Hello and welcome to another episode of AWSP News. I’m Jack Arend, one of your AWSP Associate Directors working to serve K-12 school leaders in our state. Thanks for tuning into another great episode of AWSP News.
One of the areas that I get the privilege to lead for AWSP is our annual Summer Conference in Spokane. You heard last week we had to make the difficult decision to shift our conference to a virtual formal.
While we are saddened we won’t be together in Spokane this year, we are excited about new possibilities. For example, instead of picking a handful of breakout sessions to attend, you’ll have access to all of them in our soon-to-be-launched learning management system. Watch as many as you want during the conference, or take your time and watch any and all of them on-demand. And check with your district’s grants administrator about using iGrants 664 “TPEP” funds. Many districts return money to the state at the end of the year when they could be using that money to register for Summer Conference instead!
Be sure to check our website for conference registration and other information. While you are there, I’d encourage you to sign up for our bi-monthly grade level office hours. As this complex system called virtual education evolves, it is important to connect with colleagues from around the state. Join us for a virtual hug for the work, share your work and learn from others, and get more brainpower to help troubleshoot some of your more complicated issues.
Huge shout out to Principal Kirsten Rue from Chinook Middle School who engaged her middle school students to ponder their futures via a super engaging and fun video. What a great way to gently push them into a Career Interest Survey and the High School and Beyond Plan. Check out her cool video at ReadWA.org or Principal Matters.
What a week! You’ve probably heard by now that an OSPI Task Force met to begin discussing possible scenarios for reopening school next fall. Everything is on the table and options range from a normal start, to continuing distance learning, to a variety of blended options. We can assure you that AWSP, principal voice, will be deeply involved in any and all discussions on this topic as the year progresses. If you have thoughts or ideas, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Be on the lookout for a survey coming soon to you initiated by the State Auditor’s Office about the supports, or lack of supports, in public education to adequately meet the social, emotional, and mental health needs of our students. We know you get hit with surveys all the time, but we’ve partnered with the Auditor’s office to make sure this survey gives you the opportunity to voice the gaps in your system.
Speaking getting hit with surveys all the time, we’ve got one more for you. Think of it as your opportunity to help shape education policy from the state level all the way down to your own building. AWSP really wants to know how you are tackling inclusionary practices within your school communities at this unprecedented time. Reaching and Teaching ALL students is something you and your staff are striving to do every day. Your information and your voice will help inform future professional learning opportunities guided by best practices for increasing your inclusionary service virtually and in real life. Find the link in Principal Matters.
For you high school principals, if you didn’t see the guidance issued yesterday from the Department of Health about what is possible and not possible for graduation ceremonies, be sure to read the info in Principal Matters. We continue to strongly recommend planning a virtual ceremony. We have a ton of resources and ideas for you on our website, thanks to Jostens. We’ll soon be able to announce a TOP SECRET you’ll be able to include in your virtual ceremony. We guarantee you’ll like it.
Want to hear something obvious that we’ve been saying for a long time here at AWSP? Principal turnover is bad for kids. Bad for staffulty. Bad for school culture. NASSP and the Learning Policy Institute just released this week a report that provides further evidence to support our efforts to stop the churn of school leadership. Your consistent leadership matters and our mission is to support that. Keep building your five-year vision for your school. You can find the full report in Principal Matters.
At AWSP, we are big believers in hope and relationships as the keys to successful schools. There has never been a more important time for you as school leaders to keep the hope alive for kids, parents, and your staffulty. Our own Executive Director, Scott Seaman, will be leading a conversation about these two big foundational blocks with the Founder and CEO of Kids at Hope next Wednesday from 10:30 to 12:00. Registration info for this free national conversation is, you guessed it, in Principal Matters.
Well, that’s it from all of us here at AWSP. As always, keep up the great work for kids, and remember...your voice matters, so keep connecting with us and with each other. See you next week!