most of the people on the pta's and our schools are renters. they are very concerned about the state our schools and the quality of our education for their kids and are willing to put in time and energy to doing that. the other thing i would say is i mean, planting a tree is about a lot more than planting a tree. it's taking back your neighborhood. putting a mural on a vandalizeded wall is more than art it's about you know, and -- finding stake holders. >> yeah i would say that's my experience to gererro there are many blocks because of all the traffic it'sal a's all tenants. because the sidewalks are so narrow and there is no street scape it's a hostile place to live with few exceptions everyone, regardless of whether they own or not want to see a liveable city and greening. my experience is the tenants are the ones that go to the property owners and say we will take care of it can we have a tree much the property owners the way you get them will say, look it will raise the value of the property you can raise rent. there are various ways to app

i never knew thachlt we do events for the children with the pta. we also started and promoted and pushed to get a learning center in the public housing. and we get volunteers from all over the community to come in and volunteer in the community room in the schools and things like that. where that connects with the safety is because we feel that if you know your neighbors and they know you and especially the children that what we are building as a family. we want to build a family in our community because this is a great way to be safe. it would builds and opens a door when people in the community need support service like drug rehab. if we have homelessness and things like that. that we can actually build around the support network. we brought in our law enforcement and beat officers to help us. they are involved in every positive thing we do. not just enforcement and get to know the whole community. we do have an enforcement issue. like probably a lot of neighborhoods. there are things we have to enforce. today we will talk a little bit about that.

the supervisors on the pta as well. connecting the dots between the community based organizations that are running the programs that are for the youth, for the adults and taking a look at the goal and the vision of what the neighborhood wants to creates. so instead of being reactive, how do we build what we want to create together and using the tools of connecting the piece. the lower haight and hayes valley and the western addition and the north the panhandle neighborhood, people are working together to do events. working with the cbo. volunteer i volunteering their time in activities that are not just in their block. or just within you know perhaps within their sort of immediate structure. the vision is also that all the kid are our kids. and so whether they are the good kids the trouble makers what have you we are all responsible for their health and well being. the other element that the supervisor's office does and what supervisor mirkarimi does is he chairs the public safety committee. much of what is agendaized or

the principal was there. 2 teachers and 2 parents and members of the pta were there. so, what i the signs i get are community involvement. the pta i like seeing people at the meeting it is because they are members of the community that are coming together to try to make the school a better place for their kids. which can involve a lot of things but often tytimes is removing graffiti and community gardening and taking back the neighborhood. they are doing the same work kid serve is doing. the fact that parents and teachers show up because they are interested says community involvement. those other things i look for when i get on the phone and try to create a meeting. the one thing i will say is i know the deadline from this grant is the 19th it's soon. >> it's actually you should know the deadline was extend to october 12. >> okay. if for some reason it takes time to set up meetings. there are new deadlines in the spring. if for some reason you miss this deadline stay in touch with the website because there are new deadlines that come up. parent teacher association, the

at the school, the pta wants teachers to know how much they care so they asked teachers what do you want for christmas? the resulting list included restaurant gift cards, silver jewelry and spa treatments. all preferences sent home in a note to families. >> we don't solicit gifts for any reason if we are going to be proper. >> reporter: from her office in a video call, cynthia let is an etiquette expert and author of "that's so annoying" who says asking for specific gifts is, well, rude. >> policy is not a concern here. >> reporter: school spokesperson says soliciting gifts is against the rules but that's not what happened here since it was the pta not the teachers doing the suggesting. >> this is a story that has snowballed way out of proportion. it has bah humbug and grinch and scrooge written all over it. >>> and tonight's other big story, the redskins sunday lineup. we are learning that starting quarterback donovan mcnabb will be sitting on the bench against a rival dallas cowboys this weekend. our dave owens hears from mike shanahan about his controversial decision. >> reporter: mik

>> reporter: at this elementary school the pta wants teachers to know how much they care. so they asked teachers, what do you want for christmas. the resulting list included the modest like school supplies to restaurant gift cards, silver jewelry, and spa treatments. all preferences sent home in a note to families. >> we don't solicit gifts for any reason. if we're going to be proper. >> from her office in a video call, cynthia lett is an etiquette expert and an author of "that's so annoying" saying asking for specific gifts is, well, rude. >> you're saying we have a relationship where you have to give me something, and i have to give you something. material, in order for the relationship to be a good one. and that's just bad manners. >> the policy is not a concern here. >> reporter: school spokesperson marita lou says soliciting gifts is against the rules but that is not what happened here since it was the pta, not the teachers doing the suggesting. >> this is a story that has snowballed way out of proportion. it has bah hum bug and the grinch and scrooge written all over

