From the Chair: Collect, Report, Tell

The last year and a half in education has been a fight for students’ mental health, well-being and academic achievement. CASC has worked tirelessly and instead of us telling our story, we told your story – demonstrating the power and impact of California school counseling statewide. What we have seen over the past few months is unprecedented. Students, parents, districts and legislatures have taken our lead, saying, “the role of the modern-day school counselor is necessary and indispensable.”

Rising mental health issues and COVID-19 presented an opportunity for CASC to relay what we have heard from many of you – the narrative that every one of you is instrumental in wrapping your expertise around the whole child. The CASC team strategically moved mountains: advocating for the state to financially invest in providing students more access to school counselors. CASC inspired legislative bills to include school counselors, as demonstrated in messages from both President Biden and Governor Gavin Newsom in recent months.

This did not happen by accident or happenstance! CASC has been working for decades, so today, as a member, I say thank you to our professional organization. There were so many champions in this cause. I thank all of you who exemplify the importance of school counseling, advocating and telling your story at the local level.  I also honor the legacy of every leader who has come before us to champion our profession along the way. It would not have been possible without the foundational messages throughout the years.

As we enter a new school year, we are faced with new regulations, a delta variant, and an expanded workforce statewide, with some predicting 5,000 additional school counselors being hired this fall. As we celebrate California students having greater access to school counselor services, I would be remiss if I didn’t draw attention to the idea that with great investment comes great responsibility!

With that said, we must take a proactive and intentional approach now more than ever to showcasing school counseling programs through an MTSS lens. We must address academics, attendance and behavior with data-driven SMART goals and well-executed action plans. I understand your tremendous workload right now, which could interfere with recording and reporting the incredible results your counseling team is achieving. But please make every effort to tell the stories of your work and keep school counselors’ work front and center in your school’s COVID recovery efforts. Re-engage your advisory councils, speak at district board meetings, and post on social media. Celebrate every gain, milestone, and achievement. We will only sustain the long-term investment in school counseling if we effectively deliver what is expected, and we will! From day to day, we have an uncertain road ahead as we combat virus-related stress, addressing learning loss, unaccounted-for students and all factors related to school engagement.

As we embark on a new year, COVID has, once again, shifted the CASC conference to a virtual platform. I encourage you to register and spend a few days with 1,500 like-minded individuals as we are “Finding Pathways and Healing Hearts” together. Register for the CASC Conference, October 28–29, 2021. Networking, professional development and sharing best practices will align our efforts and inspire us all.

It is my great honor to serve as the board chair of CASC for the 2021–22 school year and as we enter this unpredictable and historic time of challenge and opportunity, I am with you every step of the way. Best wishes along the journey!

Contact Josh Godinez, CASC board chair and a school counselor with Centennial High School in Corona-Norco Unified School District, at josh.godinez@schoolcounselor-ca.org.