AWSP News 10.9.20
Hello and welcome to another edition of AWSP News. We hope you are learning to thrive in this challenging leadership environment. We continue to be blown away by the heroic principal and assistant principal actions happening throughout the state. You all are incredible!
And, because you are incredible, there is an official month designed to celebrate YOU! It’s National Principals Month. AWSP is working on some big ways to celebrate school leaders like you who deserve special recognition, acknowledgment, and surprises for all you’ve accomplished in a year like this one.
For example, our Principals Month celebration continues with a special surprise: We’re offering a brand-new workshop on inclusion absolutely FREE to AWSP members. The workshop is called How to be “all in '' as an inclusive leader. This entire series is funded by our OSPI Inclusionary Practices Project grant. Join school leaders across the state for five lunch hour learning sessions. Come ready to listen, learn and collaborate to lead for a culture of inclusion within our schools and communities. Starting October 27, from 12-1:00 pm, bring your lunch and a readiness to be inspired, affirmed, reflective and challenged in your own thinking, beliefs, and the actions you’re taking for inclusion. Registration is now open and provides access to all the live webinars, videos, question guides and other supportive materials for inclusion that you can use with your staff. We look forward to learning with you!
In addition to this incredible offering, sign up today for our “Lead Out Loud” series for Assistant Principals, our WELL Summit (Women Leading and Learning), or our Stay Smart Network connecting principals from around the state sharing and learning from each other w/ the guidance of our great AWSP Team. Registration and series content info can be found on our website or by contacting Macy Bruhy or Jack Arend in our office.
Missing time with kids? How about joining your students at AWSL’s Fall Conference? Put a team together from your school. AWSL is busily preparing for our Fall Conference for middle and high school students. For only $250 you can bring as many students, and adults as you want! School leaders from all clubs and activities are invited to join us for this dynamic conference experience! The AWSL Fall Conference takes place October 30 - 31st. With the move to virtual, we now invite everyone from middle and high school levels! What a great way to connect with your students! Check us out at AWSLeaders.org.
Thanks to all who attended our “ASB Finance in a Virtual World” webinars. We are getting requests to hold an additional session. We will get one scheduled in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more information.
Our goal as an association is to share with the world the incredible role building leaders continue to play for students, staffulty, and schools. Your leadership matters. We all know it. Last year I was sitting down with former Governor Christine Gregoire talking about leadership. When asked about principals and assistant principals specifically, here is what she had to say.
Governor Gregoire Video
Need I say more. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of everyone in your community.
Each one of you should have received your BRAND NEW AWSP Leadership Framework Version 3.0! Each Principal and Assistant Principal was mailed a copy directly to their school address. We have created a quick video for you to explain the changes and amazing resources that are now included in the refreshed framework. You can find that video on our website! If you don’t have your copy of the new FRAMEWORK, please reach out to us so we can get one in the mail for you!
A few quick points: Be sure to keep checking OSPI’s Safety Guidance for updates on leading during COVID. The WIAA released information this week on a plan to slowly return to activities for kids. And, we will be sharing soon information and lessons learned from principals who started in a hybrid model as you contemplate next steps for your school. Last week, I visited Liberty High School in Spangle, WA and saw Principal Aaron Fletcher connecting with his students and staff in a hybrid model. It was amazing to see and not without trials. He said to me, “I’ve learned so many things that I’d do differently and would be happy to share with others those lessons.” More to come.
Now a special programming note: AWSL and our learning center at Cispus have such a rich history (since 1956) of serving schools with outdoor education, social emotional learning, and summer programs to develop students as leaders. COVID has dealt us a devastating financial blow with the inability to run programs. No programs, no revenue.
Please consider joining us in keeping Cispus and many of our other programs throughout the state for kids running forever! Our campaign to create an endowment to keep Cispus will go live this week at CispusForever.org. Just imagine if every AWSP member made a donation? Or every school ran a fundraising campaign? Or every Cispus alum made a donation based on the number of nights spent at Cispus? We’d be well on our way to creating a sustainable endowment that secures Cispus, and much more, forever. You can start by tagging five friends that went to Cispus w/ hashtag Cispus Forever. Remember, AWSP together with AWSL make Strong Leaders, Strong Schools and Strong Students.
One final note on the topic of Principals Month, thanks to all who answered our first Principals Month prompt this week. (And if you didn’t, there’s still time!) Watch for a new prompt posted on Facebook each Monday. Remember, we’ll choose 4 winners each week to receive 50% off an AWSP virtual professional learning workshop of their choice.
Well, that’s it from all of us here from AWSP, as always, keep up the great work for kids and we’ll see you next time!