AWSP Blog

​When we talk about comprehensive school safety and safety planning, we consider the four main areas of threats and hazards: natural, technological, biological and human/man-made. It feels like we are experiencing all four of these threat and hazard areas at the same time right now. Here are some resources to help you work through these challenging days.

October is National Principals Month. Principals and APs, you are a beacon of hope for your entire school community. And, if there has ever been a time in our history where hope is essential, it is now. Don’t ever underestimate the power and influence of your leadership, nor the hope that you can breathe into the lives of both your students and your staffulty. As your professional association, you can count on AWSP to continue shining a bright light on the life-changing work of principals and assistant principals throughout and beyond this October’s National Principals Month. The world needs to know about your incredibly hard, yet amazingly rewarding work.

In this edition of AWSP News, we discuss National Principals Month, our great professional learning opportunities, our Lead Out Loud Assistant Professional Learning series, this week's board meeting, your brand new AWSP Leadership Framework Version 3.0, a message from our board president, Cameron Grow, the passing of Ruth Anderson, and our Cispus Forever campaign.

Eatonville School District students and teachers were met with multiple challenges on the first day of digital instruction as we launched a new school year in a Distance Learning model. Multiple power outages were noted district-wide due to strong winds, powerful fires created unhealthy smoke, and technology issues raged on. In spite of the variety of challenges, all Eatonville School District students, staff, and parents persevered and overcame these issues.

Many thoughts ran through my mind when we found out this summer that our kids would be starting school virtually. While it didn't feel like we had control over much of the situation, we had control over one thing in particular - the space in which they would learn. It was time to make space! Making space. It's something that each and every one of us who has any role or part in education has had to do in the midst of the pandemic. Making space, both physically and mentally, is exactly what school leaders have been doing these past several months.