Preview - Florida School Counselor Association

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florida
VIEWING
INSTRUCTIONS
SCHOOL
COUNSELOR
The official publication of the FLORIDA School Counselor Association
AD INDEX
6
Anti-Defamation League
3
Catawba
College
22
College Guidance Consultants
8
Indiana University High School
12
Miami Conference:
Evidence-based
Treatments for
Childhood Mental Health
18 National University Virtual High School
2
Universal Technical Institute
SAVE THE DATE
JUNE 25–28, 2011
FOR A WHOLE LATTE
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Confidentiality
Case Notes vs.
Educational
Records
ASCA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SEATTLE | JUNE 25-28, 2011
ONLINE REGISTRATION
OPENS JANUARY 3, 2011
www.schoolcounselor.org/seattle
WINTER 2010
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
FSCA’s New Advocate Platform
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
THE
SCIENCE
FOR THEIR
SUCCESS
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
By Clifford Mack
How Far Have We Come?
By Nan Worsowicz
TOGETHER WE’RE BUILDING FUTURES
Today’s transportation technicians are more than
mechanics. They’re also highly skilled professionals
with working skills in Science, Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics. Universal Technical Institute is
proud to support ASCA, the National S.T.E.M. Initiative
and your personal efforts to guide each student to a
successful career.
For more information and to download
your free S.T.E.M. poster, visit us
online at uti.edu/hscounselors.
• 4 out of 5 of our graduates
receive full-time industry
employment1
For 2008, UTI had 11,663 total graduates, of which 11,137 were available for employment. Of those graduates
available for employment, 9,749 were employed at the time of reporting, for a total of 87%.
2
Awarded to enrolled students who apply and are selected.
3
Financial aid and VA benefits available to those who qualify. UTI cannot guarantee employment.
4
Programs vary by location. MSAT programs are available to those who qualify.
1
16
Inhalant-Abuse Prevention
• Over $11 Million in scholarships
awarded annually2
departments
• Financial aid and job placement
assistance3
President’s Message
• Alliances with top manufacturers
designed to help students make
industry connections4
FSCA Award Winners
uti.edu/hscounselors
MSC: 800/856
15
Confidentiality: School Counselor Case Notes vs. Educational Records
• Associate of Occupational
Studies (AOS) program available
at the Avondale campus
800.450.1457
13
Ready for High School
19
By Queshia S. Bradley
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Catawba
College
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connected to Cata
wba College’s
Center for the Envi
ronment
2
Cited as one of the country's
best institutions for undergraduate education,
according to The Princeton Review’s 2011 edition
of "The Best 373 Colleges."
Ranked 15th among Best Regional
Colleges in the South
according to the 2011 edition of “Best Colleges,”
published by U.S.News & World Report.
SAVE THE DATE
JUNE 25–28, 2011
MONTHLY
Named one of the nation’s best music schools
of 2010 by “In Tune Monthly” magazine.
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CONTENTS
EDITORIAL POLICY
FSCA welcomes unsolicited articles and letters
deemed to be of interest to the members.
Submissions will not be returned and may be
edited for purposes of clarity and space. Use
e-mail if possible. Always include your name,
address, daytime phone number, fax number
and e-mail address with your submission.
Opinions expressed in this publication do
not necessarily reflect the views of the
association’s membership, volunteers or staff.
ADVERTISING POLICY
FSCA reserves the right to edit copy and to
refuse advertisements it deems objectionable.
The publication of an advertisement in
the Florida School Counselor is not an
endorsement of the advertiser or of the
advertised product or service. FSCA is
not responsible for any claims made in
advertisements. To determine accreditation
status of educational institutions, consult the
state and regional accrediting directories or
the state department of education.
MEMBERSHIP
FSCA membership dues are $30/year, of
which $5 is for a subscription to the Florida
School Counselor. The Florida School
Counselor is published by the Florida School
Counselor Association Inc., P.O. Box 752,
Safety Harbor, Fla. 34695-0752.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
13
By Ginger Green
FEATURES
7
13
The Right Fit
By Madelyn Isaacs
By Clifford Mack
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
14
By Nan Worsowicz
15
By Clifford Mack
15
By Nan Worsowicz
16
16
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By Terry Rainwater, Ph.D., Alice Amaya, Louise Berman,
James Devlin, Ph.D., Megyn Shea, Jennifer Waller
and Amy Wiskerchen
PUBLISHER
Florida School Counselor Association
P.O. Box 752
Safety Harbor, Fl 34695-0752
Phone or Fax: (888) 785-8611
www.fla-schoolcounselor.org
[email protected]
CO-EDITORS
Chris Janson, Ph.D.
Sejal Parikh, Ph.D.
[email protected]
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
Ken Cibroski
[email protected]
(877) 965-7492
(877) 562-9189, fax
19
DEPARTMENTS
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FSCA Award Winners
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FSCA Board of Directors
President
Sharon Dolinsky
[email protected]
Every Child Deserves
a School Counselor
By Sharon Dolinsky
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FOR A WHOLE LATTE
Past President
Curtis Jenkins
[email protected]
Elementary School Level Vice President
Joni Shook
[email protected]
Middle School Level Vice President
Laurie Fedenko
[email protected]
T
hroughout the state, school counselors struggle with budget cuts. Some districts eliminated all elementary school
counselor positions, while other districts reduced the
number of elementary school counselors by 50 percent. Middle
and high schools cut one or two school counselors, and the current school counselor-to-student ratio has doubled. Yet the FSCA
2010 Convention, held in Ft. Lauderdale in November, proves that
no matter what is happening in schools, districts or homes, school
counselors will prevail. This year’s convention attendance exceeded predictions with
more than 450 attendees, 30-plus presenters and 26 vendors, sponsors and exhibitors.
School counselors crowded into preconference workshops to learn about collecting
and using data and about working with at-risk students. Another preconference workshop explained Florida’s mandate for the Response to Intervention process.
Breakout sessions and workshops provided tools for character education, career
goals, helping the silent, bullied student, working side by side with administration, legal
and ethical issues (newly revised by ASCA), and engaging parents in order to aid the
success of their child. Convention sponsors and exhibitors contributed helpful materials
and programs.
The ultimate goal for school counselors is helping students grow emotionally,
socially and academically and preparing
them to be skilled workers, productive citizens and positive role models in society.
James Notter, superintendent of
Broward Schools, spoke about the difficult
decisions he has made for the nation’s
sixth-largest district. He expressed support
for the work of school counselors and the difference they make in students’ lives. Notter acknowledges the struggle with budgets cuts, diverse populations and the changing
school climate and family structure.
Keynote speaker Trevor Romain captivated the audience with stories of children from
around the world whose common need is to know that someone cares about them.
Romain spreads the word that children need love to equip them to respect themselves
and others. Romain plans to visit 80 military bases during the next two years and help
school counselors and children deal with deployment as loneliness and bullying continue.
Romain’s message is simple: Give a child a hug, and that child will remember the moment for a lifetime. Teach children how to love and be loved, and they will spread the
message to others. Many Florida school counselors use Romain’s program, “Bullies are a
Pain in the Brain,” and convention participants will remember Trevor’s touching speech
and his genuine love for children all over the world.
