Illinois School Counselor Association
a state branch of the American School Counselor Association
a division of the Illinois Counseling Association
Ray Piagentini, President
Venisa Beasley-Green, President-Elect
Christina K. Nolan, NCC, LCPC, Past President
Laurie Siegel, President Elect-Elect
Daniel Stasi, Executive Director
ISCA Annual Report
ICA Governing Council Meeting
November 12, 2009
Membership
Membership continues to grow in our association. Our current membership is 610
compared with 540 members at this same time last year. This is a 13% increase.
ICA has been actively sending out renewal reminders by email and postal mail. ISCA
Executive Director, Dan Stasi follows up on those mailing by send reminders monthly to
past members who have not renewed. This year Venisa Beasely-Green devised a
membership contest to encourage renewals and new members. People who joined or
renewed with ISCA between September 20, 2009 and October 20, 2009 were
automatically entered into the drawing. Notices were sent by blast email to all ISCA
members. In addition Venisa distributed 1,000 brochures to all Chicago Public School
Counselors. Dan Stasi mailed brochures to all Illinois Public schools outside of Chicago.
A drawing will be held at the ISCA General Membership meeting on November 13, 2009
and the winner will receive a paid registration to the ASCA conference in Boston, MA in
2010.
Conferences
ISCA leadership is actively engaged in preparing for the April 17, 2009 ISCA Annual
Conference to be held at Northeastern Illinois University. Jeff Edwards and Nan Giblin,
faculty at NEIU, have been instrumental in helping ISCA in this planning process. Ray
Piagentini, President-Elect, leads the conference planning committee. We are
anticipating over 500 conference attendees on April 17, 2009. In addition, ISCA has
responded to the growing need to provide professional development downstate. We are
hosting an ISCA conference on April 24, 2009 to meet our colleague’s needs. For more
information check out http://www.ilschoolcounselor.org/iscaspringconference.cfm
Strategic Plan
An addition was made to the ISCA strategic plan to include a component of examining
ways ISCA can improve the efforts of Illinois to work on Suicide Prevention of school
age children.
Sample of Initiatives Completed and Ongoing
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Recertification – As of July, 2008 IL Type 73 certificate bearers are now required
to engage in professional development in order to renew their certificates. More
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information available on the ISCA homepage www.ilschoolcounselor.org There is
a power point there developed by the ISCA office that can be downloaded.
Banner and Bookmarks – An official ISCA Banner has been approved, designed
and purchased. It has already been to many conferences and meetings because of
its easy carrying ability. Check it out at the ISCA booth. In addition, utilizing the
same design, bookmarks have been created with a school calendar on the flip side.
They have been inserted in the tote bags for all attendees.
Public Policy & Legislation – ISCA as a member of CICO in conjunction with
IACAC held a Day on the Hill for counselors to talk with their legislators on
March 25, 2009 in Springfield. We will repeating that event in 2010. Look for
announcements of the date.
National School Counseling week Member Appreciation Special presentation. To
continue our emphasis on the need for more programming to assist schools on
Suicide Prevention in schools ISCA has hired Dr. David Capuzzi a nationally
renowned expert to speak on Thursday, February 4, 2010 with graduate students
and on Friday, February 5, 2010 with school staff. Thursday night is free to ISCA
member graduate students and Friday’s program is only $30 for ISCA members
including lunch. A brochure has been included in all ICA conference attendees
tote bags.
Annual Conferences. ISCA has scheduled a Chicago conference for April 9, 2010
at the Marriott Chicago O’Hare and on April 23, 2010 at the University of
Illinois-Springfield. ISCA has sent out a call for presenters. A form to apply to
present is available through the ISCA website. All proposals are submitted online
through the efforts of the ICA Executive Director. A conference information
page and registration form is available in all ICA conference attendee’s packets.
President Blast emails. President Ray Piagentini has sent out two messages to all
ISCA members through the cooperative assistance of the ICA executive director.
The ISCA quarterly newsletter has been distributed. Upcoming deadlines for
submission are: 12/1/09; 1/5/10; 4/25/10; 8/8/10. All are invited to submit articles
and photos for inclusion in the newsletter.
Respectfully Submitted,
Ray Piagentini
President, ISCA 2009-2010