to giving gifts to your kids' teacher. >> the pta asked teachers what they wanted tore christmas and sent the list home with their kids. that list including included everything from school supplies to gift cards from posh stores and silver jewelry. one etiquette expert says there is nothing wrong with giving modest gifts to teachers but a list is over the top. school officials sa say no rules were broken. >> this is a story that has snowballed way out of proportion. it has bah humbug and the grinch and scrooge all over it. >> the best gift is from the child. even just a card saying i appreciate your being my teacher. thank you. >> reporter: by the way, teachers and administrators in frederick county are showing their generosity by donating thousands of personal care items to the county's 400 homeless students. >>> now we're in the final push for toy drive 9. as you can see here the donations are coming in but we could use a little help, especially for children 0 to 3 years old and our teenagers. if you want to give back, team up with us and the marines, you can donate a new unwrapped

but also getting involved in the pta it really brings resources networking resources to those parents that have those children in the schools. and you will give them a step up in life. you will give them an economic step up in life. and you will give them a confident step up in life. that's what you really are accomplishing by getting involved with the youth. having the police officers spend a lot of time at the back pack give aways and them spending time at the bbq's. you think why are you sending officers to the bbq the da will have a festival at the african-american culture center on the 22nd. i'm sending officers to bashing bq and hand out hot dogs and be around. they will be the security but an invisible security and be participating with them. and we are sponsoring our of our station fund we are paying for that. that's our contribution to the event. our contribution is the security and the food. but it's to generally build up the confidence in the neighborhood and try to give something that will help break that cycle that exists that causes the gangs to develop. another specific

secondly, talk to administrators, the pta. we've all got to get involved. thing that's just going to pass by us. it escalates and the worst possibility, the worst scenario is bullying turns into suicide which the new term is bullycide. >> i used to teach high school. whenever i would call a parent, they would say, not my child. what about the kids that are bullies, what do we do about that? >> we need to spot bullying, confront it. we all have a responsibility to ensure bullies aren't empowered. we don't feed that anger that breeds violence or in the case a tragic suicide. calling a spayde a spade, havin community members step in. >> what is that bullying about? yes, it can be your child. we found out that kids who are bullying later on become bullies themselves. so it's interchangeable. but there's an emotional component there especially for the child who bullies. we need to find out what's happening at home that our child is now expressing these aggressive behaviors. is it depression, anxiety, are there other things going on where the child may be smoking

we do out reaches to schools and the pta's and churches and other organizations. we will come out to your homes, neighborhood associations. all we need to do for our free training is need a room with 20 people. everything else we take care of. >> we partnered with the disaster coordinator for the school district to train teachers and students. the students receive the 20 hours of volunteer credit if they take the training class. we are trying to start a team nert training program in the high schools. the health and science requirement is somewhat of a fit but whenever you add something to the school curriculum you take something away it's an about the of a bit and take. lincoln and washington high school are the 2 high schools that have hosted nert for their high school students. >> if you are parents or have connections with schools talk to the principals and school board and advocate for preparedness. if we get third graders trained they will go home and say where's our water. do we know how to turn off the gas or where will we meet. be the voice if promoting th

. >> the pta group put o uut the wish list after parents said they wanted gift suggestions. >> i haves to the teachers. they deserve relaxation. >> what if it is gift cards for anntaylor? >> if that is what they like, then so bet it. >> some teachers did ask for classroom supplies. >>> that is all for abc news at 5:00. the first significant snowfall of the season is causing problems. we have the latest conditions on the roads right now. the tax cut proposal being held up in the house. we will tell you when we might see a final vote. we will tell you about a major announcement regarding security on metro. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >>> live and in hd, this is abc 7 news at 6:00. on your side. >> we begin with what is on most everyone's mind tonight 0-

all overwhelmed with the communication about volunteering, then i would talk to the moms who were the ptaset it was always the same people helping all the time. to me this was a disconnect and it made sense that we needed an easier way to include more parents. everybody wanted to help, but it was difficult to perhaps get to a clipboard sign-up sheet. so i started a website called volunteerspot.com, and it helps anybody, the home room mom, the pta committee chair to small non-profits organize their volunteers and invite people to sign up as easy as an online party invitation. more parents are signing up and working parents are finding it a lot easier to find a place to help because they can quickly find that place in their schedule that fits their needs or if they can't come in person, they can find something, supplies they can bring or food they can send to an event. >> it's interesting you talk about that as a solution. i think what some people fear is, you know, getting sucked in. meaning if you do dip your toe into the water, you're going to be the one that everybody relies on for ever

