School Counselor Position Purpose The school counselor helps all students develop skills in the areas of personal and social growth for academic success.
Essential Performance Responsibilities: - Establishes a research-based counseling program, activities, and resources to support the social and emotional needs of students and teachers.
- Promotes positive working relationships with students, staff, and members of the community. Conduct or coordinate presentations and/or seminars (Back To School events, Report Card Conferences, School Transition Information events, etc.) to provide information to stakeholder groups as needed and/or requested.
- Actively participates in the student transition process.
- Assesses student needs, set goals, formulate a plan of action, and system of evaluation of plan.
- Provides individual and group counseling services and lessons to support student developmental, social and emotional health across all grade levels.
- Coordinates counseling services with school staff and contracted agencies in order to provide a uniform delivery of services for students across all school settings.
- Communicates regularly with teachers, parents, and administration about a student’s academic, social, and emotional progress.
- Maintains a log of parent and agency contacts.
- Provides all teachers with career readiness resources that will enable all students beginning in kindergarten to achieve the required career planning portfolio required by PDE. Assists in maintaining a portfolio and a checklist for each student to be completed annually. Ensures that the portfolio is designed to be transmitted with a student cumulative file when a student transitions from the school.
- Initiates and coordinates Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) model and supports the delivery of instruction with teachers, assistants/aides, contracted school staff and administration.
- Actively participates in the MTSS process which may include counseling as an intervention to support students’ social and/or emotional needs.
- Serves as the lead for the Student Assistance Program that includes scheduling team meetings, providing an agenda, and leading the team with resource options.
- Actively serves as a member of the schoolwide safety teams (i.e. Crisis Response Team, Safe2Say, Health and Wellness) and successfully completing any required training to maintain certifications pertinent to these teams.
- Serves student attendance by monitoring individual student school attendance. Complete Student Attendance Improvement Plan as determined by administration. Communicates with administration about meetings and provides a copy of a written plan.
- Serves as the school Homeless Liaison and works with agencies, school districts, and administration to provide appropriate school for homeless children.
- Participates in school-wide assessments that may include local and state assessments. This may include proctoring students, preparing and collecting assessment materials in the required secure manner.
- Completes and maintains required documentation to ensure compliance for local/state/federal program initiatives (i.e. Title I, COVID-19 related programs, unaccompanied and homeless youth, etc.).
- Communicates and provides schedules, student identification information and any other necessary information to internal and external stakeholders in a timely fashion to report required information and changes in programs.
Additional Duties Performs other related tasks as assigned by the Principal.
Note: The above description is illustrative of tasks and responsibilities. It is not meant to be all inclusive of every task or responsibility.
Equipment Uses standard office equipment such as laptop, printer/copier, i-Pad cell phone.
Physical Demands: Performance of counseling duties requires the counselor to be physically active at times that may include frequent walking and standing while conducting various learning activities, and while rearranging the office and handling equipment, materials and supplies. The counselor must demonstrate manual dexterity to manage office equipment and repetitive movement of fingers for keyboarding. At times there may be some carrying and lifting between 15 to 30 pounds.
Education and Qualifications: Current Pennsylvania certificate for Elementary School Counselor, clearances, minimum of Master’s Degree in counseling
FLSA Status: Exempt