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Running head: COUNSELORS IN THE "REAL" WORLD 1

Counselors in the “Real” World

Sarah Emily Curtis, Elizabeth Duncan, Susan McKenzie, and Julie New

Salem College

COUNSELORS IN THE "REAL" WORLD 2

Counselors in the "Real" World

In today’s educational environment, counselors play an important role in student

development. Understanding how to manage their counseling program from assessment to

implementation can be the difference between success and failure. As we interviewed current

school counselors in the school systems in our areas, we found that they all have a lot on their

plates, and that they work hard to make sure their students have every opportunity to thrive.

From classroom lessons to calendar management, these individuals teach the

competencies they know their students will need to be successful. It is critical that a new

counselor assess the current program and understand how to design and implement changes as

necessary. Understanding state standards as well as knowing how to work within the American

School Counselor Association [ASCA] guidelines will help us build comprehensive programs.

Discussion

For this project, each group member was tasked with interviewing school counselors at

the elementary, middle, and high school levels. We were also to interview an administrator.

Each of us went to area schools and interviewed counselors who are working now to encourage

and motivate their students.

The Interviews

Interviewed by Julie New. Julie New traveled to multiple schools in Randolph County

NC, which tend to be in the rural setting. Julie first interviewed Becky Peele at Seagrove

Elementary School. Ms. Peele is in her fourth year as a counselor, with the last two being at

Seagrove. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill for both her undergraduate and graduate programs.

Seagrove has approximately 428 students and just has one counselor.


Next, Julie traveled to Southwest Randolph Middle School, which is where the Seagrove

Elementary students will go for Middle School. The Middle school has two counselors and she

was able to interview both of them. Brittany Roberti handles the 7th and 8th grade students. She

has been a counselor for two years and graduated from UNC-G for both her undergrad and

graduate program. Pam Harden handles 6th and 8th grade students. She has been a counselor for

15 years, but has been at SWRMS for just a year. Between the two of them, they handle over

1100 students.

Julie then traveled to Wheatmore High School (still in Randolph County) to see high

school counselor Shelia Dunphy-Atkins. There are two counselors at Wheatmore for their 700

students, and Ms. Dunphy-Atkins handles the juniors and seniors. She has been a counselor for

15 years, coming to Wheatmore High School when it opened in 2009. Mrs. Dunphy-Atkins got

her undergraduate degree from Canisius College, where she also obtained her first Masters in

School Administration. She got her second Masters in Counseling from St. Bonaventure

University also in New York. She is also National Board Certified and her vast experience is a

true asset to her students.

Finally, Julie interviewed Drew Maerz who is the Director of Testing and Accountability

for the Asheboro City Schools in Randolph County. Dr. Maerz is responsible for the testing and

reporting for Asheboro City Schools that serve over 4800 students. He has a BS in Secondary

Education Chemistry, from the College of Education in at Penn State. His Masters in School

Administration is from UNC-G and his Doctorate in Education is from UNC-Charlotte. Dr.

Maerz has been a teacher, an elementary and high school principal. He then became the Director

of Educational Development for Moore County prior to his current position. Dr. Maerz has seen


how comprehensive counselingprograms can be beneficial to the students. A transcript of Julie’s

interviews can be found in Appendix B.

Interviewed by Elizabeth Duncan.Elizabeth interviewed three counselors and one

administrator in the Cabarrus County school system. The Cabarrus County school system has

grown immensely in the past several years. Cabarrus County is suburban area. Elizabeth

interviewed Julie Haas at Boger Elementary, Amy Hand at Northwest Middle, Christy Takach at

Concord High, and Assistant Principal of Instruction at Beverly Hills Elementary.

Julie Haas started her professional career in admissions at an Art Institute. After deciding

to change career paths she attended University of North Carolina at Charlotte and graduated in

2009 with a Master’s in Education-School Counseling. Originally Ms. Haas wanted to work at

the high school level. After doing an internship in an elementary school Ms. Haas changed her

mind and decided to stay at the elementary level. Ms. Haas works with the students in 1st, 3rd, and

5th grade. Ms. Haas’ splits the Kindergarten classrooms with her co-counselor.

Ms. Hand worked for the Department of Social Services briefly before deciding to

become a school counselor. Ms. Hand also attended University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

This school year was Ms. Hand’s thirteenth year at a school counselor, all of which have been in

middle school. Ms. Hand works with the 8th grade students at Northwest Middle.

Ms. Takach attended Marshall University, in West Virginia, for both her undergraduate

and graduate work. Ms. Takach worked at the elementary level for ten years before moving the

high school level. Ms. Takach has been at Concord High for three years.

Lastly, Ms. Scardina started teaching middle and high school Spanish and ESL back in

1995. In 1997 she began teaching just high school. Ms. Scardina earned a Master's Degree in

Education in 2002 and then entered into the NC Principal Fellows program and earned a Master's


in School Administration and Curriculum and Instruction in 2004. Since then she has been an

Assistant Principal. Ms. Scardina did her undergraduate work at University of North Carolina at

Greensboro and then all of her graduate work at University of North Carolina at Charlotte. This

year Ms. Scardina will begin working on her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction / Urban

Education. This school year is her 20th year in education. A transcript of Liz’s interviews can be

found in Appendix C.

Interviewed by Susan McKenzie. Susan interviewed three school counselors and one

administrator, who was formerly a school counselor, in Henderson County. Henderson County’s

makeup is both suburban and rural, depending upon which part of the county you are in. The

counselors interviewed were Susan Garren at Fletcher Elementary School, Carolyn Blakely at

Hendersonville Middle School, and Annabelle Hurd at Hendersonville High School. The

administrator interviewed was Shannon Auten, Assistant Principal at West Henderson High

School.

Susan Garren, Fletcher Elementary, has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.

Ms. Garren taught middle school math for two years. She found that the kids had so many

issues, and they would stay in her room and talk during lunch and breaks, so she decided to go

into counseling. She went to school at night while she was teaching. She worked as a counselor

at a high school for 4 years, but she didn’t like the politics and paperwork of high school. She

was at a middle school for 7 years and has been at Fletcher Elementary for 15 years.

Carolyn Blakely, Hendersonville Middle School, has an undergraduate degree in

psychology. When she couldn’t find a job, she went to a career counselor and found that school

counseling would be a good fit for her. She has a master’s in counseling education from the

University of South Florida. She has been a school counselor for 16 years. She was a counselor


at Lees-McRae College for four years, and since then has worked in Buncombe County, Wilkes

County, and Henderson County. This is her first year at Hendersonville Middle School.

Annabelle Hurd, Hendersonville High School, has an undergraduate degree in English

and a master’s degree in Special Reading. She was an English teacher for 17 years, but she felt a

need for change. So, she went back to school and got her specialist degree in school counseling.

Ms. Hurd has been a school counselor for the last 17 years and has been at Hendersonville High

School since 2002. A transcript of Susan’s interviews can be found in Appendix D.

Interviewed by Emily Curtis. Lisa Wagoner began her educational career by obtaining

a BA in Psychology from UNC- C and then obtained a M.Ed. in School Counseling from there,

as well. She has been counseling since 1990 at the elementary and high school levels (K-8

school, K-6 school, 9-12 school), and an early college), which gives her great insight to all the

areas of social and academic development of her students. “Her current school, West Yadkin

Elementary, is a rural K-6 school with 600+ students, which is a Title 1 school that has a 40%

Hispanic population. Six to eight elementary schools in Yadkin County have to share counselors

and resources” (Curtis, New, & Stambaugh, 2014, p. 3).

Bradley Shore has been a school counselor for over 15 years. He earned a bachelor of

science in psychology from Appalachian State University. He began graduate school at ASU

with plans to be a family and marriage counselor. During his studies, he decided to add school

counseling to his M.A. in Community Counseling. Bradley has experience working in K-8

schools. During his time in K-8 schools, Bradley was responsible for working the sixth through

eighth grade students. Once the schools in Yadkin County split, he began working in the K-6

schools. Bradley currently holds a split position of school counselor at Boonville Elementary


School and Jonesville Elementary School. The two schools combined have a population of

approximately 650 students. Bradley works two and a half days a week at each school.

Dawn Huggins is currently the assistant principal at my base school, Starmount Middle

School. Dawn received her degrees in education from Appalachian State University. Dawn

earned her B.S. in Elementary Education, as an NC Teaching Fellow. This degree was followed

by an M.A. in Middle Grades Education, English Language Arts, a certificate as a Curriculum

Specialists, and an M.A. in Administration. Dawn has been working in education for 21 years at

every level except high school. Starmount Middle School has approximately 350 students. A

transcript of Emily’s interviews can be found in Appendix E.

Managing the comprehensive K-12 school counseling program

The ASCA notes that “to effectively deliver the school counseling curriculum and

address the developmental needs of every student, the school counseling program must be

effectively and efficiently managed” (2012, p. 41). In order to help in that pursuit, the ASCA

provides a variety of assessments and tools for use in evaluating a school counseling program,

such as a school counselor competencies assessment, a school counseling program assessment,

an annual agreement, and curriculum, small-group, and closing-the-gap action plans (2012).

Gysbers and Henderson offer further guidance regarding the management of a comprehensive

school counseling program when they suggest using assessments and tools like those from the

ASCA to refine how school counseling services are offered, the clarify the roles and duties of

school counselors, and foster a more effective use of school counselor time (2012).

School counseling program models employed. Whereas school counseling programs of

the past were more responsive in nature, the ASCA National Model brought focus to school

counseling programs and made the success of all students a priority (Wong, 2012). According to


the ASCA, the National Model “...outlines the components of a comprehensive school

counseling program” and “...brings school counselors together with one vision and one voice,

which creates unity and focus toward improving student achievement” (2012, p. xii). Today,

many states have drafted their own comprehensive school counseling program models which are

heavily based on the ASCA National Model, with additional allowances for the needs and

requirements of the individual states.

