June 2015 – Counseling Plan (Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance Model for Alabama Schools) was listed on the State Board of Education (SBOE) meeting agenda to replace the old 2003 Counseling Plan.  At the SBOE meeting,  groups/organizations planned to speak against the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model due to a planned, purposeful, and sequential program beginning in Kindergarten and continuing to grade twelve that would construct student personal/social development (indoctrination).

June 2015 – The counseling plan was removed off the agenda the day of the meeting.

July 2015 – Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) informed the U.S. Department of Education the counseling plan had been implemented.  Yet the only counseling plan currently available today is the 2003 edition which has the ASCA National Model’s indoctrination program imbedded in it.

August 2015 – one month after the coordination with the USDOE, ALSDE sent the following memo out:

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION MEMORANDUM

August 31, 2015

TO: City and County Superintendents

FROM: Thomas R. Bice – State Superintendent of Education

RE: Alabama Counseling Association (ALCA) Annual Conference

The Alabama Counseling Association (ALCA) Annual Conference will be held in Montgomery, AL, at the Renaissance Hotel and Montgomery Convention Center on November 18-20, 2015. As always, the ALCA Annual Conference will provide professional development for school counselors and offer information on current counseling issues. New counselors may attend the ALCA Conference to meet the training requirement expected as part of the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) Counselor Academy.

The theme of this year’s conference is “ALCA SOARS: SERVICE, OUTREACH, ADVOCACY, RECOGNITION, SOCIAL JUSTICE.” Keynote speakers will include: Dr. Derek Greenfield, nationally known speaker, consultant, and counseling leader who will deliver his approach to “Our Team, Our Time: Building for Inclusive Excellence” with humor and insight; Dr. Michael Brooks, a well-known counselor educator who spent almost ten years on the UAB faculty and has beome a national leader in the counseling profession, will address “Social Justice: A Time To Break Silence”; and native Colombian Gloris Juliao, a professional counselor and clinical director, will speak to “A Clinician’s Journey in Working With the Hispanic Community.” The 2015-2016 ALCA President, Mr. Vincent D. Hinton, will preside at the conference. In addition, there will be approximately 100 content sessions on topics of concern and need for your counselor, plus numerous networking opportunities.

The ALCA is mailing registration packets to counselors who are members ofthe association. Others may obtain packets by going to www.alabamacounseling.org and clicking on “Annual Conference” or by contacting Dr. Chip Wood with the ALCA at 1-888-655-5460 or alca@alabamacounseling.org.

I realize that we continue to be in a financial crisis; however, I encourage you to support the attendance of your counseling coordinators and counselors if at all possible. The conference is inexpensive and will provide an excellent opportunity for professional development activities for your counselors and will assist counseling coordinators to reconceptualize their local comprehensive counseling and guidance program.

TRB/ML/KM

cc: City and County Counseling Coordinators FY15-2099

GORDON PERSONS BUILDING p.o. Box 302101 MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 36130-2101 • TELEPHONE (334) 242-9700 FAX (334) 242-9708 • WEB srEE: mvw.alsde.edu

AL Counseling Confer.–2015