As I enter my second year as president of Division 16 (School Psychology), I am proud of the continued anti-racism work that started with the presidency of Enedina Garcia Vazquez, PhD. Engaging in anti-racism work within our membership has fostered shared opportunities for growth, understanding, and camaraderie among members. There have been two initiatives that have been innovative and forward-looking. The first was initiated by the Division 16 Antiracism Workgroup which hosted three School Psychology Anti-Racism Unconferences. An unconference is a participant-driven gathering that seeks to dismantle hierarchical structures and co-create knowledge and resources. The hope was to uproot school psychological practices that perpetuate systems of racism and oppression. Participants’ ideas, work, and contributions were vital to making this happen. These have been successful gatherings that offered a safe and inclusive space to engage in meaningful discussions about equity, diversity, and the challenges facing our country, profession, and education.
The second initiative was part of the 2023 presidential agenda of Michelle Perfect, PhD. A task force was created to address the legislative attempts to censor diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) work in higher education. The task force collected and tracked data on state-level legislative initiatives and activities that oppose DEIJ and promote censorship of individuals in higher education. This resulted in a Playbook for Educators that provides academicians, practitioners, and students the tools and strategies necessary to empower them to push back on legislation that upends the democratic values of equality, justice, and freedom for all. This work led to two presentations at the NASP and APA conventions. The playbook will soon be available and shared on Division 16 media and communication outlets.
As president, I plan to continue this work with my platform focused on advocacy in 2025 which seems the next natural progression in this anti-racism work.
Division 16 is also very proud of their ongoing webinar series which features researchers and practitioners in school psychology engaging in innovative activities related to the field. In 2023, webinars included Supervision Specific to School Psychology: The Developmental, Ecological, Problem-solving (DEP) Model, presented by Dennis Simon, MD, and Mark Swerdlik, PhD, and A School Psychologists’ Primer to Race-Based Stressors, presented by Geremy Grant, PhD, NCSP (Alfred University). In 2024, presentations included Promoting Students’ Well-Being by Building their Social and Emotional Skills by Sara Prewett, PhD, and Jennifer Robitaille. Some live webinars have solicited over 100 registrations. Several webinars are available online on the Division 16 website, with the remaining live webinars intended to be accessible in the coming months. The webinars are available for CEUs.
