Presidential Perspective
ISPA President Greetings and good job, Friends and Colleagues! Something I continue to say to our parents and families, “good job, mom; good job, dad.” Collectively, we may be running out of steam. Our energy is running low. We are heading into the end of the school year and June will be here before we know it. Advocacy for each other and our students/families/communities is very much needed! This year of Collaborating for Advocacy may be coming to an end soon by the end of June 2025, but our advocacy efforts certainly will not be ending. On Wednesday, April 30th, ISPA held its first Springfield Illinois Hill / Lobby Day. We had two training sessions for members and NASP members to work on our advocacy skills. There is a lot of work left to do. While we may feel overwhelmed by the state of things for education, mental health, and the field of school psychology, many hands make light work. Share your stories with us and your legislators! Tell them about your fears and concerns, with the battle wounds and saddening state of mental health in our schools. Share your hopes and dreams of what our schools could do with more of us to support children’s mental health. In this issue, we will include a Summary of Illinois Bills on ISPA’s radar, a One Pager, and a link on instructions on submitting Witness Slips. Our time for self-care and being kind to yourselves includes writing personal affirmations for ourselves and loved ones. You all have SKILLS! Complete a legislator lookup here to reach out to your legislator with advocacy efforts. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or want to share your perspective to enhance the work of our association and your stories as we continue our year of Collaborating for Advocacy at [email protected]. As always, thank you to all of you, members, school psychologists, educators, ISPA Governing Board members, for your dedication.
Jyoti Kolodziej Your ISPA President In addition, we have one(1) more Governing Board meeting that we hold each year, in which members are welcome to attend as guests! Governing Board Meeting - Saturday, June 7, 2025 - 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (in-person / Location is Peoria, Illinois at Embassy Suites) |