In our interviews the counselors were asked what program model was currently in use in

their program and whether that program model was in place throughout the district. One of the

counselors and the administrator interviewed said that the ASCA National Model was the

program model in use in Henderson County(S. Garren, personal communication, April 15, 2015;

S. Auten, personal communication, May 1, 2015). The other two counselors said that the ASCA

National Model was the ideal, but that they didn’t really follow it (A. Hurd, personal

communication, April 2, 2015; C. Blakely, personal communication, April 14, 2015). The

middle school counselor noted that her first year at Hendersonville Middle School had been

challenging. “This year has been a year of crisis. It’s not proactive or preventative, just

reactive” (C. Blakely, personal communication, April 14, 2015). Annabelle Hurd, the counselor

at Hendersonville High School shared that, while she thinks they embrace the spirit of the ASCA

National Model, they actually follow more of an individual delivery of services model (personal

communication, April 2, 2015).

K-12 collaborative efforts. The ASCA notes that “through school, family, and

community collaboration, school counselors can access a vast array of support for student

achievement and development that cannot be achieved by an individual, or school, alone”

(ASCA, 2012, p. 6). Collaboration can occur in a variety of ways such as the following:


school/district committees, needs assessments, program goals, teaming and partnering, and

systemic change. Woodward and Aielo suggest that an area of collaboration which tends to

challenge school counselors is vertical collaboration – elementary to middle school and middle

to high school. They gave an example of a vertical articulation team, designed to increase

collaboration between school counseling programs (2012).According to Woodward and Aielo:

By creating this team, we were able to combine developmentally appropriate programs

and resources across schools, increase the effectiveness of transition programs, better

serve families who have children in multiple schools and enhance communication among

colleagues, regardless of whether they worked at the middle or high school level(2012,

para. 3).

In our interviews, the counselors and administrators were asked how the K-12 counseling

program collaborates. All three counselors interviewed in Henderson County mentioned

transitions as an area in which the counselors collaborate, specifically at the end of the year when

younger students are bridging up to the next school such as the transition from elementary school

to middle school. Two of the counselors mentioned collaboration between schools with shared

families or with those who have previous experience with a student. The high school counselor

mentioned that she would like to receive more of a “heads up” from the middle school(S. Hurd,

personal communication, April 2, 2015; C. Blakely, personal communication, April 14, 2015; S

Garren, personal communication, April 15, 2015). The administrator who was interviewed,

shared the following, “I don’t feel like they collaborate a whole lot. There are monthly

counseling meetings, but they don’t actually happen unless there is a program planned. Crisis

response teams are a great example of the different levels working together. I wish there was

more collaboration” (S. Auten, personal communication, May 1, 2015).


Program enhancement models. According to Gysbers and Henderson, program

enhancement is essentially program redesign. This enhancing/redesign process isn’t intended to

change the foundation of the comprehensive school counseling program, just ensure that it is still

serving the needs of its stakeholders (Gysbers and Henderson, 2012; McKenzie, 2015). Gysbers

and Henderson note that while the program description will remain the same, “what may change,

however, will occur inside the framework of the program: the content (student standards), the

descriptions and assumptions, the interventions, and the use of school counselor time and talent”

(2012, p. 381; McKenzie, 2015).

Through the enhancement process, student and program needs are identified and

addressed through the use of new activities or offerings. In our counselor interviews, the

counselors and administrators were asked to identify program enhancement models or activities

in which their schools were engaged. Ms. Garren at Fletcher Elementary mentioned that they

have both morning lab and afternoon homework club which she runs for at risk kids and for

those who might not get the help they need at home (S. Garren, personal communication, April

15, 2015). Both Ms. Auten and Ms. Blakely mentioned the use of peer mentors as positive

enhancements to a school counseling program (C. Blakely, personal communication, April 14,

2015; S. Auten, personal communication, May 1, 2015). Ms. Hurd cited the challenges of trying

to get new programs in place when the principal is not supportive of the idea (A. Hurd, personal

communication, April 2, 2015).

Counselor duties and responsibilities. The duties and responsibilities of a school

counselor are many and varied. "Probably few jobs in education have evolved as much in terms

of duties and responsibilities as that of the school counselor" (ASCA, 2012, p. 17). There are

obvious duties and responsibilities that are included in the component of delivery, such as


individual and group counseling. Also, it is common knowledge that school counselors will

provide classroom lessons based on the guidance curriculum. However, management is often

not recognized as a duty and responsibility of school counselors, yet it is necessary and crucial to

a well-functioning comprehensive program.

Gysbers and Henderson (2012) provide four main components of a school counseling

program: guidance curriculum, individual student planning, responsive services, and system

support (Gysbers & Henderson, 2012, p. 63). Other elements of a program that school

counselors are responsible for include student standards and the element of development,

management, and accountability (Gysbers & Henderson, 2012, p. 63). The development,

management, and accountability element is an area of duty and responsibility of school

counseling that may often be overlooked or swept under the rug. It is easy to become so

overwhelmed, on a daily basis, by providing the four main components of a school counseling

program and neglect other important elements.

During the counselor interviews, each person was asked to describe the duties and

responsibilities of a school counselor. Describing the responsive services of individual

counseling, group counseling, and classroom guidance lessons were the immediate responses.

Upon further reflection, calendars, communication, and collaboration were included in regular

school counselor duties. One of the ways that communication and collaboration are carried out

is through participation in committees such as PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and

Supports), SWAT (School-Wide Assessment Team), SIT (School Improvement Team), faculty

meetings, etc. By participating in these committees, school counselors are able to make

connections within the school and provide support at multiple levels or areas, including

academics and system supports.


When asked about duties, everyone was quick to mention non-counselor duties and

responsibilities, which would fall into the category of fair share duties. Lisa Wagoner

specifically requested the "duty" of morning car line (B. Shore & L. Wagoner, personal

communication, April 13, 2015; D. Huggins, personal communication, April 23, 2015).She

views this as an opportunity to make the initial contact of the day with the students. This is also

a time when she can make connections with parents and guardians. She takes advantage of the

morning car line duty as a chance to be proactive and informed in her school.

School counselors may feel overwhelmed by the myriad duties and responsibilities that are

inherent in a school counseling program, and also in a school. Including program management

as part of the daily duties and responsibilities will assist with thorough and appropriate inclusion.

When management and development are included, the process of balancing all of the

components of a comprehensive program, including the guidance curriculum, individual student

planning, responsive services, system supports, and accountability will be possible and lead to a

more successful program.

Implementation of NC Standards. Implementing the North Carolina Professional

School Counseling Standards provide school counselors with guidelines for accountability and

effective program development and management. The standards provide a “new vision for

school counseling” (North Carolina State Board of Education, Department of Public Instruction

[NCDPI], 2008). There are five standards that cover nearly every aspect of a comprehensive

school guidance and counseling program.

The NC Professional School Counseling Standards are intended by the North Carolina

Department of Public Instruction [NCDPI] to “guide professional development, provide a focus

for school counselor evaluation, and assist higher education programs in development of


professional study programs” (NCDPI, 2008). Standard 1 addresses school counselor leadership,

advocacy, and collaboration (NCDPI, 2008). Standard 2 focuses on developing a respectful

environment for all students, with a special consideration for diversity (NCDPI, 2008). Standard

3 directly addresses the implementation of a school counseling program (NCDPI, 2008).

Standard 4 links to Standard 2 with a goal of providing access to the school counseling program

for all students (NCDPI, 2008). Standard 5 links to professional development by encouraging

school counselors to reflect on their professional practices (NCDPI, 2008).

During the school counselor interviews, the NC Standards were addressed. The school

counselors and administrator interviewed by Emily were all aware of the NC Standards. One

counselor described the NC Standards as a set of “broad guidelines” (B. Shore & L. Wagoner,

personal communication, April 13, 2015; D. Huggins, personal communication, April 23, 2015).

The other counselor and the administrator mentioned the standards as part of the former school

counselor evaluation process (B. Shore & L. Wagoner, personal communication, April 13, 2015;

D. Huggins, personal communication, April 23, 2015). Based on these responses, it would seem

that both school counselors and administrators need to have a better understanding of what the

standards say and what they have to offer to a comprehensive school guidance and counseling

program.

Issues facing school counselors with regard to program management. Management is

a major part of the school counselor role. In the ASCA National Model, management is one of

the four major components. The ASCA says, “to effectively deliver the school counseling

curriculum and address the developmental needs of every student, the school counseling program

must be effectively and efficiently managed” (2012, p. 41). Gysbers and Henderson discuss five

aspects of the school counseling program that fall under the management umbrella. Planning,


Design, Implementation, Evaluation, and Enhancement are all pieces of management that school

counselors have to consider when creating and overseeing a comprehensive program.

Partnership between school counselors and administrators

Establishing a partnership between school counselors and administrators is crucial to an

effective comprehensive school guidance and counseling program. Collaboration is one of the

themes of the ASCA National Model (2012). "Although the school principal may serve as the

head of the school and ultimately be responsible for student services, the school counselor plays

a critical role in making student success a reality. Principals need school counselors' perspective

and leadership in working together on behalf of students in the school" (ASCA, 2012, p. 17).

Through the interviews conducted, the partnership between school counselors and

administrators was an important point. All three of the interviews conducted by Emily presented

positive perceptions of the existing relationship among the school counselors and administration.

Both the school counselors interviewed stated that they feel they are part of a team with their

administrators (B. Shore & L. Wagoner, personal communication, April 13, 2015; D. Huggins,

personal communication, April 23, 2015). There is a collaborative atmosphere. The school

counselors feel trusted to manage their school counseling programs with the support of their

administrators (B. Shore & L. Wagoner, personal communication, April 13, 2015; D. Huggins,

personal communication, April 23, 2015).

The administrative interview provided a reversed yet similar view of this relationship

from the administrative perspective. The administrator considers school counselors as part of the

administrative team. Decisions may need to be made together, with input from both

administrators and school counselors. The principal from Emily's interview felt that one role of

the school counselor is to function as a buffer before disciplinary action is necessary. She stated


that "school counselors can diffuse situations before discipline is necessary(B. Shore & L.

Wagoner, personal communication, April 13, 2015; D. Huggins, personal communication, April

23, 2015). In the current situation at Starmount Middle School, the administration stated that

they are satisfied with the current relationship and partnership between the school counselor and

the administrative team (B. Shore & L. Wagoner, personal communication, April 13, 2015; D.

Huggins, personal communication, April 23, 2015).

When school counselors enter into a new position, it is important that the desired

relationship is communicated. School counselors and administrators should have a clear

understanding of the role and job description of each position. School counselors should be able

to discuss the expectations of the working relationship with their administrators. Administrators

should also be able to share expectations of this working relationship. When administrators and

school counselors are able to work as a collaborative team, the comprehensive school guidance

and counseling program has a higher probability of success.

