Washburne MIddle School (Winnetka)
Carleton W. Washburne Middle School is a 7th/8th grade middle school in Winnetka, Illinois named for the district’s superintendent, an internationally recognized progressive educator and visionary who served from 1919-1943. The building first openned a year after Washburne’s death in the fall of 1969. The enrollment for the 2009-10 school year is 504 students. The population is predominantly white (94.5%) and upper middle class. Many of our students have been in the district since kindergarten, having attended one of our three elementary schools and then on to our 5th/6th grade middle school before coming to Washburne. Each student is a member of one of six teams made up of four academic teachers, one of whom serves as their advisor. Typically students remain with the same advisor and team for their two years at Washburne in order to promote a sense of continuity and community. We are a feeder school to New Trier High School, also located in Winnetka (although the freshman campus is located in Northfield). Washburne has a principal and an assistant principal. There are six full-time special education teachers, as well as two 4-1/2 day per week social workers and one 3-day per week psychologist. We also have a collaborative relationship with Haven Youth and Family Services that provides us with a full-time outreach worker. The past year we have also added a school psychology testing practicum student 2-days per week. This internship offers an opportunity for the intern to supervise the practicum student.
The focus of education at Washburne is on the students’ intellectual growth with attention to their emotional, social, physical and cultural development. To that end, students have a 10-period day with academic subjects, physical education/wellness and electives, such as art, theatre, newspaper, industrial arts and computer technology. At the beginning of the school year each advisory engages in a number of team building activities in order to promote a sense of community, which is a core value of our school. After a student’s suicide in 2004, a Mental Health Committee of administrators, teachers, mental health staff and parents was formed in order to select a curriculum that would educate our students and develop positive attitudes and help-seeking behaviors toward those suffering from depression and other mental health issues. Through our partnership with Erika’s Lighthouse, the foundation formed in the memory of our student who committed suicide, the Committee selected a curriculum, the Red Flags Program with the video Claire’s Story that is now taught to all our 7th graders. Outcome data have been analyzed by a graduate student volunteer indicating that our students have gained significant knowledge from this curriculum and developed positive attitudes toward those suffering from depression and other mental illnesses. We are very proud that since instituting this depression and suicide prevention program, all the other New Trier feeder schools plus many other middle schools have followed Washburne’s lead and are now teaching the Red Flags Program to their students. Because of our dedication to suicide prevention and depression awareness, Washburne is the host for the ISPIC training on Suicide Risk Assessment, which takes place in September.
The mental health staff is an integral and well-respected part of the faculty at Washburne. We work closely together and are always looking for new ways to step out of our traditional roles and reach out to students in the building. We appreciate being able to work in a psychologically-minded environment that is fostered by our administration. The role of the school psychology intern is to become a member of the mental health team and a resource to our faculty, students and parents. The intern performs the traditional duties of a school psychologist, such as psycho-educational evaluations, attending IEP meetings, consultations with teachers, counseling individual students, developing behavior plans and crisis intervention. Problem-solving about at-risk students with teachers, administrators, social workers and the psychologist is an important role for the intern and takes place at weekly team meetings during the school year. Interns also participate in teaching the Red Flags Program, as well as being involved in the ongoing development and research for the mental health curriculum. Interns are encouraged to use their own talents and creativity in finding new ways to reach out to students. For example, a past post-doctoral resident developed an after school “Ping Pong Club” that attracted some at-risk students who were reluctant to join a more traditional social skills group. Our past interns have played a vital role in developing our Response to Intervention (RtI) model in which we have used the Student Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI) as our Tier 1 screening of our 7th graders’ student skills, including both competencies and liabilities. We welcome interns who can help us develop our Tier 2 interventions that will be a good fit between RtI and our progressive education model, which emphasizes educating the whole child over traditional benchmarking and test scores.
The intern will have the opportunity to work with other age groups through a fall 20-day rotation at New Trier High School, preschool screenings in the spring and a summer rotation at North Shore Special Education District (NSSED). The NSSED experience actually begins when the internship starts mid-August with the opportunity to attend various Professional Development Workshops before the school year begins in September. The summer following the school year offers the opportunity to choose a summer rotation at NSSED in one of four different settings (North Shore Academy, Early Childhood Program, Life Skills Program or the Low Incidence Cooperative Agreement (LICA).
The intern has his/her own office, which is part of a suite of offices that was constructed during the summer of 2009. The suite has separate office space for the supervising psychologist and intern, an office shared by the practicum student and speech psychologist, a testing room and a conference room. The intern is also provided with his/her own networked computer, all testing and office materials. While clerical staff is available to schedule large meetings, the intern is responsible for scheduling their own appointments and meetings with parents, teachers and other staff. Interns also have access to word processing to write their reports and other communications. Interns attend monthly training sessions at various ISPIC sites. Interns have one supervisor at Washburne, who is both a licensed clinical psychologist and a certified school psychologist. Supervisors at the rotations are school psychologists. The supervisors at Washburne and New Trier are both Caucasian females. The training model is eclectic. Summer months are dedicated to testing, committee work, rotations and doing research, including dissertation. The ideal candidate is someone who possesses excellent verbal and written communication skills, as well as the ability to work collaboratively with other professionals and parents. We are looking for an individual who is a good fit with our progressive education philosophy, unique educational environment and socioeconomic setting. This is a full-time 12-month position, which starts at the ISPIC orientation in August and pays a $20,000 stipend. Health benefits may be purchased from the stipend. For more information about the district, interested candidates are welcome to visit our website at www.winnetka36.org.