TAKE ACTION NOW!
3/10/2025
URGENT Advocacy Action Requests!
Urge your representative to Vote YES for HB 1296. WSASP GPR has been advocating hard to support various bills addressing the ethical and legally protected confidentiality violations in the Parent's Bill of Rights. Please click here to urge your representative to vote yes on HB 1296 to maintain the confidentiality of school-based mental health and medical services. Stand up for our students' rights!
HB 1296 outlines methods to promote a safe and supportive public education system in Washington including:
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Requires policies and procedures of school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools (STECs) to prioritize the protection of every student’s safety, access to a free public education, and privacy. This includes a Transgender Student Policy and Procedure Requirement protecting trans youth.
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Makes changes to delineated rights of parents and legal guardians of public school children. This includes bringing the parent bill of rights into alignment with FERPA and HIPPA privacy protections.
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Establishes a statement of student rights and associated duties for school districts, charter schools, STECs, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
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Establishes antiretaliation protections for public school employees supporting students in the exercise of their legal rights and performing work in accordance with certain requirements.
Calling all Washington State School Psychologist Advocates!
Thank you for your engagement and action!
ABOUT ADVOCACY ACTION STEPS
Who: WSASP's Government and Public Relations (GPR) committee has been hard at work in Olympia, and now we need your vital contribution and active support!
What: Advocate for your self, your field, and kids! Contact your representatives TODAY about the below-mentioned important issues! Your representatives value your opinion as a constituent, and the more of us they hear from, the louder our collective voice!
When: The legislature is in session. As bills cycle through the process and move to a vote from the entire legislative body, we will alert you to action through our member email system. When the time is right for each bill, the Form Letter Link will be activated, and you will get an email reminder to take action!
Where: Thanks to NASP, you will only have to send the message once to get to all three representatives based on your home address, and we will be able to pull data about how many of us are taking action!
Why: With more letters of support and phone calls from all stakeholders and professionals in school psychology and allied fields, the legislators in the House and Senate will be informed and can realize the wide range of importance these issues represent. If we are not at the table, we are on the menu!
How: You can contact your legislators today. You can submit public comment via the legislative website (see directions below, via NASP, directly with an email address, or via Our Voice, through WEA (Click here for a step by step tutorial on how to use Our Voice to email your representatives). The GPR Committee will provide form letters as appropriate for each bill of interest to WSASP. When these letters are made available, you can use them exactly, add personal stories or comments, or write an original letter to submit to your legislators. Once your letter is ready, using NASP's Advocacy Action Center, you can send it to all your state representatives with one click. We ask that you send one letter for each bill, as this is how representatives prefer communication, and it keeps our message clear.
