President’s Letter: Supporting You in the Year Ahead

As you read this message, you are either preparing for students to come back to school on September 8 or already navigating a new way of connecting with students during a pandemic. It is definitely a trying time, and I am grateful to be part of the Vermont school counseling community as I have witnessed school counselors across the state work together, share resources and advocate for increased social/emotional support, not only for our students but also for our colleagues. With the challenges ahead, VTSCA has worked hard over the summer to prepare for school to restart and reopen. Here are a few updates: 

• The VTSCA SEL Re-Entry Task Force, led by Lisa LaPlante from U32, met weekly over the summer and collaborated with SEL building-based and district coordinators across the state to provide not only guidance to our membership but also recommendations regarding check-in tools. This team plans to continue to meet during this school year to work toward additional recommendations around screeners and curriculum.
• We announced the new VTSCA Race & Equity Task Force and this team plans to begin meeting soon.
• VTSCA will be sending a monthly newsletter by the 15th of each month, managed by Jill Everett, our new Public Relations and Communications chair.
• VTSCA will also continue to offer School Counselor Chats through ZOOM, happening monthly on either the second or third Wednesday of the month.
• Our conference will be held virtually this year. Cairsten Keese, our Professional Development and Conference chair, is leading this exciting endeavor and we are hopeful that this will make our conference more accessible to school counselors across the state. We are looking to offer three different professional development opportunities throughout the school year to break down our conference into mini-sessions. More information will be coming soon!
• We have welcomed a new Membership chair, Nicole Martel, who will be working closely with our treasurer, Suzanne Francke, to support our membership.
• Phyllis Currao has stepped into the Advocacy and Public Policy chair position and will be working closely with Cairsten to set up a virtual Day on the Hill at our statehouse.
• Lauren Conti, VTSCA president-elect, will work closely with me this year and will transition into the president role on July 1.

With that said, a lot is happening within VTSCA and for our membership. Please remember that we are all volunteers and we do our best to meet the needs of our membership while also prioritizing our own school counseling positions and our families. If you have any questions or ideas, or are interested in helping out in some way, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at vtsca.president@gmail.com.

I look forward to continuing to lead this amazing organization of school counselors! Don’t forget that we are Vermont strong, and we will get through this challenging time together.

Contact Tara Cariano, VTSCA president, at vtsca.president@gmail.com.