Dear MASCA Colleagues -

Welcome to December! I hope you get a chance to take advantage of some of our offerings and have a relaxing and joyous holiday season.

In this issue
• Spring Conference taking shape
• National School Counseling Week
• Urban Counselor group forming
• DOE Workshop
• NEACAC Career Colloquium
• Committee Chair Profile - Meet Kathleen Barrett

SPRING CONFERENCE
The annual spring conference, April 29- May 1 is beginning to take shape. Currently a call for program proposals is posted on the website with a due date of January 31, 2007 to Linda DaGradi, Program Chair. I would encourage you to consider submitting a proposal to share with your colleagues the wonderful things you do, research you have done and data you have collected. Presenters receive a free conference registration for the day they present. The theme this year is CATCH the Wave. CATCH stands for Counselors Advocating To Create History. We started the year out with the unveiling of the final draft of the MA Model which is certain to change the history of school counseling in the state. What will be the exciting news shared in Hyannis? You will have to attend to find out. Look for more details in upcoming editions of MASCA Matters, the Counselor's Notebook and on the MASCA website.

NATIONAL SCHOOL COUNSELING WEEK
It's not too early to begin planning for National School Counseling Week (NSCW) which will be held during the week of February 5-9, 2007. Sponsored by the American School Counselor Association, the theme this year is "School Counselors: Helping Students Reach New Heights.” Look for a special edition of MASCA Matters in mid-January that deals specifically with National School Counseling Week which will provide you ideas and suggestions about how to celebrate NSCW. In conjunction with Kathleen Barrett, Awards & Publicity Chair, I am planning on sending news release to all media outlets in Massachusetts that will include an editorial which can be published in local papers. I invite anyone who has done something unique, interesting or just plan fun to submit a brief summary of what you did or do to celebrate NSCW. These ideas will be compiled and shared with other MASCA members. All submissions that are published will give credit to the person submitting the idea/program. Please submit ideas to me at bardwellr@monsonschools.com no later than January 1, 2007. I am also looking for anyone who has an interest and skill in either audio or video production who might want to produce a public service announcement (PSA) that can also be shared with media outlets across the state. Hopefully this media blitz will bring some well deserved attention to the school counseling profession and work done by school counselors. If you have experience with PSA's or would like to assist in the production or dissemination, please let me know. For more information about National School Counseling Week go to http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=497.

URBAN SCHOOL COUNSELOR GROUP FORMING
A new statewide school counselors group working to provide a voice for an under-represented group has formed and is looking for new members. Under the direction of Don Coverdale, Brad Toney (MASCA Past President) and Tim Poynton (Research & Evaluation Chair), the group has met several times this fall and will seek affiliate status from the MASCA Governing Board in 2007. They will be known as will be the Urban Counselors Association of Massachusetts (UCAM). Issues that have been discussed thus far include undocumented students and ELL/ESL students, transitory students (sharing info between schools such as MCAS scores/current grades), increased MCAS/MEPA testing, the effects of NCLB on the urban population, the TOEFL and inaccurate MCAS testing (the static picture of a school rather than longitudinal picture of each student's progress.)

If you are interested in the issues facing Urban Counselors, please contact Don Coverdale (dcoverdale@boston.k12.ma.us , 617.635.9896), Tim Poynton (tpoynton@suffolk.edu, 617.994.6454) or Brad Toney (btoney@chelseaschools.com, 617.889.8418 ext. 1025), with questions, suggestions, or to add your name to our mailing list. Their goal is use technology to communicate with counselors in urban settings (and others interested in these issues) across the state as well as to continue to meet in person.

DOE WORKSHOP OFFERERING
The Career/Vocational Technical Education Unit of the Massachusetts Department of Education is pleased to be offering regional workshops, Gender and Sexual Orientation in Vocational-Technical Education, for teams of school personnel and students from schools with career/vocational technical education programs. Teams may include administrators, teachers, counselors, gender equity point people, coaches, GSA/diversity group members/advisors, student leaders, parents, and community members.

At these free workshops, teams of staff and students will be assisted in developing strategies for implementing the Board of Education Recommendations on the Support and Safety of Gay and Lesbian Students, the Perkins Act gender equity guidelines, and the Student Anti-Discrimination Laws. Best practices for addressing sexual orientation, gender, and diversity in schools with career/vocational technical education programs will be featured.

The workshops will be held on Thursday, December 7th at Hotel Northampton and December 14th at Spring Hill Suites in Devens. The program runs from 8:30 - 1:00. For more information or to register contact Jeanette Cuevas at jcuevas@doe.mass.edu.

