By Paul Wisniewski
CHEEKTOWAGA — The parent-teacher association at Cheektowaga Central Middle School has been named a National PTA School of Excellence, a two-year designation built on a year of surveys, family breakfasts and the school’s first Eid celebration.
The middle school PTA appears on National PTA’s roster of 2025–2027 Schools of Excellence. The national organization said in an Aug. 1 announcement that it honored 321 local PTAs and schools across the country in this cycle “for building partnerships between families and their school that are enriching the educational experience and overall well-being for all students.”
The Cheektowaga Central district shared details of the middle school’s work, which the Cheektowaga Bee published Monday.
Starting with a survey
According to the district, Principal Christopher Salinas encouraged PTA President Angela Scholl to pursue the program. In fall of the 2025–26 school year, the PTA sent National PTA’s Community Feedback Survey to middle school families.
The responses pointed to three areas for growth: stronger communication between families and the school, more family involvement in students’ education, and better engagement of families from diverse cultural backgrounds.
A committee of administrators, teachers from grades 5 through 8, PTA leaders and a parent representative turned that feedback into an action plan. It targeted two of National PTA’s standards for family-school partnerships, “Welcoming All Families” and “Communicating Effectively.”
“The School of Excellence program challenged us to think beyond simply organizing events,” Scholl said in the district’s account. “It taught us to start by listening to our families, understand what they were telling us, and then be intentional about what we did next. The goal wasn’t just to get families through the doors. We wanted them to feel that they belonged once they got there.”
Breakfasts, a Color Run and an Eid celebration
Over the year, the PTA held monthly parent breakfast meetings that gave families direct access to school leaders, along with grade-level family breakfasts where parents met their children’s teaching teams, according to the district.
The school added welcome efforts for new students and piloted a Student Mentor Club to help newcomers settle in. The PTA also staged the school’s first Color Run, a family and community event with a free lunch and an after-party.
One of the largest projects answered the survey’s call to reach families from different cultures. The school held its first Eid celebration, planned by students in grades 5 through 8 with mentors from the high school’s Eid Planning Committee. Students presented on the holiday’s traditions and made maps of countries where Eid is observed.
The PTA used multilingual outreach, and follow-up surveys were offered in English, Bengali and Dari, the district said.
The results
Spring follow-up surveys showed generally positive views of school climate, communication, family engagement and inclusivity. According to the district, 76% of responses were rated “frequently” or “always,” a sign that families felt welcomed, respected and connected to the school.
Salinas said the partnership has mattered most in serving a diverse school community.
“Never has the PTA been more central to the mission of sustaining this trust given to us in support of our mission to effectively educate all students,” Salinas said. “This award represents the reality at our school that many stakeholders, notably our PTA, believe that we can be more than what we are. And through the actions of the PTA, and others, the school is achieving that vision.”
Scholl credited Salinas and Assistant Principal Katie Daniels for backing new ideas.
“Salinas was the one who challenged me to pursue School of Excellence in the first place,” Scholl said. “I wasn’t convinced we could pull off something this ambitious, but he believed we could.”
A national program
National PTA describes the School of Excellence program as a year-long commitment in which PTAs and schools gather feedback from their communities and use it to build data-driven action plans for family engagement.
“Strong partnerships between families and schools are critical to student success—academically, socially and emotionally,” National PTA President Bill Datema said in the August announcement.
The designation runs through 2027. National PTA set an Oct. 15 enrollment deadline for the next School of Excellence cycle, 2026–2027.
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