Invasive what? At first, it seems like just a cool new pet or fun hobby accessory to add to the house. But sometimes exotic pets or pet accessories that are native to other countries can be destructive here in Washington state. For instance, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife issued a notice this week about invasive zebra mussels that are not native to Washington but are hitching a ride on "Betta Buddy" brand moss balls that people frequently use in aquariums. The moss balls and accompanying zebra mussels become a problem when aquarium owners dump out their tank water and the zebra mussels go down the drain with it and into our environment.

This second half of session is just a repeat of the first half except each house is hearing the bills that passed the opposing chamber. And the process starts with committee hearings and as Milton Berle once said, “a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours.”

As we approach the final quarter of this historic and challenging school year, principals across Washington are navigating remote, hybrid, and modified in-person learning environments for students, educators, and families. We've helped assemble a panel of principals to join the League of Education Voters for one of their lunchtime "LEVinars."

This week was all about floor action in both the House and the Senate. Listening to the discussion among legislators as they discuss bills and potential amendments - even on Zoom - can be very insightful. Legislators are working hard to get bills passed by their next deadline of March 9th when they have to be passed out of each house to stay alive.

Weekly special education and Section 504 resources from Abby Bowers, Capital Region ESD 113's Director of Special Programs.

Debates and voting also known as ‘Floor’ action have continued throughout the week. The pattern seems to be that for every three or four bills a chamber passes with bipartisan support, they then debate for hours on a controversial bill which ends with a partisan vote (28/21 or 57/41).

In this edition of AWSP News, we discuss state testing, addressing the mental health needs of your students, staff and community, some virtual “Retirement Readiness” seminars from our friends at Veba, a new OSPI sponsored statewide survey for students in grades 6-12, two new statewide networks for rural principals, a budget request of $10 Million to send up to 20,000 students to Outdoor School, the difficult yet necessary decision not to hold our 2021 in-person summer programs on our campuses, our US Senate Youth Program Washington winners, and a chance to serve a two-year term on the AWSL Student Voice & Advisory Council.

In the second video of "The Five 'P's' of Inclusion" Series, this video looks at how we can connect place to our understanding of inclusion. Drawing from Indigenous worldview, this video promotes seeing inclusive classrooms as more than locations, and emphasizes the building of community, identity and belonging. To see the first video in the series, watch this video about Presuming Competence!

The first fiscal committee deadline passed on Monday, and the list of active bills got even smaller as executive action by both the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Ways and Means Committee was not taken on some bills. The Legislature spent the rest of this week (and will spend all of next week) on floor action trying to get bills passed out of each house in order to meet the next deadline of March 9th. This is a much slower process in a remote session, so fewer bills will survive this session. We are watching to see which bills are still moving and will keep advocating to get bills of importance to the floor for votes.

Weekly special education and Section 504 resources from Abby Bowers, Capital Region ESD 113's Director of Special Programs.

Both Houses are focusing on ‘floor’ action. They have primarily voted to pass bills that have the support of both parties. Proposals that do not have such consent continue to be approved along party lines. And some bills such as those dealing with police and/or guns generate lively debate. Bills have to be out of their houses of origin by the end of the day March 9th. So, these floor debates will get even more spirited as the controversial bills come before the bodies.

Like many of you, my students are returning back to in person learning and I love it. This however, has brought a total different level of anxiety and stress to staff, students, and families. Which means it is critical that we, as leaders in our school, do something this month of modified “madness” to bring joy into our schools. March lends itself naturally to great opportunities of celebration to love on your staff between college basketball March Madness (Go Zags!), St. Patrick’s Day, or a few other exciting days I have included in this newsletter. I hope you can find one or two ideas to implement and utilize with your team.

As we know, the Legislature considers it a matter of public safety for its schools and staff to have current safe school plans and procedures in place to maximize safety for all students and staff. Districts and schools are required to develop comprehensive all-hazard emergency operations plans (EOPs) to address prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery strategies.

The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) announces that high school students Ms. Ailani Savannah Baldwin and Ms. Khanh Le Doan will join Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell in representing Washington during the 59th annual USSYP Washington Week, to be held March 14 — 17, 2021. Ailani Baldwin of Vancouver and Khanh Doan of Everett were selected from among the state’s top student leaders to be part of the 104 national student delegation who will each also receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study. Due to the pandemic, the 2021 program will break ground as the first-ever fully virtual Washington Week, and is designed to be a highly interactive and exciting education and leadership forum for the nation’s most outstanding student leaders.

The focus was definitely on fiscal committees this week as legislators work to meet the next significant cut-off date of this legislative session on Monday, February 22. By the end of that day, bills need to be passed out of the House fiscal committees and Senate Ways & Means and Transportation committees in each house of origin. Some of these committees will meet on Saturday to continue this work.

Weekly special education and Section 504 resources from Abby Bowers, Capital Region ESD 113's Director of Special Programs.

The deadline for policy bills has come and gone, and the deadline for fiscal bills is imminent. Both Houses will now focus on ‘floor’ action, or in this case ‘zoom’ action. Simply stated, at this point, bills will have either been moved out of the policy and fiscal by end of day, Feb. 22nd, moved out of the respective Rules Committee, placed on the floor calendar awaiting action, passed by the bodies, and sent to the opposite house by the March 9th or they are ‘dead’. The cycle then repeats in the opposite chamber.

In this edition of AWSP News, we discuss how much we love and appreciate you, some incredible professional learning opportunities, connecting with your own principal network, our Turn Up the Volume on Student Voice virtual series, a two-year term on the AWSL Student Voice & Advisory Council, AWSL's dynamic bilingual (English-Spanish) program, La Chispa, the 2021-22 Intern Grant Application, and a thank you to all of you who’ve donated to our Cispus Forever campaign.

Many working families with school-age children experienced an increased need for childcare during remote learning. This is especially true for essential workers. Our state depends on childcare and youth development programs so that its workforce can meet the needs of Washingtonians during these challenging times and help keep our economy afloat. The difficult decisions districts had to make about return-to-school schedules have a direct effect on local childcare and youth development programs. During COVID 19, childcare and youth development programs across the state adapted to accommodate children who would typically be in school in person. They changed schedules, purchased special equipment for remote learning, and took on new health and safety practices to support students and families amid a pandemic.

We’ve had a great advocacy week thanks to so many of our AWSP members reaching out to meet with their legislators. I have enjoyed the Zoom meetings and email exchanges as principals have been getting prepped for these important conversations and I’ve been able to Zoom into several regional meetings to share a legislative update. Our voice is always needed across the state to help those creating policy ensure that the right decisions are being made for students. If you have specific questions or want to get involved with advocacy, let me know.