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President's Message
Interesting
Times
Greetings and welcome to a new school
year in the Oklahoma School Psychological Association. I extend my thanks to past-president, Candis Hogan, for
her exemplary leadership and assistance in making the transition of officers a smooth one. Congratulations to
Nancy Barton, our new president-elect. I am honored and looking forward to a great year serving you.
An old Chinese curse states, "May you live your life in interesting times." As I begin this year, I
feel duly cursed because these are certainly interesting times. I doubt that in the last thirty years so many
potentially destructive forces have converged to affect the helping professions and helping professionals here
in Oklahoma. Many of these forces, which include but are not limited to legislative wrangling, Medicaid reimbursement
issues, and the demise of the Regional Educational Service Centers, have directly impacted OSPA, its members, and
its leaders. With all of this facing us, I believe it is time to take a united and proactive stance.
What do we want our profession to be like in the 21st Century and how do we get there? These are exciting and
challenging questions because numerous possibilities exist, which then challenge each of us to be a part of the
profession's shaping and molding. We will all take a role in shaping our future, regardless of what we do. As
our social reality rumbles, groans, and changes, and as we encounter obstacles along the way, we want to remain
a viable and credible profession. This requires all of us working together to ensure that school psychology in
Oklahoma will be at its best in serving children, as well as the careers of psychometrists and school psychologists.
While respecting our differences, let us stand in unity so we can form that which is invincible in our efforts
to enhance our profession and make our world a better place line which to be.
OSPA is like a jigsaw puzzle. Each of you being active in your professional association ensures that there are
no missing pieces. Each of you, with your energy, presence, and support, helps OSPA evolve and grow. Being a
professional school psychologist is a gift of magnificent proportion. We must be willing to work together to make
the public aware of what school psychologists do to assist the youth of today.
Some of the things I hope for the association are to enhance our profession and keep the lines of communication
open among all school psychologists through technology and opportunities for discourse, to promote the identity
of school psychologists to the public, to promote diversity and cultural competence in the profession, to identify
new leaders, to document our OSPA history, and to promote positive changes in the profession.
As a professional, what are your dreams? What role will you take to ensure the reality of your dreams? These
issues are not new. The solutions are not new, but they are possible. What is necessary is commitment. As the
year unfolds, let us all commit to making OSPA strong in representing and advocating for children's needs and ensuring
that we be at our best for those we serve.
We have a strong leadership team which is excited about serving you and eager to make a difference in the school
psychology profession in Oklahoma. We want to meet your professional needs. The addresses on our Web Pages are
accurate, so please do not hesitate to call, fax, or email me or others on the board so that OSPA can continue
to become an association that will serve all school psychologists, psychometrists, and counselors effectively in
Oklahoma. I am asking for your support as I assume this leadership role, and I look forward to working with you.
It is an honor to be associated with such an amazing profession with so many outstanding individuals. We are
in interesting times, let's make the most of it in a positive way.
Best Wishes,
Tracy H. Fenton, OSPA President
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OSPA
at Leadership Conference
OSPA participated in the State Department of Education's Annual Leadership Conference on July 17-19, 2002, in Oklahoma
City. Members volunteered to set up and staff a booth to provide information to attendees regarding our organization
and the many duties of school psychologists. Those assisting with this effort were Tracy Fenton, Tamara Mitchell,
Steve Crane, Candis Hogan, Elizabeth Hatcher, Jami Haywood, and Jane Bias. As part of our strategic plan and objectives,
OSPA members continue to educate the general public and school officials regarding our organization and the important
work we do for children in our state. Volunteers are always needed for this endeavor. If you would like to assist
with future events, please contact Joyce Lowery or Tracy Fenton.
Elizabeth Hatcher is pictured in front of OSPA's display.
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OSPA GEOGRAPHICALLY
Regional activities and services are set up along the following county divisions, which determine the regions.
Check your county of employment and match it to your representative. Contact information for all five representatives
is in this issue's listing of the OSPA Executive Board 2003-2004.
