Dear OSPA members and friends of OSPA,
As I write this, I find myself, like most of you, in the busiest time of the year. As the requests for evaluations pile up and I scramble to try to close everything out before the end of the school year, I find it important to take a moment, breathe, and remind myself of the importance of the work that we do. When reflecting on this year, I also took time to muse on all the important work that OSPA has done and continues to do. Our advocacy efforts and work on various initiatives has been tireless throughout the past year. OSPA continues to be a staple in state-level school psychology associations thanks to all our members' hard work. Our Legislative Committee has been working on overdrive to keep members up to date on fast moving legislation impacting our field and families in Ohio. I continue to encourage everyone to sign up for this committee to receive up-to-date information on all the proposed legislation coming out of Columbus. In addition to this, I would again like to encourage everyone to join any and all committees that they have an interest in. OSPA can only continue its amazing work with the help of its dedicated members pitching in and speaking up about our field and the families we work with.
On the topic of involvement with OSPA, I am excited for our upcoming virtual spring conference. Our spring conference committee has been hard at work to bring us informational and compelling speakers. We will kick things off on Wednesday, April 26, with our morning ethics presentation from Erich Merkle, Ph.D. Then on Thursday, April 27, we will hear from Sam Coleman, M.Ed., on creating comprehensive systems for all learners, as well as a presentation form Mark Gallagher, Ed.S., on a school’s journey through multi-tiered change. Finally, on Friday, April 28, we will hear from Melissa Sadin, Ph.D., on creating trauma-sensitive schools.
OSPA will always continuously monitor legislation, provide testimony as needed, and provide high-quality professional development for our members. But our work does not stop there. We have been hard at work revamping the Future School Psychologists of Ohio (FSPO) club to centralize it and provide high quality sessions to students throughout the state. OSPA is also looking into potentially adding a new award to its toolbox to recognize outstanding internship supervisors throughout the state and to increase our outreach and involvement with interns in Ohio. These are just some of the highlights that OSPA has been working on. I could fill multiple pages of updates to highlight all the work our members have completed this year. But instead, I would encourage everyone to simply become more involved in OSPA to keep up to date with everything we do and add your voice to bettering our field.
Finally, as my term as OSPA President comes to a close, I wanted to say thank you to the entire Executive Board and all of OSPA’s members. My time serving as President has been invaluable.
As someone who took on a leadership role in OSPA early in his career, I was amazed at what our organization was capable of accomplishing because of the strength of our members and Executive Board. I have learned so much from this experience and encourage all members to get involved with OSPA as much as possible, no matter what stage you are in with your career.
The power that OSPA possesses truly comes from the involvement of our members. If we wish to continue to see positive change in our field, we need to continue to drive up membership and involvement. I look forward to continuing my work with OSPA as the Immediate Past President next year. Know that the role of OSPA President could not be in better hands as Jennaca Hete takes over and I look forward to her leadership. As always, if you have any questions or suggestions for continued improvement of OSPA please do not hesitate to contact me. Let’s have a fantastic end to the school year, and a recharging summer.
