AWSP Blog

School leaders are uniquely positioned to help educate parents about firearms, particularly safe storage. Securing firearms is a sensible way to prevent curious kids from handling firearms, preventing accidents and suicides. While most gun owners responsibly lock up their guns, increasing awareness through you, your parent organization, and your school district will help build stronger, safer communities. In advance of October School Safety Month, we want to bring some resources to your attention as you consider increasing awareness about gun safety.

The walkie crackled, “Sky’s mother is in the office.” I pushed the button, “Copy. I’ll be right down.” I signaled to the teacher I would be back. She continued to watch Sky as he was starting to right the chairs he had thrown. As I walked, I repeated my mantra for hard family meetings: “be credible, be a partner, show love.”

As a 2022 interim project, Senator Lisa Wellman (D-Mercer Island), Chair of the Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education, asked committee staff to put together a document that identifies and categorizes references to parents and guardians in state law, rules, and model policies. The final document organizes these policies by topics such as attendance and truancy, classroom access and parental involvement, curriculum and instructional materials, special education, graduation, and more.

Many thoughts ran through my mind when we found out this summer that our kids would be starting school virtually. While it didn't feel like we had control over much of the situation, we had control over one thing in particular - the space in which they would learn. It was time to make space! Making space. It's something that each and every one of us who has any role or part in education has had to do in the midst of the pandemic. Making space, both physically and mentally, is exactly what school leaders have been doing these past several months.

One popular app, TikTok, recently launched a number of enhancements to safety policies, controls, and educational resources that will help keep kids safe. The National PTA -- along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Family Online Safety Institute and ConnectSafely -- are partnering with TikTok to help inform parents of the new parental controls, like its Family Pairing feature, which gives parents the ability to guide their child's online experience while also educating them about online safety and digital citizenship.