Advocacy Mindset

Advocacy comes in all shapes and sizes.  It is so important that we don’t overlook the advocacy opportunities that we have right in our own schools.  As we begin a new school  year, be aware of the many places you can use your advocacy skills.

• Meet with your principal regularly to discuss your school counseling program.  Early in the school year, you can have a conversation regarding your annual agreement  (page 64-65 of the ASCA National Model) which includes your school counseling program goals.  Throughout the school year, your meetings can be used to discuss what you are doing to meet those goals and report on student progress.
• School-wide professional development is a great opportunity for advocacy.  Everyone in your building is in the same place for the meeting and you should take the opportunity to share what you can do through your comprehensive school counseling program.  Let your teachers and staff know what you can do to help their students (and them)!
• PTO/PTA groups are a great platform for advocating for your program.  It is so important to get parents and families involved in your school and help them understand the importance of your comprehensive school counseling program.
• Every building has a number of teams and committees.  As a part of these teams, you have a great opportunity to advocate for students and for your school counseling program.  In addition, if given the opportunity, you can also become a part of any district teams and advocate for your students, program and school.
• Other opportunities can randomly arise throughout the school year.  If you have school board members or community leaders visit your school, you can have a brief conversation about what you do as a counselor and the impact it has on students.

Advocacy is an ongoing process.  There are so many ways to advocate on so many different levels. Having an ADVOCACY MINDSET means you are always ready to have that advocating conversation, no mater the scale of the audience.  Be BOLD-ADVOCATE!

Sarah Majoros – School Counselor

Madison Elementary School-Des Moines Community Schools

Iowa Elementary Counselor of the Year 2014

ISCA Elementary VP 

In mid-May, I was privileged to be invited to participate with a group of educators from Iowa, Nevada and New Hampshire in Spokesperson Training for early caucus states.  It was held in Washington DC and sponsored by the NEA (National Education Association).  It was a very busy and exciting weekend with a lot of learning and fellowship.  We did get in a trip to see the monuments at night. I am so thankful to the ISEA (Iowa State Education Association) folks for providing this opportunity.  It was very worthwhile, and I am ready to pay it forward.


The two days were very well organized, and I learned so much. On Saturday, we had several sessions with folks sharing their expertise and tips on how to ask and answer questions from the media and to the politicians. The session that was most helpful was facilitated by Christine Clapp.  Christine's credibility is outstanding, and she truly walks her talk.  Check out her website at www.spokenwithauthority.com for helpful tips and resources.  I just ordered her book, Presenting at Work:  A Guide to Public Speaking in Professional Contexts. It looks like a great resource and excellent summer read!


On Sunday morning, we got to practice being interviewed by the media while being videotaped.  We then got critiqued by a member of the NEA staff.  All the leaders were professional and helpful, but I really liked our guy.  Richard Allen Smith is a freelance writer, commentator and veteran who also works with NEA.  His background and credibility helped us learn so much about how to step out of that box to say what you mean and have people listen. Richard is a great role model.  Check out his website at www.therichardallensmith.com or on Twitter @rockrichard.  Of course, no one likes to be taped and watched by everyone in the group.  It is a big step out of most people's comfort zone.  I had been through an experience similar to this years ago and found it terribly intimidating and frightening.  Also, I did an awful job.  I got defensive and talked too fast.  All the things they told us not to do.  This time it was different.  I felt confident. After hearing tips from Richard and my group members, I wanted to keep practicing.


I will keep practicing.  The stakes are just too high.  We must get our stories out there.  We need to advocate for ALL of our students.  It is a critical time in education and if we do not advocate, no one else will! I look forward to sharing more in the future with ISEA and ISCA members.  Thank you again to the ISEA folks who made this incredible experience happen. I look forward to using what I learned!


Advocacy Highlights:

• Stand tall
• Breathe from the belly
• TALK slow
• Less is more
• NO whining
• Use the bridge and pivot
• Stay on message
• Stay student-focused

Written by Susan Langan, ISCA Advocacy Chair

ISCA Advocacy Committee update

The ISCA Advocacy Committee recently met with The Capital Group lobbyists to review the year. It was the first year ISCA hired The Capital Group lobbyists.  Overall, it was a great success.  We were so much better informed about the legislative bills that pertain to school counselors.  More school counselors reached out to legislators, and when needed, we were able to mobilize contacts in a timely fashion to influence the committee composition of the Anti-Bullying Bill to include a school counselor.  We also made an impact on stopping a bill from going further by one of the legislators to review requirements for school counselors.  

