MCPS Elementary School Counselors

[Anonymous]

What have been your experiences with elementary school counselors at different MCPS schools? Trying to figure out what is expected and within the realm of what they can be doing to help my child.
Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Ours comes into classrooms regularly to talk about bullying and inclusion, etc. We are at an inclusive school with lots of mainstreamed SN children.
She has lunch bunch with children whom teachers have recommended might benefit (or parents, etc).
She probably has one-one-meetings for the children suffering trauma of some kind, such as grief, but luckily we have not had to benefit from those.
She sits on IEP meetings and has made caring and on-point remarks about my child.

I can't compare with other counselors, but she is a kind and experienced woman.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids is at an objectively high needs school, so when I approached the counselor in search of some suggestions to deal with my child's anxiety, I was not expecting him to have time to meet with DC. I was pleasantly surprised that he took time to talk to my child, develop some strategies for dealing with anxiety, and to get DC's teacher in the loop.

Now, this was all pretty low-level, but it was the level of intervention that DC needed and now I know the counselor is also keeping an eye on things and would pull me in if he thought my child needed more help.

So...I'd say the counselor's duties would definitely involve sort of low-level stress management and working with the homeroom teacher.

I also know the counselor coordinates the weekend backpacks of food, helps parents navigate FARMS benefits, and gets the teachers together for coat and toy drives in the winter.

[Anonymous]

Our experience was awful. The counselor at our school in elementary spent most of her time lounging around the office gossiping than spending time with any of the children. When IEP meetings rolled around she had a reputation for rolling her eyes and trying to deny kids 504 plans so that she could avoid the paperwork. We also know of a case where she really screwed up and then she tried to cover up her mistakes by doing something that hurt a child. She did leave, finally. Good riddance.

[Anonymous]

Ours is very kind- will talk to parents, meet with kids, have lunch bunches, etc... However, she is not very effective at solving issues. My DD was being badly picked on and she felt the counselor was not able to help her.

[Anonymous]

Ours is not helpful at all. She is very gossipy, and only provides assistance to families or children she "likes." She also has zero knowledge of special education law and is too busy denying things like IEPs or 504 plans to actually provides services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids is at an objectively high needs school, so when I approached the counselor in search of some suggestions to deal with my child's anxiety, I was not expecting him to have time to meet with DC. I was pleasantly surprised that he took time to talk to my child, develop some strategies for dealing with anxiety, and to get DC's teacher in the loop.

Now, this was all pretty low-level, but it was the level of intervention that DC needed and now I know the counselor is also keeping an eye on things and would pull me in if he thought my child needed more help.

So...I'd say the counselor's duties would definitely involve sort of low-level stress management and working with the homeroom teacher.

I also know the counselor coordinates the weekend backpacks of food, helps parents navigate FARMS benefits, and gets the teachers together for coat and toy drives in the winter.

This is exactly what ours does.
I will add that I reached out to ours once to ask about a social problem my DD was having. She stepped right in and spoke with DD then got back to me. I love ours!

[Anonymous]

Ours has been wonderful. Regularly in the classrooms. Very involved during the admin process to get one of my children a 504 plan. Incredibly supportive to me and my children when there was a tragic death in our family and I called the school to get guidance on how to talk to my children. She got on the phone immediately and has checked in with my children since. I've been very impressed and grateful.

[Anonymous]

Our is new this year and seems pretty good. Has been helpful with my child when he's had issues.
That said, I wish she would do more affirmatively with him. Maybe I need an IEP for that to happen, though.

[Anonymous]

My child is in an SN program and our counselor is not involved at all in his education, does not attend IEP meetings, doesn't do lunch bunch. As far as I can tell she just organizes events like wacky hair day and fundraisers for the SGA. A waste.

[Anonymous]

Our was helpful and extremely nice, but she was truly unable to do anything against persistent bullying. If the bullying is physical, it can be stopped. If the bullying is social/verbal, it is hard to control.

My son did like the counsellor and she did make a difference to him (he felt like she really did understand what he was going through, so that was great). However, the schools are too big and there is little to no supervision at lunch and on the playground at recess.

The one difference the counsellor made is that she was able to help the other teachers understand that my son was the one being picked on and that he wasn't the problem. So she had his back when weird things came up.

[Anonymous]

Ours talks privately to kids having issues and runs several lunch bunch groups (e.g. for anxiety, social issues, etc). She also organizes the smart sacks (weekend food for kids) and holiday giving program. She attends almost all 504 / IEP meetings and does classroom observations. She is pretty responsive when there is an issue but definitely has her hands full. I think there are certain parents who suck up a lot of her time since they turn minor issues into major ones.

What kind of help are you looking for?

[Anonymous]

Ours ran groups for kids going through their parents' divorce but would not have a group to work on social skills for SN kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours is very kind- will talk to parents, meet with kids, have lunch bunches, etc... However, she is not very effective at solving issues. My DD was being badly picked on and she felt the counselor was not able to help her.

I had the same issue, but ours did solve the problem. She called me within minutes of my emailing a bullying form to her and then spoke to my child. She was being bullied on the bus. The bus driver, teachers and all of the aides were informed and the bully was required to sit in the closest seat next to the bus driver. so he could keep an eye on him. My DC could sit in the back with her friends like she wanted to. They also took the extra step of changing the recess and lunch groupings to make sure that he would never be int he same group as her (even though he was only bothering her on the bus). She also said that she would talk to him and his parents. Totally squashed the problem. He's never bothered again. I guess, it depends on how serious the school is about eliminating bullying. They take it extremely seriously here. I even got a follow-up call from Assistant Principal. They have really went above our expectations. My daughter feels very safe and I know the adults at her school will protect her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours is very kind- will talk to parents, meet with kids, have lunch bunches, etc... However, she is not very effective at solving issues. My DD was being badly picked on and she felt the counselor was not able to help her.

I had the same issue, but ours did solve the problem. She called me within minutes of my emailing a bullying form to her and then spoke to my child. She was being bullied on the bus. The bus driver, teachers and all of the aides were informed and the bully was required to sit in the closest seat next to the bus driver. so he could keep an eye on him. My DC could sit in the back with her friends like she wanted to. They also took the extra step of changing the recess and lunch groupings to make sure that he would never be int he same group as her (even though he was only bothering her on the bus). She also said that she would talk to him and his parents. Totally squashed the problem. He's never bothered again. I guess, it depends on how serious the school is about eliminating bullying. They take it extremely seriously here. I even got a follow-up call from Assistant Principal. They have really went above our expectations. My daughter feels very safe and I know the adults at her school will protect her.

Wow, that's great. What school?