TISHOMINGO COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

Iuka Elementary and Iuka Middle School

Jill Jourdan--Counselor

423-9290 and 423-3316

Overview

The Iuka Elementary and Iuka Middle School counseling services begin with kindergarten and extend through Grade 8. Services are available to all students, parents, and school staff in a variety of settings and are developmental, preventative, and remedial in nature. Counseling services and guidance programs are vital components of the education process which enable students to assess their needs, recognize their abilities, and form strategies to achieve their potential.

The counselor guides students to self-awareness so that they can make sound decisions and become responsible, productive, life-long learners. Beginning in elementary school, the counselor orients students and parents to the variety of counseling services and establishs solid relationships which lay the foundation for successful relationships with students at the next level. The counselor is an advocate for the students. The counselor has three primary roles: that of counselor, consultant, and facilitator.

The Role of Counselor

Counseling is a helping process in which the counselor provides a safe, nurturing environment. By establishing a trusting, confidential working relationship, students can share their feelings and develop positive solutions to personal issues. The focus is always on problem solving, decision making and discovering personal meaning related to learning and development. Parents, teachers, principals, and students can initiate a referral to the counselor.

Counseling Tasks:

• advocate for students
• listen to students, assess their needs, and develop interventions
• provide short term personal and crisis counseling in individual and group settings
• help students to cope with social/emotional pressures, set goals, and become responsible students
• help students to understand and accept their capabilities, limitations, and learning style, and to assess their needs
• report and/or refer a case when a person's welfare is in jeopardy
• assist student with transition issues and orientation (moving from one school to another, adjusting to a new grade and peers)
• develop a network of community referral agencies and therapists to provide services to individual students
• make referrals for long-term or specialized therapy and act as school liaison
• work with the police department, hospital personnel, The Department of Human Services, and court systems when necessary
• provide parent and faculty education
• channel concerns to the appropriate school personnel

The Role of Consultant

Consultation is a cooperative process in which the counselor assists parents, teachers, and administrators to think through problems and develop skills that enhance their effectiveness in working with students.

Consultation Tasks

• provide professional expertise to staff, parents, and the community
• assist in the identification of problems that arise in school which are not always recognized at home and help provide recommendations that lead to solutions
• make formal observations of students
• assist with classroom and behavior management issues
• provide on-going feedback to parents and teachers concerning individual student's counseling needs
• develop educational strategies with school personnel and community mental health specialists to meet the needs of individual students who are experiencing difficulties
• collaborate with special educators to assist in the development of education plans that meet the needs of special education students
• conduct ability testing and standardized tests upon referral or demand
• advocate for appropriate student placement

The Role of Facilitator

Facilitation is a leadership process in which the counselor manages a school's counseling program and related services. Facilitation also involves the direct, in-class teaching of formal and informal programs.

Facilitation Tasks:

• design and implement a comprehensive guidance curriculum addressing the developmental needs of all students
• evaluate the effectiveness of the counselig services and guidance curriculum and week ways to improve them
• promote an awareness of counseling services and provide information about guidance curriculum within the school and community
• chair school meeting with teachers, parents and students

Confidentiality

An important obligation of counselors is to maintain the confidentiality of relationships with students. Therefore, the confidentiality of information received, and of any written or pupil records, is safeguarded. The counselor is obliged not to disclose information that a student has shared within the context of the counseling relationship, unless such cisclosures are necessary to protect the student from posing a serious threat to him or herself or to others.

Elementary School Counseling

Growing up brings with it problems which children often carry to the classroom. These problems may affect learning. An early detection system of counseling can assist with these concerns before they escalate. Without elementary school counseling, issues which might have been addressed or at least diagnosed early, may become unmanageable by the time the child reaches the Middle School. With a total elementary school enrollment of 444 students, the counselor to student ratio is approximately 1 to 444 students.

Specific Functions

• assist with the Kindergarten Special Education Screening process
• co-lead new student orientation meetings with the principal and follow up with new student's acclimation
• present a guidance curriculum in Kindergarten to Grade 4
• make sure units of health are taught
• conduct informal classroom discussions, on a variety of topics, upon teacher request
• monitor individual behavior and student progress to identify at-risk students
• meet regularly with school principal to discuss specific students, programs and ways to improve the school climate
• attend parent/teacher conferences and special education meetings
• work with Grade 4 students to make transiton from fourth to fifth grade students and from elementary to middle school a pleasant experience

Middle School Counseling

The primary role of the middle school counselor is to be a student's advocate during the critical years of early adolescence when one's emotional, social, and physical development is rapidly changing. With an enrollment of 350 students, the counselor to student ratio is approximately l to 350 students.

Specific Functions:

• assist with the development of student schedules and transition in, and schedule all new students
• coordinate all standardized testing
• make sure health related seminars are presented
• attend parent/teacher conferences
• attend daily teacher meetings
• coordinate report cards, progress reports, absences and transcript applications
• monitor students on behavior
• write individual student profiles to provide teachers with modifications for non-special education students
• attend teacher meetings to discuss at-risk students
• attend school management meetings to explore teacher concerns
• work closely with school principal
• 4th to 5th grade transiton (attend parent orientation meetings, coordinate tours, meet with 4th grade teachers, attend special education review meetings)
• 8th to 9th grade transiton (collaborate with high school on schedules, orientations and tours)
• process private school applications
• coordinates Tech Prep classes for Grade 7 and 8
• review and maintain all records, report cards, progress reports, and test scores
• distribute information on English language proficiency and provide materials for teachers and students to use
• coordinate Awards Day and SGA activities

  

  COUNSELING CENTER RESOURCES

  Walk this way to sites for parents and students at IES and IMS.

  

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  Yahoo Guidance Page

  

  The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Mississippi State University.