AWSP Blog

Looking ahead, ‘21-‘22 is going to be a busy year. As we begin to kick it off, COVID still plays a major part in our school safety preparation efforts. Masks. Distancing. Hand washing. And that’s just the starters. Over the course of this year’s blogs, I plan to address several other school safety topics as well: school mapping, HB 1214, HIB, drills, equity, threat assessment, behavioral health, data requirements, and more. If you have a topic you would like to see included, please let me know.

The State Board of Education wants to hear from you about graduation and how students show they are prepared with the skills needed to thrive in life after high school. Learn more about this work and get an opportunity to provide feedback during a listening session.

As part of our celebrity Summer Conference news interview series, Dr. Scott Seaman and Communications & Technology Director David Morrill joined Kraken broadcaster Everett Fitzhugh to talk about his path to the NHL as the first black play-by-play hockey announcer. He has a unique story about culture and belonging and shares how the Kraken is breaking down barriers and creating a diverse, inclusive staff in a sport where that's the exception and not the norm. Everett has great stories, insight, lessons, and plenty of humor. You'll want to watch all the way to the end for this one.

Not too long ago, our Executive Director Dr. Scott Seaman wrote his "I Am More Than a Test Score" blog. Along those same lines, AWSL Director James Layman has a couple of quotes in this piece from Knowable Magazine.

There’s nothing like more than a year of pandemic learning to make us examine past practices and consider better and healthier ways! One change your school might consider is making a purposeful effort to take learning outside. In the report “Back to School: Back Outside” (Kevin J. Coyle, National Wildlife Federation, 2010), research shows how a “green hour” built into classroom routines has a positive impact on students’ focus, attitude toward work, behavior, connections with others, and even standardized test scores.