President's Message
Dear Members,
It is with great excitement and honor that I step into the role of President of MSSWA. As a school social worker for the last 27 years, I have had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the incredible dedication and passion that our profession embodies. Now, as your new president, I am committed to amplifying our collective voice and advancing the critical work of school social workers across the state of Minnesota.
Over the next two years, I have set ambitious goals that reflect our shared vision for the future. First and foremost, it is essential to foster a strong foundation for our association starting with revising our bylaws. By doing so, we can ensure that our organization remains current, adaptable, and responsive to the evolving needs of our members and the students and families we serve. I am confident that this process will strengthen our association's structure and enable us to better advocate for the vital role of school social workers in educational settings.
Equity is a cornerstone of our work as school social workers, and it must be at the forefront of our association's priorities. I am dedicated to fostering a more equitable approach in all aspects of our profession. This includes promoting culturally responsive practices, addressing systemic disparities, and actively working towards dismantling barriers that hinder the success and well-being of marginalized students. By championing equity, we can strive for educational environments that celebrate diversity, cultivate inclusivity, and empower all students to reach their full potential.
Advocacy remains a central pillar of our association's mission, and I am committed to continuing our strong advocacy efforts on behalf of school social workers across Minnesota. Together, we will collaborate with policymakers, education leaders, and other stakeholders to ensure that our profession is recognized, valued, and adequately supported. By raising awareness about the critical contributions we make to the academic, social, and emotional growth of students, we can secure the resources and recognition necessary to effect positive change in our schools and communities.
As we embark on this journey together, I want to ensure that our members feel supported and empowered to make a difference in their schools and communities. If you have have ideas regarding resources or professional development opportunities that you think would be most beneficial for our members to enhance their skills and knowledge, feel free to share your thoughts!
Let's work together to create a vibrant and impactful community of school social workers in Minnesota. Our association's success is a reflection of our collective efforts, and I'm genuinely excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.
Warm regards,
Julie Campanelli, MSW, LICSW, Ed.S.
President, Minnesota School Social Worker Association
Summer Institute 2023 Re-cap
The MSSWA Summer Institute was once again held on the shores of beautiful Leech Lake in Walker Minnesota. The three day event of education and networking was crowned by a full day session with Dr. Anne Gearity.
Things kicked on June 12th with a movie screening and discussion on the documentary Wake Up: Stories From the Front Line of Sucidie Prevention. This documentary “threads personal stories of suicide and loss into a single narrative that educates the public on America’s most dire health crisis and inspires viewers to take action.” Linnea Divine, MSW, LICSW, CCFP and Allie Taylor, M.Ed then gave a presentation on compassion fatigue titled “Reclaiming Resilience” followed by Jake Sturgis, B.A., A.P.R and Benji Perez Gonzolez’s presentation called “In Their Words: Amplifying Student Voices to Address DEI and Well-Being.” The evening included networking and conversations over dinner, followed by a wine raffle and “Head -Tails” game, with the proceeds going to the MSSWA Scholarship Fund.
Day two was the Anne Gearity (PhD, LICSW) show. Dr. Gearity shared her vast knowledge and wisdom about changes that are occurring in our schools and how to adapt to meet the changing needs. The evening included a bonfire with smores and more time to connect with fellow social workers from around the state.
The final day included presentations by Brad Hanson, LICSW and Cynthia Prosek, MA. Brad's presentation titled “Cringe!” taught us about the brain’s response to highly embarrassing moments and Cynthia taught us about the power of Restorative Justice within the school systems.
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2023 Minnesota School Social Worker of the Year: Charlynn Dahl
The Minnesota School Social Workers Association proudly announces the selection of Charlynn Dahl as the Minnesota School Social Worker of the Year for 2023. Charlynn has been working as a school social worker and in the mental health field for many years. Charlynn received her Bachelor of Science in social work in 2005 from Minnesota State University. She then received her Master of social work from the University of Southern California in 2007. Charlynn is a Licensed Graduate Social Worker through the Minnesota Board of Social Work and holds a State Minnesota Educator License as a School Social Worker. She is very active professionally with community organizations. She has taken part in the Drug, Alcohol, and Distracted Driving Prevention Committee, The Chippewa County Out of Home Task Force, The Chippewa County Child Protection Team, the Restorative Attendance Review Board Committee, The Southwest Center Service Cooperative, and The School Crisis Response Team.
