Charting AWSA’s Future

by Rick Flaherty, AWSA President and Principal of Superior Middle School

From June 2017 until April 2019 the AWSA Board of Directors reviewed our organizational goals or “Ends Statements,” which is something the organization does every five years. This article includes AWSA’s revised mission and Ends Statements and describes the board’s process over the last two years.

We began the process by including questions about AWSA’s current Ends Statements in the association’s 2018 Membership Satisfaction survey. Subsequently, the Board of Directors has convened key stakeholders to review relevant data, consider the current environment and anticipate future needs. We engaged stakeholders around the following three questions:

What strikes you or resonates with you about the current Ends Statements?
Is there anything in the current Ends Statements that should be strengthened or modified?
Are there issues that are not captured in the current Ends Statements that should be considered?

These engagement sessions included:

School leaders
- Members and non-members
- Active members not active members
- Public and private school leaders
- District administrators
- School board members
- Students
- Teachers
- Representatives of the Department of Public Education
- Researcher experts in school leadership

Through board deliberations, the following themes emerged:

We must continually identify and address the most significant barriers and opportunities for school leaders sustained success (reduce the complexity of the position and address workplace wellness).
Equity must be explicit throughout our organizational goals.
We must maintain and strengthen AWSA’s professional learning and information services.

Listening to the feedback from superintendents, other principals, teachers, researchers, students, and all other invested individuals who participated in this process enforced the notion that the work of school leaders is absolutely critical to the success of schools. It is also an important reminder that many organizations, groups, and individuals within our state care deeply about doing the right thing for those who work hard to provide high-quality education and, most importantly, that students benefit from this work.

This document provides a thorough background on this process, as well as AWSA’s revised mission statement and Ends Statements.