Santa Clara County Association of School Psychologists News

SCCASP Updates & End of Year Celebration Recap

Sherry — Mon, 06 May 2024 18:10:05 GMT

2023-24 Year in Review. It’s been an eventful year full of growth and learning. We kicked off the school year with a Legal Q&A, then learned some Positive Discipline Tools to nurture a growth mindset, then got an overview of Core-Selective Evaluation Process (C-SEP) for conducting targeted SLD assessments, then we dived deeper in evaluating executive functions, and lastly finished off the year with learning more about assessment of bilinguals. As your President, I've strived to enhance communication and collaboration within our community and provide valuable resources for professional development. I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the SCCASP Board and dedicated volunteers who have worked behind the scenes to make each event successful. Let's continue to support each other's growth, share knowledge, and embark on this journey together. Please consider volunteering or renewing your membership with SCCASP and CASP – it's all about seizing opportunities and fostering a spirit of unity. Thank you for being a part of our vibrant community, and here's to more exciting endeavors ahead!

Congratulations to the ballot winners for the 2024-25 SCCASP Board!

Secretary: Katie Pettersen
Treasurer-Elect: Kelly Alves-Helsing
Unfortunately, we did not receive any nominations for the President-Elect or Treasurer positions. If you or someone you know might be interested in the position, please email info@sccasp.org if you are interested.

Please help SCCASP out!

We want you! SCCASP is looking for someone like you to be a volunteer. Your commitment can be as little or as much as you would like based on your availability! Please note that our roles can be a collaborative effort. If you'd like to inquire further, please message us or send us an email to info@sccasp.org.

As always, we highly encourage attending a SCCASP Board Meeting where we talk about events, socials, and how to increase member engagement. Register on our SCCASP Events website

– our last Board Meeting for this school year will be held on June 27th. Even if you can’t attend the entire time, we would love to see and hear from our members!

Upcoming 2024-25 SCCASP Events were announced at our End of Year Celebration!

We’re kicking off the upcoming school year once again with a Legal Q&A with Jan Tomsky and Eliza McArthur. Submit your questions here: https://forms.gle/3yba4jugLx6bXXoC7

We are offering a Multi-Event Package exclusive to SCCASP Members, so join and/or renew your membership today and it will be valid for the 2024-25 school year! (NOTE: Once your registration and payment is received for this package, you will receive a code that you will use to self-register for the events.)

(Regarding CEUs for SCCASP Events: CEUs vary by workshop - please review each workshop for additional information. CASP maintains responsibility for the program and its content. An email will be sent out to members when CEUs are available to purchase.)

Check out our other CASP Affiliate Events! If you are a member, our fellow CASP Affiliates are offering member rates/discounts. SCCASP Members, please message us at info@sccasp.org so we can send you the code to register for the affiliate/member rate upon membership verification.

(Offered by SANDCASP) Dyslexia: Assessment and Intervention with Nancy Mather, Ph.D., Laura Stevenson, M.S., and Nicole Sherman Brewer, Ph.D.: https://sandcasp.com/dyslexia2024/

For your reference: Professional Development Opportunities from all CASP Affiliates

Congratulations to our award winners! We commend you for your dedication and compassion to the field of School Psychology.

Mike Goodman Lifetime Achievement Award recipient: Dr. James Hiramoto
- Dr. Hiramoto demonstrates values consistent with best practices and public service, unparalleled work ethic, and always going above and beyond in his practice. He is characterized as disciplined, conscientious, honorable, patient, and compassionate. He is a contributing author to various CASP Publications, presented at many CASP events, and a leader of the CASP Larry P. Task Force, and an active member of the CASP Assessment Committee. Dr. Hiramoto is able to quote Ed. Code chapter and verse, as well as answer any questions about how to implement Ed. Code. He has a remarkable ability to uplift those around him which serves as evidence of your impact to the educational community.
- - SCCASP appreciates the thorough and thoughtful references from May Nguyen, Paloma Rodriguez Barajas, Marie Burkin-Caffese, and Chris Jones, as well as the attendees at the End of Year Celebration. Congratulations James!
Laura Whitmore Meritorious Service Award recipient: Laura Rosso Knight
- Laura has been with Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) for 9 years. Her background gives a unique ability to see a variety of perspectives, as well as with her cultural and linguistic knowledge, that allows her to connect with multilingual students and families. Within the district, Laura is always open and willing to support another School Psychologist, especially with bilingual cases. With her background as a teacher and being a parent of a child with special needs, this allows you to have an empathetic lens and is evident in your practice. Your school staff, share that they are blessed to work alongside an amazing profession and her dedication to the job, the district, and her teams are highly praised.
- - SCCASP appreciates the wonderful feedback from Laura’s school district staff - Christine Klaus-Gonzalez, Heidi Pilawski, Raquel Dominguez, Katie Pettersen, and “Room 13” (Nicole Cohn, Sarah Hudson, Theresamai Cao, Annie Blakely, Stephanie Schulte), as well as the attendees at the End of Year Celebration. Congratulations Laura!

