school counselors

[Anonymous]

Honestly asking, what is the role of a school counselor? At the ES level? In MS? And HS? What can families contact them for? Or for what, when is it better to contact an Assistant Principal or Principal instead?

[Anonymous]

Depends on what your child’s issue is. I would start with the counselor for classroom and social issues. If your child was threatened, I would go directly to the principal.

[Anonymous]

Not an expert, but have had several kids go through mcps.

For ES, for a typical kid, they encounter counselors when they come to the classroom for lessons (mental health, getting along with others) and if they get into a conflict with another kid (the counselor would help them resolve a playground dispute, perhaps). A lot of time, counselors do activities (like "lunch bunch") so they can get to know each kid and see if the kid would benefit from other services from the counselor. You could also ask them counselor to have your kid come in for a conversation if you have worries.

In HS, the typical kid would encounter the counselor mostly regarding class schedules (and they write a mandatory letter of rec for all college applications). But a parent can contact them about anything, and the counselor will either become engaged, themselves, or get the right adult to engage with the kid. (For instance, if you are worried about the kid's mental health at school, you can contact the counselor who will care and try to help, but might quickly pass it on to a mental health professional.). You can also contact the counselor if there's an issue with a teacher, but the counselor might pass it on quickly to an assistant principal or resource teacher.

MS is something in between. For instance, if you have a concern about your kid's school performance that goes beyond a single teacher, you might contact the counselor. That person can get feedback from all teachers and talk with you, or even set the kid up for a screening for learning disabilities, etc. Or might pass the issue off to the school psychologist, for instnace, if they thought that was appropriate. Kids might stop in to see the counselor if they have a conflict with another kid or a teacher.

[Anonymous]

The counselor is the one who runs 504 meetings.

[Anonymous]

Counselors support students within three major spheres at all three levels: Academic, social/emotional, and college/career. The three categories are broad and cover so much within a student’s life in school. Some meeting with counselors more than others depending on their individual needs. They often conduct classroom counseling lessons, counseling groups, and individual sessions. Their caseload are quite large, too.

[Anonymous]

I’m a MCPS school counselor who has worked at all three levels, so I’ll offer my perspective and experience.

Elementary: Regular classroom lessons; lunch bunches (eg friendship, social skills and other special interest groups); advising teachers; being a part of the EMT team that looks into learning, emotional and attentional needs of students and reads outside reports, with expert input from the school psychologist; help parents find outside therapists and other appropriate specialists via our referral network; meet with students individually because they request it, their parent requests it, or a teacher or administrator requests it, or because we think there’s a need based on our observations; do some parent coaching when asked; meet with middle school counselors to facilitate the promotion of students; help with information and back to school nights etc. I was the only counselor in my elementary school, though some schools in the county have 1.5 or maybe a multilingual counselor depending on the population.

Middle: All of the above, minus doing as many classroom lessons, though we do go in roughly quarterly to help students understand scheduling or to help teachers with advisory-type lessons on everything from suicide prevention to scheduling processes to helping students know when and how to reach out to one of us. There was one counselor per grade in my middle school, and so there was more tag teaming. The biggest difference is that in middle school we do scheduling, which isn’t all year, but is time-consuming when we’re in the midst of it. In middle school, more students come to us for support on their own. We see a ton of friendship challenges in this age group. We also see more teacher-student friction, and this also is when a lot of children begin falling behind academically if there are any undiagnosed or emerging issues.

High: Much like middle, but add to the list things like ensuring that kids will have all their high school credits; fewer kids are getting their first diagnoses and more already have therapists in place if needed; we have to write college recommendations and do some advising about college and career options (though we have no training in college admissions and honestly aren’t consistently good at it); we have far fewer interactions with parents in high school. In both middle and high school, we are dealing with more absenteeism issues and more substance use. Bigger problems too.

Overall, if you’re not sure if you should call your child’s counselor but need support, reach out to one of us! If we are not the right point of contact, we will steer you in the right direction. Please know that we are not administrators. If you’re angry with a teacher, or if you think a student should be disciplined, we have no power to impose consequences or write someone up. But we can help you relay your frustrations and help your child manage the situation as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a MCPS school counselor who has worked at all three levels, so I’ll offer my perspective and experience.

