The third week of the legislative session was the last full week for new policy bills to be heard in committees and zipped by. Next week is the first significant cut-off date of this year’s short session. Bills must pass out of their committee of origin by February 3. Next week’s hearings are all about taking executive action, where bills may be amended and voted out of committee (or not).

Since covering pension/retirement/health insurance issues on behalf of WASA and AWSP, there are a few important points we have learned. This is just a brief summary of selected retirement related topics. However, the importance of advance planning cannot be overstated. These are not issues to put off until the last month of either one’s impending retirement or approaching Medicare eligible age. It’s best to complete your retirement application 30–90 days before you plan to retire.

My husband and I both graduated college and landed our first teaching jobs in a rural Eastern Washington school district. After teaching for five years, we both completed our master’s programs and secured our continuing education certification. To make a long story short…in very short turn-around we added our first child to the family. Now, we were faced with the very interesting challenge of finding daycare for a 2-month-old colicky baby, which there was none of! Our solution was to have me stay home for those first few months. I quickly realized that being a “stay-at-home” parent was unbelievably challenging and to be honest, I wasn’t all that good at it! We engaged with the MOPS groups and had mommy and me dates, but I could never really figure out a schedule that worked for us and thankfully at the end of winter break, baby went to daycare, and I went back to the classroom.

January is Mentoring Month!! I want to thank all the AWSP-trained mentors who have willingly accepted the assignment to walk with a new/newly assigned school leader in our state. Although the 2021-22 school year has thrown all of us in K-12 education a few wrinkles, we greatly appreciate all mentors who have added additional responsibility to their plate by being a mentor to our amazing AWSP school leaders!

“I don’t get political” ~ Betty White. We all can’t be Ms. White because the Washington State Legislature is in session and working hard at proposing and moving legislature of import and educators need to be involved.

The second week of this nine-week legislative session ends today. Things are moving fast. The education committees in both the House and the Senate continued to hear bills and take executive action this week. The first major deadline of this year is February 3rd. That’s when policy bills must pass out of their original committees. The first deadline for fiscal committees to pass their bills out of committee is February 7th.

This content is emailed weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each newsletter contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up to date. Please consult your district attorney if you are looking for legal advice.

January is Mentoring Month! Thank you to the host of AWSP trained mentors who have willingly accepted the assignment to walk with a new/newly assigned school leader in our state. Although the 2021-22 school year has thrown all of us in K-12 education a few wrinkles, we greatly appreciate all mentors who have added an additional responsibility to their plate by being a mentor to our amazing AWSP school leaders!

There was a big hearing the morning of January 18th in the House Education Committee on HB 1226 and HJR (House Joint Resolution) 4200 for passing bonds with simple majority.Both the bill and resolutionneed to pass for the issue to go to the ballot for the general election in November, but there is momentum once again around the need for school construction bonds to pass with a simple majority so students can have safe and healthy schools.

Alexandria Haas, principal at McMicken Elementary in the Highline Public Schools, was named this year’s Washington State National Distinguished Principal. Every year, the National Association of Elementary School Principals recognizes one winner from each state. After reviewing nominations, Ms. Haas has been chosen to represent our state by the Association of Washington School Principals (AWSP).

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.. Please consult your district attorney if you are looking for legal advice, as that is out of my realm.

The 2022 Session began virtually on January 10th. It will be 60-day, mad dash to a March 10th finish line. Numerous bills were pre-filed. In fact, in excess of 600, a record. Being introduced, however, being heard, and then advanced in committee are three different processes. One does not guarantee the others. Meanwhile, below is a brief report on these bills by title. Some titles are self-explanatory; others have a brief summary. And as a reminder to be involved, know that “If you are not at the table; you’re on the menu.”

The saying that short legislative sessions are like sprints and long legislative sessions are like running marathons is completely true! This week, the 2022 legislative session got off to a rapid start. With about 1,500 bills either recently introduced or leftover from last year and more on the way, bill hearings began right away on Monday and both the House and Senate began voting bills out of their respective chambers on Wednesday.

This content is emailed weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each newsletter contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up to date. Please consult your district attorney if you are looking for legal advice.

In preparing to write this school safety blog, I have found myself falling down a rabbit hole. Initially, I wanted to open 2022 with a positive follow-on to events which closed out the 2021 calendar year for schools. I was searching for some good, solid, after-action advice around digital safety and how to most efficiently build that into school safety planning. But in doing so, several other related yet tangential topics and questions arose.

Happy New Year! We are days away from January 10th, which marks the beginning of the 2022 legislative session. This short, 60-day session will go fast and is expected to end on March 10. In a 60-day legislative session, the supplemental budget makes spending adjustments to the 2021-2023 biennial budget passed last year.

This year we are celebrating our 50th year in existence as one of the country’s premier professional membership organizations for principals. Our humble beginning started in 1972 thanks to a handful of courageous leaders who believed “principals” needed their own voice in the P16 educational system. And, 50 years later, AWSP has maintained that vision and continues to be a leading voice for principals and assistant principals throughout our state and across the country. There has never been a more important time for us to make a stand for the important role and work principals and assistant principals do every day for students, staff, and school communities. As we embark on our 50th anniversary, we will spend the year celebrating you and the organization that has faithfully and consistently represented you. The work you do every day for students, staff, and your community is too important not to be recognized and celebrated. We will use this 50th anniversary as an opportunity to continue sharing with the world the work and impact you have day in and day out.

What are you doing for MLK Day this year? How are you creating light for others? What is your school doing to make sure everyone belongs and feels humanity? If you don't have your MLK Day celebration plans already, or even if you do and would like to supplement them, I would highly advise you to check out the I AM | WE ARE program James and the AWSL team put together. There's a version for elementary and secondary. Both versions include the keynote address, an implementation guide, and discussion questions.

This content is emailed weekly to leaders in special education and Section 504. Each newsletter contains tips and resources on a variety of topics that are meant to keep you informed and up to date. Please consult your district attorney if you are looking for legal advice.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss mental, physical and spiritual rest, our “A Matter of Principals” podcast, the I AM: WE ARE MLK Day Celebration program, the opportunity to share the amazing things happening in your school and district at the AWSP/WASA Summer Conference, our Washington Principal magazine, sharing your successes with us, gearing up for the legislative session and our continued advocacy for principals and assistant principals in our state, and our 50th Anniversary as the Association of Washington School Principals.