Thank you for attending our End of Year Celebration and supporting SCCASP.

In March, some of our very own SCCASP Board (President-Elect, Kim Noll; Co-Treasurer, Darlene Norman; Past-President, Emily Bersaglia; and Secretary, Katie Pettersen) joined CASP and other California School Psychologist Affiliates in Sacramento for CASP Legislative Day to advocate for the school psychology profession and the well-being of California's students. We strive to make a difference and ensure that each child has the support they need to thrive.

Check out relevant tags on social media: #CASPLegislativeDay #EducationForAll #PolicyImpact #StudentsFirst

In case you missed it from our last newsletter - Looking for webinars to satisfy the Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention Training and Telehealth Coursework for your Application for Licensure or Renewal? Check out CASP’s website (casponline.org) where they provide both of these trainings at a cost (discounted rate for CASP Members). Sometimes, they may offer these workshops during the CASP Convention which will be held on October 15-18, 2024.

SCCASP Board Updates: Nominate a Colleague or a Retiree to Recognize!

Sherry — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 16:28:15 GMT

SCCASP Members, let’s finish off this school year strong and celebrate our achievements altogether. We are planning to have our End of Year Celebration on May 3, 2024 from 2 to 5pm, so please be sure to hold that date and attend SCCASP's End of Year Celebration - register by clicking here or visit our website sccasp.org/events so you can be sure to receive updates regarding the event and location. (Food and refreshments will be provided).

Please help SCCASP out!

For our End of Year Celebration, nominate an outstanding school psychologist or retiree in your district regardless of membership status - https://forms.gle/pKXFs6gb5zm27ieg8. We look forward to recognizing everyone’s service and dedication to the field.
We want you! SCCASP is looking for someone like you to be on the SCCASP Board and/or volunteer. Your commitment can be as little or as much as you would like based on your availability! If you'd like to inquire further, please message us or send us an email to info@sccasp.org. Please note that some of these positions can be a collaborative effort. Self-nominate yourself for a position here: https://forms.gle/XD8GNpvU7eUxU5u98 (Descriptions for each Board/Volunteer position is within the survey.)

As always, we highly encourage attending a SCCASP Board Meeting where we talk about events, socials, and how to increase member engagement - Dates/Times can be found on our SCCASP Events page. Even if you can’t attend the entire time, we would love to see and hear from our members!

Upcoming SCCASP Events via Zoom:

April 5th at 11:30 am: Assessment of Bilinguals: A best practice framework for valid testing of multilingual learners with Dr. Samuel Ortiz (sponsored by MHS) (NOTE: This workshop will not be recorded. Registrants must attend the full live event to receive CEUs or a certificate of attendance.)

(SCASP) Practical AI Integration in School Psychology: Applications, Ethics, and Benefits with Dr. Byron McClure

For your reference: Professional Development Opportunities from all CASP Affiliates

The SCCASP Board got together for brunch and collaboration time!

Member shoutouts to three of our very own SCCASP Board Members for passing the LEP exam! A big congrats to Emily Bersaglia, Sherry Flores, and Katie Pettersen.

Have a colleague you want to shout out? Know a fellow psych who is doing great things? Have a cool project or initiative you started and want to #humblebrag? Email info@sccasp.org to be featured in our Member Spotlight!

Looking for webinars to satisfy the Suicide Risk Assessment and Intervention Training and Telehealth Coursework for your Application for Licensure or Renewal? Check out CASP’s website (casponline.org) as they provide both of these trainings at a cost (discounted rate for CASP Members). Sometimes, they may offer these workshops during the CASP Convention which will be held on October 15-18, 2024.

SCCASP Updates - We want your feedback!

Sherry — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 05:17:00 GMT

Greetings SCCASP Members and Guests,

As we are diving into our second half of the school year, SCCASP is looking for nominees to recognize, PD feedback, and prospective volunteers for the upcoming school year. Please review the following to help SCCASP out, as well as some updated news for the remainder of the school year!