Charlynn’s school principal Chris Weber shared “Mrs. Dahl has been an outstanding Elementary and High School School Social Worker in our district. Mrs. Dahl was an elementary Social Worker in our district for 3years and has been our high school Social Worker for the last 4 years. Her innovative, caring, personable, empathic style serves to peak the interest of our students. Mrs. Dahl has shown a special balance of great student rapport with excellent student accountability. Her knowledge, approach style, professional relationships, and willingness to give of her time to our students and families has made her a very popular and effective School Social Worker.”
“Mrs. Dahl is very active in our community as well. She serves on the County Child Protection team, the County Out of Home Task Force, Suicide Collation, the Mock Car Crash Committee, and the Restorative Attendance Review Board. She has been a presenter to area educators on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Interface and has been instrumental in the incorporation of the ACE program in our school district. Mrs. Dahl was an integral part of the creation of the Restorative Attendance Review Board (RARB) in a neighboring county while working in another school district. This is a supportive intervention process to prevent student truancy with school, county, and enforcement involvement with students and families. When Mrs. Dahl was hired in our school district, she brought this RARB concept to our county and helped with the implementation of this process within our County Family Services. We “Through partnerships with families, community, and staff, we will provide exemplary educational opportunities, preparing all students for successful futures.”Equal Opportunity Employer has found this partnership with the county and law enforcement to be beneficial to our families and students and has prevented many truancies from going to court. I have found Mrs. Dahl to be a positive professional source in our building. She has demonstrated her strong work ethic by giving freely of her time to help students and families. Her rapport with staff and students is outstanding, along with her knowledge of her field.”
Kati Birhanzl Montevideo High School Career Coordinator says “ I have been a teacher at our high school for the past four years and have been fortunate to work with Char Dahl. I have witnessed Char’s consistent, caring approach to students and her efforts to teach them coping strategies they can use independently. Her positive attitude is contagious. She is clear on her purpose and goal for students and is able to be innovative to meet their needs.”
Kris Kirkeby, a School Social Worker colleague shares “ Char quickly develops a rapport with students and advocates for each one of them. She is trustworthy and approachable to students, school staff, and families. Char has the ability to gain the trust of parents, even parents who do not easily trust individuals in school or other agencies. Char has demonstrated numerous times her devotion to going above and beyond for each and every student and family she comes into contact with. She is innovative, proactive, and has a great vision to implement new ideas, strategies, and programs. Char has a strong desire to learn, grow, and improve. Not only does she have the desire, but she is also an individual who creates positive change. She has been instrumental in creating programs and curriculums for students in our district as well as other districts. Char has developed many excellent connections with service providers in other community agencies. She invites and often initiates collaboration with others and believes wholeheartedly in a wrap-around approach. In addition to the typical school social work duties, Char is involved in other committees within the school and community. She is very knowledgeable and brings past experience to the PBIS team. During her years at the elementary level, she also coordinated the RTI team. Char took the lead on scheduling, paperwork, and data collection. Char is an active member of the School Crisis Response team. She has assisted multiple neighboring schools during very tragic difficult situations. It is evident that Char truly cares about students, families, colleagues, her profession, and her work. She is dedicated to helping each student achieve personal success academically, socially, and emotionally despite the many outside factors that negatively affect their role as a student. Char is a person of integrity who has a wealth of talents to share.”
MSSWA is so excited to acknowledge Charlynn Dahl and her dedication to the school social work profession. Her knowledge, her support of her colleagues, and her commitment and advocacy for the students she serves makes MSSWA proud Charlynn is our Minnesota School Social Worker of the Year for 2023!
School Social Work Association of America
Greetings from SSWAA Past President Christy McCoy MSW LICSW,
This is an exciting time and marks a milestone in the School Social Work Association of America’s (SSWAA) history! This year SSWAA enters its 30th year as an organization. SSWAA was formed due to the dedication and legacy of 64 participants from 20 states who came together to form an organization exclusively representing School Social Workers 30 years ago in Edwardsville, IL. Over the course of the past 30 years, like many organizations, SSWAA has faced various challenges such as pivoting during a global pandemic to meet the needs of our members and the communities we serve. Despite any barriers or challenges, SSWAA remained steadfast and has thrived experiencing “incredible growth, increased membership and professional impact, and has faced challenges with resilience and dedication to the school social work profession” (Oliver, R. 2023).
