Good morning everyone! We have extended the "Early Bird" registration for the Annual Conference until this Friday, January 6. There are still hotel rooms available, but things are filling up fast. The Career Fair registration has been delayed and will open soon and when it is open, I will send out an email to the group. It is not too late to sign up for the Discipline and Investigation workshop to be held at the Evergreen School District (Vancouver) on January 6, 2023 and the virtual version to be held on January 13, 2023 via Zoom.
We have partnered with OSPI to get out the information on the NEW requirements in (HB 1426) specifying minimum continuing education requirements for administrator and teacher certificate renewals that focus on equity-based school and classroom practices starting July 1, 2023. We currently have a webinar scheduled February 14, 2023 which will be open to everyone and a session scheduled during our Annual Conference to get members more information. This does NOT affect certificate holders who need to renew by June 30, 2023 unless of course they miss the deadline. Look for more information coming out from OSPI on this bill and forward it to all administrators and other certificate holders due for renewal on or after July 1, 2023.
Due to high demand, we added an additional day of training for our Bargaining 201 Workshop with Porter Foster Rorick on February 1, 2023. Here are the details: "Porter Foster Rorick and Washington School Personnel Association are pleased to announce the addition of another date for our Bargaining 201 curriculum on February 1, 2023, as a part of the 21st Century Bargaining Skills Workshop series. All the other details for the 201 workshop (content, price, location and time) remain the same for the February 1 date. An updated flyer can be found at the link above and on our website.
If you are on our waiting list for the Bargaining 201 workshop on January 24 or 31, please let us know if you would like to attend on February 1 and you will be given priority access. If you are currently registered to attend Bargaining 201 on January 24 or 31, you have the option of retaining your seat on one of those dates or changing to the February 1 date. Opening up seats on January 24 or 31 will allow us to accommodate people on our waiting list who are hoping to attend Bargaining 101 and 201 on back-to-back days.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call any of our staff at (206) 622-0203 or reply to info@pfrwa.com.
Reminders:
There are several new laws going into effect January 1, 2023. In addition to the new FSLA regarding exempt employees, another such law affecting every School District in the state of Washington is the New Job Posting Requirements law. If you have not yet heard, all employers who "engage in any business, industry, profession, or activity" in Washington state and have fifteen (15) or more employees must include pay ranges and benefits information in their job postings. RCW 49.58.110 goes into effect January 1, 2023, Perkins Coie Law Firm has posted additional guidance on their website regarding the New Job Posting Requirements. As always check with your District's Law Firm for guidance on this.
As you can see with our Upcoming Events below we are busy creating and making available several Professional Development opportunities for you. Please check them out and take part in them. Here is a reminder that the Randy Hathaway Scholarship and Fellowships are open for our members to apply.
Member Request this week:
No member request this week
DRAFT Topics for the Annual Conference
Thought for the week: "If you lose a sock in the dryer, it returns as a Tupperware lid that doesn't fit any of the containers you have!"
Have a great week everyone and Happy Holidays to all. I will be back with "WSPA This Week on January 3"!
Darrell Heisler
WSPA Executive Director
Total Number of WSPA Members
646
Number of Entities Represented
271
Individual Memberships
358
District Memberships (10+ members)
20
A district is looking for sample contracts & salaries for the following positions:
A colleague is wondering if anyone employs a procurement specialist, and if so, would you please share the job description, salary, and whether or not it is a represented position.
A district is wondering how other districts handle IEP days. Does the teacher get a substitute for IEP preparation, meetings, etc., or do they get paid for an additional day for these activities?
A district is wondering if any other districts have a resource for Substitute Guidelines.
Do you have questions about Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes? Sign up for one of our upcoming webinars!
All employers will be required to report SOC codes when they submit their quarterly tax reports starting with their fourth quarter 2022 report. At that time, you could get a penalty for incorrect SOC reporting. Reporting SOC codes is currently optional and is available only to single filers.
If you have questions or want to learn more about using SOC codes, register for one of our free webinars.
During these webinars, we’ll talk about:
Note: We will provide the same information in both webinars. However, questions could vary in each webinar, so you are welcome to sign up for both.
SOC is a federal coding system that helps government agencies and private businesses compare occupational data.
In 2019, the Washington State Legislature passed a law requiring employers to report SOC codes in their quarterly reports for unemployment insurance.
Dan Steele, WASA Assistant Executive Director, Government Relations and WSPA Legislative Liaison has completed a 2022 End of Session Report and you can find it here.
The End of Session Reports includes full details of the 2022 Supplemental Operating Budget and the 2022 Supplemental Capital Budget, along with a comprehensive review of the many education-related bills the Legislature addressed this session.
360-770-7454
admin@wspa.net
PO BOX 14459 Tumwater WA 98511