President's Column
President’s Column by Ashley Jones Philp, Ph.D., NCSP
As we enter the 2011-2012 school year, I’d like to highlight the many accomplishments of SCASP over the previous year. Your board’s targeted initiatives for 2011-2012 were to increase advocacy efforts and improve technology benefits offered to members, and we made great strides towards advancing both initiatives. In the area of advocacy, Sarah Bassin and her legislative committee invested much effort into formalizing an Action Plan for the Association, organizing the first SCASP Capitol Hill Day, and securing a grassroots advocacy training through NASP for the upcoming fall conference. At the state level, SCASP was represented in the SC Education Public Policy Fellowship by Pee Dee Delegate Mary Bryant, and was responsive to State Department activity, formally responding to the proposed SEED document and the new 15-day regulation for eligibility determinations. At the national level, SCASP was represented at NASP’s Public Policy Institute last summer by Legislative Chair Sarah Bassin and will be represented again this summer by President-Elect Kellie Snipes. In the area of technology, Ginny Gast and Beth Gavin worked tirelessly to thoroughly clean and organize the SCASP website, increase usage of the SCASP Facebook page as a communication tool for members, and research new website options that could provide greater benefits to members. (Stay tuned for an unveiling of the proposed new website at the 2011 Fall Conference!) Additionally, Ginny brought improvements to our newsletter through new formatting and enhanced visuals that were made possible with the new Association camera.
In addition to the technology and advocacy initiatives, SCASP had many other accomplishments worth noting. Some of these include policy and procedural revisions, which will provide better guidelines to the Board in handling Association business (available online); the initiation of a constitution and bylaws review, facilitated by Kellie Snipes, on which members will vote at the 2011 Fall Conference; wildly success professional development opportunities at the Fall Conference in Columbia, Spring Workshop at Winthrop, and Summer Institute in Myrtle Beach, all organized by Program Co-Chairs Antigo Martin-Delaney and Carole Sorrenti; Public Relations initiatives led by PR/PI Co-Chairs Rachel Long and Elizabeth Schneider such as the Governor’s and Richland County’s School Psychology Week Proclamations and the attractive, popular SCASP t-shirts sporting the 2010-2011 theme, “Positive Relationships: Building Bridges to the Future”; and leadership representation by Kellie Snipes and myself in NASP activities such as the Southeast Regional Leadership Meeting and NASP Convention leadership meetings.
Lastly, the composition of the Board itself was quite an accomplishment, in that every position was quickly filled and remained filled the entire year, and because it was very representative of the diversity within the SCASP membership. The diversity was evident in the variety of experiences and work settings of board members, with experience ranging from that of student to retiree, and work settings ranging from traditional school-districts to a variety of non-traditional settings such as private practice, medical settings, and academia. We also were fortunate to have representation on the board from all four graduate training programs in the state. The positive energy, commitment, and participation of board members were unsurpassable, and I extend my sincere thanks to each board member for their invaluable contributions.
Building on the successes of last year, SCASP will move into the 2011-2012 year with the theme “We matter because children do” and a continued focus on advancing technology benefits and advocacy opportunities for members. A few of the board’s goals I am excited to share with you include the creation of a SCASP brochure that will be useful in promoting SCASP within the community, purposeful networking efforts with allied professional organizations, a Capitol Hill Day 2012, ongoing advocacy training opportunities for members, and a brand-new SCASP website. I am thrilled that a majority of the 2010-2011 board is returning in some capacity for the upcoming year and that we are welcoming several SCASP members to the board for a first year of service. Note that the position of Scholarship Committee Chair remains open; please contact previous Committee Chair Naomi Palmer or me if you are interested in details on the position. Together, we’ll make the 2011-2012 SCASP year matter!