AWSP Blog

We are excited to have made our final edits to a new publication called The AWSP Equity Guide: The Heart Work of School Leadership. The AWSP Equity Guide is really a guide of self-discovery, providing a “zero entry” pool to the deep end, and resources and learning opportunities for leaders who are intent in growing their skillset and knowledge about equity and how it intersects with our leadership practices. The AWSP pro-learning team has used the guide as a primary resource in our AWSP New Principal Mentor Training program and Implementation Sessions. The goal is to have the guide available to schools and districts by the AWSP/WASA Summer Conference, taking place June 25-27 in Spokane.

Mr. Regalado died 9 years ago. Thousands of students, like me, who spent time in the darkroom at his side with our negatives and prints, asking about exposure, composition, and what made a good photograph good, mourned when we heard the news. He was one of those teachers that zealously approached his subject, mastered the command of his ship (à la his classroom), and built a community of learners at the tables in his room. From his class, I remember learning about Henri Cartier-Bresson, AKA "The Father of the Decisive Moment."

Welcome to the beautiful month of May. I would say that May is a magical time for the students and staff we serve. It is the final push of knowledge and skills for our students to ensure they are ready to move on to the next grade, level of content, or post-high school graduation. Our staff is digging deep this month and truly giving their students everything they have left. They (like us) are exhausted but we are all determined to dig a bit deeper to finish strong. The month of May is full of celebration opportunities for you to utilize to celebrate with your staff. Some are ridiculously simple and others will require a bit of prep work. I have no doubt that this month's School Celebration Newsletter has something for everyone. Let me know if I can support you or ever be a listening voice. You can find me on Twitter @sholtys or drop me an email at cindy.cromwell@kelsosd.org anytime. I believe in you!!

The AWSP Mentor Implementation Sessions have wrapped up, and a big thank you to all of you who participated in mentoring, training, and walking with new school leaders this year. We were able to mix things up a bit and keep many school leaders in their buildings by hosting our virtual implementation sessions to complete training requirements. We also learned much about facilitating a large statewide network, and with the help of post-session feedback, we adjusted presentation content and learning as the sessions unfolded. This was a big lift! Thank you to my AWSP colleagues, David Morrill and Dameon Brown, for their support on the technology side and problem-solving and learning between sessions to meet the learner's needs.

The House and Senate pounded their gavels one last time on Sunday, April 23, as they declared “Sine Die” for the 2023 Legislative session. This Latin term means “without a day,” and it is used to describe an adjournment when the date to reconvene is not specified and when the Legislature intends to leave town for the last time. However, there is a bit of a caveat to that statement since the Legislature may come back for a special session to address the Blake Decision. More on that later.