Guidance / Counseling and Clinical Services

**Preliminary**

The School Counseling Department provides a comprehensive program that promotes the academic, college/career, and social/emotional growth of all PreK-12 students. The role of the school counselor has evolved over the years to focus not only on counseling but also social/emotional curriculum planning and supporting school leadership in the area of climate and community. They utilize a variety of prevention and intervention models and programs to assist students in overcoming barriers to learning. The Counselors are committed to ensuring that students are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to be responsible and effective citizens, productive workers, and life-long learners. In part, our Counselors do this by advocating for equity, access, and success for every student by collaborating with faculty, parents, and the community.


Services provided by School Counseling and Clinical Services includes direct and indirect services such as the development of service delivery plans, Section 504, home/hospital re-entry planning, academic and individual/group and family support. School Counselors in PreK-12 provide individual counseling, crisis management, scheduling, and college/career and transition planning, delivery of School Counseling Curriculum, individual student planning, and responsive services. All school counseling staff aid McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance by providing outreach and wraparound services and supports for students who are homeless. School Counselors and School Social Workers serve as a crucial link to parents, administrators, teachers, and students in all aspects of development and school function. The Office of School Counseling and Clinical Services is also spearheading the district’s second year of participation in the Excellence in Social Emotional Learning Network (exSEL). In conjunction with the Office of Teaching and Learning, this is one effort toward the goal of embedding Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into all aspects of our curriculum and prioritizing SEL for our students.


In past years, the Department piloted curriculum in Mindfulness and supported the development of Gay Straight Student Alliance groups at Driscoll, Heath, Pierce, and Lincoln Schools, and collaborated with the Health and Wellness department to incorporate more substance prevention education in grades 6-8. These programs and groups continue to flourish. The K-8 and BHS School Counseling Teams continue to work together to identify best practices in the transition process from 8th to 9th grade. Likewise, the Office of Registration and Enrollment (ORE), BEEP, and the Department collaborate to ensure the transition from PreK to kindergarten is uniform and equitable for all families across the district.


The Director of School Counseling and Clinical Services (PreK-12) brings support to Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and High School Counseling services. In addition to being the primary administrative support for PreK-8 Counselors and the BHS Guidance Coordinator, the Director serves as the district’s Title II/Section 504, Title IV, and Title IX Coordinator for students, the district’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Student Education Coordinator, and the district’s Foster Child Point of Contact. The BHS Guidance Coordinator is primary administrative support for the 10 BHS School Counselors and 4 Social Workers (serving approximately 2,071 students). To ensure the 20 PreK-8 Counselors and 2 Social Workers (serving approximately 5,757 students), are equitably supported, a PreK-8 Guidance Coordinator is necessary. Particularly since the eight K-8 schools and BEEP each has their own distinct needs and challenges, this would allow for more efficient administrative support as well as ensure the PreK-8 School Counseling program remains a priority. If we are to best prepare our students to be personally and academically successful in high school and beyond, SEL integration and education must begin at the earliest grades with skills built upon throughout the elementary and middle school years.


With population increase projected to carry on, analysis of counselor-to-student ratios continues to occur in the elementary schools. The American School Counselor Association recommends a school-counselor-to-student ratio of 1:250. While this recommendation is ideal, budgetary restrictions limit the feasibility of this. There is a notable variance in counselor-to-student ratio from school to school ranging from approximately 1:250 to 1:469. It is also important to note that there are few Social Workers in the elementary schools. This means that in addition to their role of service delivery and working with all students, elementary-level School Counselors are regularly required to provide direct counseling services on Individual Education Plans as well as crisis and behavior management support. At the high school level, Social Workers provide the majority of this clinical service to Special Education students. This disparity can tax the Tier I service delivery to all students at the elementary level. The majority of variance has been managed by re-aligning, where possible, which grade levels School Counselors service at each elementary school making the counselor-to-student ratio more equitable with a goal of 1:300. Unfortunately, this will not fully address the need for additional School Counselors at the elementary level. Additionally, each year High School Counselor caseloads have increased from an average of 190 students in 2012 to approximately 240-266 students per counselor caseloads in 2018. BHS Social Worker caseloads are similarly stretched thin, with caseloads including approximately 50 students with IEP-mandated weekly counseling per Social Worker. This is in addition to intensive demands for mental health support for regular education students and crises management.


