The Oregon School Administrator

October is Principal Recognition Month, and there is no better time to pause and celebrate Oregon’s outstanding K-12 principals and assistant principals. Every day, these leaders provide the foundation for safe and thriving learning environments where students and staff alike can grow and succeed. They are often the first to arrive on campus and the last to leave, balancing the demands of instructional leadership, school safety, and family engagement with compassion and determination. Their leadership is second only to the power of classroom teaching in ensuring student success, and their impact is felt in every classroom, hallway, and playground across our state.

What makes principals remarkable is not just the official responsibilities of their role but the countless “above and beyond” acts they perform daily. Whether sweeping the gym floor before a big game, giving a student a ride to a job interview, finding resources to ensure every child has what they need to learn, or offering lighthearted incentives like kissing a pig to motivate student achievement, Oregon principals embody servant leadership. Today’s principals also shoulder new and challenging responsibilities—from leading active shooter drills and implementing global pandemic safeguards to ensuring that social-emotional learning is integrated into the curriculum. Their work is demanding, complex, and tireless, yet they approach it with dedication, creativity, and heart.

This month, and every month, we at COSA celebrate the extraordinary efforts of Oregon principals and assistant principals. Your leadership, sacrifice, and relentless commitment to our students and communities inspire us all. We recognize not only the official month of celebration, but every single day of the year, as an opportunity to say: thank you for everything you do.

Read more about how COSA is celebrating #NationalPrincipalsMonth later in this newsletter.

Molly Smith, Amy Skirvin and Ryan Gerry represented Oregon secondary school administrators at the NASSP meeting in Utah in September.

Click here for the full report

A key takeaway was about National Principals Month:

October is a great time with National Principals month to invite your local representatives into your buildings to not only show them the great things that are happening but how funding impacts your students. If local representatives are visiting your buildings, NASSP wants to hear all about it and share it out. Share your information with Greg Waples waplesg@nassp.org

Read more about National Principals Month below!

National Principals Month: Share your "Tap on the Shoulder" Moment

October is National Principals Month. At COSA, we’re celebrating by sharing stories from Oregon principals about the moments that set them on the path to leadership — and the advice they would give to those just starting out.

Each story begins the same way: with someone noticing potential and offering encouragement. Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight these “tap on the shoulder” moments and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Strong principals don’t just appear — they are encouraged, supported, and developed. Research from the Wallace Foundation shows that principals are second only to teachers in their impact on student learning. That makes building Oregon’s leadership pipeline more important than ever.

Stories That Inspire

Throughout the month, COSA will be sharing video and written testimonials from Oregon principals who describe their own “tap on the shoulder” moment — the time someone believed in them and encouraged them to step into leadership.

Hear from 2025 Elementary Principal of the Year Kara Davidson to see how a single conversation changed her career.

All month long, you'll hear directly from principals across the state about their "tap on the shoulder" moment on our social channels @cosaleaders.

Share Your Story

We want to hear from you!

• Option 1: Record a 1-minute video describing your own shoulder-tap moment. Need support in recording? We're here to help!

• Option 2: Share your story in writing through this brief survey

Your story may be featured on COSA’s social media channels or in a future newsletter to help inspire Oregon’s next generation of leaders.

Supports for Principals

COSA offers multiple ways to help educators step into leadership and thrive once they’re there:

• Licensure Pathways in partnership with the University of Oregon — from assistant principal to superintendent. Learn more here

• Principal-to-Principal Mentorship Program — a new initiative pairing veteran sitting principals with those in their first 1–5 years. Unlike traditional models with retired mentors, this program tackles today’s real challenges such as post-pandemic learning recovery, staff shortages, AI integration, and equity work.

Join the Campaign

This month, take a moment to:
✔️ Join the many others looking in their own districts for the next wave of leaders. "Tap" them on the shoulder here!
✔️ Share with them your belief in their capacity to lead.
✔️ Connect them to COSA for resources and support.

Together, we can celebrate today’s principals and invest in the leaders of tomorrow.

Since our last newsletter update in September, Team COSA has been traveling across the state to meet with Superintendents and COSA Leaders for OASE’s 2025 Fall Regional Meetings. This year, we have twelve stops in total – and so far, we have met with Superintendents and COSA Leaders in five OASE regional zones spanning across Linn, Benton, Lincoln, Lane, Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Baker, Grant, Malheur, Wallowa, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, and Lake counties. Many thanks to our ESD leaders who have hosted the meetings this year. Fall Regional Meetings are a great opportunity to connect and discuss successes, opportunities, and challenges; considerations for our vision for student success; and recommendations on what COSA should prioritize in our policy and advocacy work, as well as our communities of practice.

During the week of September 29, the Legislature convened for the extended first special session to pass a transportation package; and then also met for September Legislative Days.

After many hours of debate, the Senate had enough votes to pass the transportation package on September 29. The package heads to the Governor’s desk next.

As a reminder, this transportation package provides stopgap funding for the Oregon Department of Transportation and would raise $4.3 billion over the next ten years by raising the gas tax by 6 cents, increasing vehicle title and registration fees, and temporarily raising a statewide payroll tax for transit from 0.1% to 0.2%.

State Republican lawmakers have indicated that they will try to refer the transportation package to voters on the November 2026 ballot. In order to do that, petitioners will need to gather 78,000 verified signatures from Oregonians to qualify for the ballot. If the package is referred to the ballot, the taxes would be paused. We will continue to keep you updated on how that process unfolds.

During legislative days (September 29 through October 1st), education committee members received updates on HB 2007 summer learning implementation with a spotlight on Central School District (shoutout to Dr. Jennifer Kubista for presenting on Central’s work and progress for students!), school safety, as well as the impacts H.R. 1 would have on Oregonians and our education system (EI/ECSE, K-12, and higher education). COSA, OSBA, and OEA were also invited to share some remarks on the Medicaid and SNAP cuts and the ripple effect those cuts would have on students, educators, staff, schools, and communities.

Click here to register for a FREE webinar on October 14th from 10-10:30am PST

If you’re a school or district leader looking to meet Oregon’s new accountability requirements while driving student growth, this webinar is for you.

Discovery Education and Otus have partnered to give Oregon schools a powerful solution that unifies data, streamlines progress monitoring, and supports educators at every level.

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Plus, see how Otus AI ties it all together—highlighting what you need to know and do next.

Register now to shift the focus from spreadsheets to student success