Special Board Meeting to review waiver applications, resources + more! 🍎

Weekly Update | April 20

Special Board Meeting: emergency waiver application review

SBE will host a special Board Meeting Tuesday, April 21 to discuss the first round of waiver applications. Find the agenda and supporting documents on SBE's meetings page .

Special thanks to TVW for attending and covering this session. TVW live stream link: https://www.tvw.org/watch/?clientID=9375922947&eventID=2020041062

Background:

SBE held a special Board Meeting April 8 to review and adopt emergency rules regarding graduation requirements for the Class of 2020.

Quick links to related resources:

Partner Highlights

April 2020 Family Newsletter (GEAR UP)
Class of 2020 Action Plan (Washington Student Achievement Council)
COVID-19 resources (Professional Educator Standards Board PESB)
2020 Whole Child Award (recognizes a school) Nomination Form: https://forms.gle/e43EgXcLK9xQsqfZ7 (Washington State ASCD)
2020 Outstanding Young Educator Award (recognizes an educator) Nomination Form: https://forms.gle/7WbZidkbq8KmMuNY8 (Washington State ASCD)

Broad View

Millions of public school students will suffer from school closures, education leaders have concluded (Washington Post)
COVID-19 Crisis Practices (The American Assoc. of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers)

Around Washington

There’s no roadmap for teaching online, so Washington’s teachers are creating their own (Seattle Times)
Spokane Public Schools lays out new standards for online learning, partnership with KSPS (Spokesman-Review)
Out of their classrooms, kids and teachers are both learning (Everett Herald)
Lost traditions: How Yakima County's class of 2020 is processing the pandemic (Yakima Herald)

Washington State School Directors' Association (WSSDA) Model Policies

WSSDA has produced several new model policies to support school boards in responding to the extraordinary circumstances created by COVID-19. Those policies, plus joint guidance created in partnership with the State Board of Education (SBE), are available on a new graduation toolkit page.

See the Toolkit: https://www.wssda.org/policy-legal/graduation-toolkit/

Ready Washington Video Contest Deadline: May 8

With the closure of school buildings and changes in routines because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we think it's more important than ever to hear from students about their hopes and aspirations for the future.

The goal of the Ready Washington #PlanYourPathWA student video contest is to amplify students’ voices and motivate all students to think about their futures and consider the people and resources available to help. This year, the contest had an extended deadline to allow more time for students to work on and submit their projects from home: May 8.

Thank you for sharing contest information with students in your life. We hope to continue hearing from students about their education dreams!

The SBE Vision:

An education system where students are engaged in personalized education pathways that prepare them for civic engagement, careers, postsecondary education, and lifelong learning.