Brookline High School


The Brookline High School Coordinator and Counselors have focused on building developmental guidance group seminars for all high school grade levels. This has been achieved by both expanding curriculum and by increasing the numbers of delivered seminars through creative strategies used to access students for these important opportunities. Significant progress has also been made in building a strong BHS Student Intervention Team which brings together regular education teachers, School Counselors, special educators, and other staff in planned consultation and collaboration to help students who are not making academic progress and to collect data on the early intervention strategies. The High School Counseling Office has also expanded the vision of post high school planning, continuing the traditional focus on 4-year College planning for students, while also recognizing the importance of providing information about other options for life after graduation. The philosophy of the Department suggests, “College may not be for everyone, but education is”. The BHS College and Career Center (CCC) has updated post high school planning presentations for both students and parents, as well as brought a broader range of college (2 and 4 year) representatives to campus - college rep visits and College Fair - to provide information for all students who are considering college as their post-graduation goal. The department has also brought the Gap Year Fair to campus in the last 4 years, as well as broadened information about financial aid to the community.


In alignment with the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) statement – “When students can understand the relationship between their current experiences and their aspirations for the future, they are more likely to make sound college and career choices — and they are more likely to succeed”. The Career Counselor at BHS has begun the focused work of career exploration in both 10th grade advisory and guidance group seminars. In addition, the Career Counselor has developed a diverse and expansive list of initiatives available to all BHS students, ranging from resume/soft skills/summer job workshops to youth local employment support to career panels and fairs to community connections with parents and businesses to offer students informational interviewing/job shadow opportunities. In this role, the Career Counselor facilitates collaborative work within BHS with various stakeholders who also support students around career exploration and internships (Career/Tech, ACE, STS, and Transitions) and outside of BHS with the Brookline Teen Center, the Brookline Economic Development and Long-Term Planning Division, Brookline Rotary/Business partnerships.


The Department continues to strengthen the collaborations between Brookline Police, Juvenile Court, Brookline Community Mental Health Center, and to identify other service providers to ensure the PSB School Counseling Department has ample relationships with outside providers to assist students and families within the school setting.



Personnel


• All salary accounts include projected grade and step movement for the next fiscal year and current budget staff lists were scrubbed for

accuracy to align with the department structure.

• FTE (Override) 1.0 FTE K-8 Social Worker

Services, Supplies, Other and Capital


• Reallocation of expense across expense accounts


FY20 Objectives

• In order to overcome barriers to learning and improve academic outcomes, identify additional opportunities to further integrate social-

emotional learning across all grade levels through a full scale review of the current practices and professional development in best

practices as part of the ExSEL Network.

• District wide training and implementation of Restorative Justice Practices.

• Develop collaborative teams to ensure PSB School Counseling and Clinical staff are provided with professional development opportunities

that enhance their practice and service delivery to students.

• Expand on previously provided workshops and parent education opportunities that increase the home-school collaboration in relevant

topics that support the goals for SEL and wellness.


FY21 Objectives

• Provide ongoing training, professional development opportunities, and consultation to counseling staff on Section 504, social/emotional

learning, mental health issues, equity and access, trauma-informed practice, and Collaborative and Proactive Solutions.

• Increase trauma-informed practices, counseling services, and consultation to better support students and educators in classroom

management strategies.

• Increase SEL consultation and collaboration with educators toward goal of embedding SEL learning throughout the curriculum.

• Work toward aligning school counseling practices and program delivery across elementary schools.

• Work to improve graduation/transition planning for special populations including students in foster care and those affected by

homelessness.


FY19 Accomplishments

• Worked to provide support and ensure continuity of educational services for special populations including students in foster care and those

affected by homelessness.

• Increased communication to 8th grade families through elective selection for BHS and identified further opportunities to streamline the

process for students and families in the next cycle.

• Work closely with students, both individually and in groups, to maximize their sense of adjustment and social competency within our

schools.


FY20 Accomplishments

• In collaboration with BEEP and ORE, completing phase two in streamlining the Kindergarten screening process and Peek & Practice to

ensure equity for all students.

• Worked with families and students around adjustment issues, in transitional years, and for those who are having difficulty meeting the

graduation requirements as a result of limited English proficiency, limited and/or lack of schooling, and learning issues.