We appreciated the assistance from our lobbyist when we visited the legislators during Visit the Hill Day and other times when members went to the capital.  It was great having them tell us who to visit with and what to say to make the most impact.  We made a very positive difference with many of the legislators.  We ALL must continue this important work.  Please check out the following highlights for ways to advocate for our great profession.  Remember, most of the legislators do not know what the school counselor’s role is in our schools and how important our work is with the students.  It is going to be a tough couple of years with the budget.  The legislators are making very important decisions so we need to make sure they know who to contact when bills that include us come up for votes!!    

·         Please continue to contact your legislators this summer.  If your town is having celebrations, parades or fairs, please BE BOLD and introduce yourself. It is a great way to start building a relationship.  Follow up with an email or short note.  It doesn’t matter if they are Democrats or Republicans.  We need a voice with all of them!!

·         We are working on the Advocacy website page on the ISCA website.  We hope to make it a helpful resource for our members.

·         Please check out the School Counselor Advocacy Effect Blog.  It has great stories from our members. 

·         ISCA Conference: Please mark November 1st through 3rd for the ISCA conference on your calendar.  It is our 50^th anniversary, and we will have a great time!

·         Visit the Hill Day: Please mark Wednesday, February 24, 2016 on your calendar! 

·         Please take a few minutes to fill out ISCA Advocacy Feedback form. 

Susan Langan
ISCA Advocacy/Government Relations Chair
Iowa School Counselor Association
W: http://www.iowaschoolcounselors.org/
E: isca@assocserv.com

My Advocacy Journey or How I Learned to “Be Bold”.

I was lucky.  In my school counseling career, I always felt valued by my building and district.  Being
respected, being allowed to implement a comprehensive program, being seen as an integral part of the school’s functioning was never questioned.  Beyond making sure the needs of our district were met, I
never thought about advocating for school counselors.

Joining the ISCA board, I became aware for the first time of the need for advocacy at the state level.
Prior to my board involvement, I had paid virtually no attention to the political side of education in the state of Iowa.  I lived in my own little safe school/district world.  I had not even been really understood that school counselors had been written out of and then back into the code during my Iowa school counseling years.

I had no idea that I was about to begin my advocacy journey, one step at a time.

Step one.  
Visit the Hill, February 2013.
I had never even been inside the Iowa state house.  A morning of instruction in advocacy – how to communicate with your legislators effectively, educational issues of concern, the emphasis on telling your story.  What were they talking about?  I found it all overwhelming, and the prospect of our afternoon trip to the state house to meet with our legislators generally terrifying.  U of I school counseling interns (who had attended previously) guided me through the procedure of signing in to see our legislators.  Then the nervous meetings, not knowing what to say and  unsure that they would be interested in anything I did say.  My only message, “Hi, I’m Sue Farran, one of
your constituents, and I want you to know that school counselors are important.”  Not much of a
message.  But I did survive.  No one laughed.  And now I at least understood the process and had met my legislators.

Step two.
Visit the Hill, February 2014. 
Amazing what a difference one year makes!  The morning workshop sessions now seemed to speak directly to me and ISCA’s work in supporting school counselors legislatively.  Things I would not have seen myself doing now seemed more comfortable – discussions with ISEA lobbyists, creating an advocacy plan that could include lobbyists for ISCA, feeling passionate about our need to speak up and speak out.  Meeting with my legislators in the afternoon was much more comfortable, being able to say I had met with them before, being better prepared with stories to keep school counselors in their minds, and asking what questions they had.

Step three.   
Establishing email conversations.
In the 2014 legislative season, the Operational Sharing bill with its direct impact on school counselors demanded some response.  My first email contacts with my legislators regarding specific legislation.  Why was I so nervous?  Why did my usual confidence disappear in this process?  I composed my first messages and, my heart racing, took a deep breath and pushed the send button with my message to each legislator.  What was I so worried about?  My laptop did not explode.  I was still alive. No one laughed.  And I received a few responses.

