Essex County ASAP meeting
May 20, 2016 at Manny’s Restaurant, Montclair NJ
Attendance: Lisa Cassilli, Joe Cappello, Mary Cunningham, Bobbie Bolandi, Erica Slota, Courtney McShane, Lynn Belvedere, Nicole Facchinei, Judi Cohen, Hugh Witter, Phillip Lester,
ADAPT (Essex Prevention Coalition) gave an outstanding presentation last month April 29th on Drug Trends with the key note presentation by Frank Tarentino DEA agent with a riveting presentation. There was a comprehensive packet they included on Social Services and therapeutic treatment providers in Essex county. Nicole noticed some corrections needed. This will be scanned and sent to all the SACs.
Phillip began the meeting with perspective on how we are a part of a profession that matters deeply. He recently spoke with Bill Kane, discussing how ASAPNJ has grown into a truly respected professional association. We are making an impact. New Jersey has more SACs than any other state in the US in terms of the extent and maturity of Student Assistance professionals. This observation comes from Bill Kane who Phillip was fortunate to run into last week at Mannys after work.
There have been several stories of teenage deaths in South Jersey. During prom season we always see an increase in driving fatalities. Underage drinking and the death rate for teens skyrockets during celebratory seasons. This tragic reality accentuates our crucial role as SACs to be coordinating and involved with prevention and intervention programs for students and parents. Our slogan: SACs save lives and help Students Thrive “continues to capture the essence of our work.
Phillip shared an article about Adam Lanza that grew out of research and analysis on the factors that enabled his violent and horrendous brutal murder of children in Sandy Hook Elementary school in CT. The article covers the absence of mental health professionals involved with him that may have recognized the depth of his disability and disturbing preoccupation with guns. His mother didn’t persevere in seeking mental health services for him but instead kept him at home. Signs and symptoms of his social dysfunction went unheeded. Lanza was put on homebound status. There was no coordination of services.
The Threat Assessment workshop at the ASAPNJ conference pointed out that some anti-social kids involved with weapons are given a Psych diagnosis, when they should actually be given a search warrant.
Mary recommended a book by Sue Kleiborg , mother of Dylan Kleiborg – one of the Columbine teens that committed suicide after murdering students. Her book,– “Mother’s Reckoning “– goes back thru her parenting. She did exhaustive research. Educating on seeing the signs. Well worth a read. She covers the culture of Columbine, and how the media missed the real issues.
Natural High.org is a website started by Jon Sundt inspired by loss of his two younger brothers to drugs. His organization makes the DVDs containing amazing testimonials of well known athletes and successful people highly respected by teens sharing their convictions regarding illegal drugs and going after healthy addictions. For example Bethany Hamilton, (successful pro surfer with one arm)– sharing why she doesn’t use drugs. The site is great to share with students and for health classes. Phillip has been using their materials for many years. They happened to be a vendor at the ASAP conference for the first time this year. Phillip just met Jon in San Diego a few weeks ago.
Mary gave a great review of an amazing assembly speaker Matt Maher Because he is sponsored by State Farm, He comes to schools at no charge. His story is powerful. He was an honors student who became a professional Soccer player–was involved in a car accident while being intoxicated that resulted in the deatg of a father of 6 kids. He went to prison. His presentation is about how making one wrong decision can undo a life of good decisions.
Mary said his presentation incredibly engaging for students. His website throws people off as they may think he is going to be too religious but that is not the case. Courtney scheduled him for June 15 in Kearny.
Lisa Honored Lynn Belvedere with a deeply moving tribute about Lynn based on how much help Lynn has helped her in her development as a SAC. We all want to congratulate Lynn on her upcoming retirement and honor her 29 years of service as a SAC. Bill Kane in his conversation with Phillip the other day, described his memories of Lynn as – a “young pioneer” in the early years of ASAP. To quote Lisa, “you will truly be missed more than you know”
Lynn encouraged us all to keep up the good work.
It was Terrel’s request that we discuss the topic of accountability and importance of collecting evidence that we may be called upon by our administration and Board of Education to justify our positions. The fact that so many SACs were cut from Newark years ago is a stark reminder of how important this is to our survival as SACs. While we cannot be required to provide personal names due to confidentiality, we still need to be diligent with record keeping and ready to provide numbers of students we are seeing. Numbers of positive drug screens and referrals for treatment are actually important in demonstrating the need for our work. Some SACs have mistakenly used confidentiality as a cover up for lack of good record keeping which also runs the risk of appearing as if we have an attitude of secrecy.
Record Keeping for Evaluations
Some SACs are under Special Services and others under Guidance. Each comes with their unique pros and cons depending on how well our supervisors understand our role. Some of us are evaluated based on our record keeping and others of us are not. Unfortunately some of our supervisors don’t understand our work and yet are often the ones that evaluate us. Providing them monthly reports and quantitative data is a powerful element that can raise respect and awareness to our profession.
Whatever system of note taking or record keeping we adopt, It behooves us to be able to produce that evidence if and when asked.
Variety of Approaches
The group shared various approaches to record keeping. Phillip shared a spread sheet from a SAC in Middleton and Nicolle will send a spread sheet from QSAC that she finds helpful.
Judi shared the value of proactively meeting with parents and Presidents of the Home and School association. Having evening meetings with them can go a long way in giving them a better sense of our work and the challenges we are seeing in terms of substance abuse and mental health.
Courtney shared how she was expected to make monthly reports when she was at Belleville but that is no longer the case at Kearny. She finds herself still making monthly reports for herself and feels she has a system that will allow her to see numbers and issues quite quickly.
Lynn shared about a time in the early years when she was at Bernardsville and her position was cut. She then collected the evidence of her work and the numbers of students she was helping. The outcry of the community over her being cut had a powerful impact on her superintendant and he decided to keepher position. Shereinforced the importance of having the numbers
Mary has a system in which she figures out percentages of students she sees with various issues. This ability to show our work with percentages can be very useful if we ever want to make grphs and effective visual presentations for our Board of Education.
Hugh Witter – thanked us for welcoming him to the group and shared about his background and journey to becoming a SAC at Montclair. He also shared that he was given a helpful tool by Andrew Evangelista for keeping records. He will see about getting Andrew’s permission to share it with the group
Although spending time documenting may take away from valuable time with kids. But in the long run it will ensure our position so we will be able to remain available for kids in the future and keep the SAC position solid.
Because of the skills you have – its not surprising that administrators may pull us away to do non-SAC related jobs that will take us away from helping students. We must be proactive and guard our responsibilities – Our position is to be separate and distinct from other positions. We often have to teach administrators what we do and when they do, they will protect the position.
Future plans for ECASP : To have these regional meeting at various treatment sites and even at our respective schools if possible. Be thinking of possible sites and possible topics for training purposes. We will continue to provide a welcoming and nurturing community for fellow SACs.
The ASAPNJ executive board along with Bergen chapter of ASAPNJ is putting out the call for proposals for workshops for next year’s Annual Conference. Be thinking of ideas you would like to get or give on professional development in becoming a more effective SAC.
Anyone who attended this meeting and who needs a certificate for professional development hours and accountability to their school for attendance is welcome to let Phillip know. If you will include your fax number and he will fax a certificate to you.
Wishing everyone a safe and restful summer! --Phillip