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.

In this edition of AWSP News, we discuss the Governor’s big announcement last week, more information from Department of Health, our recent statewide member survey, our Member Engagement Campaign, your principal contract, the Legislative Session, the annual AWSP/WASA Summer Conference, AWSL Summer Programs, and supplementary budget for Outdoor Schools.

It was budget week in the Legislature as both House and Senate Democrats released their supplemental operating budgets. Both budget bills had hearings within hours of their release on Monday, and both were amended within days of these hearings. Budget negotiators from both chambers will now seek to reconcile differences and come to a final budget before “sine die” (the last day of the session), scheduled for March 10.

As the clock continues to count down to Sine Die, there is a mixture of committee hearings, behind the scenes meetings, and limited floor debate. As mentioned earlier, Feb. 24th is the last day for policy bills to clear committees, and Feb. 28th for fiscal bills to clear. Many committee agendas read “Bills to be determined” as decisions are being made behind closed doors as to what advances. All these actions lead to the March 4th date, which is the last day (5 PM) to act on opposite house bills.

I’d like to start this blog by sharing three things with you - one you know for sure, and two you probably didn’t. First, it’s Black History Month. You should all know that already. The second thing? To keep my sanity as an educational leader for the last 25 years, I have been an active runner. How those two pieces are connected leads me to the third. My perspective of running was forever changed shortly after 1:00 pm on February 23, 2020, outside the small town of Brunswick, Georgia.

Working with challenging adult behaviors has similarities to working with behaviors we see in our students. Digging in, getting better at navigating the function of behavior, and hypothesizing what is behind the behaviors can help you support students and staff more calmly and insightfully. I ran across this “All Behavior is Communication” blog post from Lauren Pace (host of the Rising Lava Parenting Podcast) as I was looking for resources to help a new school leader navigate some tricky adult behaviors in her school. Although this blog refers to parenting strategies and young children, I think reading, listening, and pondering the basics about behavior as communication has some transferable skills and strategies pertinent to school leadership!

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.

The House of Origin cut-off has come and gone. Committee hearings have now started in earnest. The agendas can be quite lengthy as the rush to Sine Die begins in earnest. Various groups and individuals will have opportunities to testify “Pro” or “Con” on bills before the committee. Leadership and committee chairs then become the arbiters of which bills will advance further.

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.