Challenges to managing a school counseling program

Planning and design. Planning and design are the parts of the process where much of the

initial set up work is conducted. It is important to understand what needs to be accomplished for

the school and or district. At these points it is important to establish steering committees and

school-community advisory committees. School counselors need to be proactive about getting

the plans out to stakeholders. Assessment is a major part of these first two aspects. None of the

counselors interviewed by Elizabeth Duncan could speak to specific assessments conducted. Ms.

Takach mentioned the hopes to conduct an assessment of her high school program in the next

year or so. Ms. Takach is working with a fairly new team at Concord High School and she

mentioned that working with a new team was a good time to take a deeper look at the current


program and make major changes based on assessments(C. Takach, personal communication,

April 7, 2015; J. Haas, personal communication, April 16, 2015; T. Scardina, personal

communication, April 17, 2015; A. Hand, personal communication, April 21, 2015).

After an assessment is completed it is necessary to begin the actual design portion of a

comprehensive program. Many portions of a design are important. For example, this is the point

in the process where the program definition, rationale, and content standards are revamped or

created. Each of the counselors interviewed in Cabarrus County made points about the

difficulties of meeting student needs versus county expectations(C. Takach, personal

communication, April 7, 2015; J. Haas, personal communication, April 16, 2015; T. Scardina,

personal communication, April 17, 2015; A. Hand, personal communication, April 21, 2015).

The planning and design portion of the management process is a good time to truly measure what

a specific school needs and how the county expectations can be met without neglecting the

specific student needs.

Implementation. Gysbers and Henderson tell us that the implementation phase “is one of

the most critical of the entire program improvement process” (2012, p. 223). All the prior work

done in the planning and design phases are put into action during the implementation phase. In

this phase resources are a major component. The administrator interviewed by Elizabeth Duncan

specifically mentioned the importance and sometimes lack of resources needed when it comes to

program management(T. Scardina, personal communication, April 17, 2015).

Evaluation and enhancement. After planning, designing, and implementing school

counselors must begin evaluating and enhancing the program. The evaluation phase is conducted

by gathering the data that has been assessed throughout time and analyzing it to make judgments


on what to do next, what has not been working in the past and should be changed, or conversely

what is working and should be continued moving forward.

As Ms. Takach mentioned performing an assessment now that the counseling program

has some new counselors, the enhancement phases suggests that after all the aforementioned

phases are conducted, a redesign may be necessary(C. Takach, personal communication, April 7,

2015).By the time all the previous phases have been conducted there is probably a need for new

information. The school counselors and administrator interviewed by Elizabeth Duncan

discussed several challenges they face when working under the management component. When

asked, they all agreed that no matter how many times an assessment was performed or a redesign

took place, time and scheduling would stay the number one challenge(C. Takach, personal

communication, April 7, 2015; J. Haas, personal communication, April 16, 2015; T. Scardina,

personal communication, April 17, 2015; A. Hand, personal communication, April 21, 2015).

School counselors’ relationship with human service agencies

Human service agencies can play an important role in the school counseling program. It

is important for school counselors to have healthy, productive comprehensive program. Having a

positive relationship with community organizations makes a school counselor’s effectiveness

even higher. Ms. Takach made the point that sometimes there are liabilities that make it harder

for school counselors to reach students at the level they need, whereas an outside organization

may have the ability to help(C. Takach, personal communication, April 7, 2015). Families may

feel more comfortable working with an outside organization, therefore it is important for school

counselors to make connections with such places so they are able to pass along valuable

information to families who may need it.


Process for working together. When interviewing the Cabarrus County School

counselors, when asked about working with human service organizations all gave Elizabeth the

same answer. Each counselor said that the school social worker makes the connections between

the school and human service organizations(C. Takach, personal communication, April 7, 2015;

J. Haas, personal communication, April 16, 2015; T. Scardina, personal communication, April

17, 2015; A. Hand, personal communication, April 21, 2015). The social worker has the ability

to work with families who may have students in different schools, whereas school counselors

may be limited to working with students in one school. For that reason, Ms. Haas commented

that she usually defers to the school social worker for that reason(J. Haas, personal

communication, April 16, 2015). Also, the Cabarrus County school system tends to prefer

specific organizations and Ms. Hand mentioned that she can easily defer to the school social

worker for the organizations on that list, if need be(A. Hand, personal communication, April 21,

2015).

Collaborations between counselors and members of the educational community

Counselors who work on building a relationship within our educational community can

help the students by giving them resources they may not have had previously. Counselors in

Randolph County at the area middle schools reached out to community members this year by

doing a career day for 8th graders. Julie New went and presented for Randolph Community

College to help the students understand what was involved in starting college, and getting

enrolled in the medical field. Workshops like this give the students more real world experience

and let them know what is available to them for the future.

Wheatmore High School has community leaders come in at the beginning of the school

year and present to the staff (S. Dunphy-Atkins, personal communication, April 24, 2015). They


offer programs that can help the students with college and financial planning (S. Dunphy-Atkins,

personal communication, April 24, 2015). Once the staff has been exposed, they can call upon

those leaders to present to their students throughout the year. Seagrove Elementary School also

did a career day and had parents come in to speak to the students. This gave the students an idea

what was available for future jobs at a young age, and it also got the local parents involved.

Having as much stakeholder involvement in the programs at local schools is important when

building a comprehensive counseling program.

Crisis management models

A crisis can arise at any time. A crisis can be large or small, impacting one student or the

entire school. During a crisis situation, the school counselor should be a central figure, providing

support and necessary services to students, parents, faculty and staff, and other stakeholders.

School counselors are specifically trained to manage crisis situations and provide the support

needed by those impacted during the crisis situation.

Preparing for a crisis requires a plan and should be part of a comprehensive school

guidance and counseling program. Preparing and maintaining the school crisis plan should be

included in overall program management. The importance of school counselor involvement is

supported by the ASCA Competency IV-B-3d, which states that a school counselor “understands

what defines a crisis, the appropriate response and a variety of intervention strategies to meet the

needs of the individual, group, or school community before, during, and after crisis response”

(ASCA, 2012, p.157).

When interviewed by Emily, the counselors responded that much of the crisis

management plan in place at their schools is based on the county-wide plan that includes a

recently updated flipchart of procedures and protocols (B. Shore & L. Wagoner, personal


communication, April 13, 2015; D. Huggins, personal communication, April 23, 2015). The

counselors stated that each of their respective schools have a crisis plan and crisis team, however

they were a bit unclear on the specific plan and members of the crisis teams (B. Shore & L.

Wagoner, personal communication, April 13, 2015; D. Huggins, personal communication, April

23, 2015). The administrator interviewed was very thorough on the school crisis plan. She

immediately got the crisis management plan for the school. She reviewed where the plan was

kept, who is involved in the plan development and maintenance. She was clear on the

applicability of the county crisis flipchart, along with the school-specific crisis plan. At the

administrator’s school, the school counselor, which is Emily, is an intricate part of the crisis

management team and plan. Dawn, the administrator, believes in strong central counselor

involvement, as often as possible, especially during a crisis situation, even if the crisis only

involves one student(B. Shore & L. Wagoner, personal communication, April 13, 2015; D.

Huggins, personal communication, April 23, 2015).

Understanding and preparing for a crisis is unfortunately a necessary part of a school

counseling program. Professional school counselors must be aware of the district and school

crisis management plan and any tools that are part of that plan, such as flipcharts or emergency

action binders. School counselors must stay up to date on crisis management delivery and

responsive services, in order to be prepared for any situation that may arise.

ASCA Competencies on Program Management

As we work to build a comprehensive counseling program for our students, it is

important that we understand our program and how to management it effectively. The ASCA

offers us competencies to help us implement this process. When a counselor is getting started

with their program management model, she “(III-B-4a.) creates a system support planning


document addressing school counselor’s responsibilities for professional development,

consultation and collaboration and program management” (ASCA, 2014, p. 5). Doing so will

help define the counselor role for the administration, and help set appropriate boundaries within

the school. During Julie’s interview with Ms. Peele, she determined that in Randolph County,

there is no comprehensive counseling plan that everyone uses. Instead, most counselors have

developed their own process and in quite a few cases there is no specific plan (B. Peele, personal

communication, April 10, 2015). This sentiment was echoed during Julie’s visit with Southwest

Randolph Middle School as well as Wheatmore High School which are all in the same county

system.

In working with the school, counselors (IV-B-1) should “negotiate(s) with the

administrator to define the management system for the comprehensive school counseling

program” (ASCA, 2014, p. 6) and then (IV-B-1a.) discuss (es) and develop(s) the components of

the school counselor management system with the other members of the counseling staff”

(ASCA, 2014, p. 6). When meeting with the administration, it is important to discuss job

descriptions so that it is clear to all parties what the counselor’s program will cover. When

speaking with Ms. Harden at the Southwest Randolph Middle School [SWRMS], it became clear

very quickly that this may not always happen (P. Harden, & B. Roberti, personal

communication, April 10, 2015). There had been quite a bit of turnover in the last few years at

SWRMS so while Ms. Harden had over 15 years of counseling experience, she was building a

new relationship with administrators from scratch (P. Harden, & B. Roberti, personal

communication, April 10, 2015). Ms. Roberti had only been in counseling for a short time and

was learning to build her program model and working on building a relationship with her new

administrators as well.


The ASCA competency list also directs us to make sure that we use “(IV-A-4.) time

management, including long- and short-term management using tools such as schedules and

calendars” (ASCA, 2014, p. 6). Being organized will show our administrations that we are

managing our programs well, and that we take our profession very seriously. Ms. Dunphy-Atkins

from Wheatmore High School, uses the school website to list calendar activities for her students

and staff (S. Dunphy-Atkins, personal communication, April 24, 2015). She has a calendar she

uses for herself but did state she has quite a bit of difficulty using long range planning at the high

school level because she ends up putting out fires daily that were not on the original agenda (S.

Dunphy-Atkins, personal communication, April 24, 2015).

