and sometimes we are able to coordinate Girl Scouts to babysit for kids in attendance on site (for free!)
Members can vote at our meetings, which can include decisions about how funds are spent.
The next meeting agenda is always posted on PTBoard 24 hours in advance of our meeting (here!), so you can check out what we're going to be discussing.
Meeting minutes of the previous meeting are posted on PTBoard (here!) prior to the next meeting, so you can catch up on whatever you might've missed.
You can come to a meeting at any point in the school year, even if you haven't attended one before! Come to one, two, or all!

Our Upcoming Meeting Dates:

✅ August 26 at 7pm + Activities Fair
✅ September 30 at 7pm
✅ November 6 at 7pm with the option for students to make and submit art for the National PTA Reflections contest!
✅ December 4 at 6pm + pizza + Stories & Stuffies
✅ January 8 at 7pm + Speaker Series #1
✅ February 3 at 7pm + Reflections Awards Ceremony 6pm
✅ March 3 at 7pm + Speaker Series #2
✅ April 8 at 7pm
✅ May 7 at 6:30pm + Speaker Series #4
🔜 June 4 at 7pm + Volunteer Appreciation Dessert Reception & Awards Ceremony

🎉 Exciting News, LRES Community! 🦁✨

Say hello to the newly redesigned Lucky the Lion! Our beloved mascot has had a makeover—he’s now younger, friendlier, and more relatable for our students. This fresh new look was designed to help every Lion feel connected and proud, while also giving us a consistent, unified mascot across all platforms—from t-shirts to flyers to social media.
But that’s not all… our new Lucky has been drawn in over 100 different poses! That means you’ll see him showing up in all kinds of fun, expressive ways throughout our communications and events. 💙🦁💛

Below are the contacts for our PTA events and programs.

Program/Event	Contact
Activities Fair Coordinator	PTA Board
After School Enrichment Coordinator	Emily Dahl
Amigos Spanish Club	Tina Smith & Rachel Kolb
Chili Cook-off and BINGO Night	Tina Smith
Enrichment Assemblies	Cinzia Pacheco
Every Lion, One Book	Katie McKeown
Gardens & Grounds	Sra Cordero
Grant Writing & Awards	Alicia Simon
Lightning Lions & Jump Rope Team	Richard King and Addie Ungaretti
Lucky's Friendship Safari	Alessia Eiseman
Marquee Coordinator	Elizabeth Barley
PTA Membership	Amy Grulke
Military Families Liaison	Melissa Hanley
Online Auction	Kerry Kares
Passport to the World	Sofie Vandenbroek
Power Up Night	Rosanna Wallen
Reflections	Susana Ordoñez
Science Olympiad	Deborah and Teddy Kim
Sixth Grade Committee	Jennifer King
Spanish Language & Culture Committee + Noche Cultural	Joanna Romero and Erika Stratmann
Sprout School Supply Kits	Luciana Navarro
STEAM Night	Emily Selia & Andrea Hess
Stories & Stuffies	Alessia Eiseman & Rosanna Wallen
Thanksgiving Pies for Staff	Jennifer King
WatchDOGS	Chris Andresen

National PTA Mission Statement

PTA's mission is to make every child's potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.

National PTA Values

Collaboration: We will work in partnership with a wide array of individuals and organizations to broaden and enhance our ability to serve and advocate for all children and families.
Commitment: We are dedicated to children’s educational success, health, and well-being through strong family and community engagement, while remaining accountable to the principles upon which our association was founded.
Diversity: We acknowledge the potential of everyone without regard, including but not limited to: age, culture, economic status, educational background, ethnicity, gender, geographic location, legal status, marital status, mental ability, national origin, organizational position, parental status, physical ability, political philosophy, race, religion, sexual orientation, and work experience.
Respect: We value the individual contributions of members, employees, volunteers, and partners as we work collaboratively to achieve our association’s goals.
Accountability: All members, employees, volunteers, and partners have a shared responsibility to align their efforts toward the achievement of our association’s strategic initiatives.