Secondary School Level Vice President
Hope Sims
[email protected]
Postsecondary Vice President
Russell A. Sabella
[email protected]
District Level Supervisor
Vice President
Karalia Baldwin
[email protected]
Region 1 Vice President
Ginger Green
[email protected]
Nan Worsowicz
[email protected]
vacant
Eva Christu
[email protected]
Clifford H. Mack, Jr.
[email protected]
Committee Chairs
The ultimate goal for
Bylaws Chair
Susan Gertel
[email protected]
school counselors is helping
Ethics Chair
Stephanie Carter
[email protected]
students grow emotionally,
Nominations & Elections Chair
Curtis Jenkins
[email protected]
socially and academically
SAVE THE DATE
JUNE 25–28, 2011
President-Elect
Chris Smith
[email protected]
Sharon Dolinsky, FSCA president, can be reached at [email protected].
Membership Co-Chairs
Lori Wallace
[email protected]
and
Linda Bruner
[email protected]
Professional Development Co-Chairs
Judy Cromartie
[email protected]
and
Libby Curran
[email protected]
Advocacy & Public Policy Chair
Madelyn Isaacs
[email protected]
Communications Chair
Russell Sabella
[email protected]
Professional Recognition Chair
Theresa Kalten
[email protected]
Scholarship & Grant Chair
Jennifer Johnson
[email protected]
Financial Affairs Chair
Curtis Jenkins
[email protected]
DOE/ Student Services Liaison
Helen Lancashire
[email protected]
2010 Convention chair
Chris Smith
[email protected]
Executive Assistant
Claire Cousins
[email protected]
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WINTER 2010
florida school counselor
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
13
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
By Clifford Mack
By Nan Worsowicz
15
16
19
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FSCA Award Winners
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FSCA’S NEW ADVOCATE PLATFORM
The Advocacy and Public Policy Committee set ambitious goals.
By Madelyn Isaacs
T
AD INDEX
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his year the FSCA Board supports
a strong advocacy platform. The
Advocacy and Public Policy Committee created a work plan of ambitious
goals to promote school counseling and
school counselors. The committee is
growing thanks to many signups at the
successful November convention in Fort
Lauderdale. With new growth, a clear
platform and strategic partnerships, the
board’s ambition is to expand FSCA from
a member-services organization to an
influential advocate that strengthens all
Florida school counselors.
School counselors are individually
strong leaders, but through advocacy
each can promote his or her program and
role in his or her school and district. Collectively, we can promote the profession
to policy makers at the local, regional
but through advocacy each
become an advocacy organization and
close the achievement gap for Florida
students. FSCA’s task is to promote the
platform to school leaders throughout
the state and to develop and disseminate
talking points for each issue.
can promote his or her
PLATFORM GOALS
individually strong leaders,
The platform promotes school counseling excellence and outcomes by
sponsoring annual Closing the Gap recognition awards, providing templates for
data reporting and creating an EvidenceBased Practice Bank of strategies that
work for advocacy and individual program development.
The platform helps develop strategic
partnerships with the Florida Education Association and the Coalition for
Education of Exceptional Students. Each
program and role in his or
her school and district.
and state levels.
The goal of FSCA’s Advocacy Platform
(see box) is to address the needs of all
students, promote professional excellence for school counselors, develop a
legislative and public-policy program,
FSCA 2010-11 ADVOCACY PLATFORM
2
School counselors are
ALL STUDENTS
TOPIC: Provide sufficient numbers of
professional school counselors for every Florida student, school and district.
ISSUE: Many Florida schools do not have
access to a certified school counselor or
a sufficient number of school counselors.
Additionally, many school counselors are
assigned to non-school counseling related tasks, which prevents them from fully
implementing programs in compliance
with Florida’s School Counseling and
Guidance Framework and the studentdevelopment program standards.
SAVE THE DATE
JUNE 25–28, 2011
POSITION: Florida must mandate, monitor and fund sufficient certified professional school counselors at a ratio of
1:250 per school as recommended by
the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), the American Counseling
Association, the American Psychological
Association, the American Medical Association and other organizations.
Support the “Put School Counselors
Where They’re Needed Act,” federal
FOR A WHOLE LATTE
legislation that would provide funding
for additional counselors in high schools
with high drop-out rates.
PROFESSIONAL
EXCELLENCE
TOPIC: Promote professional school
counseling excellence in preparation,
training, reward and recognition.
ISSUE: While many incentives exist for
teaching excellence, school counselors
do not receive parity in support for
professional development, reward and
recognitions with other instructional
personnel.
POSITION: Ensure that Florida schools
recruit and retain the most prepared
school counselors.
n Develop a consistent accountability
measurement.
n Align with ASCA’s National Model,
modernize Florida’s concept of school
counseling and replace “guidance
counselor” with “professional school
counselor.”
n
Support professional development
with funding for school counselor and
program recognition, and provide
expanded certification support.
n Require districts to conform school
counselor job descriptions, tasks and
evaluations to the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related
Educational Programs (CACREP)
standards and ASCA standards and
competencies.
n Accept CACREP designation in lieu
of the Department of Education standards for certification.
n Support incentive programs for
school counselors who achieve the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
n Require trained and certified school
counselors as career specialists, safe
school leaders and other school
counseling-related positions.
n Keep experienced and qualified
school counselors in the system with
parity in programs like Deferred Retirement Option Plan, incentives and
merit pay.
ONLINE REGISTRATION
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WINTER 2010
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
provides opportunities to align with legislation, policy monitoring and promoting
school counseling among all educators.
The platform helps transform FSCA
into an advocacy organization by developing templates for local and state advocacy, maintaining active Web resources,
publishing articles in the FSCA School
Counselor newsletter, engaging chapters
in advocacy activities and recruiting new
skilled and diverse members from across
the state.
JOIN THE EFFORT
Advocacy starts at home, and each of
you can do things for yourself by maintaining your FSCA membership, getting
active on a local or state committee, join-
ing your local association and developing
a relationship with local policy makers
and legislators. The last is a long-term
strategy for each of us. Make contact
with your local legislators as a voter in
their districts who has a commitment to
supporting education excellence. Do this
before there is a significant issue, and
make sure you call, e-mail or write from
your personal telephone, computer account and home address.
You can also get active by using
data and promoting your program with
accountability reports. Check out the
FSCA narrated self-paced Power Point
at www.fla-schoolcounselor.org. Join the
Advocacy and Public Policy Committee
or one of its workgroups to help with
specific writing or communication tasks.
Promote joining the action-and-alert
system among your colleagues and when
alerted, contact local and state policy
makers.
Help us make sure that the excellent
work school counselors do continues,
that all schools have school counselors
and that all students have access to the
school counseling programs they need
for success. Be a school counselor leader
who speaks with one strong voice.
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
13
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
By Clifford Mack
Madelyn Isaacs, FSCA Advocacy and Public
Policy Committee chair, can be reached at
[email protected].
By Nan Worsowicz
15
16
19
departments
FSCA Award Winners
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WINTER 20108
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FSCA AWARD WINNERS
A LIFETIME OF INSPIRATION
An interview with Carolyn Stone, FSCA member and
ASCA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner
Throughout your work and career
AD INDEX
Q: as a school counselor and school
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Catawba
College
counseling professor, you have inspired
so many people. Who or what inspires
you and your work?
