NVSCA All-Star Turnout
By NVSCA | July 2018
Welcome back! The board at NvSCA hopes you had a wonderful summer! We are excited to update you on our summer NvSCA pre-conference meeting held in Los Angeles at the 2018 ASCA Annual Conference, “Reach for the Stars.” We had more than 25 school counselors attend from across Nevada! It was fantastic to meet up with familiar faces and meet new and emerging school counselor leaders. Here are some highlights from our pre-conference meeting.
Advocacy
One of our primary goals as we look forward to the next school year is advocacy. Sara Coombs and Kassie Griffith are the legislative advocates on the NvSCA board, and they have been busy. Sarah is working with the National Education Association (NEA), attending conferences and writing correspondence with senators Deal Heller and Catherine Cortez Masto. Kassie has been working with local teachers’ unions in southern Nevada to advocate for the role of the school counselor. She has met with Steve Sisolak, candidate in our Nevada gubernatorial election, and NvSCA is working on a plan to meet with candidate Adam Laxalt. These meetings, letters and correspondence are to ensure that our new Governor of Nevada and other state and local lawmakers understand the impact school counselors make on the success of students’ academics, social/emotional growth, and college and career readiness.
Katherine Loudon, a member of NvSCA and WCSD School Counseling coordinator, sits on the Governor’s School Safety Task Force. She is a member of the Student Wellness subgroup and they have pushed forward a 15-year plan to reduce student-to-school counselor ratios and to ensure that all schools are supported with licensed mental health professionals such as school counselors, school psychologists and school social workers.
Leadership
Kristin Barnson, NvSCA president, and Keeli Killian, NvSCA president-elect, are moving forward with advocacy efforts at the Nevada Department of Education. They recently attended the State Management Team meeting on June 25 and were able to clearly define the role of our school counselors and discuss our school partners in mental health supporting students. They also gave input from a school counseling perspective on current bill drafts that will be in the next legislative session.
Collaboration
NVSCA needs you! We are working on outreach and membership to all counselors in Nevada. We have more strength in numbers and will be working toward increased membership and benefits. We want to support our school counselors in the upcoming year with collaboration on our new statewide counseling evaluation, professional development via our annual conference and increased social media presence. You can follow us on Twitter @nvscatweets or on Facebook Nevada School Counselor Association
Advocacy
One of our primary goals as we look forward to the next school year is advocacy. Sara Coombs and Kassie Griffith are the legislative advocates on the NvSCA board, and they have been busy. Sarah is working with the National Education Association (NEA), attending conferences and writing correspondence with senators Deal Heller and Catherine Cortez Masto. Kassie has been working with local teachers’ unions in southern Nevada to advocate for the role of the school counselor. She has met with Steve Sisolak, candidate in our Nevada gubernatorial election, and NvSCA is working on a plan to meet with candidate Adam Laxalt. These meetings, letters and correspondence are to ensure that our new Governor of Nevada and other state and local lawmakers understand the impact school counselors make on the success of students’ academics, social/emotional growth, and college and career readiness.
Katherine Loudon, a member of NvSCA and WCSD School Counseling coordinator, sits on the Governor’s School Safety Task Force. She is a member of the Student Wellness subgroup and they have pushed forward a 15-year plan to reduce student-to-school counselor ratios and to ensure that all schools are supported with licensed mental health professionals such as school counselors, school psychologists and school social workers.
Leadership
Kristin Barnson, NvSCA president, and Keeli Killian, NvSCA president-elect, are moving forward with advocacy efforts at the Nevada Department of Education. They recently attended the State Management Team meeting on June 25 and were able to clearly define the role of our school counselors and discuss our school partners in mental health supporting students. They also gave input from a school counseling perspective on current bill drafts that will be in the next legislative session.
Collaboration
NVSCA needs you! We are working on outreach and membership to all counselors in Nevada. We have more strength in numbers and will be working toward increased membership and benefits. We want to support our school counselors in the upcoming year with collaboration on our new statewide counseling evaluation, professional development via our annual conference and increased social media presence. You can follow us on Twitter @nvscatweets or on Facebook Nevada School Counselor Association