the community. when a school pta is encouraged all the way along by operations capital to submit against the highest score and are not funded, there is a problem with the process. >> can you tell me what the amount was? >> we apply for $198,000. >> is that money in place now? >> yes. >> i think that we can get staff to comment on this. if they can comment on what has been said. >> we have talked about this i think that in describing the overall selection process, the point at which the project was scored first is when the individual scores were reported that. as the committee work to the process of adhering to the criteria, several issues, some had to do with the details of the application. some had to do with issues of governance and access to the property. as those issues came up, take committee and bounced the project and it did not meet the current criteria as well as the projects that we have recommended. >> i would hate to see someone to go through all of this and be ready to go on an issue that i personally find important. are there ways to mitigate the concerns of the committee so that in th

there have been people -- it's like the pta or something. people drop out, get disgruned and leave. there's a guy who left and started something called open leaks now. it's not exactly a stable organization like csis with an address. >> has se similarities. >> despite the overwhelming similarities. >> you don't know where they are. >> they're very hard to -- i have one e-mail address for a guy but it's -- they're very hard to contact. >> i think there's some in iceland. >> yeah. >> i mean, it's the girl with the dragon tattoo. has anybody got a question here? step right up, floyd. >> with your permission, three related questions. one, did any of the publications pay wikileaks for any of the material? secondly -- >> let's just answer -- is that true? do you know? >> to my knowledge, the answer is no. i don't think any of the ones we've been dealing with have paid. "the wall street journal" i believe reported that they were once offered a deal where if they broke an embargo on the documents, they would have to y wikileaks $100,000 and they refused to enter into it. it wasn't an upfron

there have been people -- it's like the pta or something. people drop out, get disgruntled and leave. there's a guy who left and started something called open leaks now. it's not exactly a stable organization like csis with an address. >> has some similarities. >> despite the overwhelming similarities. >> you don't know where they are. >> they're very hard to -- i have one e-mail address for a guy but it's -- they're very hard to contact. >> i think there's some in iceland. >> yeah. >> i mean, it's the girl with the dragon tattoo. has anybody got a question here? step right up, floyd. >> with your permission, three related questions. one, did any of the publications pay wikileaks for any of the material? secondly -- >> let's just answer -- is that true? do you know? >> to my knowledge, the answer is no. i don't think any of the ones we've been dealing with have paid. "the wall street journal" i believe reported that they were once offered a deal where if they broke an embargo on the documents, they would have to pay wikileaks $100,000 and th

main--the larger--just by--by, you know, doing the--doing the numbers in the--in the proper way, they had forgotten to count pta memberships or something in their--in their total count. what--the more important thing that happened was that we discovered after the original article--and remember, it--it was--it was intended to be a kind of preliminary thing--we discovered two massive new archives of survey evidence whose existence i hadn't even known of before. indeed, nobody had known of the--these two massive archives based on surveys with large numbers of americans every month in one case, every year in the other case, since 1975; year after year asking people about how often they went to meetings and how often they went to club meetings and how often they volunteered and how often they had friends over to the house and went on picnics and so on. and until that point we had no idea that anybody was even gathering data on picnics. who knew whether picnics were up or down. but--but once we had this really amazingly rich evidence, it provides a deep, kind of like a moving picture of how americans' social habits h

the year. >> i feel so lucky. i'm surrounded today by my parents in my community, my school site council, by pta, teachers, and my family. what makes a great school as people who believe in the same values and principles, and i wanted my community for pushing everything that is different in and allowing us to be celebrating here today, so thank you. [applause] >> thank you, sarah. she did not get the ipad, honey, but she did get the dinner getxc --dinner at xyz and hotel accommodation. our middle school sensible of the year is judy slump francisco middle school -- our middle school principal of the year is judy from francisco middle school. she brought have her school with her. she has inspired by her staff and students every day. if she more recently was inspired by one of our chinese citizen after being at the school for a week created a beautiful movie with beautifully drawn visuals, a perfect english with a strong and confident voice. judy, congratulations. >> thank you all for being here. it is with deep appreciation that i look out and see members of my school community, my school family, really, my own fami

we have a pta on square raised $3200. >> the disadvantage of plastic and the reason businesses and restaurantson't use it because there's a fee. does this eliminate the fee? if people are paying -- if i'm paying people or they're paying me using square, does somebody pay the credit card company? >> we pay the credit card company out of the fee that you pay scare which is 2.75%. we've simplified the fee. so you don't have to pay the entire interchange. you pay one fee 2.75 and 15 cents on the transaction. >> am i not going have to have those bills. >> headed to a paperless society. >> unbelievable the technology. i can tell you, from -- i'm grabbing it, how much does it weigh? nothing. >> nothing. >> what happens if i lose it? >> if it's right on your key chain with this hook, so you can bring it with you everywhere. >> thanks for coming in. >>> next month the most powerful republican in office but he's not afraid to show his emotional side. if a profile on" 60 minutes" john boehner broke down in tears, not just once. >> making sure that these kids have a shot at the american dream. it's import