Dear OSPA members and friends of OSPA,
We have made it to the halfway point in the academic year. I hope that everyone has been able to take some time over the winter break to spend time with family and loved ones. It was great to see so many of you at our annual fall conference in November. I hope you, like me, were inspired to continue our important work in advocating for equity for families in our schools. Before the conference began on Nov. 10, I was honored to be invited to give some brief remarks to all the wonderful school psychology interns during the annual intern conference organized by our Inter University Council. It was so nice to see such an energetic group of future school psychologists who were eager to learn and work to serve families throughout Ohio. For any interns or current graduate students reading this, my message of getting involved early with OSPA still stands. I encourage all of you to join committees and get involved with us early and often in your career. You can make a difference in the lives of families in your district and make a difference for our field, and families across the state with your involvement in OSPA. Additionally, before the conference the Executive Board voted to join the Honesty for Ohio Education Coalition, which I suggest all OSPA members explore. We also approved a resolution honoring OPA’s retiring Executive Director Michael Ranney who has been a staunch ally to our field and has helped bridge collaborative partnerships with OPA over many years.
To kick off the fall conference this year, we heard important updates from the Department of Education Office of Exceptional Children with Associate Director Joe Petrarca and Education Program Specialist Bernadette Laughlin who were gracious enough to stay throughout the first day of the conference to answer any and all questions from the audience. We then heard legal updates from Pam Leist before transitioning to our afternoon session on equity with presenter Preshuslee Thompson. Finally, on Friday Nov. 11, we learned more about creating inclusive schools and counseling supports for students. I would be remiss if I did not also mention all of the hardware we gave out. OSPA awarded the Valorie Wolcott-Mendelson Scholarship to the very deserving Angela Kladias from the University of Dayton. Alanna Bebech was awarded the Early Career Award, and the Ohio School Psychologist of the Year was awarded to Dr. Erich Merkle. Each of these individuals have done a tremendous amount for our field and for Ohio’s families. We are lucky to have each of them as members of OSPA. This spring we will be honoring others nominated for The Clyde Bartlett Distinguished Service Award, The Pete Gross Best Practice Award, and Ray Horn Honorary Life Membership Award. I encourage everyone to submit nominations for these awards. We know that there are amazing practitioners out there and we want to make sure we are recognizing all of them through OSPA. In addition to all of this activity, the book study that was started through our use of the Community of Practice funds officially kicked off and we were able to award multiple stipends to individuals to attend the conference who might not have otherwise had the means to attend.
Outside of OSPA, NASP continues to promote discussions on equity, diversity and inclusion policies, which align well with our fall conference. In August I was able to attend the Recharging Leader Momentum for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policies hosted by NASP. This meeting focused on both how individuals and state/national associations can advance social justice in the field of school psychology. It was not only great to learn that we are already taking many of the recommended steps discussed at the meeting, but to also learn about additional steps we could be taking to promote DEI through our organization and our field.
Throughout the fall, OSPA reached out to graduate students in all of Ohio’s graduate training programs about what we do and the importance of getting involved with OSPA early. Additionally, OSPA has continued its outreach to undergraduate students through the Future School Psychologists of Ohio Programs organized throughout the state. The OSPA presidential trio also launched the Presidential Mental Health Challenge to encourage practitioners to serve as mental and behavioral health providers in schools with the hope of improving outcomes for students, promoting our roles as behavioral and mental health providers, and increasing positivity related to our practice. In addition to all this work, there has been a whirlwind of activity from the state legislature which our legislative committee has done an excellent job with keeping everyone up to date on. I recommend that everyone join the Legislative Committee to stay informed on all legislative updates. Furthermore, I encourage everyone to join any one of our other outstanding committees and become more involved with your organization. I continue to say we are only as strong as our membership makes us. As always, thank you for working to improve educational outcomes for families and please feel free to contact me at fziccardi@ospaonline.org with any questions or suggestions on how OSPA can better serve you.
Franklin Ziccardi