ISCA Board Candidates and Election 2010
Here is information on candidates for the ISCA Board who would take office beginning July 1, 2010. Each will serve a three- year term on the ISCA Board. The President-Elect will become the president of ISCA during the 2011-12 school year.
ISCA will be sending out ballots to the membership as soon as possible.
For President-Elect:
Tim Lambertsen
Dowling Catholic High School, West Des
Moines, IA
(Tim has served the past year as an appointment to fill in the term as the high school vice-president)
Biographical Information
My graduate educational work has prepared me to work in the field of counseling within three different specialties. I currently hold a CRC (Certified Rehabilitation Counselor) which gives me education and experience in working with Individuals who have disabilities. This is something that I continuously draw upon in the educational setting, not only as the accommodation coordinator, but in working with all students facing a wide variety of challenges that may limit their ability to access education. My second area of specialty is mental health. I am currently a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Private Practice. I work with children and adolescents addressing mental health needs. As a practicing clinician, I find that my clinical work helps me to effectively identify and address challenges students face and work with families to support efforts in helping their student. I also find that I have the unique ability to bridge the gap between schools and mental health services for students which often times can be overlooked. Finally, I am a licensed professional school counselor working in a high school with students in 9 – 12th grade. While I have no prior teaching experience, I believe that my past experience working in schools and working with children and their families, allows me to quickly adapt to the needs of my students or the needs of staff.
Vision for School Counseling in Iowa and the role of ISCA
I am currently applying for the President-Elect position In the up-coming 2010-2011 academic school year. I look forward to continuing to grow in a leadership capacity and growing with our school counselor profession. In this past year, my role as the Secondary VP has put me in touch with numerous peers across the state and allowed me to hear relevant concerns held by fellow school counselors. I have enjoyed participating on the ISCA Board and feel that the leadership provided by the board models the level of professionalism needed to guide our state in understanding the value a school counselor brings to an academic program. In obtaining the President-Elect position I hold strongly the responsibility of continuing to keep “an ear to the ground” in hearing the needs of our members and work to support the direction of the board and make all efforts to communicate need or direction. I also feel that it is very important to have several “platforms” at this point in an effort for all to understand what needs the professional community has brought awareness to. It is my belief that:
- We must continue to support the growth and implementation of the ASCA Core. Our practice should be guided by this and results obtained should promote it’s utilization.
- There continues to be an over arching theme of fear in discussions among school counselors. As we continue to move forward in our profession, school counselors are doing a great job advocating for their position and the continued need for a school counselor. I would like to broaden that power of advocacy by including parents. I feel that education and awareness for the parents of our students would create an additional and powerful voice for our profession.
- With continued increase in the identification of mental health needs among our students and gradual losses of support programs, school counselors are being placed in helping roles and limited resources/connections to meet the needs of changing demands. I very strongly believe and encourage the support of students with disabilities and see the Professional School Counselor as an integral part of their support. I feel that we can continue to be a source of education for our peers on how to support while emphasizing resources and providing tangible tools in an effort to meet the changing demands.
- Continued promotion of professional collaboration is very important to me and my professional work. Our ability to communicate the effectiveness of educational programming or challenges in programming will improve our ability to provide immediate responses to identified educational needs.
For Vice-President of High School
Casey McMurray
Prairie City-Monroe High
School, Monroe, IA
Biographical Information
I went to Central College and received my undergraduate degree in Communication (Speech/Theatre) and English, with secondary education. I taught English for two years at West Central Valley High School in Stuart, Iowa. I then got a teaching job at Urbandale High School, teaching Speech and English. I taught there for two years, until my husband was relocated for a job in St. Louis.
I began my school counselor education after my first year of teaching. I had an experience with a student that turned me into the school counseling direction. I started my schooling at Drake and thoroughly enjoyed the curriculum and was excited to apply it in the school setting. As a teacher, I could “practice” techniques and found that my school counseling knowledge helped me with my teaching as well. I graduated from Drake with a M.S.E in December 2005. In St. Louis, I began my school counseling career at Lewis & Clark Career Center. Lewis & Clark provided technical education to all the high schools in St. Charles County. After being there for three years, my husband and I moved back to Iowa. I became the school counselor at PCM High School. This is now my 2nd year at PCM, my 5th year as a school counselor, and my 9th year in education.
Vision for School Counseling in Iowa and the role of ISCA
I believe school counselors are a vital piece of the puzzle in the school. My vision would be to help support school counselors and advocate for our profession and positions in education. I find that many think of the school counselor as the person who just sits in his/her office and works on a computer, and professional school counselors know it is so much more than that. Too often what we do is confidential and we cannot go shouting from the roof tops all of our successes. I would hope that as the high school vice president, I could stand on the roof tops and advocate for our successes in our profession. I would also like to help school counselors network and find ideas, curriculum, and support to do the best job possible.
I have not been a counselor for long period of time but what I have learned from my career in education is some of the best resources and support is the people working right alongside of us. Too often, there is not the time or opportunity to take advantage of the wealth of knowledge that our colleagues possess. I would hope to help with this so that no school counselor feels like he/she is out on a limb all by his/herself. There are so many rules and our profession and requirements seem to change from minute to minute. I would like to make sure that all counselors know the important information that makes a difference in our jobs, not only for us, but for our students.
I also want to promote the wonderful organization that the Iowa School Counselor Association is and encourage more school counselors in Iowa to join this great organization. There are so many resources that ISCA can provide and in our busy every day jobs, we don’t always have time to take advantage of the opportunities.
Although, I do not bring a lot of years of experience to this position, I believe I am qualified and would bring energy to this position and to the ISCA board. It would be a privilege to be the Iowa School Counselor Association High School Vice President.
Changes to the ISCA Bylaws
The ISCA Board is proposing two changes to the ISCA Bylaws. Both are adding elected positions to the ISCA Board. This proposal was presented to the membership at the 2009 ISCA Conference in Des Moines in November, 2009.
The following two positions shall be added to the Iowa School Counselor Associations slate of elected officers: (You vote to either approve both positions or to disapprove both positions together.)
President Elect-Elect
Vice-President of K-12
YES NO