STONE: I don’t know exactly where my
need as a school counselor to wrap my
arms around more students came from,
but I do know that it probably had a lot
to do with my mom and my dad. We
were low-middle income but I still saw
my dad buying a lawn mower for the guy
on the street who didn’t have anything,
or taking food to others. [My parents]
were, in their own way, caretakers for
those who had less. I also saw, because
I grew up in Mobile [Alabama], which
is the most social town in the world –
it really is the caricature of the social
Southern town – it really did matter on
which side of the tracks you grew up. I
wasn’t on the “right side” of the tracks,
and I saw the discrepancies and the
advantages between other kids’ parents
who knew how to advocate for their kids,
who got the AP and the honors, etc., and
my mom and dad who didn’t know. There
really wasn’t anybody there to advocate
for those kids whose parents didn’t know
how to advocate for them. I think that’s
what drives me as a school counselor. I
just didn’t want [advocacy] to be dependent on a children’s ZIP codes or who
their parents happened to be.
I was also a child of the Vietnam War
era. It was something I felt so passionate about, the injustice of what I felt was
an unjust war. Something in my teenage
years kept driving that need to right what
I thought were wrongs. I was always trying to be there when there was a protest
and make my feelings known and write
to senators and congressmen because
these were my peers, people I went to
school with, who were going over there
and losing their lives. My first experience
with death was when a young man that I
went to high school with was one of the
first fatalities of the Vietnam War.
Then you watch people who are amazing social-justice advocates – standard-
22
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dignity without any bitterness. Throughout my life these people have been my
heroes and role models.
What advice do you have for school
Q: counselors who are starting or con-
Carolyn Stone (left) received the ASCA
Lifetime Achievement Award from
Pat Nailor, Ed.D. at the ASCA Annual
Conference in Boston in July.
“This is hard work if you do
it right. It can be easy if you
have neat little parameters
and do only what has
always been done.”
bearers like President Kennedy and
Martin Luther King Jr., in the civil rights
movement. I watched that on TV, and
I listened to Rosa Parks. I shook Nelson Mandela’s hand and saw the grace
with which he has been a social-justice
advocate without any bitterness. Twentyseven years of Mandela’s life were taken
away, but he came back with grace and
WINTER 2010
tinuing their careers?
STONE: I like Trish Hatch’s words, “Put
your eye on the prize, and don’t blink.” If
you have that in your heart and soul – to
make a difference for kids – you’re going
to get beat up a lot. You have to find
allies – those people who are going to
keep you shored up and keep you moving forward. Even when the very people
you are trying to help refuse to be part of
the solution and even become part of the
problem, you need to figure out where to
go, find your safe place to recharge your
batteries.
This is hard work if you do it right. It
can be easy if you have neat little parameters and do only what has always been
done, and you follow the calendar that’s
always been set out, and you keep the
criteria for admission in the ways they’ve
always been. However, if you go against
the grain, the status quo, you have to
figure out a way to keep yourself charged
up, motivated and healthy so you won’t
bail out. We need people who want to
make that kind of difference.
On the topic of support, who has
Q: shored you up and kept you moving forward throughout your career and
accomplishments?
STONE: So many people, but especially my husband. It may sound trite,
but there’s no way I could continue to
do what I do without coming home to
someone who’s okay with that. He’s selfless. We just had the greatest week together. I was home all week, and we went
swimming and bicycling and did a lot
of great stuff. He’s not in my profession.
He doesn’t have a clue about systemic
change, or advocacy or leadership for
school counselors. He doesn’t know any
of that, but he knows that it’s important
to me and is supportive. It’s important to
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
surround yourself with people who care.
I have great colleagues. I have wonderful partners in the school district. I have
friends who care about this also, and it
really does make a difference. Otherwise,
you can become isolated and jaded.
I also had the good fortune to have Pat
Martin [the other 2010 ASCA Lifetime
Achievement Award recipient] become
involved with the Education Trust. She
found her way to a request for proposal
that spoke to me, and then she actually
picked the University of North Florida
(UNF) to be part of that whole movement. She opened so many doors for me
with the Transforming School Counseling Initiative. She’s a great friend, and I
admire her. I’d have to put her right up
there with the people who have touched
my life the most because she is in a class
by herself. She is a real hero to me.
13
VIDEO INTERVIEW
View video segments of this interview on the FSCA Web site at
www.fla-schoolcounselor.org.
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
By Clifford Mack
By Nan Worsowicz
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ASCA 2010 RAMP
recipients
FSCA recognizes ASCA 2010 RAMP
recipients John Gattozzi, Melody
Hammer and Mary Janell Leatherman
from Emerald Cove Middle School in
Wellington, Fla. Congratulations on
your outstanding achievement. Mary
Jannell Leatherman (left) accepts
the award at July’s ASCA Annual
Conference in Boston.
florida school counselor WINTER 201010
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FSCA AWARD WINNERS
FSCA SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
Winners of the FSCA Scholarship, from exactly 100 applicants, are
Michael Pettus, Navarre High School, Santa Rosa County and
Kristina DeCarlo, Seminole Ridge High School, Palm Beach County.
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Essay by Michael Pettus, Navarre High
School in Santa Rosa County.
“I
am a firm believer that the people
with whom you come in contact
with make a lasting impression on
your life whether good or bad. I also
believe in seeing the glass half full and so
even with the negative, I walk away from
those people, taking with me something
that I can learn from and apply to my life
to make it better.
When I entered high school as a
freshman I was more than ready for the
challenge and I was positive that I could
do the work and make good grades. I felt
invincible. I knew that it would take hard
work, but I wasn’t afraid of hard work,
and I was ready for the challenge. I was
excited about so many things, and I had
already planned out exactly how my four
years of high school would go. I would
make good grades, play football and get
my degree. I had it all planned out, but I
was missing some vital information about
the path I would need to take in order
to get there. I didn’t just want to survive
high school, I wanted to excel, but in
order to do that I needed guidance.
It was in the second week of school
when I got a note to come meet with my
guidance counselor. I walked into her office as she introduced herself. She began
to talk to me about what I planned to
do after high school and what courses
I planned to enroll in. It was easy to tell
what I was going to do after I graduated,
but I couldn’t begin to tell her how I was
going to get from the second week of
high school as a freshman to my senior year. I didn’t have a clue about the
required credits and the courses that
would best fit me. She took into account
everything that I had shared with her
about my long-term goal and used her
knowledge and expertise and turned
them into short-term goals. I remember
leaving her office feeling so motivated
and so on course and so excited and
confident about where I was going in
11
The FSCA 2010 Essay Contest
asked, “How has your school
counselor impacted you?”
life. She made me feel like not only was it
her job to make sure I succeeded in high
school, she made me feel like she wanted
me to succeed and that she would be
there to make sure I did just that. It has
been four years and graduation is just
around the corner. She has been there
with me every step of the way; not just
for me, but for my parents as well. When
I entered high school she became my
counselor, but after the second week of
school she became family. I have not only
survived high school, but I have excelled
in it. I did it with a lot of hard work, self
discipline and motivation, but I couldn’t
have done any of it had it not been for
my school counselor. She kept me on
track and focused on my goals.
At my school your counselor starts out
with you as a freshman and remains your
counselor until you graduate. My counselor has encouraged me when I have needed encouragement. She has pushed me
when I needed pushing, and there have
been a lot of things that she has told
me that have lined up with exactly what
I wanted to hear, but she has also been
honest enough with me to tell me the
truth about things that I didn’t want to
hear. Because of that I learned early that
I could trust her and that I could trust
her guidance, so I yielded and listened
to every bit of advice and guidance she
offered, and because I knew she had my
best interest at heart, I always did exactly
what she advised me to do whether I
wanted to or not. I never questioned her.
