November is National Native American Heritage Month. From all of us at AWSP, Cispus, AWSL, and Outdoor Schools Washington, we thank you for sharing your stories and allowing us to embrace your culture. We, as an organization, have been honored to serve and learn from our tribal partners throughout Washington state. With principals in every school, we work to engage in every community of tribes across Washington. Honoring their culture and history, we have more work to do and welcome shared opportunities.

It’s November. It’s dark and rainy. Elections are coming up. Daylight Savings Time is ending. Veterans’ Day is approaching. Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Let’s go there now.

It was Friday, October 7.  The sky was smokey and the temperature warm. It was 10:50am. Parking was limited, but some spots were available. The office was dealing with one student in the health room, one student seated on a chair in the office, a parent seated, and one parent signing a student out. The fire inspector was present, requesting assistance with the fire inspection. He asked for someone to accompany him throughout the building for his inspection. This was an unexpected visit, so office staff were trying to think of a way to accommodate this request.

These resources are sent out weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each post contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up-to-date.

Many have heard the quote, “if you aren’t at the table, you are on the menu” from the business community. This month, I have been acutely aware of the people at my table and the lack of diversity they represent. In an attempt at continuing our conversation this month to include ALL voices, I am highlighting the 8 Most Powerful Ted Talks on Disability.

Let me just start by saying something super unpopular but true. TPEP is draining principals rather than supporting teachers. There I said it. How do I know? I talk to principals and teachers.  Am I saying good teaching isn’t happening? No. There are wonderful and magical things happening in classrooms throughout the state. Schools are filled with hope, positive energy, enthusiasm, and incredible relationships in every region of our state. Let me clarify: TPEP, in its current, well-intended form, is not working as originally designed. We are not improving instruction as the system was designed or as we all hoped.

As you can probably tell I LOVE to celebrate and show appreciation for people in my life. I believe passionately it is critical to have a heart of gratitude and give thanks. November is the perfect month to spend time thinking of the things or people that make you smile. I will start off by saying thank you for supporting me by reading this newsletter and sending me your pictures or emails about how you are using it. I love hearing from you and you can always drop me a tweet @sholtys. Thank you for what you do for students and staff each and every day. I believe in you!

These resources are sent out weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each post contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up-to-date.

Substitute Senate Bill 5030 passed last year. I know a lot of leaders are asking what this means. How does this impact your leadership? Does this change the role of school counselors? We are here to support you and your CSCP through the process, which is going to take time. It can take up to three to five years to truly change systems, so give yourself grace! AWSP is working with OSPI and Hatching Results to provide resources, videos, and tools to support you and your team through building the best possible partnership between building leaders and ​the school counseling team. In the meantime, check out this primer for understanding the role and working effectively with school counselors.

These resources are sent out weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each post contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up-to-date.

National Principals Month is a simple way of bringing much-needed attention to the work and impact of your leadership. But, is a month-long celebration enough? No way. One month doesn’t do you or your leadership any justice. Through their research, The Wallace Foundation consistently reaffirms the important role school principals play not just in student achievement, but in establishing and sustaining school culture. Effective and consistent leadership has an immeasurable impact on students, staffulty, and the entire school community. At AWSP, we are not only celebrating National Principals Month throughout October, but we are also calling this year “The Year of the Principal.” We believe there has never been a more important time in educational history than right now to call attention to the plight of our school leaders.

These resources are sent out weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each post contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up-to-date.

A topic that has permeated many discussions with school leaders, students, and community members over the past several years has been vaping. With a rise in students vaping, specifically in schools, the stress of figuring out how to 'solve' this epidemic has fallen on our teachers, counselors, community members, school leaders, and students. Recently, we met with the AWSL Student Voice Network and asked them to weigh in on what we can start doing, stop doing, and keep doing to find solutions for this ongoing issue.

If we truly want to put equity into action, then perhaps we should consider redefining time throughout the system. How do we define an instructional “period,” a school day, the week, a month, or heaven forbid, the entire school calendar? We love our 180-day calendar so much that we’ve allowed that alone to drive the entire system for decades (the calendar, funding, collective bargaining, etc.) and subsequently blind us to new ways of thinking and doing. It is deeply entrenched and built around the needs of the adults working in the system, not the families we are trying to serve.

These resources are sent out weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each post contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up-to-date.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month.  Not all behaviors we don’t like are bullying. Bullying is done on purpose, involves some kind of power imbalance, and is repeated – or likely to be repeated. The bottom line, it is hurtful or harmful in one way or another.  Did you know that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes bullying as an  Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE)?

There are so many wonderful things I associate with October. The change of leaves, the final harvest from our garden, my son's birthday, and Friday night lights just to name a few. October is when the school year becomes real for our staff and students. The novelty of the start has worn off and it's fast and furious every day for our team. It is a month where you need to do something to celebrate your staff. This month's newsletter is loaded with a ton of ideas to help you achieve this. Make sure you check out the details of October 4 as it is becoming one of my favorite days of the year--but then again anything to do with tacos makes my heart happy. I also want to challenge YOU to put something on the calendar this month that will bring you joy. Maybe it will be coffee with a friend, a spa treatment, or going out for dessert with your partner. Do something intentional this month to bring joy to your heart. I believe in you! Cindy.

These resources are sent out weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each post contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up-to-date.

Our advocacy team at AWSP works hard during the interim to get ready for the upcoming legislative session that begins in January 2023. This year’s session is a long session that runs from January through April and a new biennial budget for 2023-25 will be passed.  We are focused on solutions to address the needs of our school leaders through a holistic and multi-faceted approach addressing current policies, legislation, and funding so that we can attract and retain highly effective principals and assistant principals.

These resources are sent out weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each post contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up-to-date.