I received the following email that I would like to share with the greater public community.  The announcement of Matt's Safe School Law brings to fruition the work of many child and student advocates who would like to bring an end to bullying as documented in my blog from March 2, 2011 and told in a summary that I provided in the Fall 2008 issue of Colleagues magazine (pp. 8-9).

Yesterday (March 1, 2011) I had the opportunity to attend a hearing on bullying sponsored by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The public was invited to share testimony about their experiences with bullying as the MCRC deliberates how they should respond to bullying in our community throughout Michigan.

So, I came across a great story shared by American School Counselor Association (ASCA)president, Brain Law and thought I needed to pass it along! I knew that this was the case when I spent ten minutes writing the following response as a comment to Brian's blog titled Through the Eyes of a Tree that was posted on the ASCA Scene (a free social network blog for school counselors):                                        

If you are a school counselor or other school professional looking to establish how your students are different as a result of your work with them, the Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCaL) is for you!  This resource has been provided by counselor educator and national presenter, Trish Hatch. 

In case you haven't heard:

Last spring a report commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and published by the Public Agenda elevated the concern that students are not getting the support they need when it comes to choosing a college or career or getting financial aid for college.  The report, titled Can I Get a Little Advice Here?, detailed the findings from telephone interviews that were conducted from May 7 – June 24, 2009, with 614 young adults aged 22 to 30 years old who have experience with some post-secondary education. Key findings included the following:

I hope you are not alarmed when I tell you that I have a little voice in my head that takes pleasure in taunting me with the notion that I really have no idea what I am doing...that I am some kind of impostor in the various roles that I take on...and that it will not be long before everyone around me finds me out.This school counseling blog hit home with me as it relates to keeping this voice in check.

I have been blessed in my ten years of experience as a school counselor to work alongside two principals who both understood the importance of a collaborative partnership between school counselors and principals.  What I appreciated most about our relationship was that each principal, one at the middle school level and one at the high school level, had a high level of respect for my position and training as a school counselor.

If you are a school counselor and not signed up for the ASCA SCENE, you are missing out!  This networking site is a professional meeting place for school counseling professionals to share and learn from each other. Get answers to your school counseling questions, share your lesson plans and best practices, become the best school counselor you can be.

I subscribe to a listserv for counselor educators and supervisors called CESNET and this thread came up posted by Wes Irwin:

I was surprised to learn that the school district that I recently moved into, Mounds View School District, MN has replaced school counselors with "Deans." If you are interested you can read more about this on their website via a link to their electronic newsletter http://www.moundsviewschools.org/ from the Spring of 2010.  This school district is pretty highly rated. I do not yet know the background as to what brought this about. Is this a trend nationwide?