August 27, 2007

Dear Colleagues:

As we begin another year of great work helping students, families, schools, and communities this is a great time to share some thoughts with everyone. I would like to start out by thanking everyone for their support over the first year of my presidency. I have learned a lot during this time already and can’t wait to move into another school year.

Some of the things I have learned are that I appreciate each of our members. Having talked to other state presidents and presidents of other associations has affirmed by belief that the core of any organization is the members. As a group we represent everything that is great about school social work – caring, tradition, dedication, pride, and a love for the profession. In the process of the past year I have met and talked to many members and others outside of our association. Your input and involvement is essential to making FASSW the best possible representative of school social work here in Florida.

When Sandy San Miguel and I were meeting with other state associations at the School Social Work Association of America, it turns out we are one of the oldest associations in the nation, established in 1942. No other states present came close to us, and I will look into the other states that were not there. I know this type of longevity would not be possible without the help of the membership. I would also be remiss if I did not extend my appreciation for the board and how much they have helped through this process.

What do I get for my $50?

I would also like to take the time to share a little story with you. When I was in Orlando I was speaking to the president of the New Jersey Association of School Social Workers, Chip Tolen, and he said the most frequent he is asked is “What do I get for my $50.” This really got me thinking about all of the things that FASSW is doing, and that we probably don’t share enough of that with our members.

So I would like to take this opportunity to share with you everything that the association, its members, and the board are doing to help everyone and promote school social work. Some of the things we have done in the past year are:

Supported State and Local Conference

State Conference

Each year we put on a state conference that hits on pertinent issues in school social work. This year we are making sure to include something for everyone. Now that RtI is upon many of our districts we will offer an opportunity to hear about practical approaches to implementation. We also have a wonderful keynote speaker, Dr. Mary Beth Harris, who is the editor of the School Services Source Book, and a professor at the University of Central Florida. In addition, we have topics for everyone and a time to network and share with each other

Local Conferences

We were also able to provide some support for conferences that were provided locally in some areas. This is a great way for school social workers to get together throughout the year. Learning never ends, does it?

Ruth Anne St. John Scholarships

The association has been able to provide scholarships to MSW students for over 10 years. This $500 award goes to help a promising school social worker. It is essential that we continue to support and nurture our future school social workers.

Legislative Issues

We have been actively involved in both state and national level legislative issues. It is a high priority that we continue to press the needs of FASSW at each level and make sure your voices are heard on pertinent issues. We have made trips to Tallahassee and Washington, DC to meet with our representatives in the House and Congress to voice our needs.

Some of the issues we have raised are

Social Work Identification - We have pushed the forward the idea that in order to call yourself a social worker you should be a social work. Sounds simple enough.
Early Remediation Initiatives – More money has been put into this effort in the past year. Professional school social workers are vital to providing behavioral, safety, and academic success for all students.
Response to Intervention – The State of Florida has moved forward with this, and we want to be on the forefront of this movement.
Disproportionality – Minority students are over represented in special education classes and are ore likely to be suspended. We have supported FDOE initiatives to examine this issue and reducing these rates
Medicaid Reimbursement – We have supported the need to continue this federal program, which provides about $1 Billion annually to school districts. We have met with our national legislators to ask they support this bill.
National Certification – We have asked both SSWAA and NASW to examine this issue. We have advocated for the inclusion of school social workers with the goal of the creation of a Certified School Social Work Specialist, equivalent to the NBPTS certification.
Promoting Equality – FASSW has supported legislation that promotes educational, health, social services, housing, or employment opportunities to any individual. This includes anti-bullying efforts among many others.

State Suicide Prevention Council

The State of Florida has established a state suicide prevention council though Florida law. We have been able to get a school social worker placed on this committee, which will ensure that the views of school social workers are heard. One of our members, Carolyn Riggs, has volunteered to take this appointment. It is great to know that our members are willing to give their time to help our cause. Thank you Sandy for making this happen and Carolyn for volunteering.

Children’s Fund

FASSW has begun the process of establishing a children’s fund. We hope to be able to use this fund to help children in times of crisis and need. If Florida is struck by another natural (or unnatural) disaster, we want to be able to meet the needs of Florida’s students. School social workers deserve to be on the forefront of student services no matter what the situation

This is just a small portion of what FASSW is doing with your $50. I promise to update everyone throughout the year about what we are doing.

Please send me the great things you are doing too so we can share that with everyone. Let us celebrate together everything we do to help school social work, FASSW, our students, parents, and each other.

Conference 2007 – September 26-28 – Hutchinson Island, FL

Finally, I would like to end by thanking April Stein and the rest of the conference committee. She has done a fabulous job of getting a wide variety of speakers from around the country on a broad range of topics.

This is also a great time to invite everyone to come to the conference, learn some new things, share with other school social workers, network, and support FASSW. If you are planning to attend, please reserve your hotel before September 7^th. In order to keep our conference costs down, we contract with the hotel for a specific number of rooms. If we reach that number by a specific date there are no meeting space charges for us at the hotel. If we do not make the quota, they assess a fee. We have traditionally met the numbers, but sometimes late. So please register as early as possible. The good news is the hotel rate has been lowered to $99 per night. Now that is good news!

So when you register please be sure to let them know you are with FASSW so we can count that toward our numbers. If you have already registered, please let me know so I can pass that along. Information on the conference and registration is on the FASSW site at http://www.fassw.org/

Closing

I am looking forward to another year of serving everyone and seeing you at Hutchinson Island. If you have any feedback, comments, suggestions, or would like to be more involved in helping this great association, your association, please contact me right away. You can email me at lucior@pcsb.org or call me at 727-298-1620 ext. 161.

Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity and have a great year.

Robert Lucio, LCSW
President

Florida Association of School Social Workers

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