NEACAC CAREER COLLOQUIUM
Are you finishing a graduate degree program in counseling or interested in a job in College Admission Counseling? The New England Association for College Admission Counseling is sponsoring a Career Colloquium which will feature seasoned Admission and College Counseling professionals discussing careers in admissions and secondary school college counseling. You will learn practical information about the college counseling profession, graduate school opportunities, the types of jobs available, how to begin and manage your search, how to market yourself, on-site résumé review for you to receive immediate feedback from experienced hiring managers. Go to https://www.neacac.org/pdo_cc.cfm to register for this program being held at Northeastern University and Springfield College on January 30.

COMMITTEE CHAIR PROFILE
Dr. Kathleen Barrett joined the MASCA Governing Board as Committee Chair for the Awards and Publicity Committee in the fall of 2005. Dr. Barrett is a Counselor Educator at Saint Joseph College in West Hartford Connecticut specializing in school counseling. A strong advocate for
involvement in professional organizations, Dr. Barrett encourages and inspires her graduate students to take an active role in their professional school counseling organizations, on both a state and a national level.

Dr. Barrett’s contributions to MASCA include the development and implementation of MASCA’s first Graduate Student Carousel which premiered at our organization’s fall conference in 2005. Reaching out to counselor education programs across the commonwealth, Dr. Barrett created an opportunity for graduate students in school counseling programs to experience professional conference presentation for the first time. The first Graduate Student Carousel was a great success, drawing more than a dozen student presenters and fostering the development of strong and productive connections between MASCA and Massachusetts counselor education programs. The graduate students participating in the program reflected that they benefited enormously and appreciated the opportunity to both have this experience, and to add it to their professional resumes. Dr. Barrett is proud to know that the Graduate Carousel tradition will continue in MASCA’s future conferences.

Dr. Barrett served MASCA as a presenter on MASCA’s first Graduate Student Panel in 2005 – where she delivered a presentation on the value and best use of networking strategies as students step out of the academic world and into the professional world of practice.

In addition to her graduate student focused contributions, Dr. Barrett has served MASCA as both a member of the Conference Committee and as a conference presenter on a number of occasions. Her workshops presented over the last several years at MASCA conferences have including Responding to Child Sexual Abuse: Practical Information and Strategies for the Elementary School Counselor, Children’s Voices: Bullying and Disclosure in Elementary School and Community Service Learning Initiatives and English Language Learners and the School Counselor.

As chair of the Awards and Publicity Committee, Dr. Barrett and her committee submitted two nominations for national school counseling awards through the American School Counseling Association last year – and Massachusetts won both! As an organization, we certainly appreciate the stars in our state, but to see them have the opportunity to see them shine in a national venue was very rewarding indeed.

Under Dr. Barrett’s leadership, the MSCA Awards Committee proposed and received MASCA Governing Board approval for a new MASCA award – designed to offer acknowledgment to both our organization’s newest shining stars and the veterans who have worked for many years in the field. The “Torch Award” will be presented annually to two recipients representing both ends of the practice continuum. The passing of the torch offers wonderful symbolism as our organization continues its journey of professional growth and evolution. Dr. Barrett also offers her skills regularly to MASCA, as a contributor to the Counselor’s Notebook and as a photographer at our conferences and events.

Dr. Barrett worked as a professional school counselor at the elementary level in Ware, Massachusetts. In 2004, Dr. Barrett was honored to have been selected to receive the prestigious Harold Grinspoon Foundation Distinguished Teacher Award for her work. She was also recently selected to serve on a national scholarship selection committee for the American Counseling Association. Dr. Barrett resides in Western Massachusetts along with her husband, Attorney John F. Dalsey and their 17 year old son Alexander. Her interests and hobbies include portrait and landscape photography, river kayaking, and swimming.

Of all that she learned in her work as a school counselor, most important, is the appreciation of the profound impact a school counselor may have on the lives and development of young children. With this understanding and with the hope to use her gifts in the best possible way, Dr. Barrett made the transition to higher education three years ago. She is a dedicated and enthusiastic professor and works hard to be the kind of mentor who will inspire her students to step into the professional world and do a boatload of good for children. MASCA is most fortunate to have her as part of our Governing Board.

Bob Bardwell
School Counselor & Director of Guidance & Student Support Services
President, Massachusetts School Counselors Association
Monson High School
55 Margaret Street
Monson, MA 01057
413.267.4589x1107
413.267.4157 (fax)
bardwellr@monsonschools.com

www.monsonschools.com/guidance
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