The content from this post comes from Dr. Whitehead's weekly email.

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 this is out of my realm. The opinions contained herein are my own.

Please feel free to reach out if you have ideas on topics and resources. This week’s emails include links to information on:

Everyone:
Change management
Restorative Practices
Increasing teacher confidence

504
Case file
LA Unified and Compensatory Education—T his one was talked about heavily at the law conference.

Special Education & 504 Case Law:
Various FAPE issues, including the “assess all areas” obligation, and, in the second case, the overlay of Section 504/ADA.

Special Education:
Transition: post-secondary

OSPI:
Form Package 442 and 642
Dyslexia Guidance
Office Hours with OSPI: Special Education Directors Meetings with OSPI

Our advocacy team at AWSP works hard during the interim to get ready for the upcoming legislative session that begins in January 2023. This year’s session is a long session that runs from January through April and a new biennial budget for 2023-25 will be passed. 

We are focused on solutions to address the needs of our school leaders through a holistic and multi-faceted approach addressing current policies, legislation, and funding so that we can attract and retain highly effective principals and assistant principals. 

Did You Know?

• We are developing a legislative platform that speaks to our specific leadership solutions and it will be ready to share in late October.

• The School Funding Coalition (SFC) is comprised of seven statewide associations representing school leaders. The SFC has set its 2023 Legislative Priorities, and the main goal is to update the prototypical funding model for school principals. 

• We have an Advocacy Advisory Council that meets occasionally during the interim and regularly during the legislative session.

• We have Principal Partners for Legislators who commit to regularly connecting with their elected officials about their schools and communities.

• We have an Advocacy & Action Center that makes it easy to share your thoughts with legislators and other elected officials.

• We will schedule meetings this fall with legislators and other education partners like OSPI, PESB, and the State Board of Education to discuss policy ideas.

• We have a Washington School Principals Legislative Effectiveness Association (otherwise known as our “PAC” or Political Action Committee) that makes contributions to elected officials.

For more information, or to join in any of the groups or meetings mentioned above, reach out to Roz Thompson, Government Relations Director at AWSP.

Everyone:

Seven Principles for True Partnership - ASCD

Principals and Counselor Teams

Section 504 LEA Tool Kit

Various FAPE issues, including the “assess all areas” obligation, and, in the second case, the overlay of Section 504/ADA.

Tips from the Special Education Division

Special Education Update

Hope and Healing Engagement Center

Office Hours with OSPI: Special Education Directors Meetings with OSPI

Are you looking for ways to help build connections among your students all while supporting your SEL curriculum? Well, the Cispus Learning Center Challenge Course can support you in this endeavor. 

Every year we have dozens of schools come to our site for start of the year programming for their students, but rarely do we get to see those students again to build upon the lessons learned when they were with us. Studies show that engaging students in hands-on experiences and reflection, they are better able to connect those lessons learned to classroom and real-world situations. However, this is most effective when put into practice more than just once. Now, we understand the trouble it can be to be able to coordinate travel to come to Cispus,  so let us come to you! Not only do we build custom challenge course programs for your onsite, but we are able to bring this show on the road! 

The Cispus Learning Center Challenge Course has 50+ portable initiatives that we can bring to you and set up nearly in any space. Our Traveling Ropes program has been used by schools in their orientation programs, to accompany end-of-year camps, as a tool to bring staff and students together, and as a way to celebrate the end of a term! This program is an excellent way to help build comradery among students, as well as create a sense of belonging among those attending. It allows students to learn one another’s strengths and weaknesses, build upon their self-esteem and self-efficacy (something we have seen decline since the pandemic), and learn how to communicate outside of technology. 

We know how hard it can be to build SEL curriculum into the everyday class lesson, so let us help lessen the load! We are here to help build a better year for you and your students. To get started, reach out to Cispus Challenge Course Manager Billy Hager-DeMyer.

National Preparedness Month

In 2002, our state legislature recognized that comprehensive district and school safety plans are of paramount importance and help to assure students, parents, guardians, school employees, and school administrators that our schools provide the safest possible learning environment.

This year’s National Preparedness Month theme is A Lasting Legacy: The life you’ve built is worth protecting. Prepare for disasters to create a lasting legacy for you and your family. I think it’s safe to add: “ and your whole school community.”

Along with the comprehensive school safety planning resources found on our School Safety Center Safety Planning Toolkit page, here are some additional preparedness resources you can use and share with staff, students and families:

• Alert Media
• CDC
• Department of Health
• FEMA
• National Weather Service
• Ready.gov
• The White House

Remember, focusing on school safety helps create a learning environment that positively impacts behavior, attendance/drop-out rates, and academic achievement.  It involves planning for the prevention, mitigation, protection, response to, and recovery from various natural, physical, social/human-caused, biological, and technological threats and hazards to the school and the entire school community. And again, in school, this translates into improved attendance, better engagement, higher academic achievement, and increased student well-being.