(IV-A-6.) “Current and emerging technologies such as use of the Internet, Web-based

resources and management information systems” (ASCA, 2014, p. 6) give counselors a way to

instantly advocate for themselves. Ms. Peele at Seagrove Elementary School has created a

fantastic plan for tracking her activity. She created a google doc form which has basic

information on her student (confidentially) that allows her to track interventions. She uses a

series of issues such as study skills, or anxiety to categorize her student interactions. The form

then feeds into a PowerPoint presentation that is updated immediately upon entry of one of these

forms. She can instantly graph and show her administration where she is spending her time,

what issues her students are facing the most often, and can create lesson plans to help.

Gysbers & Henderson Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program Model

When reviewing the ASCA National Model along with the plan given to us by Gysbers &

Henderson, we see that there are many overlaps in the processes. We can also compare the

program to Lewis, Packard and Lewis (2012) for their human service model components. The

table in Appendix A will give us a comparison of these areas.


CONCLUSIONS

Management is a vital part of how school counseling programs operate. Management

encompasses so much of the responsibilities that school counselors have. Whether it is following

state standards, the ASCA National Model and competencies, assessing the program at hand, or

collaborating with other counselors the role of a school counselor is busy and ever evolving.

As pre-service counselors we have learned much about what it takes to be successful in

creating and implementing comprehensive school counseling programs. Through the process of

interviewing current school counselors in the “real” world we have been able to get a glimpse of

some of what we have learned being put into action. With collaboration between grade levels,

working with Human Service Organizations, and creating relationships with community

stakeholders school counselors must advocate for the programs and the students served. With all

that school counselors are balancing, student development remains at the heart of the work they

do.


References

American School Counselor Association. (2012). ASCA national model: A framework for school

counseling programs (3rd ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.

American School Counselor Association (2014). ASCA school counselor competencies.

Retrieved from schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/home/SCCompetencies.pdf

Curtis, E., New, J., & Stambaugh, A. (2014). School counseling in the real world.

Gysbers, N., & Henderson, P. (2012). Developing & managing your school guidance &

counseling program (5th ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Lewis, J., Packard, T., & Lewis, M. (2012). Management of human service programs (5th ed.).

Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

McKenzie, S. (2015). EDUC 665: Week 12 discussion 1. Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved

from http://salem.mrooms.net/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1854

New, J. (2015). EDUC 665: week 4 discussion 1. Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved from

http://salem.mrooms.net/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1314

North Carolina State Board of Education, Department of Public Instruction. (2008). North

Carolina professional school counseling standards. Retrieved from

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/studentsupport/counseling/standards/

counselingstandards.pdf

Wong, K. (2012). Introduction. In ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling

programs (3rd ed., p. x-xi). Alexandria, VA: American School Counselor Association.

Woodward, A., & Aeilo, B. (2012). Collaborate vertically. Retrieved from

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/magazine/blogs/january-february-2012/collaborate-

vertically


Appendix A

Table 1

Comparison of program models

ASCA Human Service Model Comprehensive program elements

Foundation Planning, Designing,

Staffing

Job design including

hiring and recruitment

practices (Lewis, Packard,

& Lewis, 2012)

Content Element, organizational framework

& structure; “Student standards; competencies

grouped by domains and specified by grade level

or grade level groupings” (Gysbers & Henderson,

2012, table 3.2). “Structural components,

definition, assumptions, rationale” (Gysbers &

Henderson, 2012, table 3.2). Program

components such as student planning, responsive

services, and system support are also included

here (Gysbers & Henderson, 2012).

Delivery Leadership

Orientation, training

programs (Lewis et al.,

2012)

Resource Element

“Personnel: school counselors, teachers

administrators, school psychologists and school

social workers” (Gysbers & Henderson, 2012,

table 3.2). “Financial: budget, materials,

equipment, facilities” (Gysbers & Henderson,

2012, table 3.2). “Political: district policies, state

and federal laws and rules” (Lewis et al., 2012,

table 3.2).

Management Supervising

Further training,

performance reviews,

understanding

Development, management element

“Planning: guidance leadership, steering

committee, advisory committee” (Gysbers &

Henderson, 2012, table 3.2). “Designing: written


management objectives;

encouraging staff

involvement, dealing with

employee stress and job

satisfaction (Lewis et al.,

2012)

framework, program priorities” (Gysbers &

Henderson, 2012, table 3.2).

Accountability Monitoring

Following federal

guidelines, valuing

diversity

Accountability Element

“Evaluating: program evaluation, personnel

evaluation, results of evaluation” (Gysbers &

Henderson, 2012, table 3.2). “Enhancing:

evaluation data, program redesign” (Gysbers &

Henderson, 2012, table 3.2).

(New, 2015)

Appendix B


Interview Transcripts from Julie New:

Becky Peele: Seagrove Elementary School; UNC Chapel Hill for both degrees; handles 480

students and has been employed for 4 years as a counselor – 2 years at Seagrove.

1. Program Model – roughly uses ASCA guidelines, there is no countywide

comprehensive system in Randolph County NC.

2. Transitions: does classroom lessons on transitioning from ES, MS to HS. Believes

it is important to start young with the students.

3. Program enhancements: Has Mentoring program (CIS) Second Step and uses

Olweus for anti-bullying program. Olweus is a county wide initiative. Works district

wide with the Backpack program, and they implement 30 backpacks.

4. Crisis system: District Wide Assist Team: 5 teams, Lead, Logistics, Individual

and class counseling, parent and teacher assistance.

5. Other duties: work with BPP/DSS – mental health. MTSS/Parent Conferences,

home visitations. Leadership team, teacher consultations, student of the week, attendance.

*Tracks everything with google calendar and a google form she created (Scan as an

appendix). The form allows tracks appointments, guidance lessons and other items such

as the back pack program. It feeds into a Quick Facts PowerPoint that graphs all the

times. She can instantly show what she is doing and advocate for herself. Using this data,

she was able to advocate for a classroom of her own for guidance lessons. Now the

students come to her!

6. Non counselor duties – doesn’t get pulled into too many, her administrators are

very helpful and have set a good boundary.


7. Philosophy of program management: Serving EVERY child. She believes she

needs to try and reach as many of the students as possible.

8. Challenges: Scheduling continues to be an issue, there just isn’t enough time to

get it all done

9. Uses the NC standards, Common Core because that is what is expected. Uses

ASCA as foundation, but not as formal.

10. Administrative relationship: open, supportive, mutually beneficial, collaborate on

specific students. Tends to ask her opinion in counseling areas. They work together well.

11. Considers her relationship with administration already good, would like it to

continue along this path.

12. Management: planning lessons, data collection, and logistics. Having her own

class has helped a lot because she doesn’t have to move all the stuff around when

teaching.

13. Challenges with management: TIME, or lack of it really. Could always use more

time with students. Currently sets up half days for 3 weeks out of the month with student

classroom time, other half has to see all the students and handle any administrative type

tasks. Would like more individual counseling time.

14. Contacts with human service: CIS=-BPP, mentoring and clubs

15. By working with the district

16. Human service contacts: give us resources, community connections. Social

worker is spread between multiple schools so it is helpful to have other resources. Spends

a lot of time online researching herself since no comprehensive program in Randolph

County.


17. Continuing to learn: there are Prof Development opportunities available and her

administration is open to her attending. She strong suggests being on leadership teams.

Going to conferences is also a good place to college data

18. Stakeholders: surveys for students, teachers the website/ parents and community.

She feels it is important to reach out to all those concerned parties.

19. How does she get involved: Teacher PLCS/leadership meetings, conferences,

phone calls, staff meetings

20. Four areas of focus from ASCA: pretty open when she arrived. She has had to

build her own program so to speak. Uses the ASCA guidelines daily, but loosely.

21. Changes you have made, or would like to make: BEP/SW involvement, own

classroom for guidance lessons, data collection and dissemination. Being able to show

accountability quickly advocates for self and program. Always lobby for your own

printer, you print a lot of confidential items.

Brittany Roberti handles the 7th and 8th grade students. She has been a counselor for

two years and graduated from UNC-G for both her undergrad and graduate program.

Pam Harden handles 6th and 8th grade students. She has been a counselor for 15

years, but has been at SWRMS for just a year. Between the two of them, they handle over

1100 students.

1. There is no countywide program, everyone has to invent their own process. Pam

has been doing this for 15 years so Brittany relies on her quite a bit.

2. Standards: use the common core, but a lot of the time, are just working on staying

caught up. Has guidance lessons – attends heath classes to see their students and it works

out that they see each student in these lessons approx. once a month.


3. Program enhancements: they work by grades, and lessons are developed to benefit

each grade level. They implemented an evaluation form for the students to complete once

they have taken a class so they can make changes as necessary as needs arise. They keep

notebooks on lessons they have completed so they do not have to reinvent the wheel

every year.

4. Crisis: there are teams in the district, they believe in building helping

relationships in order to be able to reach students during time of crisis.

5. Duties outside of counseling: Testing coordinators, scheduling, emergencies, have

even had to ride the buses. They are pulled in many directions but it always their focus to

watch out for the students.

6. Non-counselor duties: they can vary, but in most cases their administration

protects them as much as possible. They could always use more time to work with

students one on one

7. Philosophy: IT IS ALL ABOUT THE KIDS PERIOD.

8. Issues: never having enough time to get it all done. Working with so many

different children. Having to try to help quickly because students at this age tend to be

upset one minute and ok the next. “You either love working with this age or you don’t”

Pam said ((P. Harden, & B. Roberti, personal communication, April 10, 2015). Once you

work with them you will not want to work with anyone else, it’s a calling they believe.

9. Standards: work hard to follow the standards though a lot of it is common sense

10. Relationship with administration: there has been a lot of turnover at this school,

including the principal and vice principal in the last year. The new administration is

really nice and is working with them well.


11. Would like to continue to build an open relationship and get to know them.

Would like to work with them to implement an even stronger program. There is not really

anything to assess because of the turnover, starting from scratch.

12. Management: just keeping up seems to be what happens a lot of the time.

Working to put in more structure

13. Challenges: TIME

14. Human services organizations: work with social workers and a nurse that travel to

multiple schools. We have quite a bit of poverty in our school zone so there is always

someone to help.

15. Connections are made as they need them such as for recent career day. Since Pam

has been doing this so much longer, she has quite a few contacts already.

16. It is important to work with the community and this gives us added resources

17. We do have access to professional development and we learn a lot by helping

each other seemed to be how they work things out. Administration is fine with them

doing Prof Development activities as long as they fit in and do not cost funds that may

not be available.

