AWSP Blog

Senator Lisa Wellman is the winner of AWSP’s 2018 Torch of Leadership Award. Senator Wellman is a Democrat representing the 41st Legislative District which serves Mercer Island, Bellevue, Newcastle and parts of Issaquah.

In this edition of AWSP News, we discuss post-strike and post-bargaining focus on culture, the closing gap between teacher and principal pay and what we're doing about it, including our recent survey, participating with us and our #AskAWSP segment, Robert Hand, our new state Teacher of the Year, nominating a great colleague for Principal of the Year, Senator Wellman, our 2018 Torch of Leadership winner, great resources for you to communicate with parents on the GearUp website, taking the lead on learning in your building, and using student voice to keep students engaged and motivated.

Partnering with equity-focused committees and agencies is one way AWSP focuses on educational justice for historically underserved populations. On Tuesday, Director of Government Relations, Roz Thompson and I traveled to Renton for a meeting of the Educational Opportunity Gap Oversite and Accountability Committee (EOGOAC). A highly influential group of decision-makers, the EOGOAC’s mission is to address the opportunity gap in Washington state.

We know many of you are in unchartered territory. The start of the school year always brings excitement and stress, but the changes the Legislature made to the way we fund schools have also brought confusion, chaos, anger, frustration, and uncertainty. It's not been a good summer for bargaining, and we know many of you across the state are still dealing with the anxiety and challenges created by a work stoppage, or the very real threat of one.

In this episode of AWSP News, we discuss teacher strikes across the state, the shrinking gap between principal and teacher pay, some great ideas for starting the year off right, our interview with Washington comedian and actor Joel McHale, some safety and vaping resources from OSPI, another OSPI budget survey, your goals for the year, our goals for the year and two new staff to support the east side of the state, our new #AskAWSP segment, and a great quote about principal leadership from former Governor Christine Gregoire.