Hello and welcome to another episode of AWSP News, where we give you the latest and greatest information to help you and your students lead.
Spring break is next week for a lot of you, but even more importantly, next week is National Assistant Principals Week! It’s a great time to honor the enormous contributions assistant principals make to student success. This year, our celebration takes on even greater significance as we recognize all that assistant principals have conquered amid the pandemic and consider what their ever-expanding and evolving role might look like moving forward. Through it all, our assistant principals have demonstrated unwavering leadership. Check out Principal Matters or the NASSP website for ideas on how to recognize and celebrate an amazing AP.
As we come off the end of the Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe season, we thought it would be fitting to thank all of you for your membership and support of AWSP. We once again bring home some pretty hefty hardware as the National Association of Elementary School Principals recognizes AWSP for the highest membership count and percentage in the country. We don’t take that for granted. Our strength is because of you! We’ll continue to do our best to represent you at the state and national level.
We are thrilled to tell you the Washington State Legislature is considering a budget request of $10 million to send up to 20,000 5th or 6th grade students from high opportunity gap schools for up to a full week of Outdoor School in 2022. This is a huge first step to expanding this transformative and impactful program to all students. Outdoor School is a 70-plus year tradition in Washington, yet only about 10% of our students get to go. So many students are limited by their school’s lack of resources or access to programs. We need your help to pass this historic legislation. You can help bring outdoor school to all by signing on in support. Learn more at outdoor school for all dot com.
Both the Senate and the House released their budgets in the last week. We are combing through these budgets to understand how budget writers are trying to keep K-12 education funding strong for the next biennium while also trying to fund all of their other legislative goals. With a strong state revenue forecast and a third round of federal funding, we feel okay that education funding will be stable for the next biennium, but there is still work to do moving forward. As always, there are many details to sort out in the session’s final few weeks. Look for more detailed budget information in my legislative update today.
AWSL is excited to introduce the Summer Leadership Series! This will include live MasterClasses, idea shares and a myriad of on-demand sessions from our summer camp staff. We are also working on an advisor training program for new and returning leadership teachers and ASB Advisors. AWSL will also offer two Spring Breakout conference offerings, one for middle-level, and one for high school. Find more on the AWSL website.
Want to help a rock star AP Capstone student researching the impact that high school suicide prevention programs have on adolescent suicide rates within the school’s county and in Washington state? Help us spread the word for this student, who reached out to us for assistance in this giant and important data collection. While we’re talking about helping researchers, there’s a Ph.D. student conducting research about educational leadership and ethics training. She just needs nine more participants. Could you help? See Principal Matters for more information.
You’ve probably heard the news—the 2021 WASA/AWSP Summer Conference is coming to you again virtually in an all-new format. This year, you will design your very own learning adventure. With a Trailhead keynote package and different headliner sessions offered throughout June, you should find at least one session perfect for you! Check out the learning destination map in Principal Matters to see all of the offerings. Registration opened yesterday. AWSP members should have received a registration email directly from WASA. Learn more and register on the WASA website.
Well that’s it for all of us here at AWSP, AWSL, and Cispus. Keep up the great work for kids and we’ll see you next time.