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.

Schools used to be a place where students and adults would use the lessons learned from mistakes or failure to move forward and improve, but not anymore. The new normal is to no longer have grace, assume best intentions in others, or respect those placed in leadership positions. What does that mean for school principals and assistant principals? An already nearly impossible job becoming even more impossible.

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.

I have started this month’s school safety blog many times. Many times. A tragedy occurred, yet another school shooting. The focus of this blog changed. I have been talking to educators, parents, and others. I have been reading, seeing, and listening to stories. I am sure that you have, as well.

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.

In 1975, it was a different world for children with disabilities. Prior to the enactment of IDEA, more than 1.8 million students with disabilities were denied access to an education. For those who receive any services, most were delivered in segregated settings and few children had access to the same educational curriculum as their non-disabled peers.

As school leaders and staffulty wait for the return of SBA data, do not let the information (aka attendance and re-engagement data) we have on AND from students (daily, weekly, monthly) go unnoticed! Lean into this data to guide your leadership moves. Timely analysis of attendance data can help your system identify factors that are contributing to chronic absences. School culture, relationship building, team responses to data, simple communications that are easily accessible by busy families, and grading practices, all could be contributing! Get your teams meeting/huddling regularly and start with tier 1, universal (low lift/high-yield) efforts. If you’d like to know more about how to become more Data Literate, sign up to participate in our winter series of the Data Literate School Leader!

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.

What is the "Devious Lick Challenge"? It is a challenge on TikTok, where students are encouraged to take something from their school; these items may include the bathroom sink, a soap dispenser, or even a teacher's desk. Schools have tried a multitude of ways to stop students, yet this challenge is just as popular today as ever. Clearly, many solutions aren't working. So what is the solution?

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.

Hey principals and school mentors…we see you! You did it!! You survived October with all of its challenges and have supported many throughout these first few critical months. If you're looking for something that can help support you, the PBIS World website has many amazing resources. They can give you ideas to refresh your behavior toolkit heading into the next few months. Don’t forget that many people – from littles to adults – may be exhibiting BIG emotions. Sometimes we don’t know what to do with these big emotions. PBIS world can help with many Tier 1-2-3 intervention ideas just in the nick of time! Check it out! You got this!

This week, we hosted a Zoom on the topic of mental health. Our guests included Representative Lisa Callan who co-chairs the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Work Group (CYBHWG), Representative Carolyn Eslick who is the co-chair for a sub-group of CYBHWG (Youth and Young Adult Continuum of Care), and Representative Monica Stonier who led the efforts last legislative session to pass HB 1225 which established a School Based Health Center Program within the Department of Health.

In this special edition of AWSP News, we discuss the final week of National Principals Month, launching Networking November, our Level-Up Your Leadership Series for Assistant Principals, our “How to Become a Culturally Competent Leader Now” series, AWSL's Fall Conference, Outdoor School experiences for your 5th/6th grade students, feedback on the draft cultural competency, diversity, equity and inclusion educator standards, and how other schools and districts are responding to COVID.