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Spring Sessions
OPEN
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or registration:
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High Threat Risk:
Doing What You Can When You Can
In this session, red-flag indicators will be discussed, safety plans for school students and educators will be discussed, and tips for healthy partnerships with law enforcement (on campus and in community) will be shared to spread awareness and encourage prevention.
at ESC Region 12 in Waco
Session #148928
Bullying is the Problem:
Now What?
Now that we know it's bullying, what do we do? While we may be familiar with bullying awareness, there sometimes is less of a focus on building strategies and supports for dealing with the situation and ultimately coming to resolution. In this presentation, we'll explore reasons that bullying may occur, how to intervene and help victims become empowered, while finding ways to help the bully (or bullies) learn better social strategies and not continue maladaptive behaviors on the school campus.
Session #126520
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Digital Citizenship with Zach Marks
I often reference this video by a really awesome kid who talks to teens and pre-teens about
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP.
Click on the link above for more!
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SCHOLAR IS UPDATED!
Check out our new tabs and resources.
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ApplyTexas
Counselor Suite
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If you are a counselor in an ESC Region 12 school district working with students on their ApplyTexas application, please e-mail Jeni Janek at [email protected] to activate your ApplyTexas Counselor Suite.
Accounts are authorized for one year, and must be reauthorized by user request.
This will be a contributing factor in the 60x30Tx initiative in years to come.
E-mail today!
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USDE Corrective Action Plan for SpED in Texas
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During the 2016-2017 school year, the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) performed a series of onsite monitoring visits to review Texas' compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The final report was provided to TEA on January 10, 2018.
The findings from that report require TEA to develop a plan to address four corrective actions. An integral part of the plan development process will be the gathering of input from stakeholders and other interested Texans. There will be actions that could potentially have an impact on school counselors.
Click on
SPED
to learn more from TEA. There is also a To The Administrator Addressed (TTAA) letter about Timelines that may be of interest to you. Click on TIMELINE to learn more.
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TEA on Foundation HS Plan and IGC for TAKS testers
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There is a survey now open for schools to share their insights regarding the FOUNDATION High School Program:
American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the Texas Education Agency (TEA) were awarded a five-year (2017-2022) partnership grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education to examine the long-term impacts of Texas' Foundation High School Program on students' postsecondary success. The purpose of this letter is to ask for your participation in a brief survey as part of the larger study.
About the Survey
As part of this study, AIR will survey all districts in the state to understand how districts continue to promote and implement the Foundation High School Program and support middle school students and staff with endorsement selection.
There is also proposed comment for updating Ch. 74 regarding Individual Graduation Committees (IGC) for TAKS testers. To learn more, click on
IGC for TAKS
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This month's Stellar Counselors are Marsha Creek and Courtney Hammond of Valley Mills Elementary and Middle School/High School (respectively). These ladies have shown enormous fortitude under duress, yet continue to care for and support their campuses.
We appreciate you both as
Stellar counselors in ESC Region 12!
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It's very rare when teaching and counseling children that I don't learn something. I'll never forget Sarah. She was a street-wise hispanic teen who had pretty much seen more in her young seventeen years of life than I could dream of in my 29 years by the time I met her. She was highly intelligent, but in a special work program to accelerate her learning and get her out of school and into work, without the hope or promise of secondary education. By the time I got her as a junior, there was little I could do academically to help her make up for such deficits. She would stay with me one more year as a senior, teaching me about how challenged and street-smart kids see the world, an education no book could have ever taught me.
One day, Sarah came to class very stoic and sullen, not at all like the jovial and spirited girl I knew. We went through the period and I waited patiently for the first opportunity to address her demeanor. With every student out of the room, I saw the tears well up in Sarah's eyes. "Everyone's leaving", she said. "They are all going somewhere ...to college, to trade schools. They all talk about it at lunch. Scholarships and applications and all that. I'm going no where". She threw herself on the floor in the corner of the room. I stood speechless.
We failed her. We let this happen. We didn't give her the chance, or stick with her through the hard times or whatever went wrong when it did. She saw a glimpse of the future she thought she would have, and it looked so terribly bleak.
I called for the Assistant Principal, a dear friend and colleague, who I hoped had more words than I did. We spent an hour talking to Sarah, trying to build her broken spirit back up. Sarah did graduate, and for a short time, I lost track of her.
Until one day, I got a post card from Thailand. "Having a great time, wish you were here." Knowing that there wasn't a single soul I could think of that traveled to Thailand, I flipped the card over to see the sender: my Sarah.
She went into missionary work after she left our little school and started a life's journey to conquer the world. The street-wise kid I knew became the world-wise woman I only dreamed of.
I can't say if anything that happened that day contributed to who Sarah is today. All I know is that she had so much more to offer and such greater value than what labeled her early in life. Sarah's an amazing woman now. She did go somewhere, and she's making a difference in many places, far beyond any college or trade school. |
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