MSPA is proud to recognize Dr. Laura Smith-Grose as our 2024 School Psychologist of the Year! Dr. Smith-Grose has been a Howard County Public School System (HCPS) school psychologist for nineteen years. She has been assigned full-time to three different schools in her tenure in the district. Dr. Smith-Grose fully embodies all aspects of the NASP Practice Model in her work and is an integral member of each school community. Dr. Smith-Grose has earned the trust of her colleagues, students and families by utilizing her strengths in compassion and reflective listening in supporting students in crisis, colleagues in need of guidance or when responding to a tragedy that has impacted a school community. As the leader of the school-based Instructional Intervention Team, Student Support Team and Crisis Intervention Team Dr. Smith-Grose takes challenging situations and breaks each down into manageable components while remaining calm and focused. In addition, Dr. Smith-Grose has contributed to the growth of the field of school psychology both locally and across the state serving as the primary supervisor for ten school psychologist interns.

As chair of the Ways and Means committee, Delegate Atterbeary has been an advocate for education and mental health initiatives throughout her tenure as a State Delegate. In 2024, she sponsored HB 1317, the Maryland Medical Assistance Program – Use of Reimbursement Funds by Schools, our bill to bring Medicaid money into school psychologist programs. Through this legislation, she is working to ensure that schools have the necessary resources and funding to provide crucial mental health services to our students. Delegate Atterbeary embodies the qualities of an outstanding advocate for education and mental health, and her contributions will have a profound and lasting impact on our community.

In addition to her work with Education Team Allies she also leads an amazing project with the ARC of Anne Arundel County which coaches families and provides assistance with their IEP process. She has helped countless families in the Severna Park and Annapolis area. She is working to expand this program to other ARC chapters in the state. It is a program that would benefit every single ARC chapter in the state and I hope she is able to grow this fantastic resource and program over the years. Beth is well versed in the IEP process and always works with families and the school system to foster a team approach. She is extremely professional and passionate about her work. She has assisted us through many IEP meetings and helped with several issues along the way. Also last session of the Maryland General Assembly our family advocated for “Brynleigh’s Act” for Seizure Safe Schools Maryland and Beth provided excellent written testimony as well as contacted her legislators to support the bill. I am happy to share that with her advocacy support SB299 passed unanimously in the House and Senate and was signed into law by Governor Hogan in April 2022 making Maryland the 15th seizure safe school state in the county. This life saving legislation will help students across Maryland for years to come!

Dr. Martirano served as the Howard County Public School System’s (HCPSS) Superintendent for seven years and was a tireless advocate for the well-being and success of our students. Dr. Martirano collaborated with the HCPSS Crisis Teams and the Office of Psychological Services around pressing issues related to staff, student, and community behavioral health priorities including suicide prevention and intervention, crisis intervention and postvention, and compassionate leadership in times of crisis. In every scenario, Dr. Martirano balanced his empathic, engaged presence with an authentic, driven commitment to identifying the best possible outcomes. Throughout his tenure, Dr. Martirano developed and infused a belief system, entitled the Strategic Call to Action: Learning and Leading with Equity (SCTA) into work as educators and mental health professionals. The SCTA established four overarching commitments (value, achieve, connect, empower) supporting critical goals focused on student-centered practices, inclusive relationships, and responsive and efficient operations. The SCTA and the problem-solving spaces, courageous conversations, and collaborations that Dr. Martirano’s leadership enabled, had a direct and substantial impact on mental health supports in our school system and the roles, responsibilities, and ratios of school psychologists specifically. Under his superintendency, key programs within the office of psychological services (e.g., Instructional Intervention Teams, Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports, Crisis Intervention, Threat Management, Suicide Prevention) were supported and our school-based staff increased from 67.7 full-time staff to 85. This decreased our school psychologist to student ratios and increased our abilities to meet the needs of our diverse and evolving communities throughout trying national times including a global pandemic, racial injustices, and the rethinking of our very approach to public education within the realities of virtual and hybrid learning. He advocated for and established the infrastructure to develop a department of school social work, now staffed with 21 colleagues, whose collaboration enriches and extends our critical efforts for the mental health needs of students.

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