Did you know?
One way Plainfield Schools lives its commitment to educating and supporting the whole child is by employing a licensed school counselor in each elementary school, and a team of guidance counselors and mental wellness coordinators at the middle school and high school.
To get a sense of their varied responsibilities, they were asked to provide their most common activities on a typical day. Not surprisingly, those days vary depending on the ages of students they support.
At the elementary schools (K-5), counselors listed these things:
Comfort, encourage and listen to children
Conflict resolution between children
Actively listen to students' worries and fears; help them discover coping skills
Classroom presentations on social & emotional topics
Building duties: lunchroom, bus and car
Pray and laugh daily; spread hope
Individual and group counseling; teacher counseling
Communicate and collaborate with parents, staff, community resources
Collect and analyze student data
Planning and scheduling
Create a safe place for "big feelings"
Provide clothes, coats, shoes, and school supplies
Connect families with needed resources
Promote wellness and self-care
At the middle and high schools, the list includes these items:
Routine check-ins with students at least once each semester
Follow-up with students and parents when academic support is needed
Communicate proactively to students and parents about college and career information
Help students plan, adjust, and submit documents associated with college and career needs as needed
Prepare for and administer large scale testing - PSAT in the fall and winter, AP in the spring
Cafeteria supervision and sanitization
Curriculum development (suicide prevention, self care, safe dating, etc)
Safety assessments
Mental wellness connection and case management (anxiety, depression)
Collaborate with community resources to support student needs
Trauma and crisis intervention, response and therapy
Talk to parents/guardians about their concerns
Staff support
As you can see, our counselors, regardless of the age of the students they support, are active, present and highly visible members of our school teams. While not every public school district is able to have a full-time, dedicated counselor in every school, we can't imagine life without these talented, compassionate professionals. While we thank them every day for their dedication, we hope you'll join us in a big, public thank you for National School Counseling Week.