I firmly believe that we are neglecting the emotional well-being of our nation’s youth. We, as school psychologists, understand that while the IQ of our students has increased about a third of a point every year, the emotional health of our students has deteriorated dramatically over the past three decades. According to the Surgeon General’s report, one out of every five children needs mental health intervention in order to be successful in school. It is an alarming fact that more teenagers died from suicide than from cancer, birth defects, AIDS, pneumonia, influenza, and

In May 2008, 41 school psychologists in Miami-Dade County Public Schools received notice that they would no longer be employed as school psychologists for the county school system. In addition, it was feared that 80 school psychologists would also be let go. As a result of this action, I was asked to serve as a spokesperson for the county’s school psychologists and to help mobilize all our resources to have this decision reversed. In the article that appeared in the NASP Communique, I highlight how we were able to come together as a community and

The questions I have received have been about the proposed revisions to the APA Model Licensure Act. If elected, I promise to devote all the necessary resources to ensure that non-doctoral level school psychologists will not be called professionals formerly known as school psychologists.

This year Phil was nominated for the NASP lifetime achievement award by the Florida Association of School Psychologists. In supporting his nomination, four colleagues wrote letters of support. Here are excerpts.