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November 2016

Crisis Collaboration for Small Schools and Large Districts

Creating a crisis plan and crisis team is never easy. It is even more difficult for small districts. Often times, one or two counselors and one or two administrators cover the entire district of students.

Small districts might consider collaboration with other nearby districts on their crisis plan. I have heard from many small districts who do this in practice already.

Any time a crisis strikes a district, extra counselors and sometimes extra administrators are needed on site. What if two or more small districts agreed to provide the “extra” support for each other in times of crisis?

It would make sense if small districts in the same county or nearby each other even worked together to create the same or similar crisis plans so that everyone would know what to do in a crisis. When the same or similar plans are in place, expectations are known before a crisis happens and everyone can immediately take the action needed to support a district or school in crisis.

This works the same way in larger districts, too. A district crisis team can be made of counselors from severals sites who respond to a crisis at any school with an emergency. Likewise, a good crisis plan will cover what happens when teachers are too distraught to teach. A sister school can send teachers to cover classes in such cases.

For more ideas and best practices, bring your entire crisis team to Crisis Team Training in February at one of seven trainings in six regional locations: North Oklahoma City, South Oklahoma City, Owasso (two dates), Enid, Lawton, or Durant. CLICK HERE for more details.

Webinar Schedule Set for Spring

Fall webinars are complete and the result is that hundreds of Oklahoma counselors and other educators have been trained in Mental Health Concerns and Your Students, Drugs and Alcohol in Schools, Building a Crisis Team, and Bullying in 2016.  

Registration for our webinars was thrilling to our staff! We are so glad you all are interested in the webinars. We have also received great feedback from our surveys after the webinars. To watch the presentation online for any of these trainings, check out our new Training for Counselors page. All former presentations are archived there, and future presentations are also there for registration.

We are now planning our spring semester webinars. To sign up for any of these webinars, follow this link. Participants should expect the training to last about an hour. Each participant who signs in at the time of the live webinar will receive a professional development certificate, and licensed professionals will receive CEUs.

We have dates for our next webinars. Here is our Spring Schedule:

• Wednesday, January 18, at 11 a.m. - Working with Students Returning from a Mental Health Crisis
• Monday, February 6 at 11 a.m. - Teen Dating Violence and Sexual Assault
• Monday, March 6 at Noon - How to Build Empathy in the Classroom and Beyond
• Tuesday, May 2 at 11 a.m. - Community Collaboration: How to Work with Your Community to Serve Your School
• Thursday, May 11 at Noon - Engaging Parents in Prevention

School Spotlight: Ardmore’s Lincoln Elementary Benefits from Art Collaboration with the Community

Modeled after another elementary’s successful program, Lincoln Elementary in Ardmore is celebrating its third year collaborating with community artists.

The Goddard Center in Ardmore funded an artist-in residence program at Lincoln Elementary in 2013.  Artist-in-Residence Pauline Bustamonte of Estes Park, Colorado was able to serve two years at Lincoln with the help of community volunteers - parents, grandparents and friends - before returning to her home in Colorado.  Volunteers and Lincoln school staff continued the program with funding from the Ardmore Enrichment Foundation.

“From percussionists to watercolorists, we have had wonderful performances and instruction presented to the students,” said volunteer Judy Riley. “Collaboration among organizations and citizens in this community has  made and continues to make a difference with our students.  We all stand to gain from the efforts of all involved.”

Each class is given one week in the art room for one hour a day to learn the elements of art through a particular project. Class studies such as colonialism have been paired with the art of weaving, metal work, quilting, felting, constructing rag rugs, and basket making. Recently origami was paired with discussions about origami engineering and radial paper relief sculptures with conversations about symmetry. One project used old map pages, and as the students read the names of places around the globe, geography became the topic of conversation without having to be introduced by the volunteers.

“Our students look forward to their “art week” with great anticipation,” said Lincoln Elementary Principal Ellen Patty. “During these weeks with our wonderful volunteer help, students create works of art that they never imagined they could create. Students gain confidence as their works of art take form. Our students use critical thinking skills that only the arts provide.

“Students truly treasure this time.”

Patty said other works include fold out books of watercolor, silk painting weaving, corn husk dolls, pottery and more.

In April of each year every student’s completed art is shown at the annual All Schools Exhibit.  Riley said the show is open to the public and feedback is almost always along the lines of, ‘I had no idea young children could do that.’

The volunteers, known as the Lincoln Art Team, began as a small group of parents and grandparents. Eventually the group grew to include people living in the school neighborhood, and others.  Riley said many volunteers, including herself, are former teachers. She said one volunteer is a former rocket scientist, one is an engineer who helped run a major industry in Ardmore, and many more are artists from the community.

Lincoln teachers have also been a big part of the success of the program.  Riley said they have acted as art instructors when needed, shown great pride in their students’ work and given much encouragement to students and volunteers.

