AWSP News for March 5, 2021

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. That’s right from supporting principals and assistant principals through AWSP or empowering your student leaders through your Foundation (AWSL and Cispus), we are all things school leadership and we are here for you.

We might as well start with the hot topic on all of your minds....state testing. If you missed the announcement last week, the federal government issued a statement saying that states would still be required to administer a test for federal accountability. OSPI is working to determine what “a test” means. This is a great time for you to reach out to us with real stories about how testing will impact you, your school, and your students so we can share it with decision and policy-makers.

Here at AWSP we know you’re concerned about addressing the mental health needs of your students, staff and community…but maybe you’re not exactly sure how to get started.  Well, fortunately for us, the National Center for School Mental Health has created some fantastic resources.  Their School Mental Health Quality Guide has a helpful section on one of the first important leadership steps; creating teams within the district and school.  The guide includes best practices, action steps, examples from the field and resources.

Are you considering retirement? Our friends at VEBA will be hosting some virtual “Retirement Readiness” seminars throughout the month of March. You’ll learn about what it takes to be retirement ready and also be able to ask questions from financial advisors. See Principal Matters for more information.

Help empower your students to share their perspectives in a new OSPI sponsored statewide survey open to students in grades 6-12. The entire system needs to hear valuable feedback and perspectives from our students as we continue traveling down this uncharted path of pandemic altered learning environments. You can find the link in Principal Matters. Please do what you can to share the link with your students.

Do you consider yourself a rural middle level or high school principal or assistant principal? Are you feeling alone out there? AWSP has launched two new statewide networks for rural principals with the goal of shrinking the miles between you and professional support. These networks are meeting virtually every other week and serve as a great place to ask questions, share ideas, and problem solve with leaders walking the same journey as you. Want more information? Email me at Scott@awsp.org.

We are thrilled to tell you that the Washington Legislature is considering a budget request of $10 Million to send up to 20,000 students from High Opportunity Gap schools to up to a full week of Outdoor School in 2022. This is a momentous first step to expanding this transformative and impactful program to all students. Outdoor School is an 70+ year tradition in Washington, yet too few students (about 10%) get to go – limited by their school’s lack of resources or access to programs. We need your help to pass this historic legislation.We hope you will consider signing on in support. And this is only the beginning as we move to Outdoor School for All! But this is a great first step.

With great disappointment, we inform everyone that we have made the difficult yet necessary decision not to hold our 2021 in-person summer programs on our campuses (Cispus, CWU, and EWU). An email update went out on Tuesday in our Building Leaders e-news from AWSL. Let us know if you aren’t receiving that weekly newsletter. The great news is that we are excited to introduce our 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. More information to follow this spring. AWSL will also be presenting Spring Breakout. Two conference offerings, one for middle-level, and one for high school. More information on these exciting offerings can be found at awsleaders.org.

Congratulations are in order for two students involved with AWSL. Ms. Ailani Baldwin and Ms. Khanh Doan will join Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell in representing Washington during the 59th annual US Senate Youth Program Washington Week, to be held March 14 — 17, 2021. Ailani of Vancouver and Khanh of Everett were selected from among the state’s top student leaders to be part of the 104th national student delegation.They both received a $10,000 college scholarship.

A reminder, the AWSL and the State Board of Education are seeking a current high school sophomore from Western Washington to serve a two-year term on the AWSL Student Voice & Advisory Council, who will also serve as the student representative to the State Board of Education. Any current sophomore with a passion for the K-12 education system, and has a desire to provide input on policy issues should apply! However, we strongly recommend that you seek out and encourage a student to apply who can represent student voice from those who are disengaged and disenfranchised. Those voices need to be heard at the policy level. The application deadline has been extended until March 31st. Visit AWS Leaders.org for more information!

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.