18. Working with stakeholders in the school and community they believe is

important. BUT they believe the children come first always.

19. They work through teacher conferences and leadership meetings to build

relationships.

20. They do not have a lot of time to try and implement the ASCA model because

they are pushed towards the common core. They do use it, they just have to be more

vocal about Core.


21. Implementing more structure and stability over the next few years is their goal.

Shelia Dunphy-Atkins

1. We use some of the ASCA model in our program, but we all follow the NC

school counselor model which is heavy into ASCA.

2. K-12 doesn’t really collaborate much with curriculum, we try to build off career

guidance activities and we do collaborate with some programs if they need to continue

into the middle and high school. But realistically, you have to work with the needs of

your students and what is important currently.

3. Our school doesn’t do anything in this area.

4. Crisis management team: There are five crisis management teams that are

compiled of counselors that are compiled of counselors, central office staff, school

psychologist, social workers, nurses and dropout prevention specialist that rotate if a

crisis occurs at a school or multiple schools. We each have a role and we have training

for what that role is. If something happens at a school we are evacuated to our off campus

location for parents to pick up, certain staff members are assigned specific jobs. If

something happens a school such as a shooting, there is a countywide response with local

law enforcement, the SRO, state troopers etc. Each staff member has a specific job (to

keep kids safe) and make sure they are following the procedures we have in place. We

are trained several times a year on roles and responsibilities.

5. Roles: Advance Placement Test coordinator. It is my responsibility to inform

students when and where the tests are located. Diabetes/504/Autism county wide teams,

lunch duty, covering our secretaries when they are out/answering phones, student


enrollments, school improvement teams, faculty senate, gate duty for athletics, hall

monitor, testing administrator, anything else assigned by administration.

6. Which do you consider – non counselor duties? All of these are non-counselor

duties, yet things need to be done. Team Work. About 25% of my day is occupied with

items such as these.

7. Philosophy: I am here to help and swerve the kids the best possible way. To

prepare them for adulthood and guide them to be productive members of society. To

bring them what they need, not what I want.

8. Challenges: Class guidance, small groups, time, never able to follow a set

schedule. Expect the unexpected. The change in leadership at central office. New director

at the county office has a different philosophy than the previous one. He lets us do what

we want, not much direction or communication has occurred. At school level teaching

time is valuable to get the curriculum taught, teachers frown when you pull a student

from their class, they think they should only see us during their LUNCH or before or

after school. If that was the case, we would never see students. Groups are hard to get

together at this HS because there are no study halls or free time.

9. How do you implement standards: Look at the standards, do a check/balance and

rate myself then align my weaker areas into where I need to focus my professional

development plan. There isn’t much offered for this at the school/district level, I have to

find it on my own.

10. Relationship with administrator: We have a good relationship. I don’t take every

little thing to them, when I feel they need to know I inform them. I do ask them for


suggestions and feedback and we can talk about students. If they have concerns, we

discuss it and come up with a solutions that will hopefully be a win win for all parties.

11. Changes that could help: The counselor and the admin need each other, currently

no changes need to be done but if a new admin was to come in, we will have to work

together.

12. No additional answer

13. Duplicate question

14. Human Svc Org: Communities in School, NCMENTOR, COAT, DSS – these are

the ones we use the most. They don’t really have a role that impacts us directly.

15. How did you make these connections: we call them, they present at our first

meeting of the year for counselors.

16. Relationships: If we are doing a program and would like them to speak we can

call and set something up. Personal connections: If an agency is not friendly, or their

response is takes too LONG, we don’t call them

17. We do not work with this area much, we each build our own program. ASCA is

always in the back of our minds, but we have to work with the NC Core standards.

18. I meet with students and their parents as often as I can. I do a lot of getting

students ready for college, working with FAFSA, scholarships and what they want to do.

19. To keep people informed, we use our school website, connected messages and

parent meetings.

20. I do not have a specific a printed model using ASCA at this time. I update my

programs as necessary


21. I have been here since the school opened, I had to build my program into what it

is and I change it based on how the student’s needs change.

Drew Maerz: Administration

I had sent him the questions in advance that I had asked the counselors. He gave me his

perspective from the testing assessment side of the house as well as his view as a principal.

When he first started, the counselor was the testing coordinator, now state law says they

cannot be. They can help but they cannot be in charge. They work on teams to help the students

and do things like look at the data from test such as basic skills testing to see how to help the

students more.

As a principal, he built a team in the school that looked at the top five students with

issues or that they were most worried about each week. The team was made up of the counselor,

the AP, the nurse, the social worker and the receptionist. Then the team brain stormed ways to

help this child. Most of the time the students did not end up on the list two weeks in a row, but if

they did, there was more involvement by all parties. If they could not help them without outside

intervention, parents or authorities would be contacted.

His views on the counselors as an administrators is that:

They need to be valued and empowered more

There needs to be more of a team model

In HS, freshman need their own counselor, rest can be divided alphabetical

Counselors need to work on a five year plan with students early. They need to do things like

career inventories and surveys.


If he could build anything he wanted, he believes that there should be one or two advocates at

each school for each student. There has to be an adult that a child can trust, whether it is the

teacher, a coach, the counselors. He believes in mentors both students and adults that can help

the new students succeed. Groups are great, but can be difficult to do at different ages. Having

mentors may work better.


Appendix C

Interview Transcripts from Elizabeth Duncan:

1. What is the program model currently in use in your school counseling program? To your

knowledge, is this program in place throughout the school district?

Haas: ASCA National Model with freedom to mesh with N.C. Essential Standards

Hand: ASCA National Model built from county adjustments, county tries to use same domains as

ASCA

Takach: National Model- varies by school how it is implemented.

Scardina: “Right now, we have our guidance counselor teaching classes 3 days per week and

then providing direct services (small groups, individual, and then other duties) the other 2 days.

It’s not ideal but as a small school with limited staffing, it makes it a necessity. I believe most

elementary schools have their counselors in the specials rotations, but I wouldn’t swear to it.”

2. In what ways does the K-12 counseling program collaborate? (If prompting is needed,

transitions are one area in which collaboration occurs…)

Haas: As 5th grade counselor works with middle school 6th grade counselor, elementary monthly

PLC, and collaborates with the school social worker who works with K-12

Hand: Monthly middle school PLC and sometimes collaborates with feeder high schools.

Takach: Through previous experience with K-5 has a good connection with other teachers. High

school counselors have a monthly PLC (professional learning community). Works with feeder

Middle school counselors.

Scardina: “The district director of student services holds K-12 meetings (PLCs) about once per

month or at least once per quarter. I think outside of that there is not much collaboration unless

individuals take it upon themselves to have that vertical collaboration.”


3. In what program enhancement models or activities is your school counseling program

currently engaged? (School or district-wide Peer Helping, for example…)

Haas: School-wide PBIS (serves as leader)

Hand: School-wide Rachel’s challenge (bullying program), also have some connections with arts

council

Takach: varies from school to school, no district-wide programs

Scardina: “I am unfamiliar with what you mean by program enhancement models. Our

counselor facilitates the New Student Club which meets once a month and provides lessons over

lunch to new students to help acclimate them to our school and school culture. She sponsors the

Student Action Team, which carries out service projects for the community, and she also

sponsors Safety Patrol where our 5th grade students stand post and help throughout the school.

She organizes mentor programs between our local firefighters and our at risk students.”

4. In a school setting, a crisis might be anything from the death of a student or teacher, a

natural disaster, such as a fire or tornado, to a threat to students and staff, such as those involving

weapons or the taking of hostages. What crisis management plans or models does your school or

the school districts have in place to address these potential issues? Is there a crisis management

team?

Haas: County model, county provides a crisis team. Administration is in charge of safety plans

for most situations and counselors follow administration instruction

Hand: County model, county crisis team (counselors and social workers). Having outside help

really makes it easier to help students.

Takach: District wide plans, personalized for each administration, there is a county team


Scardina: “We have a designated Crisis Team with defined roles for anticipated scenarios.

Depending on the event or crisis, the different roles change. Members of our crisis team include

administrators, counselor, nurse, custodians, and office staff. Our school social worker is also a

key player in some instances but since she is only with us one morning a week, she is a resource

in the event of an unforeseen, immediate crisis. The plans are district-wide with individual

school flexibility.”

5. Please describe some of your duties and responsibilities, outside of classroom lessons, small

group counseling, and individual counseling.

Haas: car duty (a.m. and or p.m.), 30 minutes of supplemental instruction- teaching or

classroom assistance in addition to whole class instruction, occasional lunch duty. Kindergarten

intervention facilitator

Hand: morning/afternoon duty and scheduled lunch duty

Takach: morning/afternoon duty

(each counselor mentioned liking some of the duties (like morning/afternoon) to increase face

time and general contact with students)

Scardina: “Our counselor is in charge of service projects such as food and clothing drives,

student action teams, safety patrol, Wellness Fair (in conjunction with our school nurse), Career

Day, on/off task student observations, partnering with community agencies such as outside

counseling services, referrals, mentor programs, church partnerships, school based committees,

administering state tests, supervision duties (like breakfast or hall duty).”

6. Which of these duties do you consider "non-counselor" duties? What percentage of an

average school day is dedicated to performing "non-counselor" duties?


Haas: facilitator duties helps advocate for students and helps with intervention… each duty can

fit into counselor’s role

Hand: low percentage

Takach: not much

Scardina: “I would think administering tests would fall into that category but you could also

argue that by the counselor giving the test to students with specific needs helps calm them and

helps them make it through the 3 hour test which in turn, lets them show their true abilities. The

supervision duties aren’t “direct services” but do provide opportunities for the counselor to be

visible and foster relationships with students, their families, and staff. Our counselor is able to

keep a pulse on the school and intervene when there is a need during these duty times.”

7. Discuss your philosophy of program management, in regard to your school counseling

program.

Haas: see power point

Hand: depends on the day-plan for the unexpected, use broad timelines

Takach: Team philosophy is based on data and need

Scardina: “The philosophy that I have is to meet the needs of our students, families and staff

utilizing all of the resources (curriculum, services, agencies) to the best of our ability. Since

much of that lies outside of my control, I do not have a better answer. J”

8. What are some of the challenges, or issues, that you deal with as you try to manage your

program? Which issues are school-level issues and which ones are district-level issues?