I didn’t have to. Out of hundreds on her
caseload, she made me feel like I was the
only student she was assigned to, and I
know that she has made each one of us
feel that way. I will forever be grateful for
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the impact she has made in my life, even
if I don’t win this scholarship.”
The essay below is by Kristina DeCarlo
from Seminole Ridge High School in
Palm Beach County.
“H
igh school is a confusing
labyrinth of classes and scores,
applications and deadlines. It
is filled with sharp turns and hurdles at
every intersection. Most freshmen take
a look at the maze of high school and
don’t see any way they can make it out.
I remember my first days of high school
and the realm of mixed emotions I was
overcome with. I was excited to begin a
new era in my life that allowed for more
freedom and better opportunities. At the
same time, I was worried that if I didn’t
plan the next four years of my life properly, I’d end up unaccomplished and lost
in the real world, which I realized early on,
was approaching at an alarming speed. I
too, didn’t see a clear path that lead to
the other end of the labyrinth.
Luckily I found a map. I came across
a precious resource that would guide
me through all of the obstacles I would
be faced with and let me know when I
should turn around, change direction or
take a deep breath and plunge forward.
This map had insight to offer me and
advice as to which path would lead me
where. Not only did I follow my map, but
my map followed me. For four years now,
my guidance counselor has kept me on
the straight and narrow. She has guided
me with wisdom and experience that
has proven to be dually beneficial and
priceless.
As every high school senior knows,
finances are quintessential, yet hard to
come by, or so I thought. My guidance
counselor has provided me with every
resource necessary to ensure that I have
adequate funding for the continuance of
my education. I bombard her with questions, and she always has the answers. I
drown her with requests and she always
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
13
works diligently to comply. She has led
me into many great opportunities that I
would have passed without her guidance.
Slacking-off is another term that those
who are soon to graduate are familiar
with. When I have been tempted to take
it easy or travel the road of the masses. I
always have my guidance counselor right
behind me to encourage me to do my
very best and not to settle with mediocrity. She guided me through the process
of choosing my classes and showed me
the best way to improve myself.
Aside from my financial and academic
well-being, my emotional well-being is
very important to my guidance coun-
selor. She has been there for me during
my celebrations and my trials. She has
helped me make a sense of things that I
couldn’t see clearly through tear-laden
eyes. When I had to take some time off
of school to undergo brain surgery to
remove a tumor, my guidance counselor
was already setting up meeting to ensure
that I didn’t fall behind and my education
wasn’t hindred in any way.
Now I’m looking straight ahead and I
can see the finish line that signifies that I
made it through the labyrinth. In retrospect, my guidance counselor showed
me that making it through the maze really is not a difficult feat. I could have taken
several paths and still made to the other
side. I was also taught that it doesn’t
matter much if I made it to the other
side if I wasn’t able to enjoy the journey
through. My guidance counselor, while
informing me of the ways to achieve the
most academic and financial success,
allowed me to pursue my own goals of
self-satisfaction and diverse experiences.
My high school career has been amazing. I can look back and smile on all the
experiences I had, all of the memories I
made and all of the accomplishments I
put under my belt. And I know I couldn’t
have done it by myself. Without my map,
I would have been lost.”
Center for Children and Families
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
By Clifford Mack
By Nan Worsowicz
15
16
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Sixth Biennial “Niagara in Miami” Conference on Evidence-Based
Treatments for Childhood and Adolescent Mental Health Problems
February 16-18, 2011
Hilton Miami Downtown
Miami Florida
FSCA Award Winners
This interdisciplinary conference focuses on state-of-the-art,
evidence-based interventions for mental health problems in children
and adolescents. It offers an ideal learning experience for school
counselors by providing didactic lectures and intensive, hands-on
training in evidence-based psychosocial, educational and combined
interventions, including child-based treatments, classroom and
school interventions, parent training and prevention programs for a
range of internalizing and externalizing disorders.
Click here to learn more and register today!
Co-sponsored by the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
and The Children’s Trust
florida school counselor departments
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READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL
Academic readiness for high school plays a vital role in secondary education success.
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T
he transition from middle school
to high school may be the most
important of a student’s academic
career. Readiness for the changes experienced in high school is both exciting and
scary.
Similar to the importance of communication between high school and postsecondary professional school counselors,
experience shows that positive communication between middle and high
school counseling professionals benefits
students beyond expectation. When
students move out of the building, one
could assume they are then someone
else’s responsibility. However, helping
make students’ transition as seamless as
possible lessens anxiety and promotes a
healthy attitude for success in this new
phase of their education.
THE FORGOTTEN MIDDLE
Osceola District Schools in Florida has
made the middle to high school transition the top of its priority list. With ACT’s
EXPLORE program for eighth graders
(www.actstudent.org/explore), the school
district uses data to inform high school
administrators of students’ academic
performance in English, math, reading,
science and college-and-career readiness. This information supplements the
only student data previously available –
coursework and state-assessment results.
EXPLORE data assists with enhancedacademic placement for incoming ninth
graders and helps educators intervene
in specific subject areas prior to state
assessment administration in the spring.
Ninth-grade success is a critical component for lowering the dropout rate and
fostering a student’s high school academic success.
Recent heightened awareness draws
attention to the importance of early
childhood education and high school as
intervention points in the education of
America’s children. According to an ACT
press release, we don’t typically pay as
much attention to the importance of the
upper elementary grades and middle
school and the role they must play in the
13
preparation of students for life after high
school. ACT’s policy report, “The Forgotten Middle,” suggests that in the current educational environment there is a
critical defining point for students in the
college-and-career readiness process—
one so important that, if students are not
on target for college-and-career readiness by the time they reach this point,
the impact may be irreversible.
EIGHTH-GRADE IMPACT
Moreover, this research shows that, under
current conditions, the level of academic
achievement that students attain by
eighth grade has a larger impact on their
college-and-career readiness by the time
they graduate from high school than
WINTER 2010
anything that happens academically in
high school. The report also reveals that,
on average, eighth-grade students who
are not on target for college-and-career
readiness are much less likely to be ready
for college and career by high school
graduation than eighth-grade students
who are on target. (Download the summary report at www.act.org/research/
policymakers/pdf/ForgottenMiddle
Summary.pdf.) This means that eighthgrade achievement is the best predictor
of a student’s ultimate level of collegeand-career readiness by high school
graduation, even more than family background, high school coursework or high
school grade-point average. Compared
to eighth-grade academic achievement,
THE RIGHT FIT
Provide a wide array of traditional and
nontraditional postsecondary options.
By Clifford Mack
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
“The level of academic
achievement students attain
by eighth grade has a larger
impact on their collegeand-career readiness than
anything that happens
academically in high school.”
the predictive power of each of the other
factors was small and in some cases
negligible.
“The Forgotten Middle” offers four
recommendations to improve academic
achievement and college-and-career
readiness among high school graduates:
n Focus K–8 standards on the knowledge and skills that are essential for
college-and-career readiness, and
make these nonnegotiable for all
students.
n Monitor student readiness, and
intervene with students who are not
on track beginning in upper elementary school and continuing through
middle school.
n Improve students’ academically
related behaviors.
n Increase federal and state support
for schools to implement intervention programs that help all students
become ready for college and career.
