The school year is coming to a close. Good job. We made it! Now, breathe deep, exhale slowly, and march into summer. Soak in the sun, read for pleasure, sip more wine at the wineries, hike the beautiful hills of Oregon, dip your feet in the sand on our lovely beaches, or take your bags and hit the road or airways. Whatever floats your boat or renews your soul, I wish you the best of that for the next 8 weeks! Enjoy!

Here at OSPA, we are celebrating our victories this year and laying ground for another great year ahead. In case you missed anything, here’s the OSPA highlight reel.

In the fall, we hosted a successful conference at Salem’s KROC Center with a first-ever Town Hall with Representative Neron. This was the largest session attended and there was lots of interest in state level advocacy. Next year’s conference will be at the historic Kennedy School by McMenamins in Portland, October 9-10. Registration is open if you have any PD money left to spend. 

Our Government and Professional Relations (GPR) committee has worked hard this year to advocate on your behalf. Most notable, the Interstate Compact for School Psychologists (ICSP) has been working its way through legislation. If it passes this week from the Senate and gets signed by the governor, we will be the 7th state to enter into the compact. That means, Oregon will have a say in laying the rules and guidelines for the rest of the states that join the compact. This is a great victory and again, we can thank Representative Neron for shepherding that legislation through the process! 

The GPR also hosted a free NASP training on how to engage in advocacy at the state and federal level. We will be taking our newly acquired advocacy skills to the Oregon “hill” in December for their Legislature Days, called Leg Days (pronounced ledge). Come join us!

We launched our pilot mentoring program. Thank you to the four outstanding mentors who volunteered to be a mentor to OSPA members! We are looking for more mentors, the load is light, so don’t be shy. Give back to your field and volunteer. 

OSPA brought back Spring PD with a great online presentation about anxiety in kids! We opened this to school counselors and school social workers too, increasing our collaboration efforts with our school colleagues. Together we are better!

Last, but certainly not least, the past president, Mary Sperling, and myself presented to the Randall Children’s Hospital pediatric grand rounds of professional development in April. We spent an hour talking about how physicians and schools can work more collaboratively to support kids and families. This session was recorded and will be available to all pediatric physicians, nurses, and staff across the state of Oregon on their YouTube channel. We are also taking this information and creating a poster handout that will be available to OSPA members at the fall conference and online to distribute to the pediatric clinics in your area. 

Our member engagement committee has been hard at work to come up with swag for OSPA. Be on the lookout for swag options coming soon! 

Phew! What a great year at OSPA! Come join us next year. The Board has been established but there’s always committees to join and mentoring to offer! Come be a part!

It is with humble gratitude that I thank you for letting me lead this great organization for this year! I love school psychology and I love Oregon school psychologists! It’s been my pleasure to support all of you this year! Thank you for what you do everyday for kids, educators, and families!

Danielle N. Pappas, PhD, NCSP

OSPA President