Haas: time/schedule

Hand: time/schedule


Takach: schedule, student needs vs. program needs, unexpected always happens, school needs

vs. county needs

Scardina: “Some of the challenges we face are time and resources. We are fortunate enough to

have our counselor here at school 5 days/week but not all schools do. The time demands are very

high on counselors so it is a challenge to make things work, for example: classroom lessons,

small groups, individual counseling, teacher support, and all of the other things she takes care

of. Most of those are school level issues and it’s the district that is in charge of personnel

allotments. That translates into time/resources.”

9. Discuss how you implement the NC Standards within your school counseling program.

Haas: follow/match lessons to grade standards

Hand: check off standards as implemented, use curriculum crosswalks online, PLC

collaboration

Takach: following guidelines and implementing based on school needs, provide artifacts

Scardina: “Our counselor teaches lessons that follow the curriculum for each grade level. She is

also able to implement lessons/topics based on specific need or data. “

10. Please describe your perception of the relationship between you (the school counselor) and

your administrators.

Haas: good support, with PBIS there is a lot of collaboration; they understand the counselor’s

jobs

Hand: very strong relationships, fabulous respect, protects the role, and understands what the

counselor’s job is, feel supported and free to work how see fit

Takach: great support, believe in the program and the work the counselors do, work together for

students’ needs


Scardina: “As an administrator, I have to trust that my counselor will bring important issues

with students, families, or staff to my attention as appropriate and I also have to trust that I can

go to them to seek assistance with a concern with students, families, staff as well. We are a team

that keeps each other in balance: the counselor focusing on the counselor aspect and myself

focusing on the admin bigger picture. We may not always agree but do respect each other’s

expertise and opinions. Our common vision/ goal is to serve our school population.”

11. Please describe how you believe the relationship between the school counselor and the

administration should be? Are there changes that need to occur on the administrative level to

improve your ability to manage your program?

Haas: no changes

Hand: no changes

Takach: no changes

Scardina: “I think I addressed that more in the previous question. I have worked with many

different counselors over the years and at all levels, K-12. I’ve been in situations where the

relationships were not as good and sometimes even better. When it comes down to it, the

counselor/administrative relationship plays a vital role in theschool climate and culture. Ideally,

counselors would not be tied to a teaching a schedule so that they could be free to implement the

counseling program with fidelity. At the secondary level, I don’t think the counselors are tied to

classroom teaching, but are burdened with scheduling and graduation constraints.”

12. Management is one of the four major components of the ASCA National Model. Planning,

design, implementation, evaluation, and enhancement are major parts of management for

comprehensive school counseling programs. Can you tell me how you are able to include

management (including planning, design, implementation, evaluation, and enhancement)?


Haas: Not answered

Hand: Not answered

Takach: ASCA model is constantly on her mind, begins the process following guide but tends to

lose track as the plan progresses. One of the thing the department hopes to improve on.

Scardina: “It’s a collaborative process for us in that our counselor plans and implements her

program with the given parameters/time constraints. She surveys staff and students for feedback

on services and needs, reflects on the results and makes changes as necessary. Our counselor is

visionary and constantly seeks to do more even when we tell her that she really can’t take on

anything else. Time management and responding to needs of our population is sometimes hard to

balance.”

13. Can you tell me which human service organizations your school has a relationship with and

what role the organizations play in the school counseling program?

Haas: social worker handles this

Hand: social worker handles

Takach: social worker

Scardina: “Our counselor maintains positive relationships with DSS, the Cabarrus Health

Alliance, Thompson’s Counseling Agency, Firefighters, Businesses and charity organizations in

the community. They either provide direct services to our students and families (counseling,

mentoring, Positive Parenting classes, mental, physical, and dental health resources),

fundraising, or are resources with whom we can collaborate.”

14. How did you make the connections to the human service organizations to create the

relationships?

Haas: uses social worker’s list


Hand: social worker

Takach: district wide connections usually, social worker

Scardina: “Our counselor reaches out to the different organizations and collaborates with them.

She builds those relationships through constant communication.”

15. What do you feel is the importance of having relationships with the human service

organizations for the success of your program and the success of your students?

Haas: helps students in ways the school can’t, have the ability to work with whole families

Hand: work with whole family instead of just student in one school

Takach: Schools are sometimes limited by liability where as HSO may not be, families may be

more open with HSO, HSO can create more open and longer relationships

Scardina: “It is extremely important to partner with the different organizations because often

they can provide the resources and support to students and families that we cannot.”

16. (E, F) The ASCA National Model Competencies tell us that a school counselor (III-B-4a.)

“Creates a system support planning document addressing school counselor’s responsibilities for

professional development, consultation and collaboration and program management” (American

School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 5). Can you tell me how this works within your

program?

Haas: see Boger Documents, wish had more time to develop more resources

Hand: Not answered

Takach: Not answered

Scardina:” With our district student services director and guidance counselors, they work

together to develop a complete service plan that outlines the guidance program.”


17. (E, F) I-A-6. States “collaborations with stakeholders such as parents and guardians,

teachers, administrators and community leaders to create learning environments that promote

educational equity and success for every student” (American School Counselor Association,

2012, p. 2). Can you elaborate on how you would build and use these relationships within your

program assessment and implementation of changes?

Haas: website and other handouts

Hand: Handbook information, website information, working with administration on goals

Takach: follow the ASCA model and constantly look for ways of development, accountability,

etc.

Scardina: not answered

18. I-B-1e. “Describes the benefits of a comprehensive school counseling program for all

stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, school boards, department of

education, school counselors, counselor educators, community stakeholders and business

leaders” (American School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 2). Can you tell me how you as a

school counselor or administrator communicate your program to the various groups listed above?

Haas: websites and handouts

Hand: information in handbook, websites, working with administration on goals, PLC

Takach: website, PLC

Scardina: “During curriculum nights or at our annual Wellness Fair, we communicate all of the

services and resources to our parents. After that, we communicate those individually as the need

arises. Our counselor stays in constant contact with all stakeholders to stay abreast of new

research, resources, etc. as well.”


19. The ASCA National Model gives us four areas to work within as we implement a

comprehensive guidance program; the foundation, delivering the program, managing the

program and holding the program accountable. Do you use this method within your current

program? Did you develop it for your school, or was it already set up when you arrived?

Haas: try to follow the model in planning and implementing

Hand: not answered

Takach: not answered

Scardina:” We use the state rubric to evaluate, monitor, and plan our program. At the end of

each year, our counselor meets with the administrative team to reflect on the program and what

we want to differently for the upcoming year.”

20. Gysbers and Henderson give us a ten year plan that has year one working with assessing the

current program and deciding what you would like to change. Have you done this type of

assessment and how did you decide what changes you would like to make?

Haas: no formal assessment

Hand: overtime trying to slowly grow the ASCA model in the program, so many changes through

the years

Takach: no formal assessment, lots of things they are working on

Scardina: “I am not familiar with this assessment.”


Appendix D

Interview Transcripts from Susan McKenzie



Garren – We follow the ASCA National Model. The new NC Standards/Evaluation have kind

of forced our hands. Everyone is going to this model.

Blakely – I would normally follow the ASCA model, but that isn’t possible here. I do

individual, small group, and classroom guidance. This year has been a year of crisis. It’s not

proactive or preventative, just reactive. Lots of intervention and crisis management.

Hurd – Services are not delivered the same at al high schools. We tend to follow more of an

individual delivery of services model. We divide the students alphabetically between the two

counselors. We see each student at least 2x per year. We tailor services to students’ needs. Big

services are divided between the 2 counselors. There is no advisory committee/council. We try

to cover all the aspects of a comprehensive program.

Auten – The ASCA National Model. Counselors have many other duties. I feel like I do more

counseling than 2 of our 3 counselors.



Garren – Transitions: 5th grade visits middle school, 8th grade visits high school, and pre-

schools visit kindergarten. Elementary, middle, and high schools collaborate on shared families.

Participate in district-wide trainings. Crisis planning /teams.

Blakely – Transition planning, student clubs, call previous schools to find out about students’

past experiences.


Hurd – The County sets up meetings for all counselors. We sometimes collaborate with the

middle school. If there are big topics which affect everyone, all the counselors will meet

together. I would like more of a “heads up” from the middle school about upcoming students.

Auten – I don’t feel like they collaborate a whole lot. There are monthly counseling meetings,

but they don’t actually happen unless there is a program planned. Crisis response teams are a

great example of the different levels working together. I wish there was more collaboration. The

district supervisor (who has been mentioned by everyone) is one reason for this.



Garren – Afternoon homework club for kids who don’t get help at home or who need more

attention. Also use peer tutors (older kids) to help. Morning lab (7:30) when first bus arrives –

take at risk kids for homework help or to play educational apps on the iPads. Fletcher UMC

provides volunteers in AM/PM. We have a big career day every year – lots of parents come. It’s

a big event!

Blakely – I haven’t done much here, but at other schools I had buddies or mentors in place. I am

planning 8th grade “buddies” next year for the 6th graders. Backpack program.

Hurd – We set up a math tutoring program through the counseling office which has been really

successful. We have tried to get some other programs going, but the principal is not on board.

Auten – They have started a lot of peer mentor activities. Henderson County getting more

involved in outside activities like Relay for Life. Clusters do a good job working together.


natural disaster, such as a fire or tornado, to a threat to students and staff, such as those involving

weapons or the taking of hostages. What crisis management plans or models does your school or


the school districts have in place to address these potential issues? Is there a crisis management

team?

Garren – There are a cross-grade level crisis management teams for the district made up of

groups of feeder schools. There is a process when a crisis occurs – a phone tree is activated and

all counselors on the team go to the school with a crisis. There are crisis drills at the schools.

There is a new suicide scale used to judge the seriousness of the problem.

Blakely – There are crisis management teams in the county which are separated by zones –

phone tree and leader. There are crisis management plans for each situation.

Hurd – A middle school counselor organized the crisis response teams. It’s a school-wide

collaboration involving each school. It has worked really well!

Auten - The crisis response teams work in clusters. They have a formal plan. Administrators

are much more comfortable with a formal plan!

5. Please describe some of your duties and responsibilities, outside of classroom lessons, small

group counseling, and individual counseling.

Garren – Tier 2 and 3 team leadership takes a huge amount of time. I’m also on every

committee known to man.

