The parents running it
Who Does What
Four elected officers and six small committees. Every one of them is a parent with a job and a kid at this school. Names, faces, and a way to reach each of them.
Meet the PTO
Four parents, elected by you.
At our core, we are a passionate group of volunteers working together to make CCDSI a place where every child can learn and grow. Whether you have time, specific skills, or unique expertise to share, we would love your help — every contribution, no matter how small, makes a huge impact.
Tomehka Ettinoffe, PTO President
President
Tomehka Ettinoffe
Mom to Langston, a first grader. Corporate compliance director at a non-profit, where she builds systems and untangles complicated problems. Deeply committed to making sure everyone in this community has what they need.
Vice-President
Margaret Megan
vicepresident@cesarchavezpto.org
Mom to Evelyn, a first grader, and a PGCPS educator herself — so she knows the district from the inside. Co-leads a Girl Scout troop, cooks, and drags her family somewhere new most weekends.
Secretary
Mirieth Valenciano
Mom to a kindergartner. Originally from Costa Rica, here twenty years. Joined after watching what previous boards pulled off. Volunteers with Make-A-Wish, the Red Cross, and the Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network.
Treasurer
Sarah Reza
Two kids here — River in second grade, Cooper in kindergarten. Works at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum running programs for justice-system professionals. Grew up in Takoma Park. Jeopardy! champion.
The board is elected every May by the membership — that is every parent, guardian and staff member, automatically. Committee chairs are below.
Committee
Welcome
Making sure no family walks in feeling like they missed the first chapter.
- PTO Social Fridays — pickup meetups on the first Friday of the month, or the second if the first is an early dismissal day
- The Welcome Guide for families, English and Spanish
- Incoming kindergarten meetups and the kindergarten group chat
- Book swap and uniform swap
- Grade reps and room parents
Co-chairs
Lindsay Cheyne & Meg Dominguez
WhatsApp — Day-to-day chat, plus a separate group for incoming kindergarten families.
Email the committee and they will send you the group invite.
Committee
Advocacy
Parents showing up where the decisions get made.
- Action alerts — each issue with the specific thing to do
- Testimony at Board of Education and County Council meetings
- Air quality and the idle-free zone campaign at pickup
- Full-funding advocacy for PGCPS
- Traffic and pedestrian safety around the school
Advocacy also quietly carries family support. If your household needs help — food, clothes, a hard month — email the address above. It reaches a small group and stays there.
As a 501(c)(3), the PTO does not endorse candidates for office.
Co-chairs
Alison Mendoza Walters & Ingrid Rojas
WhatsApp — Where action alerts go out first. Moves fast when a hearing is coming.
Why people join this committee
Parents at this school stopped a McDonald’s.
A drive-thru at 6543 Ager Road — minutes from the front door, on a stretch already carrying some 42,000 cars a day. No lawyers, no lobbyists: parents and neighbors who gathered letters, learned the zoning process, and kept turning up to the planning commission and the County Council. In October 2025, McDonald’s withdrew.
“We’re talking about our children, who go to a school that’s on a major thoroughfare.”Rebeca Rios, César Chávez parent · Hyattsville Wire, October 2025
Committee
Wildcat Way
The outdoor classroom the community designed, funded and built.
- Community workdays — planting, painting, building, rain barrels
- Interpretive signage and the student ambassador programme
- Summer yoga and Master Gardener workshops
- Teacher resources for using the space in class
- Grade-level reps who schedule weekend use
Built with Nature Sacred, EnviroCollab, Hyattsville CDC and PGCPS.
Co-chairs
Kate Wunderlich & Rachel Mulford
WhatsApp — Workday announcements, planting days, and space scheduling.
Committee
¡Sí Se Puede!
One big bilingual party every spring, and the year’s biggest fundraiser.
- The festival — music, lotería, dunk tank, food trucks, dance performances
- The silent auction, moving to its own online window
- Local business sponsorships and in-kind donations
- Vendor coordination and day-of volunteers
Local businesses: we welcome DMV businesses through in-kind donations, auction items or sponsorship — and we will promote you to several hundred families.
Chair
Rachel Mulford
WhatsApp — Planning ramps up in the spring. Join early if you want a say in the lineup.
Email the committee and they will send you the group invite.
Committee
TAG
Talented and Gifted — plain answers about a process that confuses almost everyone.
- TAG explainers for families, English and Spanish
- Sessions with school staff on identification and timelines
- Helping families navigate the county process
- Enrichment that reaches past the identified group
Chair
Sarah Reza
WhatsApp — Questions, session dates, and shared resources.
Email the committee and they will send you the group invite.
Committee
Communications
Making sure people actually know what’s happening.
- This site and The Giving Groove calendar
- Monthly newsletter, English and Spanish
- Instagram and Facebook, scheduled through Canva and Buffer
- PTO content for the Wildcat Roar school newsletter
Wanted: an official photographer for the year — events for the website, social, grant applications and a possible yearbook. One of the few volunteer roles that is genuinely fun, and it needs one named person rather than a rota.
Acting chair
Ian Fay
communications@cesarchavezpto.org
WhatsApp — Where the website, newsletter and social get coordinated. Quiet most weeks, busy before an event.
Start the thing you wish existed.
The PTO does not hand out assignments. If something matters to the families at this school and nobody is doing it yet, that is reason enough to start — and we will back you rather than route you through a process. Bring the idea. We will help you find the people, the room and the budget.