From Left: Greenville School Psychologist Audrey Douglas, 2015 NASP School Psychologist of the Year Pam Agan-Smith, NASP president Steve Brock
Pam Agan-Smith went to college as an art major but after a teacher piqued her interest in the field of psychology, she switched from drawing to diagnosing. Now, as a public school psychologist with the Greenville Faculty Association, she keeps life colorful by using markers, paints, coloring, mandalas and adult coloring books as part of her work with students.
It has all led to more than just a brush with fame. Her work has earned her prestige and recognition as the National Association of School Psychologists 2015 School Psychologist of the Year. (http://www.nasponline.org/communications/press-release/SPY_Award_Release...). Agan-Smith traveled to the annual convention in Orlando in February to receive the award. Her husband, sister, daughter and several colleagues were among the 4,600 people in the audience.
“Isn’t it great that New York state took it?” Agan-Smith asked, noting that, for her acceptance speech, she used the theme from the Frank Sinatra song, New York, New York: “If we can make it there, we can make it anywhere …”
Sometimes, she brings her guitar to counseling sessions with students who play, strumming alongside them. Her specialty, she says, is folk music.
She also delivers annual classroom presentations on dealing with stress, using soap bubbles so students can feel what it’s like to exhale slowly.
“Dr. Pam” is also behind some hardcore foundations at Greenville. She helped develop three new special education programs in the Greenville school to reduce the number of students traveling long distances to BOCES; helped create a school literacy instruction and intervention program with colleagues from the University at Albany; and leads parents support groups, Al-A-Teen and peer-mediation groups.
NASP represents 25,000 school psychologists, so the award as “number one” is significant.
Since 2000, New York public school psychologists have won the award three times. In 2003, John Kelly of the Commack Teachers Association was named National School Psychologist of the Year and, in 2013, Anthony Pantaleno, Elwood Teacher Alliance, won the award. All three are NYSUT members.
Dr. Pam, as she is known in her school, describes her office as “an oasis of calm” with dim lights, music, paintings, lamps, a mirror and wall hangings to decrease noise level. Her office is alongside the health office, where she worked for years with school nurse Loretta Crotty, now retired and a former member of NYSUT’s Health Care Professionals Council, to create a health and wellness center.
“She saw more and more work related to mental health,” Agan-Smith explained. “We created an office space focused on physical health and mental health and wellness.”
Her work, according to NASP President Stephen Brock, “exemplifies services in the areas of systems change, prevention and intervention, more effective instruction and improving the mental health of students.”
Along with her charge as school psychologist available to 400 high school students, she also has a caseload of students who have IEP’s (Individualized Education Program). She helps students with post-high school planning, especially those who have disabilities who will be losing the safety net of school.
“We provide them with a lot of support,” she said.
When she first arrived in rural Greenville, she said nearly half of student with disabilities were educated by BOCES, and they spent a long time on the bus each day to get to and from those programs.
Working with the superintendent, they cultivated a mission to bring some of those students back, and within three years they developed three new special education programs. Twenty-five percent of the students were able to return to the Greenville school.
“I go over and beyond traditional school psychology roles,” she said. “I see there’s a need and then I just get active.”
During the 1990s, she noticed numerous incidents of reading problems with early elementary students. She said she found the district did not have a good program for evaluating and discerning weaknesses in this area. Getting in touch with researchers from the program, she attended at University at Albany, she worked with them to develop a best practice for teaching reading to the youngest learners. Donna Scanlon and Frank Vellutino, members of the SUNY higher education union United University Professions, put together an interactive strategies approach and revamped the reading program.
“That program is still in place,” Agan-Smith said. NASP notes there has been a decrease in reading failure and referrals for disability evaluation.
Her annual presentations in each classroom on dealing with stress have taken on more weight since the increase in testing and advanced programs. Students beset by anxiety are creating more rapid, shallow breathing, often without realizing it.
“I give them strategies,” Agan-Smith said. “If you can control your breathing, you are giving your brain a different message. The one thing you can control is your breathing.”
She shows students how blowing bubbles with a wand forces the breathing to slow down. While they may not be able to do this while taking a test, they can imagine it. Agan-Smith also takes them through a whole body muscle relaxation session.
“I’ve seen an increase in anxiety since several years ago,” she said. “There’s an increase in academic demands, and the system is definitely stressed. There’s a real ripple effect.”
After-school programs can also help with stress and build self-esteem. Dr. Pam has led pre-teen Girls and Boys Clubs and Al-A-Teen (for those with friends or relatives who have problems with alcohol or drugs). She has also developed suicide prevention programs.
While teachers deal with increased demands of APPR performance reviews and use of new Common Core requirements — all while dealing with fewer resources, less funding, less control and more testing — Agan-Smith believes in strengthening the workplace environment as well.
A basic tenet of her philosophy in creating a healthy workplace is to reinforce good work.
“What I found with workplace stress is you have to reinforce with the power of praise. I can’t say it enough. ‘Good job.’ It’s one of the basic psychological principals of behaviorism.
Once, her goal for a year was to write a positive note a week praising someone.
Agan-Smith was previously honored as New York School Psychologist of the Year. She has a master’s degree from UAlbany and a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University — both State University of New York schools.
She has been at the Greenville district for 31 years, where Melissa Palmer leads the local union.
-- Liza Frenette
(Pam Agan-Smith is a member of Greenville FA)