Be prepared. Stay safe.

 

Dear Colleague: 

About ReadyWA: Ready Washington is a coalition of state education agencies, associations, and advocacy organizations that believe every Washington student should graduate prepared for a successful future.

HB 2731 was passed by the 66^th Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee during the 2020 session. It requires public schools in Washington to report diagnosed concussions sustained by students during athletic and other activities each year. It also requires the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) to develop the procedure for reporting and analyzing the data – so that it can report back to OSPI and the Washington State Legislature on the rates, trends, patterns, and other relevant information of diagnosed concussions sustained by students.

DOH was asked to put a hold on this work during 2020 and 2021 while the COVID pandemic was being addressed for the public health of the state. This work was reauthorized to continue in late 2021. A multisector committee was formed to assist DOH in creating a data reporting tool and developing a procedure for schools to report head injury incidences to DOH. The official version of the tool is scheduled to go live on September 6 for data collection. 

The latest information on accessing and using the tool, as well as concussion resources, can be found on the Student Head Injury Concussion Reporting webpage on the DOH website.

DOH has scheduled two training webinars for school and medical personnel and partners that will be using the tool for reporting to assist you in acclimating to the tool and process:

• Wednesday, August 24 at 2 p.m. 
• Thursday, September 29 at 9 a.m. 

Several groups have worked together to plan a back-to-school webinar on Breakfast After the Bell programs. These include OSPI, the Washington Education Association, the Association of Washington School Principals, Public School Employees of Washington, and United Way of King County. 

Join educators across Washington state to learn about Breakfast After the Bell’s positive outcomes for students and schools as well as how to overcome common challenges. This webinar will focus on how teachers, principals, and building staff can collaborate with food services to create and sustain successful Breakfast After the Bell programs.

Attend either September 1 or September 22 from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Register Here:

• Sept. 1 Webinar | Register
• Sept. 22 Webinar | Register

For more information, contact Mikhail (Misha) Cherniske at OSPI. Or, check out OSPI's Child Nutrition webpage.

Cispus Learning Center survives the pandemic thanks in large part to Buffington’s efforts

AWSP honors the former longtime AWSP employee with a new award

The Association of Washington School Principals is honored to present longtime AWSP member and friend Jim Eisenhardt with the first-annual Annalee Braley Membership Award. The award was officially presented to Jim during our annual luncheon at the AWSP/WASA Summer Conference in Spokane at the end of June. 

The award was created this year to honor the memory of former AWSP Membership Coordinator Annalee Braley who passed away tragically and unexpectedly in September 2021. 

Annalee started at AWSP when she was just 19 years old and was about to cross over to 32 years of service at AWSP in various roles. Annalee was one of the biggest reasons AWSP has the strongest membership in the country year after year. She was why our name and brand are known in every district and region across the state and country. She was often the first email you received from AWSP and probably the first voice you heard on the other end of the line. Annalee was all things AWSP.

Jim Eisenhardt, who served for decades in support of the association and knew Annalee very well, represents the same qualities as Annalee – unwavering dedication to the association and its members, commitment to making AWSP the strongest principals’ association in the country, and passion for supporting and advocating for principals and assistant principals across the state.

Annalee’s husband Troy, daughter Crystal, sister “Sis,” and grandson Edison were present during the luncheon and award ceremony. We believe Annalee would have agreed that there isn’t a better person to be recognized for this first-ever award than Jim Eisenhardt. 
Learn more about the Annalee Braley Membership Award at www.awsp.org/Annalee.

Blaine Legislator Sponsored Two Significant Pieces of Legislation to Support K-12 Education

In partnership with AWSP, OSPI would like to hear directly from building administrators about how to best support you and your colleagues with beginning the implementation of your district’s SSB 5030/Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP) plan this coming year. Your feedback will inform our collaborative work with AWSP to develop resources, tools and training that can help you to feel inspired, hopeful, and ready to leverage SSB 5030 to support improved student outcomes through the CSCP.

Please take a moment to complete this quick survey by Wednesday, August 10th.

Take the Survey!

• In the meantime, there are a variety of resources already available for your access: OSPI’s Comprehensive School Counseling Programs Webpage contains a repository of SSB 5030-related guidance, professional development opportunities, district CSCP examples, and CSCP templates.
• The Washington Open Educational Resource HUB provides access to various asynchronous professional development modules geared specifically toward school and district administrators.
• Navigate to www.oercommons.org/hubs/Washington and enter “5030” in the search box to access all modules.
  

Thank you for taking the time to let us know how we can best support you!

It’s August! It’s hard to believe that we are starting the 2022–23 school year. But we are. And here we go!

Last year was quite a year, to put it mildly. I suspect that we are all hoping to return to a bit more normalcy in 22–23. We know, though, that there will be a lot of change moving forward. Here are some school safety thoughts to help navigate the changes and find a new normal.