|
Counties
|
| Northeast |
Northwest |
Southwest |
Southeast |
Central |
| Adair |
Alfalfa |
Beckham |
Atoka |
Cleveland |
| Cherokee |
Beaver |
Caddo |
Bryan |
Oklahoma |
| Craig |
Blaine |
Comanche |
Carter |
|
| Creek |
Canadian |
Cotton |
Choctaw |
|
| Delaware |
Cimarron |
Grady |
Coal |
|
| Kay |
Custer |
Greer |
Garvin |
|
| Lincoln |
Dewey |
Harmon |
Haskell |
|
| Mayes |
Ellis |
Jackson |
Hughes |
|
| Muskogee |
Garfield |
Jefferson |
Johnston |
|
| Noble |
Grant |
Kiowa |
Latimer |
|
| Nowata |
Harper |
Love |
LeFlore |
|
| Okfuskee |
Kingfisher |
McClain |
McCurtain |
|
| Okmulgee |
Logan |
Stephens |
McIntosh |
|
| Osage |
Major |
Tillman |
Marshall |
|
| Ottawa |
Robert Mills |
Washita |
Murray |
|
| Pawnee |
Texas |
|
Pittsburg |
|
| Payne |
Woods |
|
Pontotoc |
|
| Rogers |
Woodward |
|
Pottawatomie |
|
| Sequoyah |
|
|
Pushmataha |
|
| Tulsa |
|
|
Seminole |
|
| Wagoner |
|
|
|
|
| Washington |
|
|
|
|
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OSPA LOOKS BACK
OSPA was founded in January of 1974. This year marks the beginning of our 30th Year. During this anniversary year,
each issue of OSPA Today will look back over the last 29 years of our history, beginning with a listing of Presidents
of OSPA.
1974 (Interim).................Charles Simon
1974-75..........................Jim Reese, Ph. D.
1975-76..........................Dan Doss
1976-77..........................Jacques Cunningham
1977-78..........................Jim Mason
1978-79..........................Betty Ray
1979-80..........................Ken Hobby
1980-81..........................Marty Anderson
1981-82..........................Bill Allen
1982-83..........................Shelley Geyer, Ph. D.
1983-84..........................Leslie Hale, Ph. D.
1984-85..........................Darla Griffin
1985-87..........................Lynn Pollock Cagle
1987-88..........................Stephen Crane
1988-89..........................Helen Copp
1989-90..........................Joyce Lowrey
1990-91..........................John Corpolongo
1991-92 ..........................Val McClanahan, Ph. D.
1992-93..........................Nancy Rossow, Ph. D.
1993-94..........................David McIntosh, Ph. D.
1994-95..........................Mary Ellen Jones
1995-96..........................Angie Love, Ph. D.
1996-97..........................Peggy Kerr, Ph. D.
1997-98..........................Linda Nickell
1998-99..........................Linda Sanders
1999-2000......................Debby Wheat
2000-01..........................Jean Benson
2001-02..........................Judy Oehler-Stinnett, Ph. D.
2002-03..........................Candis Hogan, Ph. D.
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OSPA-OSHA
LEGISLATIVE COLLABORATION
By Candis Hogan, Ph.D.
OSPA continues to collaborate with the Oklahoma Speech and Hearing Association to achieve its legislative goals.
Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Kansas were chosen by ASHA to receive grants for assistance in advocating for nationally
certified speech pathologists to obtain professional recognition and salary bonuses comparable to those currently
received by the Nationally Certified Teachers. Oklahoma is the only state in which the speech pathologists' state
association is collaborating with another group of education professionals—i.e., school psychologists. This joint
effort has enabled the two groups to pool funds to afford a lobbyist (of which OSPA pays 30%), who has agreed to
continue to work for no additional funds for the coming legislative year (due to the state's financial crisis,
which precluded the passing of any bills involving money in the last session).
On July 28, 2003, OSHA hosted a Grassroots Legislative training presented by Janet Deppe, ASHA's States Advocacy
Chair, with the lobbyist assisting. The OSPA Board was invited. Drs. Candis Hogan, Past President, and Marshall
Andrew Glenn, NASP Delegate, represented OSPA and were named to the OSHA Legislative Committee. Some workshop
topics included the process of how a bill becomes a law, bill language, timeline with key deadlines, developing
a grassroots network, suggested strategies, etc.
OSPA's three main legislative goals include 1) Professional recognition and salary bonus for Nationally Certified
School Psychologists: This would be a positive incentive for retention that would encourage veteran school psychologists
to stay in the field and in the state, and for recruitment to motivate others to enter the field and to earn the
NCSP credential, thus upgrading their skills and improving school psychological services to children and youth.
This is in line with No Child Left Behind's "highly qualified teachers" philosophy. It is also a parity
or fairness issue. 2) Provisional Certificate: This is needed for school psychology interns to be allowed to work
in public schools and to be paid for their services until they are fully certificated/licensed by the state. It
could promote more job flexibility, while the intern is still under supervision; for example, covering for a colleague
out on maternity leave. 3) Elimination of unnecessary exams: The Oklahoma General Education Test and the Oklahoma
Professional Teacher Exam are no longer required for speech pathologists and should be eliminated for school psychologists
as well. This would reduce extra testing fees and remove these barriers to certification.
