PUPIL PERSONNEL SERVICES NEWSLETTER: 1st Edition

PUPIL PERSONNEL SERVICES NEWSLETTER NEWBURGH ENLARGED CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT: DIVISION OF STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

1st edition, March 2021

by: Michael Regan, Director of Pupil Personnel Services

In this 1st Edition of the NECSD Pupil Personnel Services Newsletter, we will be taking a closer look at our dedicated team of professionals who support our scholars each and every day, and learning more about who we are, what we do, and why we do it!

a message from our Assistant Superintendent of Student Support Services, Dr. Pedro Roman

As a District, we recognize that to educate our scholars, we need to focus on a whole-child approach, ensuring that every student in every school is healthy, safe, engaged, and academically challenged. During the 2020-21 school year, the District merged the Division of Equity and Access and Exceptional Learners to form the newly created Division of Student Support Services. Our theory of action is rooted in equity; if our students and families have access to the necessary resources and opportunities to meet their needs, our students will succeed in our schools. The diagram below shows the various components of the Division of Student Support Services, which consists of:

Exceptional Learners
Family and Community Engagement (FACE)
Health Services
Pupil Personnel Services
Hearing Office
Youth Development Programs (i.e., My Brother’s Keeper)

As we continue to navigate the pandemic challenges collectively, I am reminded of the amazing talent and the deep passion each member of this division has in supporting our students and families. We genuinely appreciate everything you do for our scholars, families, and school community at large. Together, we will continue to ensure every scholar has the opportunity to reach his/her full potential.

WHAT IS PUPIL PERSONNEL SERVICES?

The NECSD Pupil Personnel Services (PPS) Department is a team of 56 professionals dedicated to supporting our scholar's college and career, academic, and social emotional needs. This team of professionals includes School Counselors, School Social Workers, and School Psychologists who work with our Pre-K through 12th grade scholars. Each of these 3 professions offer unique skill-sets and work collaboratively to support our scholars in reaching their goals and removing any barriers to their success along the way.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CONTACT INFO FOR EACH OF OUR NECSD PPS STAFF

EXAMPLE OF PPS STRUCTURE

The image shown below is an example of how each of the 3 professions within PPS specialize in their specific area of expertise, while the PPS team as a whole collaborates to provide interventions, programs, and services.

NEED TO CONTACT A SCHOOL COUNSELOR? FIND OUT HOW IN THE DIRECTORY BELOW:

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW THE ROLE OF A SCHOOL COUNSELOR HAS TRANSFORMED OVER THE YEARS... AND WATCH ONE OF OUR VERY OWN NECSD SCHOOL COUNSELORS FEATURED IN THIS NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL COUNSELOR ASSOCIATION PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW TESTIMONIAL VIDEOS FROM OUR SCHOLARS, FAMILIES, AND SCHOOL STAFF AS A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION FOR NATIONAL SCHOOL COUNSELING WEEK (FEB. 1-5, 2021)

WHAT ARE THE 20-21 GOALS OF OUR NECSD SCHOOL COUNSELING PROGRAM?

All students in grades 6 -12, will receive an Individual Annual Review, which reviews their annual individual progress, and reflects each student's educational progress and career plans.
All students will participate in Career Exploration activities though Naviance and Classroom Guidance Lessons as described in the curriculum plan.
Counselors will deliver and/or collaborate with other PPS staff/Teachers in select K-5 buildings to expose students to Career Exploration Opportunities.
To increase the knowledge and understanding of the Seal of Bi-literacy as an endorsement and pathway towards graduation for students.
PPS staff will collaborate with building level administration and district level administration to offer adults, students and families tools for coping with the stressors associated with online learning, isolation, and anxiety. PPS staff will clearly communicate with families on how and where they can access resources related to their social emotional learning.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR COMPREHENSIVE NECSD GUIDANCE PLAN

THE ROLE OF ELEMENTARY COUNSELORS

THE ROLE OF MIDDLE SCHOOL COUNSELORS

THE ROLE OF HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELORS

NEED TO CONTACT A SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST? FIND OUT HOW IN THE DIRECTORY BELOW:

The domains shown above regularly interact and intersect within the context of service delivery for School Psychologists. Understanding the domains helps inform the range of knowledge and skills school psychologists can provide. The NASP Practice Model outlines how services are integrated to best meet the needs of students, families, and the school community.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE 10 DOMAINS IN THE NASP PRACTICE MODEL

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS AND LEARN MORE

NEED TO CONTACT A SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER? FIND OUT HOW IN THE DIRECTORY BELOW:

CLICK HERE TO VISIT SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA AND LEARN MORE!

MARCH 7-13 IS NATIONAL SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKER WEEK!

necsd thanks our school social workers for all of their hard work and dedication to support our scholars each day!

In honor of School Social Worker week, our NECSD School Social Workers have put together a video showing their gratitude to our scholars, families, colleagues, and community for all they have done to stay resilient in the face of adversity. We appreciate you, we see you, we thank you, and we love you all! Watch this video below for some inspiration!

HOW DOES PPS SUPPORT SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL)?

In addition to interventions such as counseling, case management, assessment, and consultation, NECSD uses a data driven approach to provide targeted SEL supports and interventions specifically tailored to the unique needs of all our scholars. We do this through the use of an evidence-based SEL Survey from Panorama which allows us to measure components of CASEL’s SEL Framework. This SEL survey data has been disaggregated by building, grade level, race, ethnicity, and gender to give us further insights into what each subgroup of scholars are reporting about their strengths and needs in Social Emotional Learning.

PANORAMA SEL SURVEY RESULTS DECEMBER, 2020

HOW DO WE USE THIS DATA TO HELP OUR SCHOLARS?

