Hello from the Office Manager of ArSCA.
I have some exciting news. Paper membership forms are no longer available. There are many reasons this is happening.
ONE – sometimes, in your haste to renew, I cannot read what you have taken time to tenderly write. I hope you do not feel like you are beside your teacher’s desk in grade school right now.
TWO – sometimes when you enter card information on the bottom, I cannot read that or I do not know which email address to attach to the card information, which makes it impossible for me to use your information.
THREE – for those of you who are worried about getting a PO number and getting it sent in to fulfill all the requirements from your central office and everything we ask of you too – DO NOT WORRY. You will receive and invoice that is correct and that you can use to give to your central office to get a PO number.
FOUR – once you get your PO number remember to send that PO number to the office email address: office@arschoolcounselor.org – new email address for some of you. I will add that number to whatever you are registering for membership only, Conference registration HAS NOT STARTED YET.
FIVE – I correct anything that is wrong that you send in but please remember your number. It’s so easy to write 8 characters – 4 letters and 4 numbers. 4 letters are the letters in your name – first letter of your first name followed by the first three in your last name. Mine is SHAR for Susie Harvison. The 4 numbers are your birthday – we never use years since all of ours are similar. If you are born on Christmas Day – your 4 numbers are 1225.
SIX – Don’t panic – I’m here for you. I will call you if you have done something I cannot figure out. I am really a nice person and have never yelled at anyone who could not figure out something. If you are working with our most precious children/miniature adults or quasi adults, I understand how stressful that can be and how sometimes you need a nice voice on the end of a phone call or email – that is me! School Counseling is stressful and busy and I know that many times, you might be holding a child in your lap or your heart while we are on the phone and you are wondering why you ever took this job. . .but believe me YOU are so important and we are here to help YOU anyway we can. . . we really are. . .
SEVEN – make connections with the school counselors in your school district, region and across the state. There are so many ways that you can connect with us – email, phone, a quick prayer – we want to help. Don’t sit in your office and think it’s you against the world. It’s never easy doing something that is right. You will always have someone or something that wants to take you down, but you have a great group surrounding you, supporting you and listening to you. Find us. We are close.
If you have never gone to our website Arkansas School Counselor Association, please go there and just look around. It’s an unbelievable resource for you.
There are two ways that you can register for membership. This will be the same procedure for conference registration (IT IS NOT TIME TO REGISTER FOR CONFERENCE YET) Go across the banner at the top and see members. If you click on members, it will take you to the Google doc that is connected to the membership form. Or you can click JOIN ArSCA and it will take you to the same Google doc. That was where the paper form used to be but it’s gone.
You will need your membership number/id, know which region you are in, and please use your school district and then your building you are in. For instance, Guy-Perkins School District and I work for Guy-Perkins Elementary School. If you are a K-12 person say the District name and K-12 School Counselor.
You will need a method of paying whether it is by credit card, check (personal or school district) or PO. If you use a check, a school district check or personal check is what is assumed will be sent. If you use a PO, but do not have a number, this is where you will use the invoice that will be sent to get a PO number. There are no dates on the invoice and it just says what you are trying to get – membership conference ect. If your wonderful person in the Central office freaks out, let me know and I can send you something different. I work with school district offices all over the state and I will help you and those folks feel good about what we are doing. Let your central office know that there is a $3.00 card fee attached to all credit card payments. I do not want the lady in the central office to fall out over $3.00.
You will be sent a link to pay by credit card. It will not happen immediately, but soon. If you do not get it within a couple of days, email me at office@arschoolcounselor.org and I will get you a link. Again $3.00 is added.
If you are a student, great! We love students. The board requires that all student members have a short email from their college advisors sent to the same email address stating that you are in a “degree seeking school counseling program”. That keeps everyone honest about why they want a student membership. Once you feel that you are finished with your student membership, you need to know that you can pay your money, get a receipt, but until that email (from the college advisor) is sent, your registration is not valid.
Retired is very similar to Student other than no college advisor short email is needed.
Affiliate member is someone who is like a college recruiter. So do not just look at the prices and pick the cheapest. If you are a professional member, I will call and ask you about that choice.
I am sure you might have more questions, but please READ all the information shared here. I appreciate each of you and want you to know that your work is important. If you have a friend that is not a member, let them know what they can do to sign up.