Comprehensive school safety plans, sometimes referred to as Emergency Operations Plans or EOPs), are required by law (RCW 28A.320.125). This is not new. What is new, though, is the fact that now, for the 1st time, we have some required data around those plans. We will be collecting more this school year, as well. Here are some safety plan questions for you to consider moving into 2022–23:

• Does your school have a comprehensive safety plan?
• If it does, that’s excellent! Pull it up and read through it!

Then ask yourself:

• Is the plan current and complete?
• Have you assessed your school’s risks and hazards? School Climate? Capacity/Strengths?
• Are you ICS certified?
• Does your plan include all the required components?
• (Remember, safety-related flip charts are not a plan.)

Some other considerations for 2022–23:

• Are there new staff in your school?
• Are all staff – old and new – aware of the school plan – and trained on the building specifics?
• What kinds of training do they need?
• Does everyone understand drill requirements and how drills are exercised in your school?

Finally, as the 2022–23 year kicks off:

• With all the changes over the spring and summer, be sure you know who your district’s Harassment, and Bullying Compliance Officer (HIB CO) is. There have been a lot of changes in the HIB COs already!
• Make sure to keep all your exterior and interior doors locked. This is a bare-bones starting point to help ensure safety.
• Register for this year’s Great Washington ShakeOut, on October 20 at 10:20 am. Even if you registered in the past or plan to actually practice your drop, cover, and hold-on at a different time, register, and be sure that your school is registered. The goal is 100% of school and students.

We’ll have more on a lot of these ideas, and more, as we go through the year. Feel free to contact our office or the Regional School Safety Center at your ESD. There is a lot going on.

2022–23, here we come!

AWSP is recruiting principals with 5+ years of school leadership experience to participate in the AWSP Mentor Program. If you’d like to give back, apply to serve as a mentor as part of our mentoring cadre.

Our program is on an as-needed basis in each region, so participation in training doesn’t necessarily guarantee a pairing. However, the program is free professional development (that is really good!) and provides additional exposure to the AWSP Leadership Framework, The School Leader Paradigm, and our newly minted AWSP Equity Guide. Additionally, your mentor training includes five 90-minute Implementation sessions spaced throughout the school year where you will help support new leaders across the state in their leadership journey! 

Interested? Reach out to Gina Yonts or Dameon Brown for more information about how to become a mentor or how to secure mentoring for a new/newly assigned school leader.

Know a New Principal or AP? If you know a new principal or AP (inside or outside of your system) within their first three years of a leadership assignment, they may qualify for mentoring. Please direct them to the application to receive mentoring support through our OSPI Grant (a free program for mentees). All mentees must have supervisor permission to apply in order to help with the communication around the iGrants package that pays for the mentoring services. New leaders will need to check in with their supervisors ahead of application.

Sign up to reserve your spot in the 2022-2023 school year My Disability Roadmap Webinar/Podcast Series featuring Samuel Habib, Dan Habib, and the groundbreaking adults with disabilities featured in their new film.  Register to join some or all of these nine rich discussions on inclusive education, postsecondary transition, and disability rights. Everyone who registers will be guaranteed a spot in the live online events, and will also be sent a recording of each event (which can be shared with your colleagues).

Reserve your spot here. 

Seek to learn. Seek to elevate. Seek to understand. Seek to create.

They are watching. They are listening. They are observing. They are waiting for their moment to share their brilliance. Students are the best tag team partners to school leaders. Students are the largest stakeholders in our school communities. Every year it becomes clearer that from kindergarten through their senior year, our students are plugged in to what is going well and what could use some TLC within our schools.

I always ask, “Have you asked your students yet?” This question opens the door to possibilities and discoveries. Students are the experts at being students. I will say that again so that it can truly marinate… students, are the experts at being students. Adults are no longer the experts; they are. We get to use our lived experiences and positionality to support students achieve academic and social success.

This brilliant article highlights the importance of student voice and why our role as adults and school leaders is essential in creating a culture where students can share, teach, and become our best tag team partners in creating the schools we all hope to experience.

Note: this will be the last Tips & Resources post for the 21-22 school year. These posts will resume sometime in mid-August.  Wishing you all a safe and relaxing summer.

Section 504
Providing FAPE and Addressing Compensatory Services Under Section 504
Section 504 and Students with Disabilities
Protecting Students with Disabilities

22-23 Paraeducator Certificate Program
Implementation Toolkit

Understood.org
Understanding Impulsivity in Kids
3 Types of Self-Control
How to Help Grade-Schoolers Gain Self-Control

Early Learning
Whole-Body Learning Can Boost Children's Letter Sound Recognition

OSPI
June Special Education Update
Special Education and Institutional Education Directory
Rules for the Provision of Special Education

 There are lots of new classes to check out!

For more information, contact Abby Bowers , Capital Region ESD 113's Director of Special Programs.