Blakely – Attendance L, 504 coordinator, 6th grade orientation, Christmas donations, backpack

program, car duty

Hurd – I am in charge of Governor’s School applications, PSAT, AP program,

Career/Personality assessments, Junior English classes, gate duty, lunch duty, outside duty. The

other counselor does scholarship bulletins, awards day, and Move Up day. We both work with

Homebound.


Auten – Testing coordinators (I wish someone other than a counselor could do this). I wish

counselors gave college ready tests – ACT, SAT, College & Career, Work Keys, PSAT, PLAN.

Checking with at-risk kids – I which there was a larger connection with outside agencies. We

need to have a non-profit fair that is actually targeted to those agencies that serve our kids. Most

of what they do is directly related to students.



Garren – I don’t spend a lot of time on non-counselor duties because I have advocated for

myself and my position. I swapped out non-counselor duties (bartered) like morning and

afternoon coverage and do the morning and afternoon labs instead, which I feel are “counselee”.

Blakely – Almost all. It depends on the day. I have to take stuff home a lot. At least 50% of

every day.

Hurd – The AP program should probably be handled by someone else. I think it’s actually a

pretty low percentage of time – 1-2%.

Auten – They don’t really have a lot of non-counselor duties. I wish their AM/PM duties were

just in the afternoon so they could be available for the kids when they get to school. Also, they

don’t use their administrative assistant as they should – she could take over a lot of the

administrative work they do.


program.

Garren – It takes a lot of work to balance a good program. “It’s a dance” figuring out what your

school needs – I use data and constantly tweak services to meet those needs.


Blakely – Ideally, there would be an emphasis on services and programming. It would be skill

based (like coping skills). Individual/small group counseling and classroom guidance. Crisis

management would be a priority, but I would hope to avoid it through preventative measures.

We need another school counselor (610 students).

Hurd – There is no committee structure. The other counselor and I know how the year flows.

We work on it together.

Auten – Two of our counselors are fairly new, so they come to me a lot for advice. When I say

fairly new, I mean they have been here for several years. I feel like I’m still doing a lot of

program management for them. I wish they would be more self-starting, take on some

leadership.



Garren – It’s tough to balance working with kids and academic time. I have to work with the

teachers to find that balance. I have to keep positive relationships with the staff for the benefit of

the kids. At the district level, the biggest challenges are funding for resources and having

someone in charge of counseling who doesn’t understand school counseling or what we are

supposed to do.

Blakely – The biggest challenge is that I am required to do so many non-counselor duties. I am

trying to diplomatically educate and advocate for the priorities and positive effects of the

counseling program. A big problem is that the head of counseling has no history or background

in counseling. We don’t have an advocate. The head of counseling told the principal the

counselor should be handling all of these duties.


Hurd – At the district level, the lack of counseling experience is a big problem. She literally has

no idea! At the school level, the school has gotten too large (739). We need another counselor.

Auten – At the school level it’s their program management skills. At the district level it’s that

the head of the program doesn’t know anything about the program.


Garren – I match them to what I do with the kids – classroom guidance, individual and group

counseling, etc.

Blakely – They are guidelines that I aspire to, but my hands are completely tied. The 80/20 idea

is completely reversed. I have 3 evaluations throughout the year, and the principal is completely

understanding about the realities of the situation. I have been very honest with the principal

about the challenges.

Hurd – I implement the standard through individual delivery. We do very few group activities.

We just do what needs to be done.

Auten – I do the evaluations. All of them are conscientious about following the standards.

Realistically, you can’t focus as much time on some standards as on others. You have to rate

their importance and adjust accordingly. You have to find a happy medium between following

the standards and doing your job.

10. Please describe your perception of the relationship between you (the school counselor) and

your administrators.

Garren – We have a collaborative relationship for the benefit of the kids. We share ideas that

will help everyone. We work on scheduling for better delivery of services.

Blakely – At this school, they are very understanding and supportive, but with some of the

bigger changes that need to be made, their hands are tied.


Hurd – On paper, we all do fine, but we know where not to go with the principal. He likes us,

be we know we can get on his nerves. We have to use a lot of diplomacy.

Auten –My relationship with the counselors is fantastic! We talk every day, work hand in hand,

if there is an issue I expect them to say something. The principal doesn’t really communicate

with them unless he needs something immediately. The counselors get frustrated with his lack of

communication.


administration should be? Are there changes that need to occur on the administrative level to

improve your ability to manage your program?

Garren – The relationship should be collaborative. Principals should have training so they

understand the job of the school counselor.

Blakely – It should be collaborative. I have felt less supported at other schools. I have had

major ethical issues before to the point that I couldn’t work there anymore. Administration

needs to be really educated about what counselors are supposed to do.

Hurd – You have to work hard to make them aware of the things you have to do.

Administration is not always on top of offerings and opportunities. It’s a journey.

Auten – There needs to be communication and respect.

12. Management is one of the four major components of the ASCA National Model. Planning,

design, implementation, evaluation, and enhancement are major parts of management for

comprehensive school counseling programs. Can you tell me how you are able to include

management (including planning, design, implementation, evaluation, and enhancement)?

Garren – I do a pre-counseling and post-counseling assessment. I do a comprehensive school

survey for students and staff (needs assessment).


Blakely – More needs assessments, communication, share an outline of the program with

staff/team through regular meetings, goals for program shared with administration, pre-test/post-

test feedback.

Hurd – We get together at the start of the year. We know the time frame, and plan together for

the year.

Auten – Without management, the program will flop. There’s stuff you have to do to make the

program work. You have to see the big picture. Planning involves scheduling, registration,

classroom guidance. We don’t spend a ton of time on this unless something needs to change.

13. What are the challenges you face with regards to management?

Garren – TIME (for everything)

Blakely – Time for regular meetings, time in general

Hurd – Mainly, not getting bogged down by the day to day. Checking to make sure you’re

doing all that you’re supposed to do.

Auten – None, really.

14. Can you tell me which human service organizations your school has a relationship with and

what role the organizations play in the school counseling program?

Garren – We work with a variety of organizations to help the kids – DSS, Family Preservation,

Mental Health organizations, area churches, Fletcher Area Business Associates (FABA)

Blakely – Mediation Center, Access Family Services and Family Preservation (mental health),

Mobile Crisis, Manna Food Bank, Salvation Army, HELP, Healing Place, Hospice

Hurd – HELP (homeless), Kiwanis/Kiwanettes (Backpacks), school nurse/health department,

DSS (not a good relationship), school resource officer (suicide prevention), Storehouse (getting

food for kids), Michael Johnson (behavioral health)


Auten – One of our counselors came from Mainstay (domestic violence shelter), so she has lots

of contacts. We work with churches, community agencies, Family Preservation, Adolescent

Parenting Program (APP), Children and Family Resource Center (CFRC), Pisgah Legal,

Storehouse, Mainstay, IAM, Blue Ridge Health Center


relationships?

Garren – I have spoken at churches and businesses. I network. Some connections have been

made through outreach and some through need.

Blakely – I made sure I had a good resource list when I started. I introduced myself to some,

others I have called as needed.

Hurd – Michael reached out. Luckily, several are available through the schools. We reached

out to the others.

Auten – A variety of ways/networking. When we call, the agencies are right on it. The district

supervisor organized a non-profit fair, but it wasn’t really targeted to groups that help our

students.



Garren – Working together for the good of students.

Blakely – This is extremely important! This was drilled in to me during training – “recognize

your limits and make referrals”. You need relationships for an effective program.

Hurd – They provide valuable information/support that we can’t always provide. Having law

enforcement on campus is great – cut and dry. They bring their expertise and their time!

Auten – These resources are very important – they help our students both in and out of school.


17. The ASCA National Model Competencies tell us that a school counselor (III-B-4a.) “Creates

a system support planning document addressing school counselor’s responsibilities for

professional development, consultation and collaboration and program management” (American

School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 5). Can you tell me how this works within your

program?

Garren – ASCA yearly plan – surveys and data from year before, pull ideas together and create

plan for year.

Blakely – It doesn’t happen. I use the evaluation tool as an outline/guideline for an ideal

program. PDP updated annually – turned in at beginning of year, then checked mid-year, and an

end of year evaluation.

Hurd – No document, but we do it.

Auten – We host monthly professional development meetings – try to bring someone in.

Collaboration – counselors have done a great job collaborating so everyone will be on the same

page. They started Monday morning meetings at 8:30 each Monday to make everyone in the

counseling office aware of what was going on. Since then, program management has gotten

distinctly better.

18. ASCA Model I-A-6. States “collaborations with stakeholders such as parents and guardians,

teachers, administrators and community leaders to create learning environments that promote

educational equity and success for every student” (American School Counselor Association,

2012, p. 2). Can you elaborate on how you would build and use these relationships within your

program assessment and implementation of changes?

Garren – Parent surveys, teacher surveys (Google docs, Survey Monkey), Needs Assessment

(drives program with data)


Blakely – I establish a positive relationship with the stakeholders. I do a needs assessment, I

follow up on the success of the program. I keep an open mind for

suggestions/concerns/questions.

Hurd – We see parents and teachers all day. We share needed information. If kids need help,

they ask. We help file FAFSA’s. People are just comfortable coming in to see us. We are

driven by talking to kids and knowing their goals. Parents are comfortable too.

Auten – We have info nights for parents/guardians (bullying and internet safety, for example).

Parent involvement is tough – don’t have good turnout. We do have good turnout for financial

aid/college nights, though. Counselors advocate with all stakeholders to make sure kids are

getting what they need.


stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, school boards, department of

education, school counselors, counselor educators, community stakeholders and business

leaders” (American School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 2). Can you tell me how you as a

school counselor or administrator communicate your program to the various groups listed above?

Garren – Talks in the community, present plan for year to administrators, teachers (ask for

feedback and communicate plans), send home parent signups for groups, teacher referrals for

groups, presentations to school board

Blakely – I outline the program in teacher team meetings, staff meetings, and with the PTO.

Hurd – We usually send letters to parents explaining about the alphabetical split and our contact

information. Teachers know because we talk to them. The principal is a micromanager. He

knows what everyone is doing.


Auten – We put our regular school messenger/phone alerts. Teacher websites are updated often.

