We reached the halfway point of this year’s short legislative session this week and have passed several important cut-off dates. The action is now focused on passing bills out of both the House and Senate. Bills must pass off each floor by February 15 to stay alive (unless they’re NTIB). After that, the process repeats all over again in the opposite house, only with a shorter timeline. Hearings in the education committees start back up next Wednesday.

At the end of January, over 25 educational leaders from K-12 and higher education attended our AWSP Mentor Program Stakeholder’s Convening to learn more about refreshing the AWSP Mentor training program. We asked attendees about their interest in participating on one of the work committees, taking into account the pressures of the current reality in school leadership, particular expertise in mentoring, and knowledge of the supports our school leaders need right now.

Our job jar is currently down. We apologize for the inconvenience. For now, please search for or post a job on WASA's Career Connection site. Our IT support company is working with the job jar vendor to restore functionality as quickly as possible, but we don't have an ETA at the moment.

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

Each chamber is now engaged in floor sessions deciding the fate of various bills. Committee action is at a minimum. The next critical deadline is Feb. 15th when bills need to be out of their house of origin and committee hearings restart. As an annual reminder, no bill is ever ‘dead’ until Sine Die, and any bill deemed ‘necessary to implement the budget’ (NTIB) remains alive until the bitter end.

We reached the halfway point of this year’s short legislative session this week and have passed several important cut-off dates. The action is now focused on passing bills out of both the House and Senate. Bills must pass off each floor by February 15 to stay alive (unless they’re NTIB). After that, the process repeats all over again in the opposite house, only with a shorter timeline. Hearings in the education committees start back up next Wednesday.

Before the pandemic, addressing principal turnover across the state and country was a top priority for us at AWSP. It was an epidemic before the pandemic. Principal churn is bad for kids. Bad for teachers. Bad for schools and the communities they serve. Again, this was alarming and concerning before the current pandemic. Even more alarming when you consider our schools with the greatest needs are churning building leaders at twice the rate. So, if we really care about equity as a system, why isn’t everyone talking about the direct negative consequences of principal churn on our most disadvantaged students and schools?

We are sitting at a crucial moment in principal history. Many of you report considering leaving the job and/or barely hanging on despite gallant efforts of perseverance, persistence, and patience. Our team at AWSP has been sharing your stories with the Governor’s Office, legislators, officials from OSPI, the Department of Health, and other agencies and organizations. We basically are shouting from the mountaintops that principals need help and they need it both now, and as we look to redefine what “principaling” looks like in the future.

Still worried about clock hours and your certification renewal? Many districts are issuing clock hours for teachers and administrators' work each week in PLCs. Work centered around district initiatives, school improvement planning, and instruction can be considered for clock hours. Check with your district’s clock hour committee to see if the work already being done in your schools might be eligible for clock hours.

As we near the halfway mark of this short legislative session, I want to thank all of you who were able to send emails or meet with your legislators this week! There are definitely a few benefits to virtual life, and one of those is the ease with which busy school leaders can meet with busy legislators. I was able to sit in 18 different meetings with legislators this week and to meet some new members and their staff. In scheduling these meetings with legislators, I invited principals living in their legislative district to attend. It’s great to have even a few minutes of conversation with the hope that in the future, these conversations can turn into longer ones, or even in-person school visits.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss our 50th Anniversary, our Member Engagement campaign, a breath of relief on testing requirements for athletes, OSPI’s COVID 19 Student survey, the AWSP/WASA Summer Conference, our Secondary School Principals and Assistant Principal of the Year, a thank you to the schools and districts who purchased the “I AM | WE ARE MLK” program, Black History Month, AWSL bringing summer camps back, an Eastern Washington Student Representative Position at the SBE, and negotiating principal contracts.

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

February 3rd was the deadline for policy bills to pass out of committees. February 7th is the deadline for fiscal bills. The most critical upcoming deadline is Feb. 15th when bills need to be out of their house of origin. It’s important that bills of import continue moving through the process.

Brad Wilson, principal at Chelan High School in the Lake Chelan School District, was named this year’s Washington State Principal of the Year. Every year, the Association of Washington School Principals selects a state winner. Wilson will also be recognized at the national level by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). He will compete with winners from other states for the NASSP’s National Principal of the Year award.

Megan Mauro, assistant principal at LaVenture Middle School in the Mount Vernon School District, was named this year’s Washington State Assistant Principal of the Year. Every year, the Association of Washington School Principals selects a state winner. Mauro will also be recognized at the national level by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), where she will compete with winners from other states for the NASSP’s National Assistant Principal of the Year award, announced in early April.

Find yourself frustrated with your current situation as a building level leader? Ever wonder who makes some of these big statewide decisions that impact the work you are doing in your school? Ever consider getting more involved in influencing the P16 education system? How about just getting better connected with other principals and assistant principals from around the state? Well, guess what -- It’s easy to get more involved with AWSP, and WE WANT YOU!

AWSP is looking for an amazing elementary principal to be the National Association of Elementary School Principals’ (NAESP) National Outstanding Assistant Principal honoree from our state. This program promotes excellence in educational leadership and calls attention to the fundamental importance of the assistant principal.

When we begin comprehensive safety planning, we do a risk assessment for our district or our school. What are those risks and hazards which we might have to deal with? How much peril are we in because of them? We establish Threat Assessment teams to help identify potential risk factors impacting the life of a student. We insure our assets and help provide safe learning environments with the help of our excellent statewide risk pools. And so on…Let’s change courses a bit. Let’s consider technology.

The first major deadlines of this short session are February 3rd for policy bills and Feb. 7th for fiscal bills with the ultimate deadline for bills to make it out of their houses of origin being February 15th. As before, below is a brief report on selected bills that appear to have some support for advancing. Although any bill from the last or current session can always reappear. (See SSB 5326 below).

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