Long Beach Leaders Decry the Dismantling of the Department of Education
February 8, 2025
TALB Scholarships 2025
The TALB Scholarship Foundation offers a scholarship program featuring three different awards.
TALB Outstanding Student Scholarship Award
For children or dependents of TALB members, this award recognizes outstanding student achievement in the areas of academics, leadership, and civic engagement. Recipients are well-rounded individuals that demonstrate a notable capacity for learning and service to others.
$1,000 each awarded to two recipients. Up to ten runner-ups will be awarded $200 each.
TALB Career Advancement Scholarship Award
For TALB Bargaining Unit Members. This award recognizes educators pursuing higher education in order to grow one’s capacity as an effective educator. Recipients are current members that demonstrate a notable desire to grow as a more effective educator.
$1,000 award to one recipient. Up to two runner-ups will be awarded $300 each.
Future Educators Scholarship Award
For newly-hired LBUSD teachers or university students who intend to become a LBUSD teacher. This award recognizes the importance of new people entering the education profession. Recipients are college students or newly hired teachers that demonstrate a notable capacity for teaching.
$1,000 awarded to one recipient. Up to two runner-ups will be awarded $200 each.
Completed applications for 2025 scholarships must have been received at the TALB Offices by 5:00 pm on April 30, 2025
Download 2025 Scholarship Applications and Instructions Here
Join your fellow TALB members for “TALB’s Back to the 80’s” our annual event to honor retirees and awardees
Date: Thursday, May 29, 2025
Time: 5:00 to 10:00 pm
Location: El Dorado Park Event Center | 2400 N. Studebaker Rd. | Long Beach
TALB’s annual night to honor retirees is a great tradition where we celebrate all of our educators. This year’s Back to the 80’s theme promises to be a blast! All TALB members, supporters and guests are invited to join in. Seating is limited so don’t delay in purchasing your ticket.
AS IN PAST YEARS, TICKETS ARE ORDERED THROUGH EVENTBRITE. IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS NAVIGATING THE EVENTBRITE SYSTEM PLEASE CONTACT TALB
Tickets Prices and Discount Promo Codes.
The base ticket price for non-members is $35. TALB Members and others listed below will use Discount Promo Codes listed below to reduce the cost of their tickets.
Guest Ticket for Non-Members: $35
TALB Members: $25 Use Code: member2025
Honored TALB Retirees: FREE Use Code: retiree2025
TALB Scholarship Winners: FREE Use Code: honoree2025
IMPORTANT: If you are registering for multiple people, you will need to make a separate order for different promotional code types. Honored retirees, regular members and Scholarship Winners all have distinct promotional codes.
Registering for Non-Member Guests should just be registered as a “Non-Member Guest” without any promotional code. Please do not use promo codes for your guests.
ALL SEATS AND TABLES ARE FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. THERE IS NO ASSIGNED SEATING SO, ARRIVE EARLY
TALB Counselors Corner: School Counseling is Essential and Not a Luxury
by Kennedy Dixon, Counselor
School counseling is often perceived as a luxury rather than an essential service for student success. However, this perspective is narrow-minded, contradicts research and best practices, and fails to acknowledge the crucial role that school counselors play in supporting students’ academic, social, and emotional development, as well as their readiness for college/career and post-secondary options.
Research indicates that school counseling significantly impacts students’ overall well-being and academic achievement. As fellow educators, it is our shared responsibility to change this narrative and advocate for adequate school counseling services to ensure that every student has access to counseling support.
School districts statewide are following the recommendations of state and national agencies, university scholars, and other experts in the field of school counseling. They are reducing student-to-counselor ratios and implementing school counseling standards. In August 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the “Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health” in California to address this crisis and facilitate children’s access to mental health and substance abuse services. Increasing the number of counselors in our schools is one of Governor Newsom’s priorities in achieving this ambitious goal. School counselors possess a unique ability to provide the necessary support to students due to their holistic, whole-child approach. However, we must address the current imbalances in student-to-counselor ratios and assigned responsibilities.
A first-class education system cannot exist without a first-class school counseling program. This requires professionally trained school counselors who implement comprehensive and evidence-based school counseling programs and curricula. Otherwise, our students will be at a severe disadvantage when transitioning from high school to postsecondary options, as many students from other districts will have had access to these supports.
The recommended student-to-counselor ratio is 250:1, while our elementary ratios are 704:1, K-8 ratios are 884:1, and middle school ratios are 727:1. The current practice of schools “buying” school counselor time one year and diverting the funds to other initiatives the next prevents consistency in student services and highlights the flaw in determining and prioritizing counseling services at the site level.
Together, we must make it abundantly clear that school counselors are not expendable; they are essential members of the educational team who are invaluable to the success and well-being of our students. Their support is vital to student success and should not be considered a luxury.
In solidarity,
Kennedy
Feeling the Blues? Get Support for Difficult Times with EASE.
With all the stresses in our lives today it is easy to understand how we may become strained and overcome with anxiety. Often when feeling this way, it is difficult to know who to turn to for assistance.
A little-known benefit we have as educational employees in Los Angeles County is the Employee Assistance Service for Education Program.
EASE is a leading regional service that provides district staff and their families with the opportunity to assess and resolve their difficulties with the assistance of a professional counselor through an assessment and brief counseling service. EASE offers high quality, confidential assistance in:
- Personal and family problems
- Job-related issues
- Stress
- Substance abuse
- Grief, loss and traumatic incidents
- Worksite and phone consultations
