Context

PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT OF THE PROJECT

I have been in education for the past 19 years, starting as a paraprofessional while getting my degree in School Psychology at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. My first two years as a school psychologist, I was the sole school psychologist for a very rural district of approximately 2200 students, the majority of which were below the poverty line and many of which lacked basic comforts at home, such as indoor plumbing.  After those two years, I moved to Montana and took a year off of school psychology, choosing to work as a special education paraprofessional for one year in Belgrade Public Schools before applying to the open position of School Psychologist. Belgrade Schools is considered a suburban, bedroom community school district for the micropolitan area of Bozeman. Currently, the school district serves approximately 3300 students, with approximately 31% being on Free and Reduced lunch programs.

As a school psychologist, the bulk of my time is spent consulting with teachers to provide access to effective instructional and intervention services to their students. Through this process, students are often provided special education evaluations to determine if they are eligible for and require those services. It is a team approach with high rates of collaboration within and outside of the school setting with; however, the bulk of the evaluation responsibility and legal requirements fall on the school psychologist. This year, we are extremely short staffed so the primary responsibility for me will be completing special education evaluations.

With regards to the Belgrade Educational Association, I am currently involved as an advocate and negotiation team member representing the needs and voice of our certified special education personnel. This will be the second time I participate in our Consensus Bargaining process. I have attended MFPE activities at the capital this year. For outreach, I have been involved in grass roots efforts for interviewing board member candidates, providing information to the community regarding levies, and have been very vocal with local and state government to voice endorsement or opposition to legal initiatives and budgetary changes that impact Montana schools. I am also a member of the National Association of School Psychologists.

PART 2: REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. How does awareness of your own biases, experiences of privilege, and personal values inform your chosen instructional project? 

I have done a lot of personal work prior and during the TLI project to be able to identify what my experiences of privilege and personal values are, but adding in my biases and applying all of these to how I operate in the workplace was a new element. Many of those things are strengths for me, For example, my personal experiences with privilege are that I had more adversity than privilege. Mental health issues, homelessness, food insecurity and sexism are somewhat rampant in my history. These experiences help me when it comes to being able to keep myself in the realm of forming opinions as opposed to slipping into judging other people. My biases were something I needed to explore more as I wasn't giving as much thought to them. A prime example is my biased belief that I am disadvantaged with regards to building relationships with my coworkers

2. At the beginning of the TLI program, at which level (emerging, developing, performing, or transforming) in the progressions did you place yourself for each of your four chosen competencies?  Provide a rationale for each claim 

Overarching Competency #1, Interpersonal Effectiveness: Developing stage 

My position as an ancillary staff member kind of on the periphery of the daily workings of each building leads to barriers and limited opportunities to rate myself any higher.

Overarching Competency #2, Group Processes: Emerging stage

My reasoning was that I was familiar with the basics of how some of our groups work and participate but do not really do anything with regards to leading the group.

Foundational Competency Explore and Challenge Inequity: Developing stage

 I could identify the different systemic forms of oppression and inequities faced by students including racism, sexism and classism within the student body of Belgrade as well as in our families. However, I'm not engaging in specific ways to increase equitable practices.   

Specific Leadership Pathway Competency, Association Leadership - Building Capacity: Emerging stage

Moving forward, my goal is to be a more vocal and active participant in the BEA itself to support it becoming a more active, functional and supportive organization. 

3. Describe your work with diverse stakeholders, shared learning experiences, and how you anticipate your leadership pathway mindset might evolve during the TLI process. 

 I worked with staff across every building within the district and across all grade levels as part of my daily work as well as specific information gathering for my participation in the Negotiations Team. I participated in the negotiations committee as well to support the development and review of surveys to support  the organization in targeting key issues and highly impacted staff before going into negotiations.

 In doing this work, I have discovered that there are some strong differences in opinion regarding benefits, and a higher level of disengagement by our  members than I previously realized. Some of these differences of opinion are quite aversive, and the disengagement lends itself to a sense of apathy. I'm hoping that my mindset will shift to help determine some creative ways to combat these challenges because enthusiastic and supported staff provide an enthusiastic and supportive student community. 

4. Describe how your awareness of those from different cultures, experiences, and backgrounds informs your chosen project.

I have an understanding of feeling like challenges are insurmountable, or feeling stuck with the situation you have due to the life challenges and adversity I have faced personally and professionally. Being a special education professional, I am constantly at odds with a lack of understanding for reasonable expectations with neurodivergent learners and how to handle them socially, behaviorally and academically in safe and supportive ways. With regards to other experiences, such as classism, I personally have had to face food and housing insecurity several times throughout my life including my childhood years as a student. The importance of knowing that all students walk in with a different level of support and therefore different skill set from each other has to be part of your mentality to be an effective educator. If not, you will never reach students where they truly are as opposed to where you think they should be.

Artifact #1 - Capstone Approval Form