Each building has established a team of interdisciplinary faculty and administration to analyze the data using the ORID protocol template and an action planning template linked below, that facilitates a unified approach to providing SEL supports and interventions based on the unique needs of our scholars. Additionally, the data is being analyzed from a district wide perspective to identify commonalities across the district which will inform the resources, programs, and interventions provided to our scholars and educators throughout NECSD. Technical assistance sessions are being held on an ongoing basis to allow school buildings an opportunity to communicate, share best practices and resources, and align SEL efforts using a Multi-Tiered System of Support framework. A post-survey will then be administered in June to measure the impact of our efforts to improve SEL for our scholars.

WHAT IS MTSS?

great things happen among our pps team every day.

here are some of the highlights!

Heritage Middle School's School Social Worker, Mr. Victor Cobo and School Counselor, Mrs. Mary Ryan created an attendance intervention group. The group was planned using mixed methods: restorative circles to encourage healthy engagement & identify barriers and goals, family engagement via weekly updates and encouragements, and student empowerment through group celebrations and earning incentives such as a HW pass for achieving their weekly/overall goals. We are happy to announce that 8/11 of the students met their goal and achieved their overall goal (70% attendance in 3/4 weeks). Students were encouraged to maintain this growth through the end of the school year and were given a space to reflect on their progress and pride. All families will be updated about their students' performance and families of non-earners will be contacted to discuss next steps.

Meadow Hill’s School Psychologist, Amy Weigel (right) and School Social Worker, Kalie Santana (left), review the “Mood Meter” with first and second grade hybrid students. This tool is from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence’s RULER program, a research-based social-emotional approach, which has been implemented at the school. The program teaches emotional recognition and regulation skills, and expands emotional vocabulary.

Ms. Robin Mojica, School Psychologist at NFA North has been a strong advocate to promote Social Emotional Learning for our scholars at North. Mr. Michael Regan, Director of Pupil Personnel Services says, "Ms. Mojica goes above and beyond to reach all students. Robin has also adapted quickly to the virtual environment to ensure the SEL momentum continues to grow among the school culture at NFA North." To create a positive school climate and guide our Goldbacks toward graduation, students and staff need opportunities for self-care. Ms. Mojica's goal for the past 7 years at NFA North has been to empower others towards emotional wellness. Mindfulness, growth mindset, and motivation strategies have been the core of this goal. Throughout the building, Ms. Mojica has created Mindful Movement Trails, a Kindness Garden, Calm Corners in classrooms, Calm Challenges within Google classrooms, and most recently a virtual Peace Path. Mindful Monday Meditations with district-wide teachers had a high repeat attendance rate last year. To continue this wellness practice Ms. Mojica is also offering guided meditations on Wednesdays for teachers who wish to participate. Advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, Healthy Relationships, and Black Lives is also important for Ms. Mojica. Educational materials are provided regularly to staff and students as well as activities that promote acceptance and empathy.

Ms. Heather Kraus created a digital guidebook for 9th and 10th grade scholars and families. This Digital Guidebook is designed to assist students and their families in understanding the timeline of the 9th and 10th grade year to help them prepare for a successful high school experience. There is college, career and financial aid information in the back of this guidebook as well.

NFA Main Guidance Counselors Mrs. Juana Stamo and Mr. Thomas Hill created a school counseling newsletter for Cohort 2020. The NFA Main Freshman Facts newsletter can be found below provides helpful resources and a calendar of upcoming events for our NFA families and scholars to be supported in the academic, college/career, and social emotional domains of their high school experience, which is a recommended best practice of the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) and our NECSD Guidance Plan.

NFA Main School Counselors Mr. Katz and Mrs. Jones organized a "Financial Aid Night" in partnership with SUNY Orange. We recognize that the current times we are in pose challenges in our traditional practices to support scholars; however, Mr. Katz and Mrs. Jones did not let that slow them down. While a Financial Aid night would traditionally be held in person in an auditorium, Mr. Katz and Mrs. Jones organized a virtual assembly attended by 53 Juniors and Seniors with their families to make sure they had access to the pertinent information they need to complete their FAFSA applications for college. Thank you also to NFA Main's Instructional Technology Facilitator, Mr. Decker, for providing us with the knowledge and support to have a smooth virtual experience. Special thanks to SUNY Orange's Associate Director for Financial Aid, Rayond Torres, for a very informative and helpful presentation!

Ms. Kelly Caci, School Psychologist for New Windsor School received a Presidential Service Award from the New York Association of School Psychologists (NYASP) at their conference in October. Ms. Caci is the Legislative Co-Chair for NYASP. In this position Kelly works tirelessly with many stakeholders in the NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, NY State Ed Department, as well as other NYS agencies to advocate for student mental health in the schools. As legislative Co-Chair Kelly is also actively involved in shaping the role of school psychologists at the legislative level. The 2020 awards ceremony capped off a day of virtual professional development as part of the NYASP 2020 Annual Conference, which occurred in late October. Congratulations to Ms. Caci! Thank you for all you do for our scholars!

Mr. Barrington Atkins, NFA North's School School Social Worker, was recently elected to a full term as the District 10 Duchess County Legislator after winning in his FIRST run for office!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT equity toolbox

NECSD continues to keep equity at the forefront of our everyday practices, policies, and beliefs. In an effort to promote equity, access, and inclusion, while encouraging courageous conversations about race, each Friday we add a new resource to our Equity Resource Toolbox titled "Food for Thought".

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR EQUITY RESOURCE LIBRARY THROUGH GOOGLE CLASSROOM!

Stay tuned for more updates in our 2nd Edition of the PPS Newsletter!

Created By

Michael Regan

Appreciate