Are you a young person interested in sharing your opinions on school-based mental health supports in Washington? Are you a parent, caregiver, or loved one of a young person with lived experience receiving mental health supports in Washington schools?

The School-based Behavioral Health & Suicide Prevention Subcommittee is looking for community members interested in engaging with system partners across the state on improving school-based behavioral health supports through resource sharing and the creation of policy recommendations.

Payment (called a stipend) of $45 per hour to a daily maximum of $200 is available to subcommittee members who have experience as a youth or a parent/caregiver in the behavioral health system. Reimbursement for child care or elder care is also available.

Meetings are bi-monthly (every other month) and take place on the first Friday of even-numbered months, from 9 am - noon. The first meeting will be Friday, February 3rd, 2023.

Interested in engaging with us but not able to attend meetings?

No problem! We'd love to work with you to identify forms of engagement that work for you, your family, and your schedule. If this is the case, please check "Unable to attend meetings" in response to Question 10 and we'll follow up with you to chat about options for engagement. Have questions or concerns? Feel free to reach out to Christian at christian.stark@k12.wa.us anytime!

*The Subcommittee is a subgroup of the Children & Youth Behavioral Health Work Group (CYBHWG). See the introduction of the application for more information on our group and this opportunity.

Please share with your colleagues in PE and Health! OSPI’s Healthy Schools Washington program has funds available to support up to 19 Health and Physical Educators from rural schools to attend the 2023 Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America National Convention in Seattle on March 28 – April 1, 2023. Funds are available for registration and travel costs (based on state per diem rates) up to $2,500 per educator. Please see application for requirements and details. Apply by January 13, 2023.

Questions? Contact Julee Christianson, Healthy Schools Washington Program Supervisor, at Julee.Christianson@k12.wa.us.

The holiday season is a time when student absences tend to increase. You can find new Holiday and School Break Attendance templates and resources to support positive messaging to students and families during this time on the OSPI Attendance Awareness Materials webpage.

Check these out!

• Winter Attendance Awareness Letter Template
• School Break – Holiday Messaging from Attendance Works

Please contact Krissy Johnson, at krissy.johnson@k12.wa.us with any questions.

We are pleased to announce the recent hiring of Athena Ruggiero to the position of Administrative Assistant for Student Engagement and Support (SES) for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). 

"I came from the private sector, I have a heavy background in Financial Services and Administrative Support. One of my past lives was to provide back office/trade clearing services for high value Hedge Funds and University Endowment funds. After I left the Investment world I moved to the Midwest where I worked for Epic, they make Electronic Medical Records Software. During my time there I supported various Project Managers, I helped facilitate travel and travel logistics for their teams. I am beyond excited to work in a place where I have the opportunity to impact the greater good!"

Please help us welcome Athena to the SES team!

We anticipate that the OSPI Social Emotional Learning Curriculum Grant (iGrants FP667) will launch in mid-January.

There are a few key areas in the application that districts should prepare. The following are some of the questions we ask:

What are your your community and student SEL needs and the data source(s) that identified the needs?

How were families, community and students involved in identifying these SEL needs?

Describe how this curriculum will be delivered to students: 

Who will deliver the SEL curriculum to students?                                                                    

When and how often will the SEL curriculum be delivered?  

How will the district train and support the adults to provide the SEL curriculum?

There is a 250 word limit for each of the above questions on the application.  Some helpful resources are these FAQ’s, the OSPI Social Emotional Learning webpage, and the CASEL Program Guide, from which districts will be instructed to choose the curriculum they will purchase with grant funds.

For any questions regarding the SEL Curriculum Grant please contact Ben Everett at ben.everett@k12.wa.us or 564-200-3083.

Substance Abuse Prevention Grant

Teach students how to:

Cope with stress and anxiety, build positive relationships, communicate effectively, and develop refusal skills to prevent and reduce substance use and abuse

Grant recipients receive funds for:

Teacher and student materials for Botvin LifeSkills Middle School Training,
training costs, which may include travel, lodging, per diem and substitute teachers and data collection stipend

To learn more about the LifeSkills Curriculum visit: lifeskillstraining.com

Apply Now! iGrants Form Package 761