Focus: Self-Care COVID 19
April 14, 2020
THIS WEEK'S FOCUS: Self-Care
As we head into our fifth week of sheltering in place, the excitement that I once felt about working remotely from home and joining Zoom meetings has definitely shifted as we settle into this new reality.

There are days when I find myself motivated and productive, and others when my energy is low. The topic of self-care is mentioned in almost every webinar I attend, yet I find myself falling into old habits and not making my mental and physical health a priority.

As school counselors it can be difficult to establish boundaries between when to help others and when to be present for your loved ones and yourself. As many of you prepare to head back into work in a virtual setting, carving out time for self-care will be more important than ever. 

The California Association of School Counselors (CASC) has created a Self-Care Challenge that I encourage all of you to join. Pick a start date and then start posting your self-care on Instagram or Facebook and tag @SD_SchoolCounselor and use #CASCSelfCareChallenge and #sdcounselors. Let's see how well we do as a community of school counselors and let's celebrate our journey of self-care.

Self-Care Resources:

Tanya Bulette
Counseling Coordinator
San Diego County Office of Education
SOME GOOD NEWS
SGN with John Krasinski
In a time when most news channels are focused on covering the negativity of this pandemic, John Krasinski steps up to create a home-based show titled Some Good News to highlight some of the positive stories in our world. His show will make you laugh and it will make you cry, and through it he finds a unique way to make connections with us all that bring hope and joy during a difficult time. Below are links to his first three episodes. New shows air every Sunday night on YouTube, so make sure to subscribe to his channel.

SCHOOL COUNSELOR SPOTLIGHT
San Diego County FAFSA/CADAA Challenge Winners

The first San Diego County Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and California Dream Act Application (CADAA) Challenge kicked off in October 2019 at the fall California Student Aid Commission workshop for high school counselors. The challenge was initiated to encourage districts and high schools to set a goal to increase their completion rates.

Data was gathered from the Race to Submit website along with district leaders who provided accurate enrollment data for the class of 2020. We broke our awards into four categories based on the number of seniors enrolled at each school. Each category had two winners (one for highest percentage increase in completed applications, and one for highest percentage of completions) and each recipient was presented a banner at the San Diego School Counselor Con on March 9.


CATEGORY I — Senior Class of 2020 Enrollment of 99 students or less
  • Kearny High-School of Digital Media and Design, San Diego Unified School District — Highest increase in FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 27%
  • e3 Civic High — Highest FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 94%

SUB CATEGORY — Special Programs and Alternative Schools
  • East Village High — Highest FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 100%

CATEGORY II — Senior Class of 2020 Enrollment of 100-299
  • Mount Miguel High School, Grossmont Union High School District — Highest increase in FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 17%
  • San Diego High School of International Studies, San Diego Unified School District — Highest FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 85%

CATEGORY III — Senior Class of 2020 Enrollment of 300-499
  • El Cajon Valley High School, Grossmont Union High School District — Highest increase in FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 14%
  • Valhalla High School, Grossmont Union High School District — Highest FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 67%

CATEGORY V — Senior Class of 2020 Enrollment of 500 or more
  • Escondido High School, Escondido Union High School District — Highest increase in FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 6%
  • San Marcos High School, San Marcos Unified School District — Highest FAFSA/CADAA completion rate: 82%

DISTRICT CHAMPS 
  • SMALL DISTRICT: Carlsbad Unified School District — 10% increase in FAFSA/CADAA completion rate
  • LARGE DISTRICT: Grossmont Union High School District — 9% increase in FAFSA/CADAA completion rate 

SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Last year, we had a 49% completion rate. As of March 5, it jumped to 57%, an 8% increase !

Congratulations to all school counselors on your outstanding work toward increasing FAFSA/CADAA completion rates. More students now have access to college because of your efforts to help them and their families understand how financial aid works.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES

RCOE School Counselor On-the-Go Webinar Series

All webinars are all scheduled from 11 a.m. to noon PST.

As our school districts move toward distance learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the College and Career Readiness unit in the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) is offering the free School Counselor On-the-Go webinar series virtually in April and May to meet current needs in response to COVID-19.
 
To ensure the technology security of each webinar and in order to track needs for future topics, RCOE asks participants to register for each session through the related OMS link by 5 p.m. the day before the scheduled webinar. You will then receive an e-mail with the Zoom link to use for the webinar or you may also dial in.

To access previous webinars and resources, follow these directions to create a free account on the Riverside County Office of Education website.

CASC Webinar: Counselors in Schools, Not Cops!
Wednesday, April 15, 3:30 p.m.

Register for this free webinar h osted by CASC, ACLU, and Public Advocates to learn about issues that school counselors are facing during the COVID-19 school closures, the way California spends money on schools, and how to advocate for more school counselors and other resources. Attendees will also learn a variety of ways to support CASC's legislative and advocacy work.

SDCOE Mental Health in Schools Collaborative Meeting
Friday, April 17, 9 to 11 a.m.

Register for this free webinar hosted by the SDCOE Student Support Services department. Topics of discussion include free online intervention to increase student resiliency, student check-ins, legislative and mental health updates, online suicide prevention training, and SDCOE COVID-19 resources. Space is limited! Registration will close Thursday (April 16) at 2 p.m.
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE AND RESOURCES
The weekly newsletter and resources created by the SDCOE have been posted on the SDCOE COVID-19 website on the "Resources for School Counselor and School Social Workers" tab under "District Resources." They are also published each week in this newsletter.


The following communication tools and resource guides have been created for districts and school sites to distribute and use:

STAY CONNECTED
If you have any questions or comments on the Counselor Network newsletter, please contact Tanya Bulette  at tanya.bulette@sdcoe.net .
Get up-to-the-minute information about what's happening at SDCOE and in our districts across the county.