2411 - SCHOOL COUNSELING AND ACADEMIC AND CAREER PLANNING

School counseling services play a significant role in the operation of the District and in the lives of the students. School counseling services are provided to support students in the many facets of their lives while in the school system to cover their academic concerns, personal/social matters, and career goals. Academic and career planning (ACP) is intended to help students understand postsecondary options, connect their goals to coursework and career interests, and take part in long-term planning.

The purpose of the counseling service is to help students:

1. select and participate in academic and other school activities that will best ensure achievement of defined educational and personal goals;
2. identify, analyze, and make contact with those agencies and institutions that can provide follow-up programs or services related to the student's goals and plans for the future;
3. identify and assist students with career and college ready planning;
4. resolve problems and overcome obstacles that are preventing them from achieving their educational and personal goals;
5. maintain productive relationships with other students, staff members, and other school resource personnel.

Counselors are to provide individualized support and access to internal and external resources to assist in the development of academic and career plans which result in self awareness, career exploration, academic preparation, career planning, and career management for each student.

Each counselor is to guide students in course selection and career planning in such a way that there is no discrimination or bias nor any predictions of success or failure based on a student's race, color, national origin, gender, or disability. If any materials or resource people are used to recruit students to a particular career path or vocational choice, the counselors and teachers must be sure that such materials and/or presentations do not indicate or imply racial, gender, or disability stereotypes. Efforts should be made, when applicable to a program, to use resource people who represent the special populations contained within the body of students being recruited or guided toward the program or career path.

Staff Responsibility

Since the effectiveness of both of these services depends on close interpersonal interaction with students, no staff member other than certified counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, or registered nurses are to conduct programs or activities that are not curriculum-related, in which confidentiality of information is involved or shared. Other members of the professional staff, as well as those on the support staff, should be as helpful and caring to the students as possible, and when they become aware that a student needs counseling help, take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the student has made productive contact with members of the counseling staff.

Confidentiality

It is incumbent upon all staff members to be knowledgeable about the laws regarding confidentiality of information, whether it be part of a student's record or of a communication with a student. AG 8330 describes in detail the requirements concerning information in student school records.

With regard to confidentiality of communications, parents have an expectation of privacy with regard to their family relationships, which may be superseded, however, in certain situations where the rights of a minor student would prevail such as one-on-one counseling situations with a licensed counselor. Upon receiving confidential information regarding a student or his/her family's personal relationship, a staff member who is not a licensed professional counselor or who has a limited counseling license should consult with the building principal regarding disclosure. This will be important not only in situations such as group counseling sessions, health classes, crisis intervention activities, and the like, but also in ad hoc situations when a student shares such information with the staff member (see Policy 1213, Policy 3213, and Policy 4213). Information shared with a licensed counselor is to be considered privileged information and not to be shared with anyone unless the counselor believes the student's health and/or well-being is in jeopardy. In such cases, the counselor should contact the appropriate agency and consult with the principal prior to making any contact with the student's parents.

In determining whether or not to disclose the information, the principal must consider:

1. the student's need to maintain confidentiality in order to obtain and benefit from assistance balanced against the parents' rights to the care, custody, and control of their child;

2. if there is a compelling need involving the immediate health, safety, or welfare of the student or others;

In balancing these concerns, the principal must also consider:

1. the nature of the relationship between the student and his/her parents;

2. potential benefits and risks of maintaining confidentiality versus disclosure;

3. the best interests of the student.

Referrals to Outside Agencies

The District will maintain a list of outside resource people and organizations.

Counseling Students who are Limited English Proficient Students and/or Sensory Impaired

Provisions set forth in Policy 2260.02 regarding school counselor services shall be followed.

© Neola 2020