Upcoming and Final PD through SCCASP for the 2023-24 School Year: The final PD offered is Equity and Fairness in Assessment by MHS. Please note that the timeframe has been updated to 11:30am to 1:00pm on April 5th. More information to come! Note: This workshop will not be recorded. Registrants must attend the full live event to receive CEUs or a certificate of attendance. Register here: https://sccasp.org/event-5389997

End of Year (EOY) Celebration: Please note that we updated the date of our EOY Celebration to May 3, 2024 from 2:00 to 5:00pm to align with the availability of our keynote speaker. If you and/or your district would like to attend, please register individual members here: https://sccasp.org/event-5390062. Cost to attend is free if you purchased a multi-event package, otherwise it is $30. Additionally for the EOY Celebration, nominate your colleagues for special recognition for their hard work. Share information about those that have or will be retiring this year so they may be recognized for their service and dedication. Retiree and award nomination form: https://forms.gle/CpMijH6qiLhkbhtG6.

SCCASP Board/Volunteer Nomination Survey for the Upcoming 2024-25 School Year: SCCASP is looking for someone like you to be on the SCCASP Board and/or volunteer. Your commitment can be as little or as much as you would like based on your availability! If you'd like to know more or get acquainted, we highly encourage you to attend an upcoming Board Meeting (information can be found on our SCCASP Events page). Self-nominate here: https://forms.gle/XD8GNpvU7eUxU5u98.
- Descriptions for each Board/Volunteer position is within the survey. If you'd like to inquire further, please message us or send us an email to info@sccasp.org! (Please note that some of these positions can be a collaborative effort.)
- Elected Positions available: President-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer-Elect (An elected position requires a vote to be on the SCCASP Board and ideally be a member of CASP. The ballot to vote will go out in Spring of 2024 and will close/be announced at the May 2024 End of Year Celebration.)
- Volunteer Positions include: Member-At-Large, Student Representatives, LEP Representative, Social Media Committee, Newsletter Chair/Committee, Historian, Awards Chair, Membership Chair, and District Liaison.

Planning for Upcoming PD Events for the 2024-25 School Year: It's never too early to start planning and continue to develop our professional goals! Please complete this survey (https://forms.gle/jseP9wZRfMdDfyWm6) so we can gather interest on professional development needs from our members in order to help inform our planning for next year's workshop series. Additionally, if you know an amazing speaker within your district or network whom you'd like to refer to SCCASP for a professional development opportunity, please provide their name and contact information within the survey.

Best regards,

Sherry Flores, SCCASP President (2023-24)

CASP Legislation Day 2023: A Recap from Your Neighborhood School Psych

Fri, 31 Mar 2023 02:09:36 GMT

This week (March 27 & 28), four of us SCCASP members attended the CASP Legislation Day or "Leg Day", in Sacramento. Overall, we had an enlightening time and we're excited to share some of the details with you!

Leg Day is our proverbial act of carving out a seat at the table in order to champion the significance of school-based mental health for children and their families. We were accompanied by practicing school psychs from throughout California — Central Valley, San Diego, Ventura County to name a few. In these two days, we learned about drafted bills and their objectives. Two important bills ask for less red tape so schools can have an easier time accessing existing funds already set aside for school-based mental health services. We then educated our state representatives about these bills in addition to informing the reps about what it is that school psychs actually do. The latter is worth mentioning, as this may not be a surprise to some of you that a condensed version of our job description requires constant refinement depending on our audience. (What’s your job description “elevator pitch”?) On the second day, we provided feedback to members of a state-funded initiative who are working to “enhance, expand and redesign the systems that support behavioral health for children and youth.” Since school psychs have a unique lens on mental and behavioral health due to the nature of our training and where we practice, feedback is crucial in the development of this delivery system!

Your SCCASP Treasurer,

Ellen Lain

First, some photos:

Emily (Historian) and Darlene (Past President) in front of the Capitol ready to meet with their representatives!

We each received a handy folder prepared by CASP filled with bill rundowns and talking points

Our stickers (see previous photo) sparked conversations with other lobbyists

Katie (Secretary) shaking hands with Erika Salazar from the office of Ash Kalra

A treasurer admiring another treasurer’s office in the Capitol building

Team SSiS (Serving Students in Style)

Department of Education building!

With CASP Board Members, Melissa Wood (President) and Chris Jones (President Elect)

The Bills We Learned

AB 483 asks for a less restrictive medical billing process and a supportive rather than punitive auditing process. Basically, an overall easier way to be reimbursed from existing federally allocated money for school-based health services. This is related to the current Medi-Cal LEA BOP billing process.