Fostering a transition-friendly educational environment benefits everyone. If
you are a middle or high school counselor, familiarize yourself with all the
data available to facilitate a successful
transition. School counseling professionals have a duty to make the student
experience a fully informed and seamless
process.
Ginger Green, FSCA Region 1 vice president,
can be reached at [email protected].
A
ccording to the American School
Counselor Association’s (ASCA)
Ethical Standards for School
Counselors, school counselors are ethically bound to
“Provide and advocate for individual
students’ career awareness, exploration and post-secondary plans supporting the students’ right to choose
from the wide array of options when
they leave secondary education.”
As we advise students about their
wide array of options, it is essential to be
aware of the opportunities available to
students. As a professional school counselor in a private-college preparatory
school, I counsel students about familiar,
traditional routes.
n Community colleges (e.g., Broward
College or Miami Dade)
n Four-year private colleges and universities (e.g., University of Miami or
Nova Southeastern University)
n Four-year state colleges (e.g., University of Florida or Florida Atlantic
University)
n Trade schools (e.g., Sheridan Technical or McFatter Technical)
n The military (Navy, Army, Marines,
Air Force, Coast Guard, National
Guard)
n Staying in state or going out of state
As I counsel students about their options, I also understand that the traditional postsecondary routes are not the only
avenues available. Less familiar routes
may also be an option.
n A gap year: dedicated to travel
or service for benefit of personal
growth and development
n AmeriCorps : year dedicated to domestic community service
n Peace Corps: a year dedicated to
foreign community service
n City year: a year dedicated to teaching in a urban setting
n Impact 360: a year dedicated to
leadership development to obtain
college credit
These are just a few nontraditional
options available to students. I also
challenge students to investigate and
consider more alternative options while
searching for an appropriate fit for their
postsecondary experience.
In order to provide a wide array of
options for students, professional school
counselors should develop a bank of
contacts and resources.
Here are a few ideas to grow your
resource bank.
n Network with professional school
counselors and nearby postsecondary schools. Base your network on
the students’ needs and not personal
preferences or biases about particular programs.
n Stay current on requirements and
long-range benefits of particular
programs. Be able to dialogue with
students about goals and objectives
with the end in mind.
n Tour facilities on an annual or biannual basis to stay current on what
they offer.
n Connect with local community
service organizations (e.g., United
Way, HandsOn Network, gap-year
programs), and pass that information on to students.
n Connect with your local chamber of
commerce so the business community can become a part of your
school community.
n Stay connected with your school’s
alumni so you can understand the
alumni’s journey (high and lows), and
current students can benefit from
the alumni’s story. Your alumni can
provide vital collaborative counsel
for students.
As you help students move forward
in their educational journey, develop a
wide array of resources. This ensures that
you meet and exceed the ASCA Ethical
Standards so students can make the best
decisions for their future.
Clifford Mack, FSCA Region 5 vice president,
can be reached at [email protected].
13
By Ginger Green
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Ethical dilemmas can get in the way when students need our help.
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T
wenty years ago, I was assigned a
group project in a graduate class
dealing with school counseling
issues. My group’s assignment was gay
and lesbian issues. I diligently called a
number of high school counselors and
asked them what they would do if a
student came to them and said, “I think I
am gay.” The most popular response was
that the school counselor should immediately refer the student for mental health
counseling.
Fast-forward 20 years, and I find the
Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth
Network (JASMYN), our local advocacy
organization for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and questioning) youth putting out a call for gowns
and tuxedos for their alternative prom.
As a supervisor of school counseling,
I forwarded the request to all of our
school counselors and never gave it a
second thought. The pushback was immediate. Did I know what JASMYN was?
How could I support this? Still today, my
district struggles with adding a question
about sexual orientation to an anonymous health survey for to middle and
high school students. How can it be ok to
ask how many sexual partners they have
had, or if they had sex before the age of
13 but not ask about their sexual orientation?
As professional school counselors,
we have an ethical responsibility to look
after all students. If we cannot help
them, we are obligated to help them access resources and people who can. If a
student comes to you and says, “I think
I am gay,” how do you respond? Asking
why requires the student to justify his or
her feelings, but asking the student to
elaborate and tell you more begins the
truly helpful conversation.
As professionals, we must dig inside
ourselves and examine our own thoughts
about issues that many of our students
are dealing with – not just LGBTQ issues
but many other issues like race and
sexual abuse for instance. If we are not
comfortable dealing with certain topics
then we must search out resources and
training to assist our students. We need
15
If a student comes to you
and says, “I think I am gay,”
how do you respond? Asking
why requires the student
are part of the problem.” Below are some
resources to help you become part of the
solution.
n
n
to justify his or her feelings,
n
but asking the student to
elaborate and tell you more
n
begins the truly helpful
n
conversation.
to attend professional development
workshops, search the Internet, attend
local support groups, start or join a Gay
Student Alliance (GSA) and network
with other school counselors. We have
an ethical obligation to the students we
serve.
Growing up, a poster in my room said,
“If you are not part of the solution, you
WINTER 2010
n
n
Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority
Youth Network
www.jasmyn.org
University of North Florida LGBT
Resource Center
www.unflgbt.com
American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian
Gay Bisexual Transgender Project: Get
Busy. Get Equal.
www.aclu.org/getequal The Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Education Network
www.glsen.org
Straight For Equality
www.straightforequality.org
Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays of Jacksonville
www.pflagjax.org
Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays
www.pflag.org
Nan Worsowicz, FSCA Region 2
vice president, can be reached at
[email protected].
Confidentiality: School Counselor
Case Notes vs. Educational Records
By Terry Rainwater, Ph.D., Alice Amaya, Louise Berman, James Devlin, Ph.D.,
Megyn Shea, Jennifer Waller and Amy Wiskerchen
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
T
According to Fischer and Sorenson’s
“School Law for Counselors, Psychologists and Social Workers,” the definition of student record does not include
school counselors’ personal files if they
are entirely private and not made available to others. To be considered private,
the files may not be passed to someone
who permanently takes over the duties
of the school counselor who made the
records.
he legal and ethical responsibilities
for school counselors regarding
personal case notes is one of the
most-debated ethical dilemmas in the
profession. Personal case notes, or solepossession records, is a complex issue.
inherent
contradictions
Because most school counselors are not
licensed mental-health professionals,
but are certified school personnel, they
cannot ensure confidentiality. Questions
on this topic arise from two areas. How
should professional school counselors
record sessions in accordance with law
and best practices? Is there really such a
thing as sole-possession records?
According to a 2005 article published
in Professional School Counseling, Lynn
Merlone points out that school counseling courses and workshops usually
caution that detailed notes can lead to
the betrayal of any confidentiality the
student may have presumed at the time
the school counseling started. Other
mental-health professionals caution
that any records kept in school are the
property of the school and are, therefore,
subject to subpoena.
According to Merlone, “This inherent
contradiction—the need for confidentiality to properly serve students without
the legal protection of confidentiality—
has led to some creative solutions for
the documentation of one’s work with a
student.”
School counselors use diverse practices to document their work. One Merlone
survey of elementary and middle school
counselors shows that 11 out of 15 school
counselors use more than one method in
their practice. Some professional school
counselors maintain a notebook and
keep it on their person at all times. Others document their work in a daily log
or planner, file cards or computer files.
