Hello and welcome to another edition of AWSP News.
I’d like to start by saying THANK YOU to all of you for your amazing leadership during these unprecedented times. We are blown away by your examples of creativity, courage, and continued connection with your students, staffulty and families.
Many of you are reporting working even longer hours now than when school was in normal operation. Considering the demands on principals before this pandemic, it’s hard to imagine you all working even longer hours. One principal shared with me just yesterday how exhausted he is and how his own self-care has flown out the window. That conversation was a good reminder for you to hit pause and start putting some new systems in place to practice better work-life balance and selfcare. Your school needs you to be your best self, so prioritizing a healthy diet, rest, exercise are super important.
Please know that we are mourning right alongside you after the Governor’s school closure announcement this week. We all heard the collective cry across the state as the sad reality set in that we would not be returning to brick and mortar schools this year. That was news we were dreading, but is now our reality. So what does that mean for you and how are we continuing to support you? Well, it means that you are now a digital principal and it is our job to make sure you have all the information, resources, tools, and ongoing professional learning so that you can continue to be the best school leader possible.
Make sure you are checking our website daily for all the updates, exploring our growing list of resources, following us on social media, subscribing to our blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channel. Make sure you are also reaching out to us about the challenges and successes you are having as a digital principal, so that we can share your stories with policymakers. Your voice has always mattered, but it matters even more now. You know how to find us. Please reach out.
One easy way to learn more about what is happening and be able to ask questions, is to join us at our Weekly Friday Zoom AWSP Office Hours at 2:00. Pop in and say hello, talk with colleagues and get some much needed group principal therapy. See our website for Zoom details. Representative Laurie Dolan will be joining our conversation this Friday.
We are also running separate office hours next week for grade-level specific virtual convenings for elementary, middle level, and high school principals. Check our website and your inbox for dates, times, details. These office hours are the perfect way to hear best practices, share ideas, and problem solve with colleagues. I wonder which grade-level will have the most virtual attendees? That sounds like a challenge.
We want to share one more resource to make life a little easier, both for now and into the future, and that's some upcoming online learning sessions from Inclusionary Practice Demonstration Sites from around the state. The University of Washington Haring Center will showcase four school sites the week of April 20. They will highlight the inclusionary practices these schools are implementing based on the students each school is serving. Learn more in Principal Matters or on our blog.
At a special Board Meeting April 8, the State Board of Education adopted emergency rules that allow school districts to apply for greater flexibility in awarding diplomas to seniors impacted by closures. The new rules are effective for the Class of 2020 immediately. Officials say waiving credit should be a last resort. Districts are expected to first exhaust every option to help students complete required credits. But if that proves impossible, districts can submit an application to the State Board for authority to waive credits for students on a case-by-case basis. The State Board intends to post an application for districts by or before April 15. Reach out to Scott Friedman for more information and stay tuned as AWSP will host Zoom’s across the state to answer questions and provide further clarity and understanding of this process.
AWSP is at the table sharing your stories about leading digital “continuous learning,” keeping hope and relationships alive in your school, serving students with special needs, providing meals, and supporting teachers dealing with disruptive digital students (yes I just said that). We are also working with higher education about grades and credits, collaborating with partner organizations as we figure out our new normal, planning digital professional learning, and answering the many calls coming in from our members, like you.
We are proud to announce AWSP is working with Jostens to share a Virtual Commencement Toolkit for every high school in our state. We want you to have every resource you can imagine available in order to pull off an incredible virtual graduation for the Class of 2020. This year’s graduates deserve a special graduation and we’ll help you make this happen. Check out Principal Matters AND our blog for all these brand new resources.
We know you’ve got incredible demands for your time, but we’d like to invite you and your district to participate in a 60 second survey about how districts, parents, educators, students and community members are feeling. The Center for Educational Effectiveness (CEE) has created this survey as a public service to help us track statewide changes in perceptions over time during this crisis. CEE is offering data results free to the public, as well as custom reports free to individual school districts. Check out Principal Matters for more information.
Schools have been directed to support child care service for certain families in need. This new responsibility is nuanced, complicated, and has pushed systems into very new territory. AWSP assembled an expert panel of state, regional, district, and community partners with the intent to provide guidance, resources, and advice. Join our upcoming webinar hosted by Kurt Hatch to learn more. See the link in Principal Matters for more information.
Finally, it’s not too late to give one last shout out to a beloved Assistant Principal as we all celebrate National Assistant Principals Week. Send an email, write a note, tweet a….uhmm... Tweet?, put a message in a bottle, do something to show how much you appreciate someone serving our kids as an Assistant Principal.
Well, that’s it from all of us here at AWSP. As always, keep up the great work for kids and we’ll see you next time!
Elementary Grade Level Office hours this week were a huge success! Thanks to those of you that called in and joined our AWSP Associate Directors and Grade Level Leadership team to talk about your pressing concerns and how AWSP can support your leadership during this time of principaling! Please check out the Rotator at the top of the AWSP Website home page for our upcoming Grade Level Office hours to register. Office hours are a FREE opportunity to connect and problem solve with other leaders around pressing problems of practice (EDIT: say that three times FAST!!). Your great leadership ideas, work arounds, self-care strategies and support can help to alleviate the current stress of school leadership. As one participant shared their biggest take away? "I am not alone." AWSP and your colleagues around the state are here to connect and collaborate together. Please plan to join us!
Item #2: Insert video!! She shared with Doc Scott and I’ve shared with David. :)
I think Tricia Kannberg shared a little Adobe spark video...maybe that would be awesome for the news!! I am personally going to figure it out!! Can you say "Remote Associate Director Fact or Fiction videos?"