AWSP Blog

“What campaigns are for is weeding out the people who, for one way or another, weren’t making it for the long haul.” ~ Calvin Trilling. Substitute the word “bills” for “people” and the current legislative process is summarized. As cut-offs happen, bills ‘die’ (with the caveat that any bill can be resurrected at the legislature’s will). They don’t make it for the long haul. Lobbying, (campaigning) is the primary vehicle for either ‘killing’ a bill or keeping it alive. That is why contact with legislators throughout the session is so critical.

Each week of this session has brought a slew of new bills, ideas, and conversation related to education funding and policy. In addition, there is an incredible amount of new information each week related to health and safety practices for reopening schools released by OSPI, the Department of Health, and the Governor’s Office. Hang in there and know that you are not alone with this onslaught of information. Reach out if you have questions or need clarification on anything.

Legislators propose policies and budget dollars. Sessions, also, often focus on main themes. This year’s focus issues are Budget, Covid–19, Equity (Racial and Police-related) and Climate issues. “Education” is woven throughout most of these, and often acts in one area have consequences in another. Thus, it’s tricky.

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

2020 was rough. Pretty sure I’m pointing out the obvious, but it feels good to acknowledge out loud and quite publicly that it was a tough year. What makes a year like 2020 even harder is when we find ourselves in leadership positions. As leaders, we are called to be strong, resilient, stoic, positive, and hopeful through all the peaks and valleys of leadership. During my time as a principal, I quickly learned that my physical, emotional, and spiritual health took a backseat to everyone else. I spent most of my days (and nights) monitoring, nurturing, and encouraging all those within my purview. I had no idea about the amount of mental health counseling I would be doing as a principal on a daily basis. Despite a super long learning curve about human behavior, I did quickly become an expert at internalizing all of my emotions, struggles, stresses, and anxiety in order to attempt to be a smiling, joyful, and positive face for everyone else. Well, guess what? That’s not healthy and is not realistic.

The first of five in the “P” series, this video targets one of the biggest barriers to inclusive education - mindset. This video will encourage you to reflect on your own assumptions about disability and start to take action to disrupt the ableist structures in education by taking a very important first step... presuming competence in all students.

Teachers and principals were happy to hear from Cispus, AWSL, and AWSP the last couple weeks. Our team delivered adventure backpacks to the teachers and principals pictured above: Dan Garry, teacher at Washington Elementary; Kira Duncan, teacher, and Shannon Richards, principal, at Oakville Elementary; and Amy Dunnagan, principal at Mossyrock Elementary. Other recipients include Wade Iseminger, teacher in Ocosta SD, and Todd Graves, principal in Ridgefield SD.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss some terrific professional development from world class inclusionary practices experts, tons of great free classes and resources for you to check out our Learning Management System, AWSL’s “I Am, We Are” Martin Luther King Day assembly, our Advocacy efforts and our Legislative Update newsletter, the 2021-22 Intern Grant Application, and a new collaborative workshop, “Turn Up The Volume On Student Voice.”

Week three of the legislative session ended today. We saw some of the first floor action this week with several critical bills passing the House and Senate floors. Both houses promised these “early action” bills. One of them is HB 1121, which is the graduation waiver bill. The other is SB 5044 which would add equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism to existing cultural competency standards and training for school board directors, district staff, and school staff on one of three state funded professional days.

Remember COVID? It is obviously not over yet. The depth, breadth, and duration of the pandemic is something that we had not experienced before. Now, there are hopeful signs among the dire statistics, and more and more schools will be reopening over the coming days, weeks and months. 2020 was a traumatic, tumultuous year. 2021 began that way, as well. There has been a lot of turmoil across the country. The January 6, 2021 saw a violent breach of the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. The National Terrorism Advisory System has noted increased and ongoing threats of violence across the country.