Some files contain notes, forms (parental
permission or release of information),
communication with parents, students’
artifacts and yearly summaries. Some
school counselors maintain a studentinformation sheet that includes school
florida school counselor How should professional
school counselors record
sessions in accordance with
law and best practices?
counseling goals and notes, while others
maintain monthly reports regarding
student sessions, parental contacts and
teacher consultations.
The following information reflects on
these issues and offers guidance for professional school counselors facing these
dilemmas.
Educational Records
Based on the Family Education Rights
and Privacy Act’s (FERPA) definition the
term “education records” includes all
records, files, documents and other materials containing information directly related to a student and maintained by the
education agency or institution or by a
person acting for such agency or institution. This includes all records, regardless
of medium, such as handwriting, videotape, audiotape, electronic or computer
files, film, print, microfilm and microfiche.
Personal notes made by school counselors, on the other hand, are not considered education records if they are:
n Kept in the sole possession of the
maker
n Not accessible or revealed to any
other person except a temporary
substitute
n Used only as a memory aid
Confidentiality and
Record Keeping
Professional literature is consistent about
the nature of confidentiality and privilege
as it applies to school counselors. Confidentiality is the promise to keep what
is said private, unless there is a duty to
warn. Privilege is a legal status protecting communication from being revealed
even in court. Most states do no grant
privilege to school counselors, and this
has major implications for record keeping. Because school counseling records
are subject to subpoena, school counselors should only enter necessary data
written in behavioral terms, avoiding any
defamatory statements. School counselors should do whatever they can to
protect a student’s confidentiality before
releasing information.
Some courts argue that testimony contained in the record is hearsay, and there
is no proof supporting the testimony;
therefore, it has no legal validity. Other
interpretations suggest that because
federal law states that educational records do not include a school counselor’s
private notes, school counselors may
share their notes at their professional
judgment. Once the notes are shared,
however, they are no longer considered
private and are required to be released
to parents if such a request is made.
This change of status from memory aid
to educational record occurs even if the
notes are shared with a colleague in the
same building.
ASCA Guidelines
ASCA’s Ethical Standards for School
Counselors (http://asca2.timberlake
WINTER 201016
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publishing.com//files/EthicalStandards
2010.pdf) address student records. The
following reiterates that professional
school counselors have a responsibility
to protect private information received
through confidential relationships
with students and private information
received about students from parents
or guardians, professionals outside of
schools and other school staff members.
School counselors keep records of their
counseling relationships separate from
academic records and do not disclose the
contents of their counseling records except when privacy exceptions exist. When
professional school counselors receive
court orders they believe might lead to
the disclosure of private information
they gained in counseling relationships
with students, they should request legal
advice from their supervisors and should
follow the legal advice provided to them.
(ASCA, 2008)
A.8. Student Records
The professional school counselor:
a. Maintains and secures records
necessary for rendering professional services to the student as required by laws,
regulations, institutional procedures and
confidentiality guidelines.
b. Keeps sole-possession records separate from students’ educational records in
keeping with state laws.
c. Recognizes the limits of sole-possession records and understands these
records are a memory aid for the creator
and in absence of privilege communication may be subpoenaed and may
become educational records when they
1) are shared with others in verbal or
written form, 2) include information other
than professional opinion or personal observations and/or 3) are made accessible
to others.
d. Establishes a reasonable timeline
for purging sole-possession records or
case notes. Suggested guidelines include
shredding sole possession records when
the student transitions to the next level,
transfers to another school or graduates. Careful discretion and deliberation
should be applied before destroying solepossession records that may be needed
by a court of law such as notes on child
17
School counselors’ case notes
are not educational records
and “must not be accessible
or shared in either verbal
or written form.”
abuse, suicide, sexual harassment or
violence.
The ASCA Ethical Standards for School
Counselors do not, however, address the
ongoing question about how the location
of notes affects whether they are private
or part of the school’s record.
FERPA
The Family Education Rights and Privacy
Act is the most comprehensive federal
statute governing the privacy of student
records. FERPA protects the confidentiality of student records, guarantees
access to those records by parents and
adult students and provides a means for
parents and adults to challenge the accuracy of information included in student
records. This act clearly states that not
all information collected and maintained
by school employees about students
is subject to the access and disclosure
requirement under FERPA. FERPA says
that school counselors’ case notes are
sole-possession records and not education records (which parents are entitled
to see) if the records meet the following
specific criteria:
n They serve as a memory aid
n They are not accessible or shared in
either verbal or written form
n They are private notes created solely
the by individual possessing them
n They include only observations and
professional opinions
If school counselors’ case notes
do not meet the criteria above, then
the notes are considered educational
records. As such, school counselors are
legally required to recognize the spirit
and intent of FERPA and provide these
case notes/educational records if a par-
WINTER 2010
ent requests to see them. For example
when a school counselor writes detailed
case notes regarding a suicidal student,
the school counselor should understand
that his or her notes can be subpoenaed
and parents can access the notes if anything is recorded other than observations and professional opinions. School
counselors write case notes when it is
important for a student’s welfare, however, even if the notes meet the criteria
of sole-possession records they can still
be subpoenaed.
A school counselor’s private notes that
record comments made by parents, students or other school employees during
a conversation do not qualify as solepossession records. They are educational
records subject to access and disclosure
requirements of FERPA even if these
notes remain in the sole possession of
the school counselor. Notes containing
information about the substance of the
interactions, particularly the content of
the conversation, do not qualify for the
sole-possession exemption.
This extremely narrow sole-possession
record exemption includes the mandate
that school counselors must maintain
exclusive, personal control over their
notes. The physical location of the notes
is significant. The FERPA ruling suggests
that school counselors who wish to protect their notes from disclosure should
store them in a way that precludes others
from having physical access to them. This
includes other school counselors. Notes
filed in a central school counseling file
would not be considered sole-possession
records.
Both ASCA and FERPA stress that
school counselors’ case notes are not
educational records and “must not be
accessible or shared in either verbal or
written form.” ASCA clearly states that
the professional school counselor “keeps
sole-possession records separate from
students’ educational records in keeping with state laws.” According to these
criteria, school counselor case notes
should not be entered into a system that
includes educational records.
Professional school counselors face numerous ethical dilemmas when working
with minors in a school setting. Although
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
some professional literature clarifies the
nature of confidentiality and privilege
as it applies to school counselors, the
unofficial status of professional school
counselors’ notes creates some diverse
record-keeping practices. Even ASCA’s
standards fail to address all specific
documentation or location issues. Current confusion causes school counselors
to document their work in many different
ways. Because shared information becomes part of the school record, the implications of sharing information among
school personnel needs to be carefully
examined and conveyed. Practicing
school counselors benefit significantly
from guidelines and workshop literature
focused on this topic.
School counselors should continue to
align their practice with their interpretation of how to offer services and maintain
Because shared information
becomes part of the school
record, the implications of
sharing information among
counseling associations advocate for
legal guidelines. Regardless of the setting,
school counselors should always practice
due diligence, understand ASCA’s Ethical
Standards for School Counselors and be
knowledgeable of both FERPA and Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 (HIPPA) guidelines.
school personnel needs to
Contact the authors for a list of references to this article.
be carefully examined
Terry Rainwater, Ph.D., is the Washington
and conveyed.
[email protected]. Other contributors to
By Clifford Mack
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florida school counselor 14
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Waller and Amy Wiskerchen.