Throughout this year, SSWAA is going to take time to pause and celebrate our organization. Please watch for monthly blogs in a series titled "Pearls of Wisdom" written by founding members of SSWAA. Through these inspirational blogs, founding members will be sharing their experiences related to the creation of SSWAA and the early work of the association. We hope these blogs enrich your understanding of and appreciation for the development of our association.
Our profession and organization has truly benefited from the wisdom of our predecessors past and present who have paved the way for all of us. These individuals raised the visibility of how school social workers play an instrumental role leading collective healing efforts while also confronting ongoing social injustices that further marginalize various groups and individuals. Our strengths perspective combined with our commitment to advocacy and social justice is the foundation that sets our profession and interventions apart from any other field. Building on the legacy and contributions of our profession’s leaders, school social workers are leaning into their ethical calling to bring forth systemic change. Advocating within their schools as well as politically to ensure every person is treated with dignity and worth and has equitable access to support and services to fulfill their basic human rights.
SSWAA along MSSWA is working tirelessly to provide professional development opportunities, resources, and tools to strengthen the practice of school social workers in meeting the current and future needs. As the premiere National School Social Work organization, SSWAA believes that each of YOU are TRUE AGENTS OF CHANGE! You are vital leaders offering hope, empowerment, advocacy, critical collaboration and collective healing efforts to promote the overall well-being of your students, families and the communities you serve.
SSWAA stands with you as you seek professional development training to expand your knowledge of your role and best practice strategies. SSWAA is committed to assist you as you seek tools and resources to elevate your practice in the school setting. SSWAA is devoted to helping you engage with our profession, thus connecting you with a vast network of professionals. Visit the SSWAA Back to School Resources page at https://www.sswaa.org/back-to-school for vital resources and tools as you begin the new year.
In addition, here are a few position papers that can also serve as essential tools to enhance your practice and ongoing advocacy efforts:
Updated Supplemental Ethical Standards for School Social Work Practice
Promoting Self Care for Social Workers
OTHER BREAKING NEWS….SSWAA and CASEL have joined forces as part of the Back to School Campaign 2023. In addition to key strategies and resources created for school social workers to support their efforts in facilitating a safe and positive school climate for all students using SEL, SSWAA and CASEL are hosting a Townhall event focused on School Social Workers as Leaders in SEL on September 27th 1pm CST. Follow us on social media, to receive updates and reminders for news and events. Don’t forget to include in your electronic communications the hashtags #SSWAA #BackToSchoolSW #LeadingwithSEL.
Finally, SSWAA is also devoted to helping you engage with our profession, thus connecting you with a vast network of professionals. For example, SSWAA’s Practitioners of Color Advisory Committee meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month. As Elisa Meza, founding member of SSWAA’s Practitioners of Color Advisory Committee reflected, many practitioners have asked, “Why is it necessary for BIPOC spaces to exist?” I respond, “Because the institutions we work in were not built for our healing; we must create these spaces for ourselves” (Meza, 2022). As a result, the POC Advisory Committee meets monthly so that practitioners of color can come together to hold space for one another to share in their lived experiences. The goal is to offer time and space for collective healing and to prioritize best practices for dismantling racism in schools. For more information on this committee, please contact Dr. Blanca Sanchez McGee at sswaapoc@gmail.com.
Minnesota also participated in SSWAA’s annual Delegate Assembly and Leadership Institute. Julie Campanelli MSSWA President & Sherry Murphy MSSWA Past President joined state leaders from across the nation current issues, trends, and concerns in the field to current issues, trends, and concerns in the field. It is an opportunity for state leaders to also gather, learn from each other, curate new ideas and strategies, and make recommendations to the SSWAA Board for the advancement and sustainability of the profession.
Becoming a member of your national and state school social work organizations helps to advance our profession as a whole while also assuring our social work perspective is at the table when policies, programs and legislation is being developed. Thank you to all who are members!!! For those who have not yet joined SSWAA or your state association, I would encourage you to visit our websites to learn about the numerous benefits of being a member. For SSWAA membership information simply go to https://www.sswaa.org/sswaa-membership. Remember that as a MSSWA member, when you choose a full SSWAA membership, you are elevated to the premiere membership because MSSWA is an affiliate state; thus connecting you to a vast library of interventions and tools. JOIN or RENEW TODAY to stay up-to-date on news and information critical to your work.