Elementary: Regular classroom lessons; lunch bunches (eg friendship, social skills and other special interest groups); advising teachers; being a part of the EMT team that looks into learning, emotional and attentional needs of students and reads outside reports, with expert input from the school psychologist; help parents find outside therapists and other appropriate specialists via our referral network; meet with students individually because they request it, their parent requests it, or a teacher or administrator requests it, or because we think there’s a need based on our observations; do some parent coaching when asked; meet with middle school counselors to facilitate the promotion of students; help with information and back to school nights etc. I was the only counselor in my elementary school, though some schools in the county have 1.5 or maybe a multilingual counselor depending on the population.

Middle: All of the above, minus doing as many classroom lessons, though we do go in roughly quarterly to help students understand scheduling or to help teachers with advisory-type lessons on everything from suicide prevention to scheduling processes to helping students know when and how to reach out to one of us. There was one counselor per grade in my middle school, and so there was more tag teaming. The biggest difference is that in middle school we do scheduling, which isn’t all year, but is time-consuming when we’re in the midst of it. In middle school, more students come to us for support on their own. We see a ton of friendship challenges in this age group. We also see more teacher-student friction, and this also is when a lot of children begin falling behind academically if there are any undiagnosed or emerging issues.

High: Much like middle, but add to the list things like ensuring that kids will have all their high school credits; fewer kids are getting their first diagnoses and more already have therapists in place if needed; we have to write college recommendations and do some advising about college and career options (though we have no training in college admissions and honestly aren’t consistently good at it); we have far fewer interactions with parents in high school. In both middle and high school, we are dealing with more absenteeism issues and more substance use. Bigger problems too.

Overall, if you’re not sure if you should call your child’s counselor but need support, reach out to one of us! If we are not the right point of contact, we will steer you in the right direction. Please know that we are not administrators. If you’re angry with a teacher, or if you think a student should be disciplined, we have no power to impose consequences or write someone up. But we can help you relay your frustrations and help your child manage the situation as well.

Once upon a time, a counselor told a student (A) what another student (B) and their family may have said in private. Then, that kid that counselor told (A) made a comment in class in front of the other kid (B). Not cool, counselor. Did counselor think before unnecessaraily telling kid A? Other counselor our kid had in MS was helpful.

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the counselor. Some can be a point of contact for any issue. Some see their main role as sashaying around the building and handing out glamour pictures of themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the counselor. Some can be a point of contact for any issue. Some see their main role as sashaying around the building and handing out glamour pictures of themselves.

+1 You know what you're talking about about!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends on the counselor. Some can be a point of contact for any issue. Some see their main role as sashaying around the building and handing out glamour pictures of themselves.

My child has one of them Wootton! A mean terrible counselor that literally does nothing for the kids. But she walks around showing off wedding photos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The counselor is the one who runs 504 meetings.

This is an “other duty as assigned,” not part of the counselor’s normal job. The American School Counseling Association is fighting MCPS to have 504s taken off school counselor’s plates due to the inappropriate dual relationship it creates. MCPS is losing good school counselors because of nightmare 504 parents.

[Anonymous]

It's also a nightmare to deal with counselors who suck at doing 504 plans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's also a nightmare to deal with counselors who suck at doing 504 plans

Because it’s not supposed to be part of their jobs. It’s not covered in school counselor master’s programs or internships. There is no funding or staffing for 504s it’s just thrown at counselors because they were too nice to say “no” years ago when MCPS threw it at them years ago and it’s blown way out of proportion since. It’s a real shame if there’s any sort of strain between you and your child’s school counselor because of a 504 issue. That’s yet another MCPS fault. It’s not like this in successful school districts. 504s are coordinated by staff members qualified in making decisions about accommodations and that is not what counselors should be used for.

[Anonymous]

I find that counselors really show their colors when there's a crisis and they step up and fix / help / advise. I think they're under so much pressure with so many kids that this is all we can really expect of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's also a nightmare to deal with counselors who suck at doing 504 plans

Because it’s not supposed to be part of their jobs. It’s not covered in school counselor master’s programs or internships. There is no funding or staffing for 504s it’s just thrown at counselors because they were too nice to say “no” years ago when MCPS threw it at them years ago and it’s blown way out of proportion since. It’s a real shame if there’s any sort of strain between you and your child’s school counselor because of a 504 issue. That’s yet another MCPS fault. It’s not like this in successful school districts. 504s are coordinated by staff members qualified in making decisions about accommodations and that is not what counselors should be used for.

Yes mcps blows for kids with disabilities. From 504s to IEPs.