WSPA this Week, October 4-8

Darrell Heisler • Oct 06, 2021

SUPPORT, ADVOCACY, AND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING FOR THE K-12 HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MESSAGE

In just four days, the 2021 School Law Conference will kick off at the Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center.  We have a diverse agenda consisting of keynote speakers, panel discussions, small group sessions and facilitated round table discussions.  The new WSPA Job Board will also be introduced at the conference along with a "walkthrough" of the new website and member portal.  It will be nice to finally meet those of you attending in person!

One vision I have for this year's work with WSPA is to begin to build up our Resource Center for the Human Resource professional.  To that end, I am asking you to take 2-3 minutes to complete a short survey asking you for a few pieces of demographic information: WSPA region, district size, number of full-time FTE, role you serve in your district and areas in which you feel very knowledgeable in the HR world.  I will be transferring this information into your member portals and then will use it to begin building our Resource Center.  One way I envision this information being used is when you hire a new HR staff member.  You will be able to go to the Resource Center and search for similar sized districts, and then further refine your search for people within those districts who have a similar position to your new hire- or who possess enough expertise in an area that they could be someone for your new hire to connect with when they have questions.  There will be other exciting ways to use this information, but first I need to collect it. 

Thank you for taking a  few minutes to complete the survey HERE.


WSPA this Week Blog Highlights

WSPA BY THE NUMBERS

  • Our member numbers continue to grow.  We are at 552 members which is where we were at for a final member count in the 2019-2020 school year.  We're only 20 members away from our end of the year numbers for last year- and that was in March!  I am confident we will get there by March but would love to make it before the end of October.  If you know of anyone who is not yet a member, be sure to have them check us out at www.wspa.net. 

MEMBER REQUESTS

  • Please consider responding to our Member Request below.  You can either email me or drop the documents directly into the shared folder via the link.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

  • The last day to register for our Writing Skills for Human Resources workshop is Friday, October 8.  This is a fantastic opportunity for HR personnel- especially those somewhat new to their positions.  A description of the three courses offered is below. If you click on the title of the class, you will be directed to the registration page.
  • Save the Date.... the S-275 workshop is coming to you via Zoom on November 10!  Registration will open next week.


Thank you for everything you do.  You are appreciated!

WSPA News to Know

WSPA Membership

                                                                               702+ members and counting...

Total Number of WSPA Members

702

Number of Entities Represented

186

Individual Memberships

379

District Memberships (10+ members)

23

REGION ESD'S NUMBER OF MEMBERS WELCOME to WSPA
1 Inland Empire ESD 101 51
2 Ipanco ESD 105, 123 &171 113
3 Lower Columbia River ESD 112 57
4 Puget Sound ESD 113 & 121 322
5 Olympic ESD 114 60
6 Northern Puget Sound ESD 189 94

New Title

New Paragraph

Member Requests

Sample Contracts & Salaries

A district is looking for sample contracts & salaries for the following positions:

  • Superintendent
  • Assistant Superintendent
  • Executive Director
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Business Manager with CPA
  • Human Resources Director

Procurement Specialist


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.

IEP Days

Substitute Resources

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 they get paid for a certain number of hours?
  • Can they cover a class if they are willing rather than getting paid?
  • How long can you use a long-term substitute?

Partner News to Know

Unemployment Insurance: Sign up now for upcoming SOC code webinars

Learn more about Standard Occupational Classification codes on May 20 or June 3

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.

Upcoming webinars

If you have questions or want to learn more about using SOC codes, register for one of our free webinars.

  • Friday, May 20, at 11 to 11:45 a.m. - Register
  • Friday, June 3, at 11 to 11:45 a.m. - Register

During these webinars, we’ll talk about:

  • What are SOC codes?
  • When are SOC codes mandatory?
  • How to look up SOC codes.
  • How to add SOC codes with keyed or imported wage data.

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.

What is SOC?

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.

Other resources on SOC

  • Watch this short video.
  • Try out the SOC code search tool. Under “Occupation Keyword Search” you can search by keyword, SOC code or industry.

2022 Legislative Report

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.

Share by: