Greetings SSWAG Members,

  The School Social Work Association of Georgia (SSWAG) held its annual Spring Conference at the Sea Palms Resort on St. Simon Island, GA during March 20-21, 2013.  I would like to personally extend a heartfelt thank you to the committees, organizations, and sponsors that helped to make the Spring Conference successful. A major highlight of the Spring Conference was the presentation of The Georgia School Social Work Pyramid of Intervention, which reflects a continuum of direct and indirect services and resources that school social workers offer to support students, families, and communities. The four tier Georgia School Social Work Pyramid is designed to complement The Georgia Student Achievement Pyramid of Intervention.

  The SSWAG Executive Board is currently working on the two-day Fall Conference that will be held in late October 2013, in the Atlanta area. Lara Fain, the District 5 President, is the Fall Conference Chair, and she is working to finalize plans for this event. The details for the Fall Conference will be finalized during the Executive Board Retreat in June 2013, and that information will be disseminated to the members and posted on www.sswag.org.

  As we prepare for the 2013-2014 school year, school social workers must anticipate for the micro, mezzo, and macro level interventions that will be necessary to help schools and school districts achieve passing scores on the three overall major areas (Achievement, Progress, and Achievement Gap) of the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). In order to achieve this goal, the School Social Workers Association of Georgia will be committed to offering stellar professional learning opportunities that will empower school social workers to meet the diverse needs of students, families, schools, and communities across Georgia.

The School Social Workers Association of Georgia is firmly committed to working on policy and practice issues that impact our work with children in Georgia. As the President of the School Social Workers Association of Georgia, I am honored and thrilled to serve as an ambassador of such a great student-centered association. The strength of our association is reflected by the talent, time, and resources that each member contributes. For that I say thank you, and I am looking to partnering with each of you as we prepare to meet the needs of students across Georgia.

Sincerely,

Trevis C. Killen, Ed.S.

SSWAG President