AWSP Blog

Teachers and principals were happy to hear from Cispus, AWSL, and AWSP the last couple weeks. Our team delivered adventure backpacks to the teachers and principals pictured above: Dan Garry, teacher at Washington Elementary; Kira Duncan, teacher, and Shannon Richards, principal, at Oakville Elementary; and Amy Dunnagan, principal at Mossyrock Elementary. Other recipients include Wade Iseminger, teacher in Ocosta SD, and Todd Graves, principal in Ridgefield SD.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss some terrific professional development from world class inclusionary practices experts, tons of great free classes and resources for you to check out our Learning Management System, AWSL’s “I Am, We Are” Martin Luther King Day assembly, our Advocacy efforts and our Legislative Update newsletter, the 2021-22 Intern Grant Application, and a new collaborative workshop, “Turn Up The Volume On Student Voice.”

Week three of the legislative session ended today. We saw some of the first floor action this week with several critical bills passing the House and Senate floors. Both houses promised these “early action” bills. One of them is HB 1121, which is the graduation waiver bill. The other is SB 5044 which would add equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism to existing cultural competency standards and training for school board directors, district staff, and school staff on one of three state funded professional days.

Remember COVID? It is obviously not over yet. The depth, breadth, and duration of the pandemic is something that we had not experienced before. Now, there are hopeful signs among the dire statistics, and more and more schools will be reopening over the coming days, weeks and months. 2020 was a traumatic, tumultuous year. 2021 began that way, as well. There has been a lot of turmoil across the country. The January 6, 2021 saw a violent breach of the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. The National Terrorism Advisory System has noted increased and ongoing threats of violence across the country.

In 1866, The United States Congress enacted six segregated regiments which became four all-black regiment. They managed the western frontier after the Civil War. The four regiments were The 9th and 10th Calvary and the 24th and 25thInfantry. They were named “Buffalo Soldiers."