Reply to WTF is the job of a high school counselor?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I can’t speak to Fairfax County, but usually at this time of year, counselors will be focusing on seniors— ensuring that they have the paperwork they need for college applications, verifying that seniors are on track for fulfilling their graduation requirements, and finishing up things that need to be addressed while students are still a part of the school system.

At other times of the year, counselors may serve as a liaison to other school staff — so, referring students to the child study team for assessment and interventions, for example, or working with the school social worker and teachers to address an ongoing student concern, or connecting a student with resource providers. They may meet with students to verify that they’re on track to meet grade level requirements prior to graduation. They may also work individually and in groups with students to resolve school related issues.  They may have responsibility for hundreds of students, so even brief meetings with students and reviewing transcripts can be time consuming tasks.

You say that your child is struggling, and the counselor has been cc’d on emails — although you don’t mention who the original emails were sent to.  You also don’t mention what type of help you would like — during this last month or so of school.   If it’s clear that the counselor was cc’d, it’s possible that the counselor expected the primary recipient of the emails to address your concerns. [/quote]

Appreciate the level of detail you wrote! In the last 3 weeks my kid has gotten in trouble multiple times, counselor was cc'ed on emails. Kid is currently failing multiple classes related to a IEP-protected illness / time out of school. Teachers are putting immense pressure without any alternative solutions other than giving up lunch to do makeups.

Before this, I sent multiple unanswered emails, voicemail and phone calls. In other words, I've never been able to get a hold of this person. When they finally responded it was, basically, can't help. [/quote]

I’m still not sure what you mean by “trouble” (behavioral problem?/ failure to complete assignments?) or who got the original emails that the counselor was cc’d, so this might be too general to be useful .  If the student has an IEP, I’ll assume that the emails were sent to someone on your kid’s IEP team. Usually, unless the counselor was pulled in by the IEP team, it would be up to the IEP team to address the concerns and determine whether or not the student’s IEP needed to be modified. It would make sense for the counselor to be aware of the concerns with the student — but your concerns would be forwarded to your kid’s case manager.

If the emails, voice mails and phone calls were sent directly to the counselor, it would have been a courtesy for the counselor to contact you to reroute you to the case manager. If the calls went through an office, it would be reasonable— and take some effort — for the counselor to get more information about the student, learn that they have an IEP, and pass the messages on to the student’s case manager.  If the case manager was on the list of people who received your cc’d emails, it does make sense that the counselor wouldn’t reply — since they knew that the case manager /IEP team was already in the loop re: your concerns.

If the student is failing related to issues addressed in an IEP — and/or teachers aren’t implementing the IEP appropriately, it’s on the IEP team to address that — not (usually) the counselor. The counselor might get involved if the concern involves other students without IEPs (ongoing problematic behavior with peers, for example) but that would not be a simple or quick process for multiple reasons, including — possibly — the need for parental consent for all of the students involved.

tldr: The short version is that for students with IEPs, the case manager is usually the first point of contact for the kinds of concerns that you’ve raised.

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