We hope to see many of you at our National Conference in Baltimore, MD, and on behalf of the SSWAA Board of Directors, we wish you a positive and enriching 2023-2024 school year!
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Legislative Update from Brad Lundell
Most of you have probably read multiple summaries outlining the significant amount of progress the Governor and the Legislature made during the 2023 session in addressing the needs of students throughout the state. It was truly an historic session in terms of both funding and policy with approximately $2.5 billion going to school districts in a variety of ways. Some of the revenue is tied to specific programs that aim to promote student achievement and bolster the number of student support personnel working in school buildings throughout the state that have been strongly supported by MSSWA in the past. It was great to see these proposals make it into the final bill and it wouldn’t have happened without the guidance of MSSWA’s leadership and active membership.
The effort to create an on-going revenue stream to support more school social workers, school psychologists, school nurses, school guidance counselors, and chemical dependency counselors was initiated a decade ago and after years of work, it came to fruition this year with the establishment of Student Support Personnel Aid that will provide revenue to school districts to bring greater stability to the amount of support students will receive from specialized personnel. The initial aid is quite low on a per pupil basis, but there is a district minimum of $40,000 and the amount per pupil increases dramatically next biennium. The revenue can be used not only to hire new personnel, but to also retain positions that were funded with Federal COVID dollars. The creation of this funding stream is welcome given the increasing challenges students are facing.
Another positive development is the funding through grants for districts to implement MTSS framework. MSSWA has been involved in the development of this effort to make certain that aspects of student behavioral needs are met in addition to driving up achievement. It is important that students are “met where they are” and school social workers ensure that can happen.
MSSWA also provided strong support to the creation of a mental health specialist position in the Minnesota Department of Education. That also passed this session and the presence of this position will provide guidance and resources to districts and student support personnel throughout the state as we seek to address growing student mental health needs.
There was also progress in the area of non-exclusionary discipline and addressing the disparities in suspensions as they relate to students of color and students with special needs. This is another proposal that has been worked on and discussed for the past decade, but split government never allowed for the Governor and legislative supporters to get it past the finish line. With one-party control of the Governor’s office and the Legislature, this item—along with may others that have lie dormant for the past few years (as in the case of student support personnel aid)—was finally passed.
All of these items are extremely important, but another effort that has taken almost twenty years of discussion to gain approval is that of allowing school social workers to be reimbursed the Medical Assistance for services they provide to students with IEPs/IFSPs. Many of you have seen this issue hit a brick wall of opposition from the Minnesota Department of Human Services over the years as the school social work community tried to make its case that these services should be eligible for reimbursement. In 2021, legislation was introduced that would have accomplished this purpose, but the final result was the convening of working groups that studied the issue more closely. Unfortunately, no progress toward allowing reimbursement through Medical Assistance resulted from that work so legislation was introduced again in 2023 that would require the Department of Human Services to allow this practice. The bill took a bit of a circuitous route through the legislative process, but it was included in the omnibus education funding and policy bill. While this is a welcome (understatement) development, the Department of Human Services has to apply to the Federal government to allow this and discussions are going on between the Minnesota Department of Education, the Minnesota Department of Human Services, and Senator Tina Smith’s office to clear the hurdles to implementing this policy. This correction is long overdue and it wouldn’t have happened without the concerted effort that was largely organized by MSSWA and the Minnesota Administrators for Special Education. The effort is well on the way to finally happening and its kudos to all of you who have pushed on this issue over the years.
This will be the last newsletter I will be writing as I am moving on toward retirement after the 2024 session and will not be under contract with MSSWA after the end of August, 2023. I want to thank all of you for allowing me to work with you over the past few years. You are truly dedicated to your work and without your efforts, student mental health needs and social support throughout the state would go unmet. I have learned a TON and I have a great amount of respect for MSSWA membership. I have had the honor to meet and work with many of you and it is an experience I will always treasure. Thanks so much for all you do and allowing me to be your voice at the Legislature.
Thank you Brad for your incredible work with our organization, you will be missed!