Step four.  
Becoming active on the ISCA Advocacy Committee.
I gain so much from our computer chats as we learn and grow together and support one another’s efforts.

Step five.  
Interviewing, hiring, and working with our lobbyists.
This was huge!  Learning about the work of lobbyists and who could be a good match for ISCA. Now working with the Capitol Group (Jim, Pete, and Rob) and learning, learning, learning about the legislative process and the power of constituents.  This is exciting and almost addictive!

Step six.  
Presenting at the Iowa DE Newer Counselor Conference and the 2014 ISCA Conference on 
“Advocacy and the School Counselor”.

Just two years earlier this topic left me confused and fearful.  Now it fills me with a passion that I cannot wait to share with others!  Wow!

Step seven:  
Beginning the 2015 legislative season.
Emails to my legislators are much easier.  As per our lobbyists’ recommendation, in the fall of 2014 I email my legislators to introduce myself, let them know of my desire to stay current on educational issues, and ask to be placed on their mailing lists and to be advised of their local coffees.  I also extend thanks for their service and an invitation to contact me about any questions they might have regarding the role of school counselors.  I received responses from each of them.  This laid the groundwork for my later emails about the bullying bill, educational funding, and mental health resources.  We asked to have a school counselor included on the advisory committee for the bullying bill and the bill was amended to include a school counselor!  Hey, this stuff can work,
and it really isn’t so scary!

Step eight: 
Vist the Hill 2015.
I am prepped and pumped!  I have contacted my legislators that I am looking forward to meeting with them at Visit the Hill 2015. I have my stories ready and issues understood.  Then the snow hits and I cannot go.  I am genuinely disappointed!  (How far I have come!)

Not to be shut out of this opportunity, Susan Langan arranges an alternate date (St. Patrick’s Day) and we have a wonderful experience. Working with our lobbyists at the state house, we met individually with the key legislative players about educational bills and funding.  It was great!  We came away energized and ready to press on!

Step nine:  
Continuing on the ISCA Advocacy Committee.
Although my term on the ISCA board is ending, I will continue my involvement with the Advocacy Committee.

What have I learned so far?

1. Our legislators our hired by us.  They are interested in what their constituents have to say and want to be responsive to us.

2. The message we want to have our legislators hear about the role and importance of school
counselors is the message we give them, not their recollection of their former” guidance
counselor” or forgetting that we exist at all.

3. We need to build relationships with our legislators.  When they have questions about the role of
school counselors, we want them to ask us.  When we need to share a point of view or make a
request, that already existing relationship makes us more credible.

4. If we are not at the table, we will be at the mercy of those who are.

5. If we do not define our role and importance as professional school counselors, someone else will.

And so my advocacy journey will continue.  I encourage each of you to take a deep breath, step
outside your comfort zone, and start your own journey - one step at a time.  BE BOLD!

Sue Farran
Past President ISCA (2014-15)
sue.farran@gmail.com

Confronting Injustice: The Practice of School Counselor Advocacy

I experienced a pivotal and life-changing personal and professional situation as a former school counselor that strengthened my voice to transform school counselor advocacy. Specifically, my duties were enlisted from school officials to help respond to an increasing problem, where elementary students were using anti-LGBT remarks, such as “that’s so gay,” in negative and discriminatory matters. My intervention approach involved the use of a developmentally appropriate and research driven anti-bullying curriculum, Ready, Set, Respect!, from The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
Network (GLSEN) and a children’s story, The Family Book by Todd Parr. To my
surprise, pushback surfaced as a result of my respect-for-all advocacy efforts. It first began with phone calls and quickly led to the first board meeting, where I walked through a prayer vigil, while protestors voiced opposition to one page in Parr’s storybook that stated, “some families have two moms or two dads.” Further, my advocacy efforts directed me to explain the rationale of the challenged materials to the school district’s formal curriculum committee, where the curriculum was deemed age-appropriate and evidence-based. However, as the opposition grew louder and parents began to pull their children out of the guidance lessons to mount pressure on school stakeholders, the school board and officials issued a directive to discontinue using any GLSEN resources and/or
materials that fostered an acceptance for LGBT populations in my building.

