Presidential Perspective
September 2024 Dear Friends and Colleagues, ISPA is excited to continue our efforts towards Collaborating for Advocacy! All of us have a “why” that has brought us to school psychology, education, our districts, regions in Illinois, and ISPA. Our advocacy efforts are on multiple fronts motivated by our deepest, and most personal WHY. Every one of us works hard, passionately, and with great fervor for our students, families, educators, and each other. But ISPA works to serve all of you in the field of school psychology, including those of you who practice, teach, train, and those of you in training! You are all a part of the backbone of our society, and I truly do not know what we would do without you. Thank you for your commitment to kids in the field and the incredible skill set you continuously improve upon, despite being undervalued in every way in our society. Your daily impassioned work towards continuing to connect all of us as practitioners in serving our children, families, communities, and colleagues in education is admirable. ISPA dedicates its mission and vision to the work all of you do in your capacities in education, school psychology practice, and to each other. We have a full year of events for the 2024-2025 school year that we hope you may want to participate in this year. As we prepare for the school year, conferences, the annual convention, our many governing board meetings, and connections for advocacy efforts across the state, I want to take time to honor all of our ISPA leaders. Your daily impassioned work towards continuing to connect all of us as practitioners in serving our children, families, communities, and colleagues in education is admirable. Our professional development and workshops are exciting parts of how ISPA serves all of its practitioners, providing both ISBE and NASP-approved professional development. While NASP cannot provide ISBE-approved professional development hours, ISPA continues to provide both ISBE and NASP-approved professional development. It is of the utmost importance in advocating for school psychologists to continue their education and certifications with Professional Educator Licenses (PEL) and/or the Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) credential. Remember that if you have your NCSP, you need only indicate you hold this license on the ISBE renewal page for renewal of your PEL. Please see below for a link to template letters to your principal and/or special education administrators to seek permission to attend conferences/conventions, encourage administrators and other school-based mental health providers to attend with you, and links to forums on how to contact our legislators. This link will provide mere templates that you may use. Template Letters for Principals-Special Administrators / Forums to Contact Legislators Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or want to share your perspective to enhance the work of our association. You can reach out to me at [email protected]. Dr. Jyoti Kolodziej Your ISPA President Save the Dates
In addition, we have four (4) Governing Board meetings that we hold each year, in which members are welcome to attend as guests! Governing Board Meetings - Saturday, October 19, 2024 - 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (in-person /Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville Birkett Freshman Center in the Forum Room. The address is not the same as the Main building, it is 3220 Cedar Glade Dr. Naperville, IL 60564) Wednesday, January 29, 2025 - 5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. (Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel, 201 Broadway, Normal, IL 61761) Saturday, April 26, 2025 - 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (in-person / Location is TBD) Saturday, June 7, 2025 - 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (in-person / Location is TBD) As we prepare for the school year, conferences, annual convention, our many governing board meetings, connections for advocacy efforts across the state, I want to take time to honor all of our ISPA leaders. Your daily impassioned work towards continuing to connect all of us as practitioners in serving our children, families, communities, and colleagues in education is admirable. Our professional development and workshops are exciting parts of how ISPA serves all of its practitioners, providing both ISBE and NASP approved professional development. While NASP cannot provide ISBE-approved professional development hours, ISPA continues to provide both ISBE and NASP approved professional development. It is of the utmost importance in advocating for school psychologists to continue their education and certifications with Professional Educator Licenses (PEL) and/or the Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) credential. Remember that if you have your NCSP, you need only indicate you hold this license on the ISBE renewal page for renewal of your PEL. Other benefits provided by ISPA includes (link: https://ilispa.memberclicks.net/membership):
workers, administrators, & educators; NASP-Approved CPD Provider / ISBE-Approved CPD Provider)
Illinois Special Education Coalition (ISELA) Illinois Administrators of Special Education (IAASE) National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Illinois School Psychology Internship Consortium (ISPIC) Illinois State Board of Education, (ISBE) Local Associations Contributions to:Illinois Children's Mental Health Partnership Illinois Directors of University School Psychology Programs (DUSPP) Illinois Fund for Careers in School Psychology IFCSP National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) |