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  • Hit It Out of the Park with Substitute Administrators

    Ashley Barker, Inclusionary Practices Director and Next Level Leaders Lead
    Feb 23, 2024
    Now that spring training is kicking off, and there’s a renewed sense of hope for baseball fans across the country, allow me to use a baseball analogy to highlight a possible new tool in your school leadership toolbelt; if you haven’t already, I suggest that busy building leaders call in a “pinch hitter. ” Or, in this case, a substitute administrator to support them. Let me talk through some common baseball strategies connected to what principals can do to ensure they have support in their buildings.
  • Legislative Update | Feb. 19-23, 2024

    Roz Thompson, Governmental Relations & Advocacy Director, AWSP
    Feb 23, 2024
    A collective “ugh” was felt by the education community this week at the Capitol as the House and Senate released their supplemental budgets. Education advocates remain concerned by inadequate funding and we are using several talking points from OSPI to help explain why districts are facing shortages.
  • Retirement & Health Benefits for February 23, 2024

    Fred Yancey, The Nexus Group LLC
    Feb 23, 2024
    Both the Senate and the House have been busy with committee hearings as the Feb. 21st deadline for policy bills to be released from committees and the Feb. 26th deadline for fiscal bills approaches. There has been little floor action. Next week debate and floor passage will begin anew and at a rapid pace given the March 1 deadline for bills to clear their respective houses. Little has changed since last week’s report. An up-to-date summary will come next week after the deadline dust has settled.
  • Responding to Student Behavior Wearing You Down?

    Dr. Scott Seaman, Executive Director, AWSP
    Feb 21, 2024
    Members at all levels across the state continue to report that responding to student behavior is the number one issue impacting their own mental health, well-being, job satisfaction, and frankly, willingness to stay in the profession. Living in a constant reactive state to the unknown behaviors that surface daily is draining both emotionally and physically. It’s a pace that is not sustainable or realistic. Something must be done.
  • Thinking About Retirement? 2024 Edition

    Fred Yancey/Mike Moran, The Nexus Group
    Feb 20, 2024
    Since covering pension/retirement/health insurance issues on behalf of WASA and AWSP, there are a few important points we have learned. This is just a brief summary of selected retirement related topics. However, the importance of advance planning cannot be overstated. These are not issues to put off until the last month of either one’s impending retirement or approaching Medicare eligible age. It’s best to complete your retirement application 30–90 days before you plan to retire.
  • Legislative Update | Feb. 12-16, 2024

    Roz Thompson, Governmental Relations & Advocacy Director, AWSP
    Feb 16, 2024
    Legislators grinded through some long hours to meet their deadline of February 13 when bills had to pass off the floor of the House or the Senate to stay alive. Some bills that made it all the way to the floor calendars for a vote died because legislators ran out of time or the bills weren’t prioritized. Now the bills that passed move to the other side and the process repeats. The next cut-off date is February 21 when bills must pass out of policy committees to keep moving.
  • Retirement & Health Benefits for February 16, 2024

    Fred Yancey, The Nexus Group LLC
    Feb 16, 2024
    Key deadlines have passed, and all action now moves to committee hearings as opposite house bills are discussed and acted upon. Overlaying all of these will be the upcoming proposed budgets whose hearings are scheduled for the upcoming week. The status of bills continues to change constantly as committees often re-work bills. The summaries below are just as they were when this report was written. Some bills have shown no movement since the last report, but they are related to the budget. Often called ‘trailer bills’ because the budget pulls them toward passage. In addition, bills can be ruled as ‘necessary to implement the budget’. They can then be revived under that justification which can be arbitrary at times.
  • AWSP News for February 12, 2024

    Dr. Scott Seaman, Executive Director, AWSP
    Feb 12, 2024
    We're back with another episode of AWSP News. In this episode, we update you on the legislative session and our principal budget proviso, upcoming professional learning opportunities, our Winter Forum, GLLC openings and engagement, Assistant Principal of the Year and Principal of the Year nominations, and updating your member profile.
  • Legislative Update | Feb. 5-9, 2024

    Roz Thompson, Governmental Relations & Advocacy Director, AWSP
    Feb 09, 2024
    The Legislature continues its forward progress as they passed the halfway point of this year’s legislative session this week. A second cut-off date was reached when bills had to pass out of fiscal committees by Monday. My bill tracking list got even smaller, but you never know what might happen in the remaining weeks. Language from bills that didn’t pass out of committees could still be used as budget provisos so we have to keep paying attention to all of the details.
  • MyAWSP Site Issues

    David Morrill, Communications and Technology Director, AWSP
    Feb 09, 2024
    If you're trying to access your MyAWSP account to register for an event, sign into the Learning Lab, or update your profile, you might be experiencing some issues right now. You're likely getting a "This Site is Not Private" error message, which appears to be limited to just the Safari web browser at this time. The best thing to do now is try another web browser while we work to resolve this issue.

Like to Write?

We're always looking for guest contributions. If you have a passion to write and things to share, email David about a guest post or a role as a recurring guest blogger. 


For More Information 

David Morrill | Communications & Technology Director | (800) 562-6100

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