In 2012, ESSB 5940 regarding school employee benefits passed. It directed the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) to collect data on the health plans and costs from all school districts. This phase has been done with 100% of districts and carriers submitting the data. The legislation also mandated that school districts must offer a high deductible health plan option with a health savings account similar to that required for state employees.

During the House Education Committee meeting on Monday, January 26th, AWSP testified in support of HB 1142, which modifies school district authority with respect to student parking. AWSP staff Marty Fortin worked with the prime sponsor, Representative Wilcox (R-Yelm), to craft legislation clarifying that school ASB’s may use student parking fees to support student activities.

The following is a partial list of bills that could affect current and future retirees. The sponsors are listed so in the event you are meeting with any of them, please let them know of your interest and support or non-support.

Q. I had a question about how teachers and coaches can get a pass to watch in district sporting events. For the past 24+ years we have been able to show our employee badge, agree to supervise as needed, and were able to get in with a spouse or sibling. We were just told this does not work with ASB laws. Is there a way this can be resolved, so staff can go support students they have taught or coached?

Although it is still early in the session, some bills have been introduced that could impact present and future employees and retirees. Other bills are expected. It’s important to keep in mind that after introduction, some bills move on, some don’t, and some bill proposals change as they move along.

Q. Can our volleyball team run a fundraiser through ASB to get money to pay for an additional coach? Could our equestrian team do the same thing?

How important is water to our society?

Monday, an amended version of HB 1031 moved to the Rules Committee. HB 1031 expands participation in College in the High School programs to include tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade students.

Q. Can you help me out with determining if the elementary schools can us ASB funds to purchase student planners and recorders if they are charging the students for them to replenish the account?

Q. Is it allowable to use ASB money to purchase coaches jackets, sweats, etc.?

Take your students outside and collect materials, have them use the natural materials to make specific tools.

Q. What are the typical issues surrounding a canned food drive put on by a school ASB, and then the subsequent donation of the canned food? A. Consider the canned food drive as a charitable fundraiser. Instead of cash, the “money” is food. Here are the guidelines for a charitable fundraiser (Non-associated Student Body Private Money):

Have students identify characteristics of trees. Visit trees in the school yard. Have the students do tree dramatizations, using their arms as the branches and their legs as the trunk.

Congrats to Brian Burdon, the 2014 recipient of the Bob Mars Scholarship! Brian is a teacher and the athletic director of Evergreen Middle School in Lake Washington School District. The Bob Mars Scholarship is awarded annually to a middle level principal intern to help cover expenses for attendance at an AWSP-sponsored state conferences or any AWSP professional development workshop. The amount of the scholarship is determined by the Association of Washington Middle Level Principals (AWMLP) Board of Directors during their annual budget approval process.

AWSP has published its 2015 Legislative Platform. The platform was written and approved by both the AWSP Board of Directors and the AWSP Legislation Committee.

If you’re designing a classroom from scratch, what would you prioritize? According to an article from the inaugural issue of the Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal, you’d want to design with these three features in mind:

The National Indian Education Association, in partnership with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, is offering a three-day "train-the-trainer" event Nov. 14-16 in Toppenish for certificated teachers and administrators on the effective implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Begin the activity by drawing an outline of the classroom on the blackboard. Develop a key to one side of the outline to be used to represent the plants, animals and special features which exist in the classroom.

Q. Is it alright to have a fund raiser and have multiple grades participate and divide the funds among the different grade level of students that put in a certain number of hours?

Principals, it’s your month nationally and here in Washington, Governor Inslee has proclaimed the last week of the month to be School Principals Week. Read the proclamation below or view a signed copy of the proclamation (PDF).