PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE |
Welcome to the 2024-2025 academic year! I sincerely hope you had a rejuvenating summer break, and you are raring to go this fall.  I’m excited to announce that the 2024-2025 OSPA Board has 15 members, the maximum number allowed in our By-laws. I’m not sure we’ve ever been this big, but it’s really exciting to see so many members wanting to step up and serve our membership across the state. We have representatives from across Oregon including Southern, Willamette Valley, Eugene, Bend, Portland, and rural areas. We are hoping to serve the needs of more Oregon school psychologists with bigger representation on the Board. Thank you to the Board for stepping forward! Because we have more leader participation, we have some active and exciting committees this year. Members are invited to participate in these committees too. The committees open to member participation include Member Engagement, Government and Professional Relations, Public Relations, Technical Committee, and the Conference committee. To see more about these committees, see our webpage. Speaking of the website, we are continually updating it to be more current and relevant to our practices in the schools across Oregon. The most exciting news about these updates is a new resource coming to OSPA Members. After last year’s member survey, the priorities for the membership included advocacy for school psychology and mentorship opportunities. At the Fall Conference we will announce a new resource for Mentorship/Consultation services. Be sure to come to the Conference and watch the website for more information in October! The Fall Conference is scheduled for October 10-11 in Salem. We are excited about the offerings this year and we’re looking forward to seeing so many of you there. We will be hosting the NASP President, Peter Faustino, as the keynote speaker plus sessions on topics like traumatic brain injury, partnering and connecting with others, working with parents and their advocates, s ide hustles in school psychology, MTSS for behavioral issues, enhancing resiliency, early childhood assessment, and ethics. Plus, we will be hosting a town hall style session with a leader in the state of Oregon that can update us on legislative initiatives that may impact schools. Lunch and snacks will be provided at the conference this year. Register early to avoid late fees! The OSPA Board is also making plans to re-launch the spring professional development opportunity. We are hoping to make announcements about that workshop soon. If you want to help plan that event, that’s the Conference Committee. We’d love to have you. Our Membership Engagement committee is already planning for the National School Psychologist Week (NSPW) in November. We hope to see many of you at the regional social events we are hosting. Look for advertisements in this newsletter, on our webpage, and on our social media. Mark your calendar for November 13 at 5:00 p.m. for all gatherings except Southern Oregon will be meeting on November 15. There are other activities around NSPW that you can participate in if you can’t join a social gathering (coming to the website). Use NSPW to spread awareness of our great profession and engage in your own self-care! Our Government and Professional Relations committee is actively working with the leaders from the Oregon School Counselors and Oregon School Social Workers to propose new legislation to protect our fields as mental health providers in the schools. If you enjoy this kind of advocacy, watch the website and this Bulletin for more information regarding advocacy opportunities. There will be big (macro) and small (micro) opportunities to advocate. If you only have a few minutes to give, there will be something for you. Our new Social Media Director, Lisa Dawson, has successfully relaunched the Instagram account for OSPA, @orschoolpsychassociation. Lisa has been engaging members on Facebook regularly. Watch those pages for updates and news. I’m excited to serve you this year! Have a great school year! Danielle N. Pappas, PhD., NCSP School Psychologist OSPA President |