A thoughtful piece about accessing outdoors for all. James Edward Mills writes, "Gear catalogs, advertising campaigns, films, and articles in magazines like Outside typically presented the outdoors as a place for white people, most of them men. At the turn of the millennium, I decided to do something about this, pivoting from sales to journalism...."

Welcome to another episode of AWSP News, where we discuss our 2019 plans, upcoming workshops from Kids at Hope, our workshops in early January at ESD 123, the National Association of Elementary School Principals annual conference in Spokane this summer, key business partners like Capturing Kids Hearts and the Gates Foundation, the Governor's proposed budget, a possible innovation summit around the 24 credit graduation requirement, using student leaders to create a strong culture and foundation, and preview our partnership with world-renowned speaker Kevin Carroll.

AWSP is closed for the holidays. We hope you're able to rest, recharge, and recuperate too. If you need to reach us, we'll be periodically checking email at our webmaster account. We'll reopen on January 3rd. In the meantime, happy holidays.

Last week, Governor Inslee presented his budget for the next legislative session. We’re happy to see lots of support for education in the budget. Unfortunately, even though revenues are up, we don’t have enough to pay for the projected costs of current programs. We need additional revenue to pay for new programs we know our education system needs – like special education funding, additional nurses and counselors, and additional mental health supports. The Governor proposes an increase in several different taxes to pay for issues like education, mental health, and clean energy. Taxes and/or tax reform will be a hot topic in 2019.

Welcome to another episode of AWSP News, where we discuss sharing your daily realities, recognizing a deserving principal for Principal of the Year, the important role our PAC plays in supporting principals, the 2019–20 principal intern grant application, Kaiser Permanente’s $3,500 “Thriving Schools” grant, the benefits of a blood drive through Bloodworks Northwest, a national award for our own Marty Fortin, ASB and Booster Club video workshops by Marty and Greg Barker, and some cool ways to take your staff into break.

Welcome to another episode of AWSP News, where we list all the things we're thankful for, including Rainier View Elementary principal Anitra Pinchback-Jones and her Milken Award, our partnership with OSPI and Title II funds to support you better, new Fast Five videos and a new video highlighting Lopez Island's Farm Education program, Pacific Education Institute's vision for STEM and Field STEM and New York Times bestselling author Richard Louv's keynote, former Governor Christine Gregoire's visit to our studio and her support and leadership with our Chief Education Officer network that pairs principals and executives from Washington Roundtable and Challenge Seattle, the great professional learning networks across the state, the support we're getting from stakeholders and members on the principal pay gap, the questions we've received on Twitter with our #AskAWSP hashtag, our great support team we have at AWSP to answer your calls, and our awesome emeritus members and their willingness to step back and serve.

It is abundantly clear implementing PBIS with fidelity throughout all facets of the system (district office, schools, classrooms, transportation, food service etc.) results in unprecedented changes in the culture, systems and learning of any school-community. PBIS is a tool designed to create equity-centered proactive systems for monitoring and responding to the needs of students and, importantly, the needs of adults...and this is where the conversation tends to get tricky.

That’s the tag line from the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV). We know principals and assistant principals across the state are dealing with mental health and safety issues every day, and healthy relationships, whether for your staff or your students, can definitely fall into either of those categories.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss our recent AWSP TV episode with former Governor Christine Gregoire about leadership and the role of the principal, how our Political Action Committee supports the candidates who support you and your students, our upcoming professional learning opportunities and Title II funding, a workshop to help you improve your public speaking, American Education Week, some great resources on the ASCD website, Ballard High School principal Keven Wynkoop’s Principal of the Year Award from the Washington Library Association, a student leadership question from Ryan Block for our #AskAWSP segment, the US Senate Youth Scholarship and how to get your students eligible, and a great podcast for some health and nutrition tips.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss our principal pay survey, our board structure and upcoming meeting, our advocacy committee and PAC, our upcoming advocacy platform, our Clear Risk Solutions and Seattle Pacific University sponsorships, more great feedback from Principals Month, AWSL's Starting in the Middle publication and how it can help your middle school leadership programs, and preview our new studio and first talk show with Dr. Caprice Hollins and Jack Arend.

Become a Principal Partner for Legislators to connect more regularly with a legislator you already have a relationship with or with whom you are interested in developing a better relationship. It’s easy!

When talking to family, friends and students, and interact with coworkers, we know that lots of people around us are dealing with mental health issues. So what can we do? When does a situation become an illness or a crisis? How can we help until professionals can take over? The City of Auburn developed a one hour mental health training so that anyone can be a first responder to mental health needs.

Cameron Grow, principal at Lincoln Middle School in the Pullman School District, gives five great tips (and a bonus) for creating a great staff culture.

Senator Lisa Wellman is the winner of AWSP’s 2018 Torch of Leadership Award. Senator Wellman is a Democrat representing the 41st Legislative District which serves Mercer Island, Bellevue, Newcastle and parts of Issaquah.

In this edition of AWSP News, we discuss post-strike and post-bargaining focus on culture, the closing gap between teacher and principal pay and what we're doing about it, including our recent survey, participating with us and our #AskAWSP segment, Robert Hand, our new state Teacher of the Year, nominating a great colleague for Principal of the Year, Senator Wellman, our 2018 Torch of Leadership winner, great resources for you to communicate with parents on the GearUp website, taking the lead on learning in your building, and using student voice to keep students engaged and motivated.

Partnering with equity-focused committees and agencies is one way AWSP focuses on educational justice for historically underserved populations. On Tuesday, Director of Government Relations, Roz Thompson and I traveled to Renton for a meeting of the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversite and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC). A highly influential group of decision-makers, the EOGOAC’s mission is to address the opportunity gap in Washington state.

We know many of you are in unchartered territory. The start of the school year always brings excitement and stress, but the changes the Legislature made to the way we fund schools have also brought confusion, chaos, anger, frustration, and uncertainty. It's not been a good summer for bargaining, and we know many of you across the state are still dealing with the anxiety and challenges created by a work stoppage, or the very real threat of one.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss teacher strikes across the state, the shrinking gap between principal and teacher pay, some great ideas for starting the year off right, our interview with Washington comedian and actor Joel McHale, some safety and vaping resources from OSPI, another OSPI budget survey, your goals for the year, our goals for the year and two new staff to support the east side of the state, our new #AskAWSP segment, and a great quote about principal leadership from former Governor Christine Gregoire.

I stumbled across this article on non-standard ideas for teachers about going back to school. I liked it, so I thought I would share. Read Nancy Flanagan's EdWeek blog post. Read Nancy Flanagan's EdWeek blog post.

I’m in trouble...I’m not in trouble...am I in trouble? Confused? After two years of writing and revising, OSPI finally adopted new state rules (WACs) for student discipline. The rules describe how school administrators discipline students, communicate with parents, and provide guidance and due process expectations for suspended or expelled students.