“While volunteers feel it is important to serve the students of Lincoln through the arts in order to enrich their educational experiences, the lives of the volunteers are equally enriched,” Riley said.

Patty said the work of the volunteers is, “truly an act of love.”

For Counselors Only Conference Presentation Proposals Needed

We want to hear from you! We are looking for people to present at the For Counselors Only Conference on March 2 at Moore Norman Technology Center South Penn Campus in Oklahoma City. We are looking for presenters who have techniques to share, information to present, tried and true best practices to discuss, and topics on current issues to teach.

People of all backgrounds are encouraged to submit a short proposal to present at this conference. If you are thinking about presenting, submit a proposal on presenting something you know a lot about, are considered a local or regional go-to person on, or are interested in researching.

Fill out the form on this link to fill out the proposal to present. We know how many amazing counselors and friends of counselors are out there and we can’t wait to hear from you!

If you have questions about presenting or for more information, contact Michelle Sutherlin at Michelle.Sutherlin@sde.ok.gov, or Shelly Ellis at Shelly.Ellis@sde.ok.gov . You can also reach us by phone at 405-521-2106.

State Homeless Coordinator Introduction My name is Anthony Kibble, and I currently serve in the role of State Homeless Coordinator for the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), Office of Federal Programs (OFP). I’m excited about the opportunity to share more information and resources with guidance counselors regarding identified homeless children and youth needs. In particular, guidance counselors can be a great resource for unaccompanied homeless students seeking access to post-secondary education. If you encounter a homeless child or youth, the Local Education Agency’s (LEA) homeless liaison can be a great resource with assisting and coordinating services for these students. Every LEA has an identified homeless liaison. Please click here to see the identified homeless liaisons for your school and across the state.

College Scorecard Offered to Help Parents

As the school year begins, many high school students and parents are thinking about their next educational steps. With so many postsecondary options to consider, it’s important that all prospective students have the information they need to make the best decision possible. These decisions — to pursue a higher education, with which type of degree and at which institution — all have a lasting impact on students and their futures. 

That’s why the U.S. Department of Education recently released its first annual update of the redesigned College Scorecard — available at CollegeScorecard.ed.gov — to ensure that students and families have the most up-to-date, comprehensive and reliable information available on colleges, all in an easy-to-understand format. 

The site allows visitors to sort and filter their search results to easily compare schools and decide which college makes the most sense when considering the typical costs, average student loan amount, students’ ability to repay their loans and their future earnings. We invite your participation to help ensure that the information on CollegeScorecard.ed.gov gets into the hands of more students and families so they can make informed college choices. Thank you for sharing this with your broader networks!

Statewide Scholarships Available Through OKC Foundation

Our name says Oklahoma City, but we have statewide scholarships! The Oklahoma City Community Foundation is the state's largest third party scholarship provider, meaning that our scholarships are not particularly tied to any one college or university. The Oklahoma City Community Foundation's scholarships are designed to help students go to school where they want to go. 

At the Oklahoma City Community Foundation we award more than $1.5 million each year in scholarships.Our easy and convenient online application process allows eligible students to apply for one or more of our 115+ applications by completing one general application. Students in all 77 Oklahoma counties may be eligible to apply for college scholarships. Explore the many opportunities to help you pay for college at occf.academicworks.com.  

Scholarship Available for Varsity Athletes

The Oklahoma Former NFL Players Association has been given the responsibility by the Professional Athletes Foundation (PAF) to award two $2,500 scholarships to Oklahoma High School Senior Athletes, one male and one female.

This opportunity is open to any high school varsity athlete that attends a public or private high school in the state of Oklahoma. The PAF Scholarship rewards high school athletes for their non-athletic achievements and assists them in achieving their career goals. The PAF Scholarship is designed for any high school athlete who will attend a university, college or two year institution and will not receive any type of athletic scholarship.

Please contact Jean Barrett via email to request the application packet at jbarrettinc@aol.com.

All applications must be received by January 31,2017.

Law Enforcement Association Offers Scholarship

The OK Sheriffs & Peace Officers Association (OSPOA) is offering a $1000 scholarship sponsored by McIntyre Law, to any senior going into law enforcement. Students should have a plan in place or scheduled into a college for law enforcement to apply. If an applicant has any family member(s) currently in any branch of law enforcement, please attach that information to your application.

The form can be downloaded from our website www.ospoa.org. Deadline for submission is March 15, 2017. The winner will be notified end of March and scholarship will be awarded at our 103rd Annual Awards Banquet April 6, 2017.

OSPOA is the oldest law enforcement organization in Oklahoma celebrating 103 years in January 2017. The Criminal Justice Professionals of OSPOA's mission is to educate, empower & equip our law enforcement community on a local, federal, state and tribal level, by identifying their needs and those of the citizens of Oklahoma.