© 2010 National University Virtual High School 8868
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approved by the NCAA and UC “a-g”
By Ginger Green
By Nan Worsowicz
James Devlin, Ph.D., Megyn Shea, Jennifer
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By Madelyn Isaacs
School Counselor Association Ethics
this article are Alice Amaya, Louise Berman,
confidentiality. Perhaps the most promising practice is encouraging school-district
administrators to develop concrete
guidelines while state and local school
7
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INHALANT-ABUSE PREVENTION
The popularity of inhalant abuse often goes unnoticed by adults due
to lack of knowledge and students easy access to inhalants.
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T
he Alliance for Consumer Education (ACE) is a national nonprofit
organization dedicated to advancing community health and well-being.
For the better part of the last decade,
ACE and school counselors have worked
together on initiatives that benefit
students, and Kwok-Sze Richard Wong,
Ed.D., ASCA executive director, currently
sits on ACE’s board of trustees.
ACE’s flagship program for inhalant
abuse prevention provides high-quality,
practical information as ACE believes
education and awareness are the key
tools for combating inhalant abuse. Other
program areas include disease prevention, poison prevention and product
management.
In early 2004, ACE piloted its inhalantabuse prevention program in six key
states. In 2005, then-U.S. Sen. Arlen
Specter’s office awarded ACE a federal appropriations grant to distribute
Inhalant-Abuse Prevention Kits to schools
across the state.
Inhalant abuse refers to the deliberate inhalation or “sniffing” of fumes,
vapors or gases from common household products for getting high. Inhalant
abuse is a form of substance abuse that
parents and school faculty often overlook. According to The Partnership for
a Drug-Free America, one in five kids in
the United States will abuse inhalants by
the eighth grade, the age when preteen
experimentation with inhalants peaks.
Another study shows that 268,000
minors ages 12 to 17 have used inhalants
in the last month; 1.5 million people between 12 and 25 used inhalants in 2008.
Furthermore, the National Survey on
Drug Use and Health found that 12 year
olds are more likely to use inhalants than
cocaine, marijuana or hallucinogens; they
are the most common drug choice other
than alcohol.
Inhalant abuse is a game of Russian
roulette since abusers can die the first or
100th time they intentionally inhale. After
inhaling a product, an individual can die
from a condition known as Sudden Sniffing Death Syndrome in which the inhal-
19
HOW CAN YOUR STATE
GET INVOLVED?
School counselors are an essential part
of ACE’s educational programs. In 2010,
the Pennsylvania School Counselor Association (PSCA) played an integral role
in another community initiative. ACE’s
Summer Strike-Out Inhalant-Abuse
Program, now in its second year, uses
the broad appeal of America’s favorite
pastime and the popularity of minor
league baseball teams in local communities to educate families. Judith
Bookhamer, Ph.D., executive director
of PSCA, worked on behalf of PSCA to
coordinate outreach with ACE and the
Reading Phillies, a double-A baseball
affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.
ant causes the heart to beat rapidly and
erratically, potentially resulting in cardiac
arrhythmia and cardiac arrest within a
few minutes. There are reports of inhalant abuse resulting in fatal injury such as
falling, drowning or a motor vehicle crash.
Inhalant abuse can also result in choking,
asphyxiation, suffocation, explosion or
combustion. Abusing inhalants can also
WINTER 2010
cause brain, liver or kidney damage or lead
abusers to use illegal drugs or alcohol.
While young people may have a hard
time getting illegal drugs or alcohol,
inhalants are easier to attain as many
are found in kitchens, garages, offices,
schools, convenience stores and elsewhere in the community. The InhalantAbuse Prevention Kit lists over 1,400
common household and commercial
products that can be abused to get high
including, but not limited to: Correction
fluid, rubber cement, computer-keyboard
cleaners, gasoline, propane, nitrous
oxide, butane, glue, marking pens, spray
paint, hairspray, air fresheners, whipped
cream and cooking sprays. For a list of
more products that may be abused, visit
www.inhalant.org.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Administration News reports that 29.6
percent of children ages 12 to 17 reported
using glue, shoe polish and toluene, a solvent, most frequently. Gasoline or lighter
fluid and spray paints came in second
and third at 25.7 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively. Millions of people use
these products safely every day, but they
can be deadly when individuals misuse
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
them. Inhalants are often off the radar for
most adults, school officials, law enforcement and even some health professionals
because they are not talked about, are
easy to, overlook and people are unaware
of the signs and symptoms of use.
While several warning signs of inhalant abuse may mimic those of occasional
problems most teens or preteens experience at some point, specific signs may signal real inhalant abuse in a child. Because
some physical and behavioral symptoms
may not last a long time, it is important
to watch for situational signs as well.
Common physical and behavioral warning
signs include, but are not limited to:
n Drunk, dazed or dizzy appearance
n Glassy, glazed or watery eyes
n Red or runny eyes and nose
n Spots and/or sores around the
mouth
n Slurred or disoriented speech
n Lack of physical coordination
n Unusual breath odor or chemical
odor on clothing
n Nausea and/or loss of appetite
n Behavior mood changes
n Uncharacteristic problems in school
n Hallucinations
n Anxiety, excitability or restlessness
n Irritability or anger
Common physical and behavioral
warning signs include, but are not
limited to:
n Signs of paint or other products
where they wouldn’t normally be,
such as on the face, lips, nose or
fingers
n Fingernails painted with magic
markers or correction fluid
n Pens or markers held close to the
nose
n Constant smelling of clothing sleeves
n Numerous butane lighters, empty
or partially filled, in a child’s room,
backpack or locker
n Missing household products
n Gasoline, paint-soaked rags or used
spray-paint cans in a child’s room or
other unusual location
n Hidden rags, clothes or empty
containers of potentially abused
florida school counselor According to a Partnership
for a Drug Free America
study, 20 percent of teens
report using an inhalant
while only 5 percent of
parents think their child
has used an inhalant.
products in closets, under the bed or
in the garage
In order to strengthen the impact and
reach of its program, ACE works directly
with people who are personally affected
by this issue in various communities.
ACE uses www.inhalant.org as well as
social and traditional media to reach its
target audience. ACE is also developing a People Against Inhalants Network
(PAIN) site. The site will put a human
face on inhalant abuse and show how
this issue cuts across all demographics.
When educating others on this issue, a
common response school counselors
may hear is, “Not my child. No one in
my community would do such a thing.”
However, a Partnership for a Drug Free
America study found that teens are four
times more likely to use inhalants than
parents think; 20 percent of teens report
using an inhalant while only 5 percent
of parents think their child has used an
inhalant.
ACE uses social media to share its
inhalant-abuse prevention message with
a variety of audiences on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube to offer information on inhalant abuse and provide an
additional resource for people to access
with their questions and personal stories.
To further increase awareness of the
issue, last year ACE developed a publicservice announcement (PSA) geared
towards teens, involving a former addict
telling her story to highlight the dan-
gerous effects and real consequences
of abuse. The PSA featured Allison,
whose episode of the A&E television
series “Intervention” remains one of
the most watched and controversial in
the program’s history. This is ACE’s first
direct approach to teen education, but
it is certainly needed as only 66 percent
of surveyed teens reported that they
understood inhalants can kill, a slight
decrease from last year, according to the
“Partnership Attitude Tracking Study”
conducted by the Partnership for a Drug
Free America in 2009. The same study
conducted two years earlier in 2007
found that it is imperative that school
counselors and parents start conversations about inhalant abuse, as research
shows kids who learn about the risks
of substance abuse from their parents
or caregivers are about 50 percent less
likely to use inhalants.