We use the marquis outside to share information about upcoming events. We invite community

members in for senior projects, plays, sporting events to promote our students to the community.



program and holding the program accountable. Do you use this method within your current

program? Did you develop it for your school, or was it already set up when you arrived?

Garren – Yes use the method. No, it wasn’t here when I arrived, but I’ve been here a long time.

Things have completely changed. It takes so much time, time that we don’t have, to collect data

and document. There are too many kids (489) for me to do it easily.

Blakely – I try to reinforce guidelines to the administration to prioritize student needs. I got

nothing when I came here. The previous counselor was changing careers. I am working toward

using this more next year. I aspire to it!

Hurd – It’s not formally laid out, but all parts are addressed. No oversight, per se. Annabelle

came in 2002 and Dan in 2004. They changed to structure to ALPHA from grade level. We

changed the number of visits per student (mandatory) from 1 to 2. We tweak it as we go along to

better support the students.

Auten – The National Model holds the program accountable. Without one component the others

don’t work. Counselors know the expectations. They are really only checked during the

evaluations.

21. Gysbers and Henderson give us a ten year plan that has year one working with assessing the

current program and deciding what you would like to change. Have you done this type of

assessment and how did you decide what changes you would like to make?


Garren – No, I have never done that. It’s always a work in progress because expectations

change. The new evaluation tool has really affected things. I have done surveys, but I have

never used a formal tool.

Blakely – Not formally, but in process. I would like to do an official assessment. I have done a

lot of looking at the guidelines, highlighting, and meeting with the principal. I always err on the

side of safety for the students first, then helping them be successful in school. I have already cut

out some things the former counselor did.

Hurd – We have never done a formal program assessment. Our program is somewhat random,

but it’s effective. We desperately need another counselor.

Auten – Yes, but unfortunately although we would all like to see our counselors doing more

counseling. With mental health issues on the rise in the schools there is so much more that needs

to be done that actual counseling does not get as much attention as needed.


Appendix E

Interview transcript – Sarah Emily Curtis



B - No specific model is in place. The program is based around the preferences of the

administrator.

L - "My program is based on the idea of the ASCA model, but not strictly aligned."

D - No specific model to my knowledge.



B & L - County-wide meetings to improve vertical alignment. These meetings have been

helpful and encouraging at the district level.

D - The school counselor is a liaison for teachers and administrators. The school

counselor is a stopping point, or mid-point, before disciplinary action from

administration.



B- PBIS at Boonville Elementary

L - PBIS at West Yadkin Elementary

D - The "Lunch Bunch" small groups are good for our students.


natural disaster, such as a fire or tornado, to a threat to students and staff, such as those

involving weapons or the taking of hostages. What crisis management plans or models


does your school or the school districts have in place to address these potential issues? Is

there a crisis management team?

B & L - The County published and provided an updated Crisis Management Flipchart

that is available to all faculty members. School counselors are part of school-level crisis

management teams. Bradley is split position, so he is not a lead member of the crisis

management teams.

D - SMS has a crisis team that consists of the AP (Dawn), the SRO (Officer JJ

Robinson), the school nurse (Lynda Carter), the school counselor (Emily Curtis), any

faculty members holding a current CDL (bus license), and select classroom teachers.

This information is kept in an orange binder at the front desk in the lobby. The crisis

plan is part of the ongoing "school improvement plan" that is reviewed three times a year,

every year. The flipchart that outlines the district's plan for crises is part of our crisis

management plan.

5. Please describe some of your duties and responsibilities, outside of classroom lessons,

small group counseling, and individual counseling.

L - Asked for am car duty - "Morning car line allows me to check in with students and

parents at the beginning of the day. If any students are having a hard morning or have

started the day off badly, I can catch this early and be proactive in these issues. This also

helps me connect with parents". Lisa is also part of the PBIS and SWAT (School-wide

Assessment Team) committees

B- am car duty at Jonesville Elementary

D - School counselors are expected to participate in fair share duties which may include,

but are not limited to, car duty, bus duty, hall duty, lunch duty, etc.




B & L - fair share duties, such as car line are not counselor-specific duties but can

maximize counselor connections with students and parents

D - Fair share duties


program.

B & L - organization is key

L - use of calendars to organize daily, weekly, and monthly schedule and communicate

with faculty members, any time that is not scheduled for classes is time for individual and

group counseling, interventions, etc.

B - at Jonesville, due to limited time there and tight schedule - "more reactionary than

proactive"

D - "The role of the school counselor is to be approachable by students and faculty. The

school counselor should function as a mediator at school, in the community, and for

parents/guardians. School counselors should implement consistent routines for

counseling, including groups."



B & L - both agreed that more hours in the day and more counselors on staff would make

a great deal of positive difference -- improved district-level support and encouragement,

therefore issues and concerns are more appropriately addressed (new district-level

director - she's highly motivated and organized)


B - his split position makes it difficult to meet the needs of all students, he feels that he is

always "bouncing between schools" and he feels "disconnected from the school

community in each school"

L - feels supported at the school and district level, but needs more time or more

counseling personnel

D - Time, resources (community support and items/stuff needed to carry out lessons and

responsibilities). The split-position is difficult in that the counselor is not 100% available

to the staff and students of SMS.


B & L - both recognize and use the NC standards, however they are broad and loosely

applied, they are included as part of the old NC evaluation system and process

D - The standards are directly linked to the evaluation process

10. Please describe your perception of the relationship between you (the school counselor)

and your administrators.

B & L - both feel that they are part of a team, they feel supported and connected to the

administrators in their schools, collaboration is good and they feel in the loop, both say "I

am allowed to manage my program. I feel trusted to make decisions for the program and

carry them out."

D - The school counselor is in a position to diffuse situations before they become a matter

of discipline. The school counselor can also be a buffer with administration to prevent

the need for disciplinary action. The administration and the school counselor should have

an open line of communication where everyone shares thoughts, observations, and

concerns.



administration should be? Are there changes that need to occur on the administrative

level to improve your ability to manage your program?

B & L - addressed in question 10

D- Having a full-time school counselor at SMS

12. Management is one of the four major components of the ASCA National Model.

Planning, design, implementation, evaluation, and enhancement are major parts of

management for comprehensive school counseling programs. Can you tell me how you

are able to include management (including planning, design, implementation, evaluation,

and enhancement)?

B & L - calendars are the main source of management, adjustments can be made as

necessary

D- There is currently no specific system of management, partly due to the split position

and party due to lack of long-term experience of the school counselor.

13. What are the challenges you face with regards to management?

B & L - both counselors say the key to improving management would be more time

and/or personnel to carry out all aspects of a school counseling program

D - Issues include - time, need for more community outreach and knowledge, more

personnel (counselor needs to be more visible to all stakeholders)

14. Can you tell me which human service organizations your school has a relationship with

and what role the organizations play in the school counseling program?

B & L - both access county human services organizations such as DSS and the Domestic

Violence office, law enforcement


D - Our school has partnerships with DSS, Juvenile Justice, the Sheriff's dept (including

school resource officer and anti-bullying programs), Compassion Care (for human

growth and development), mobile crisis through Partners Behavioral Health, local private

counseling agencies, local churches provide school supplies. There is a desire to have

more community involvement.


relationships?

B & L - both are inherently involved in education

D - through phone calls (both ways), as needs arise, personal contacts



B & L -"help meet extended needs of students outside of what is manageable and

appropriate through the school counseling program"

D - "outside agencies are necessary because it is impossible to meet all every need in the

educational environment"

17. The ASCA National Model Competencies tell us that a school counselor (III-B-4a.)

“Creates a system support planning document addressing school counselor’s

responsibilities for professional development, consultation and collaboration and program

management” (American School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 5). Can you tell me

how this works within your program?

B & L - work in collaboration with bilingual services, county offerings such as "in the

know" sessions, and NCSCA offerings


D - The job description provided by NCDPI, county and state mandated PDPs and

evaluations, county level professional development offerings and county level goals,

504/SWAT (interventions) to add to the academic domains

18. ASCA Model I-A-6. States “collaborations with stakeholders such as parents and

guardians, teachers, administrators and community leaders to create learning

environments that promote educational equity and success for every student” (American

School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 2). Can you elaborate on how you would build

and use these relationships within your program assessment and implementation of

changes?

L - PTO meetings, websites, teacher sites, newsletter column, just be visible

B - website and general visibility

D - the kids having knowledge of counseling services helps them be more open and

allows for counseling proactivity before discipline


stakeholders, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, school boards,

department of education, school counselors, counselor educators, community

stakeholders and business leaders” (American School Counselor Association, 2012, p. 2).

Can you tell me how you as a school counselor or administrator communicate your

program to the various groups listed above?

Same as responses to 18

D- an area of improvement for our program would be more visibility and outreach to

members of our school community (ex. website, brochure, etc)




program and holding the program accountable. Do you use this method within your

current program? Did you develop it for your school, or was it already set up when you

arrived?

B & L - Administrators share their expectations, counselors meet those; delivery is

inherent in the program through individual and group counseling sessions; management

is focused around the calendar system; accountability is addressed through the new NC

Evaluation Instrument

D - "The ASCA model is not currently in place at SMS. Implementation is expected to

begin soon."

21. Gysbers and Henderson give us a ten year plan that has year one working with assessing

the current program and deciding what you would like to change. Have you done this

type of assessment and how did you decide what changes you would like to make?

B - annual goals and themes, often linked to any goals and themes of the school,

adjustments can and should be made

L - annual goals and themes, often linked to the school, including 7 Habits of Happy Kids

and 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, with activities, themes, and goals devised

through this content

D - goals for the future counseling program would be to implement a more cohesive

referral process, peer mediation, more anti-bullying programs, continue and grow the

group counseling program, be more accessible to students and faculty (full-time position

at only 1 school would assist in that)


Bradley Shore - B.S. in Psychology, M.A. in Community Counseling with School

Counseling add-on, all from ASU- 19 years experience. Works at Boonville Elementary

and Jonesville Elementary with both schools totally around 650 students.

Lisa Wagoner - credentials in paper from first spring semester. Works at West Yadkin

Elementary with a total of approx. 600 students.

Dawn Huggins - AP at Starmount Middle (350 students) - B.S. in Elementary Ed, M.A.

in Middle Grades English Language Arts, M.A. in School Administration, Certificate in

Curriculum Assistance - 21 years experience.