Self-reflective practice and consultation with mentors guided me to a deeper understanding-that I could not sit back and allow this injustice to perpetuate. Therefore, my voice for change led to partnerships at the local, state, and national level, where an advocacy message was crafted and delivered. For example, a family reading night at the town library was provided, as an opportunity for families and children to hear LGBT-welcoming and respectful stories, even while these materials were banned at school. The posters announcing this event were the first to be removed from the school bulletin boards. Although the school district never officially lifted the ban on the use of LGBT-inclusive materials, continuing to model and advocate the importance to do the right thing-even when all seemed impossible, was critical.

Throughout this journey, it became very clear to me the importance of self-reflection and the need to assess my efficacy as an advocate. This immensely benefitted my work for what I believed was right and to not give up, even when faced with adversity. I believe this experience truly benefited my students, families, and deepened my commitment to school counselor advocacy. Observing the impactful dialogue between community members and challenging their exclusionary views were invaluable lessons for all in this story. I was reminded that planting the seeds of respect for all student populations begins the first day children walk into our schools. The elementary years serve as a critical time for school counselors to respect and honor how students and families come in many shapes, colors, and sizes and to give voice to opportunities where all students can thrive in an
academic environment that accepts and celebrates who they are. Sometimes this may require school counselors to systemically advocate beyond the walls of their offices, in efforts to support the academic, personal/social, and college and career readiness in all of our students.

Carry On!

Matthew J. Beck, M.S.Ed., LCPC, NCC
PhD Student
Counselor Education and Supervision Program
The University of Iowa
Email: matthew-beck@uiowa.edu
Twitter: @mattjbeck
Website: http://matthewjbeck.weebly.com

Happy New Year! ISCA is getting ready for a great year, and we need your help. As you know, we hired our very own lobbyists this year.  We will have a great voice on the hill representing Iowa School Counselors.  However, as school counselors, we all need to do our part!  We all need to step up for school counselor advocacy.  Everyone is very busy, but these things do not take much time and can make a tremendous impact on what we want to achieve to be represented in the upcoming Iowa Legislative session!  

Please make a commitment and complete at least one of the following tasks!  BE BOLD!!  Join us for a webinar on Wednesday, January 28th.  More information will be sent out soon!!

1.  Contact your local legislators.  Either send a quick email or post card. Send them a  message of congratulations if they won last fall. Introduce yourself and tell them you are a school counselor in their district.  Let them know you will be contacting them again.  The first step is all about building relationships. Here is the page to look up who the senators and representatives are for your district. 

https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/find

• It doesn't have to be a long email.  It is recommended to keep correspondence short and to the point.
• We recommend that you use a private email address for communication with the legislators. It will ensure that your communication and lobbying efforts are private and that there are not any conflicts with your school district policy.  

2.  Attend your local legislative forums.  Find out when and where these will be held and attend!  You will especially want to go to the meeting that has an Education focus.  We will be sending out emails with information on where to find the meeting locaitons and times. Ask to be notified in your email for the information about the forums.

 3. On Wednesday February 25^th, please join educators from all levels and from across the state of Iowa in Des Moines for the Iowa ACAC and ISCA Visit the Hill Day.

• This opportunity is an incredible collaboration of school counselors, college admissions counselors, teachers, administrators and students coming together to  learn about the issues and advocating for important educational matters.  It is an incredible day!  Registration is now open, and the travel scholarship is available to bring your students.  
• Please check out more information about Visit the Hill 2015 and register by visiting the Iowa ACAC website, http://www.iowaacac.org/visit-the-hill.

4.  Celebrate National School Counseling Week during the week of February 2-6, 2015.  Whether it is an email to your stakeholders or sharing, I Heart My School Counselor stickers; everyone needs to celebrate this week and use it as an opportunity to advocate.  Please see other ideas on the ISCA website at http://www.iowaschoolcounselors.org/page-1778986

5.  Please use School Counselor instead of guidance counselor on ALL or your mailings, signs and signatures.  If you have questions about WHY you need to do this, please contact one of the ISCA board members.  We all need to stand together on this issue!  It is time!!!   