SB 551 asks that counties be held accountable to follow through with their obligation to provide mental health services to children by collaborating with schools to provide those services. This is related to Prop 63 that was passed in 2004.

SB 691 asks there be universal, annual screenings for dyslexia for children in Kindergarten through second grade.

AB 438 asks that IEP transition planning start at 14 years old rather than its current age of 16 years.

Representatives We Met

State Senator Dave Cortese, district 15 (Campbell and San Jose)*

State Senator John Laird, District 17 (Monterey, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Cruz Counties)

Assemblyperson Ash Kalra, 27th district (eastern San José)*

Assemblyperson Gail Pellerin, 28th district (Santa Cruz County through South San Jose and Morgan Hill)

Talking Points with CYBHI**
We spoke with representatives from the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, which was established in 2021 as a five-year initiative with a 4.4 billion dollar investment to support behavioral health for children. Below is not an exhaustive list of the topics that were discussed.

There are many organizations involved in helping families, especially those who have multiple health or social services providers. Will there be oversight on helping families navigate through all of the different systems so families are not feeling like they are being pushed around from one organization to another?
School psychologists should be involved in all aspects of the planning and restructuring of this initiative.
Who’s going to oversee and train the “wellness coaches” who are supposedly responsible for delivering services such as parenting classes, mental health coaching, and general academic coaching? Schools have experienced that hired individuals are not prepared for the expectations of their roles, which leads to high turnover rates, which causes harm to children who have developed attachments to these individuals.
There should be case management for families with children with high-risk health factors in order to help them navigate through their multiple providers.
Beyond just supporting the students, there should be an emphasis on supporting their families because we know that many behavioral/mental health issues we see at school largely are due to students’ family dynamics.
There should also be consideration for families who have difficulties accessing digital content because not every parent/guardian has access to smartphones, computers and Wi-Fi, or just general understanding on tech usage.
Mental health funds should extend beyond direct service (i.e. individual or group counseling) to indirect services such as staff and parent trainings.

Our Personal Highlights!

Katie: I loved hearing and learning about relevant bills from people like Amanda Dickey who is the government relations director of SCCOE!

Emily: It was fun randomly striking up a conversation with doctors who wanted to learn more about school-based mental health. One of them was on the board of DHCS who oversees Medi-Cal. Organic conversations are the best!

Darlene: Not too many people get to have direct meetings with their state and assembly members so it was great to actually get to do that!

Ellen: I enjoyed seeing different Cali practitioners band together to advocate for the same thing. Even though we're all at different districts serving different types of demographics, we can all agree that accessible school-based mental health is super important!

*Met with someone in their office

**A few CASP board members act as consultants to help with their planning process. Join CASP to get involved!

Summer Boot Camp with Jenny Ponzuric

Emily Bersaglia — Sun, 05 Jun 2022 23:44:05 GMT

The SCCASP Board wants to share a summer learning opportunity with you! Many of you may know Jenny Ponzuric as a trainer, presenter and consultant. She is hosting a Summer Boot Camp for School Psychs and we want to help spread the word!

Jenny’s Summer Boot Camp 2022 from July 11th – 22nd.

This is a two-week program, custom-designed to support YOUR experience level in your career and prepare you for Fall 2022.

Summer Boot Camp will provide you with resources, learning opportunities, and professional development.

During the weeks of July 11-22 new, experienced, and veteran school psychologists will:

✓ get acclimated to their practice
✓ improve their practice
✓ learn micro-skills
✓ have immediate support, community, and mentorship

Each day of the boot camp focuses on a unique topic that will give you implementable strategies and resources, bring more clarity to your day-to-day practices, and provide support as you grow in your career as a school psychologist.

To take advantage of this phenomenal professional learning opportunity, REGISTER HERE!

Magical Bridge Playground is Coming to Santa Clara, California

Katie Pettersen — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 02:42:31 GMT

Modeled after the Magical Bridge Playground in Palo Alto, Magical Bridge in Santa Clara will be located in Central Park and will uniquely welcome everyone, including the 1-in-4 living with physical and cognitive disabilities, autism, visual and auditory impairments, those who are medically fragile, and even the aging population. We think this is MAGICAL, and we hope you do too!

We have a LinkedIn Account

Katie Pettersen — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 03:16:00 GMT

Do you use LinkedIn? If so, make sure to "Follow" our LinkedIn page to show your support for SCCASP and stay up-to-date on upcoming events and information.