Videos
2017 VWM Scholarship Winner Chia Hong
2017 VWM Scholarship Winner Alex Passafiume
2017 Early Career Award - Dr. Charlotte Eschenbrenner
2017 R.A. Horn Honorary Life Membership – Juliette Madigan
Remarks from OSPA Awards Committee Co-Chair Melissa Bestgen
Juliette Madigan began her career in in 1989, after graduating from John Carroll University. She worked briefly for PSI Solutions before finding her home in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, where she worked from 1992 to her retirement in 2015. Juliette conducted evaluations, assisted with writing IEPs, supported teachers in intervention and progress monitoring, provided group and individual crisis counseling, and supervised practicum and intern students.
She then worked as co-coordinator for the CMSD Crisis/Rapid Response Desk, helping to coordinate crisis supports across the district and building the response into a comprehensive, multidisciplinary effort. Outside of her responsibilities within the district, Juliette has been a member of many professional organizations: Cleveland Association of School Psychologists, OSPA, NASP, ISPA, APA Division 16, the Council for Exceptional Children, and the National Association of Masters in Psychology. She has served as president of CASP and OSPA, delegate to NASP, and trustee and treasurer of NASP’s Children’s Fund. In her retirement, Juliette has continued to serve the profession as a CASP representative to OSPA and NASP PREPaRE trainer. For her dedication to the profession, the OSPA Executive Board is honored to present Juliette Madigan with the 2017 R.A.Horn Honorary Life Membership Award.
Remarks from Juliette Madigan
I am pleased, honored and humbled to accept the Ray Horn Lifetime Achievement Award and to join past recipients who I have long admired and respected. A very special thanks to Laura Gabel for nominating me and to Melissa Bestgen and the Awards Committee for this honor, to Karen Stine and Ann Brennan. Thanks too to Bill Stencil who came down from Cleveland Schools today to join us and to my husband Tom who came down to have lunch with us as well. A special shout out to my CASP buddies for being here today.
Most especially, thanks to OSPA who has given me years of opportunities to be part of the leadership of this organization. Thank you also to you my fellow OSPA members for being here today. Look around at all who are in this room. You are the active members of this organization. You are the ones who will help guide this profession into the future. I invite you to take a step this afternoon to become more active in OSPA. After the wine and cheese the OSPA committees will be meeting in this room. Take the time to join one of the committees and see where your talents fit.
Remember OSPA is the only organization in the state that specifically watches over our needs and speaks to our specific role in helping children succeed psychologically, behaviorally, socially as well as educationally.
Congratulations to Sharon Rieke on receiving the Bartlett Distinguished Service Award and to Keith Mesmer on receiving the Best Practice Award. I feel privileged to be a member of this organization. Thank you.
2017 Clyde V. Bartlett Distinguished Service Award - Sharon Rieke
Remarks from OSPA Awards Committee Co-Chair Melissa Bestgen
Our final recipient is Sharon Rieke, who is receiving the Clyde V. Bartlett Distinguished Service Award.
Sharon Rieke has been a noted Ohio school psychologist for decades, impacting the lives of countless students and colleagues. Sharon has worked as a tireless advocate for the students in her buildings, providing trainings for staff, advice to parents, and evidence based supports to students. She was an early champion on positive behavior supports in schools, assuming the character of Shirley Holmes, Detective of Good Behavior. She ensured that the students in her setting for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities had an opportunity to participate in an annual talent show, which has
continued for 25 years. She has provided unparalleled training to many school psychology practicum and intern students through her professor position at the University of Cincinnati and as a field supervisor,
many of whom have moved on to become leaders in the field.
Outside of her school based endeavors, Sharon has served in numerous professional associations, including acting as President, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, and OSPA Representative for SWOSPA; President, Legislative and Membership Committee Co-Chair, and member of the Fiscal Advisory Committee, Planning and Development Committee, and task force to develop an evaluation rubric for school psychologists. For her dedication to the profession, the OSPA Executive Board is honored to present Sharon Rieke with the 2017 Clyde V. Bartlett Distinguished Service Award.
Remarks from Sharon Rieke
I want to thank Dr. Michael Forcade, OSPA Fall Conference Co-Chair, for nominating me; SWOSPA Rep Lynn Brumfield and OSPA President Dr. Karen Stine for writing letters of recommendation, the Awards
Committee and the Executive Board for considering me for this award.
I want to share some mottos I’ve lived by in my professional life:
- “First, do no harm” – (Hippocratic Oath) Back at the turn of the century in 2000, it was my motto during my OSPA presidency. “Do no harm” meant don’t mess anything up!
- “Seek first to understand” – (Steven Covey, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’) To understand, we need to listen first. We need to listen to the parents, teachers and students to hear their concerns. We can’t be good at problem solving if we don’t understand the issues.
- “Be the change you want to see in the world” – (Gandhi) There were many times I could not sit by and let others dictate what our profession should look like. I determined what I wanted my role and function to be. I made changes to how we operated as a school psychology profession in my little corner of the world, and then took that same determination to my supervision role with the school psychologists at the Hamilton County ESC. I would stick my neck out to defend our practices and to respectfully refuse to let our psychologists get railroaded on the job by an administrator in a district who wanted to cut corners. I tried to live my vision of what I wanted my profession to be.
- “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar” – (English Proverb which first appeared in the US in Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac) This means it’s easier to persuade others with polite requests and a positive attitude, rather than negativity. When trying to bring about systems change, I learned early on that building a positive relationship with teachers helped immensely when asking them to
change something in their classrooms or try out an intervention. - “Bite the Bullet” - (Rudyard Kipling or any old westerns where the cowboy is having surgery) This means to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation; or to accept something difficult and try to make the best of it. When talking with our school psych supervisees about the school district they were in, they would tell me about their frustrations of bringing about change for children. I would frequently ask if they liked their job and their placement, and if they had the stamina to stick it out, “bite the bullet” for at least 3 years to see if they could make a difference. To do this, they needed to have a very strong vision for what they wanted their profession to look like.
- “There’s the law, best practice and common sense” – (Sharon Rieke) One of my latest mottos means:
• There is a law for special education, follow it!
• We have many volumes of Best Practices, which are research-based, and these should be our “goto” for solutions. When the law does not specifically address an area of our practice, use the best practices in our field.
What have I given to our profession?
- My love of our field
- Never giving in to other’s views of what we, as school psychologists, should be and should do
- Advocating for what is best for children
- Promoting best practices with students, interns, and the school psychology staff, I worked with and supervised, for over 20 years
- Collaborating with others to forward OSPA’s agenda for promoting quality school psychology in our state by serving on the Executive Board for 18 yrs.
- Supporting and promoting our profession with OSPA for 40 years
- I won’t mention all the bottles of wine I have opened and poured!
I am humbled and honored to receive the Clyde V. Bartlett Distinguished Service Award. Thank you.