Ms. Deppe emphasized the importance of collaboration and encouraged both groups to develop e-mail networks to keep
members informed. Ideally OSPA and OSHA members in every House and Senate district would agree to telephone and/or
write a letter to their state senator or representative about these issues when the time is right.
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Editor's Note
My thanks to all of you who have contributed articles to OSPA Today this past year. "Thank you" goes
to Candis Hogan, Jill Woodard, Joyce Lowrey, Stephen Crane, Sandra Reese-Keck,
Jami Haywood, Marshall Andrew Glenn, Cindie Milford, Tracy Fenton, Maya Rao, Darla Griffin, Elizabeth Hatcher,
John Nomura, Erika Stevens, and Charlie
Chastain.
Please share your information or pictures with the membership. Original articles, test/book/software reviews, happenings
around the state (such as retirement and employment announcements and notices of upcoming events), and letters
to the editor are welcome. Due dates for submissions are August 1, November 1, and February 1.
Peggy Kerr, Ph.D.
Editor
peggykerr@ospaweb.org
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BOOK REVIEW
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
Author: Rachel Simmons
By Candis Hogan, Ph.D.
Most literature about bullying prevention focuses on the aggression of boys, but Rachel Simmons
brings to light the secret world of girls' aggression, which is just as harmful but more difficult to
recognize. Research shows that parents and teachers discourage aggression in girls early on,
while either encouraging or ignoring the same in boys. School age peers create social groups that
value niceness in girls and toughness in boys. Culture derides overt aggression in girls as
unfeminine, which leads girls to engage in other, nonphysical forms of aggression. Behind a veil
of sweetness, girls' social lives were described by researchers as "ruthless," "aggressive,"
and
"cruel." Because they lack the tools to deal with everyday feelings of anger, hurt, betrayal, and
jealousy, girls' feelings stew and fester before boiling to the surface and unleashing torrents of
rage.
Alternative aggressions were identified in three subcategories: relational, indirect, and social
aggression. Relational aggression involves acts that harm others through threat of or actual
damage to relationships or feelings of acceptance, friendship, or group inclusion. This includes
ignoring someone in order to punish them, excluding someone socially for revenge, using
negative body language or facial expressions, sabotaging someone else's relationships, or
threatening to end a relationship unless a request is granted. Indirect aggression is covert
behavior that allows the perpetrator to avoid confronting her target by using others to inflict pain
on a targeted person, such as by spreading a rumor. Social aggression uses some indirect
aggression like rumor spreading or social exclusion with the intent to damage self-esteem or
social status within a group.
Because girls are not encouraged to express their anger, it often goes underground. The
importance of relationships to girls becomes so paramount that it can be devastating to lose a
friend or become the object of a clique's derision. The price is high: repression of their true
feelings, loss of self-esteem, the sense of being crazy, less authentic relationships, lack of
confidence, the silencing of their own true voice. The willingness to give oneself completely to
another's omnipotence in a friendship is disturbingly similar to that of a victim who remains in a
violent relationship. Not teaching girls to know and resist these dynamics may be laying
groundwork for violence in their adult lives.
Rachel Simmons contends that girls need to learn to deal with the uncomfortable feelings that
often precede anger and conflict. We must stop rewarding manipulation and other alternative
aggressions. Girls must be encouraged to embrace respectful acts of assertion, and learn
healthier ways of dealing with life's inevitable problems. Our task is to give every girl, every
parent, and every teacher a shared language to address girls' conflicts and relationships, where
relationship is defined in new and healthier ways and girls are empowered to negotiate conflict.
Girls who are victimized would know that they are not alone, and would enjoy protection at school.
Giving girls the ability to speak their truths and honor their peers' truths is the greatest gift we can
give them. In the hidden world of aggression that unfolds behind adults' backs every day, this
book is a wakeup call to all who care deeply about girls' development.
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Kay
Kaufman Serves on Executive Board
Kay Kaufman holds the office of Northeast Representative for OSPA. Kay has worked for the State Department of
Education as a psychometrist at the Muskogee Regional Education Center for 17 years. She is currently working
for Tahlequah Public Schools as a School Psychologist.
Kay attended Northeastern State University and several
universities in Arizona and Missouri. Her husband, Jim, is a retired school administrator. They have one daughter,
Lori. Lori and her husband, David, live in the Kansas City area. Their three grandsons are avid ball players
and Kay and Jim love to see them play ball. Kay's hobbies include reading, quilting and watching her grandsons
grow.
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