Visit www.inhalant.org to learn more
about the issue and to download our
Inhalant-Abuse Prevention Kit for free.
School counselors can use the kit to
design presentations for adult audiences.
It contains a Facilitator Guide, which
includes background on the issues, signs,
symptoms, treatment resources and
stats, a PowerPoint presentation that a
facilitator can use to lead the session,
answers to frequently asked questions,
and a brochure with more information.
If you are interested in reported cases
in your state or want to view stories on
a specific product, search this blog on
inhalant abuse at inhalant-info.blogspot.
com. A message board on ACE’s Web
site at messageboard.inhalant.org gives
visitors a chance to ask questions, share
stories of past abuse and see first-hand
the effects inhalant abuse can have on
one’s life.
Contact the author for a list of
references to this article.
Queshia S. Bradley, manager of Education
Programs at Alliance for Consumer
Education, can be reached
at [email protected].
WINTER 201020
13
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
By Clifford Mack
By Nan Worsowicz
15
16
19
departments
FSCA Award Winners
News You Can Use
5
9
21
VIEWING
INSTRUCTIONS
NEWS YOU CAN USE
2011 Severe Weather
Awareness Week
Poster and Video
Contests
AD INDEX
6
3
Catawba
College
22
8
12
Miami Conference:
Evidence-based
Treatments for
2
The Florida Division of Emergency Management and the American Red Cross
are again teaming up to sponsor the
Florida Severe Weather Awareness Week
campaign that includes a poster and video public service announcement contest.
Students are encouraged to submit an
entry about how to be prepared for the
natural hazards that affect the Sunshine
State. Entries for both contests must
be received by Jan. 10, 2011. Complete
contest rules and information for both
contests can be found at www.Florida
Disaster.org/SWAW/2011.
Poster Contest
Florida fourth- and fifth-grade public,
private and homeschooled students
are invited to submit an entry for the
poster contest. The winner’s artwork will
be displayed in the State Emergency
Operations Center the first full week of
February 2011. Prizes include tickets for
the winner and his or her family to Walt
Disney World, weather radios and other
goodies. Entries must be postmarked
by Jan. 7, 2011, and must arrive at the
American Red Cross office in Tallahassee
by Jan. 10, 2011.
World, weather radios and other exciting
prizes. Final digital videos must be mastered as a DVD, postmarked by
Jan.7, 2011, and received by the Florida
Division of Emergency Management by
Jan. 10, 2010.
Bealls Department
Store “Bealls
and Whistles for
Schools” Grant
Public, charter and licensed private
and nonprofit K-12 schools in Florida
are invited to submit an application for
the “Bealls and Whistles for Schools”
program. Schools that demonstrate the
greatest need will be awarded $10,000 to
purchase improvements to the school’s
educational environment. Completed
applications must be signed by a school
administrator and hand delivered to
a store manager at any Florida Bealls
Department store by Dec. 31, 2010. For
more information, including the application packet, visit www.beallsflorida.com/
graphics/schoolgrant_application.pdf.
Video Public Service
Announcement
Contest
SAVE THE DATE
JUNE 25–28, 2011
FOR A WHOLE LATTE
ONLINE REGISTRATION
Florida middle and high school students
in grades 6-8 and 9-12 in public, private
and home schools are invited to produce a 30-second public service announcement that incorporates a safety
or preparedness message about one of
the following topics: hurricane preparedness, flood safety or building a disaster
supply kit. One individual or group (limit
four individuals per group) winner will be
chosen for both middle and high school
videos with the winning video to be
professionally reproduced for broadcast
by the Division of Emergency Management in its statewide public-awareness
campaign. Prizes include professional
production of the video in the winner’s
hometown with the winner serving as
project director, tickets for the winner
and his or her family to Walt Disney
21
“Find a Book,
Florida” Helps
Students
Locate Books
Students now have an additional reading
resource to help them find exciting new
books tailored to their own interests
or school assignments. The free online
search tool, dubbed “Find a Book, Florida,” allows users to build custom reading
lists based on each student’s individual
interests from a growing database of
fiction and nonfiction titles. The database
also allows students to locate books that
best complement their reading ability.
WINTER 2010
Using Lexile® measures, the standard for
matching readers with books, “Find a
Book, Florida” aims to make it easier for
students and families to select the right
books and then locate these selections
at their local public library. Since the
program’s inception in Florida this summer, “Find a Book” has scored more than
40,000 unique visits to the site, each
averaging nearly 10 minutes in a book
search. This joint project between the
Florida Departments of Education and
State, and Lexile-developer MetaMetrics®
aims to encourage students to consistently read throughout the year. To use
this resource today, visit www.fldoe.org
or http://florida.lexile.com.
Navigating Your
Financial Future
Training Offered
The Florida Department of Education’s
(DOE) Office of Student Financial Assistance is proud to offer free training
and support for individuals who advise
students and their families on how to
fund education beyond high school.
Professional trainers present comprehensive up-to-date information about federal
and state student financial aid programs,
scholarship searches and financial aid
fraud. Participants also learn how to
access free resources to help them help
their students. For more information
about this training opportunity contact a
member of DOE’s Navigating Your Financial Future team at (800) 366-3475 or
www.navigatingyourfinancialfuture.org/
ContactUs/School_Rep.aspx.
NEXT Magazine
Helps Students
Plan For Life
After High School
Florida Trend’s NEXT magazine is arriving at high schools across Florida at no
charge to the schools or to students.
The magazine is a valuable resource full
of information that can help students
make smart choices during their high
school years about their plans after
graduation. This year’s issue includes
the Florida College and Career Planner™,
a comprehensive guide about postsecondary options and preparing for college admissions; the Get Smart Guide™
that includes a list of Florida public and
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
FEATURES
private colleges and universities, state
and community colleges, and technical,
trade and career schools with contact
information and admission criteria; a
higher education how-to that includes
information on college testing, admissions essays and articles from real college students sharing their own experiences; tips on money matters important
to teens – from buying a car to learning
how to spend less and save more; pointers on writing resumes, finding internships and preparing for the world of
work; and articles on making the most
of the high school years, both in school
and through extracurricular activities.
Check out Florida Trend’s NEXT Web
site at www.FloridaNEXT.com.
Palm Beach County. Through videos,
quizzes, articles and discussion boards,
this professional development opportunity provides educators with increased
knowledge, skills and classroom delivery
strategies on tobacco prevention and
intervention education. Participants can
access integrated approaches in delivering tobacco-prevention instruction that
encompasses science, social studies,
language arts, math, health and physical education. There is no charge for the
online course and districts may award up
to 60 in-service points toward teacher
recertification. For more information, visit
www.tobaccopreventiontraining.org.
Find more information from the Florida
Department of Education at www.fldoe.
org/newsletter.
Statewide Online
Tobacco Prevention
and Intervention
Teacher Training
Project
A statewide online tobacco-prevention
education course designed for K-12
teachers and school counselors is now
available from the School District of
7
By Madelyn Isaacs
13
By Ginger Green
14
The Right Fit
By Clifford Mack
By Nan Worsowicz
15
16
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FSCA Award Winners
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