Sincerely,Susan Langan
ISCA Advocacy Chair
Cedar Falls High School Counselor
susan.langan@cfschools.org
1015 Division Street
Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613
319-553-2515 ext. 2632

Iowa School Counselor Association 
W: http://www.iowaschoolcounselors.org/
E:  isca@assocserv.com 

Building Relationships with your Legislators

During the campaigning time over last summer, I was at the county fair and noticed Tim Kraayenbrink’s booth. I decided to stop and ask him where he stood on education-related issues. I introduced myself to Tim as a school counselor at Fort Dodge Senior High and let him know the amount of needs our students have. He informed me he too taught at one time, and that his wife is an administrator at a local private school. I let him know that I had good relationships with both of our legislators at the time and that I really appreciated the amount of support Daryl Beall and Helen Miller gave to school counselors and education in general. We exchanged business cards and Tim did follow up with me before election time to remind me that he did support education and I had quite a few other questions for him that we discussed via phone and email.

Tim did win the election so I sent him a congratulatory e-mail the following week. I also sent a thank you to Daryl Beall for everything he did to support mental health, school counselors, and education because he truly did a lot for us and will be missed. I continued to talk with Tim regarding my thoughts on college and career readiness and the state’s current IHAPI program in which he has been working with me to explore all options. We have invited Tim into our classrooms to talk to students and we also have had him attend one of our weekly school counseling meetings. There are issues I talk to Tim about that we are not necessarily on the same page about (such as the current allowable growth funding fiasco we have going on). Even though we may disagree on certain things there are things that I will always be able to work towards with both Helen Miller and Tim Kraayenbrink on in order to move education in Iowa forward. We have taken some of our students to Day on The Hill and Helen Miller has been so gracious to give us tours, listen, and ask us questions so she can better understand our needs. I am thankful for the amount of time these individuals put into the youth of Iowa. In order to help our students we, as educators, need to put parties aside and build relationships with our legislators so they know what we are seeing in our schools...better yet, invite them into your schools to see for themselves!

Trista Thompson, M.A.

Professional School Counselor

Fort Dodge Senior High School

819 North 25^th Street

Fort Dodge, IA 50501

Office: (515)-574-5773

Fax: (515)-574-5771

ISCA Advocacy Efforts-Time for all of us to STEP UP!!

It is such an exciting time to be a school counselor!  After keynoting ISCA 2014, Trish Hatch, and many talented folks met for the White House Convening at San Diego State University on November 17-18. A lot of commitments were made to reinforce the #Reach Higher Initiative. It is phenomenal that the First Lady Michelle Obama has validated the importance of school counselors.
 “School Counseling is a necessity to ensure that all our young people get the education they need to succeed in today’s economy.”   Michelle Obama, ASCA 2014

Now is the time for school counselors to step up and do our part to make the #Reach Higher commitments happen and make sure everyone knows our role!  Keep the fire burning from ISCA 2014 and make it your time to continually reach higher!  Some school counselors have an easier time doing this due to many reasons.  Maybe their administrators understand their role and the student-counselor ratio is reasonable.  Many times this isn’t the case.  We all need to make efforts to advocate for our profession every day.  However, sometimes we need help.  Education is a very hot topic in the Iowa legislation and school counselors have not been well represented.  We are so proud to announce that ISCA has hired “The Capital Group” lobbyist firm.  We will be working closely with lobbyists Pete McRoberts, Bob Mulqueen, and Jim Obradovich to make sure that school counselors now ARE represented.

However, our work has just begun.  The lobbyists will help us be heard.  We need to make sure ALL school counselors are doing their part.  We need to continue our efforts so that every student in Iowa has a school counselor doing work that will help him/her graduate and be ready for the next step.  We need to make sure school counselors are being represented by our lobbyists but also by our organization.

Please make your voice heard.  Attend Visit the Hill Day on February 25th at the Embassy Suites in Des Moines. The morning is spent within sessions, and the afternoon is spent at the Capitol visiting with legislators.  Iowa ACAC and ISCA work very closely to make sure this is a worthwhile day.  Iowa ACAC provides a stipend also to bring students.  There is NO cost to attendees.  We have had a great turn out the last few years.  We need to be well represented this year and continue the work that our lobbyists will be doing for us in the trenches.  Please attend Visit the Hill Day!  Also, be looking for more information about our legislative efforts and be ready to act to advocate for school counselors!!