SCHOOL COUNSELOR 

POSITION: School Counselor

DIVISION(S): Lower and Middle School

REPORTS TO: Head of School

SUMMARY:

The School Counselor provides a critical layer of support to assist students, faculty and staff, and the parent community in fulfilling the school’s mission, focusing on wellness, social-emotional well-being, and coping with social, behavioral, and personal problems.

The School Counselor responds to student issues identified by teachers, learning support, and administrators by observing, assessing, and recommending suitable intervention and counseling. Preventive and developmental counseling is emphasized to provide students with the life skills needed to enhance personal, social, emotional, and academic growth. The Counselor closely collaborates with Learning Specialists, teachers and leadership and maintains an ongoing dialogue with parents. The Counselor has a critical role in overseeing and implementing the advisory program and the life skills curriculum.

OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES:

Preventive and Responsive Services

• Responds to concerns by teachers and administrators that individual students may be exhibiting social, behavioral, or personal issues that impact on students’ academic performance and social relations within classes or any school activities.
• Observes individual students and assesses signs of behavior to determine whether issues can be ameliorated by teacher intervention in class, and/or by the counselor direct counseling of the individual.
• Consults and collaborates weekly with S.A.I.L. Learning Specialists to ascertain whether specific students' behavioral issues identified by teachers may either result from or impact on student learning difficulties being addressed by S.A.I.L.
• Consults with S.A.I.L. on their interpretation of academic and testing reports that may impact on student behavior.
• Develops and drafts a proposed plan of intervention either in class by teachers and/or in counselor’s direct counseling.
• Collaborates with teachers, S.A.I.L., and administrators as warranted to alert parents or guardians to students' social, behavioral, or personal issues.
• Confers effectively with parents or guardians on the counselor’s proposed intervention plan.
• Monitors intervention activities to record progress or lack of, which may merit a recommendation to parents or referral to therapeutic professionals outside of Whitby. Maintains an effective follow-up dialogue with outside therapists.
• Alerts parents/guardians to community resources available to address a student's issues.
• Responds to students, teachers, and parents who request to meet with the counselor to discuss personal, social, or academic concerns.
• Develops curriculum and coordinates a Life Skills course for all students in grades 5-8 to assist students in their personal, social, emotional, and academic growth.

Counseling

• Applies accepted assessment procedures for determining and structuring individual and group counseling services.
• Uses accepted theories and effective techniques to provide individual developmental, preventive, remedial, and/or crisis counseling. Provide crisis intervention to students when difficult situations occur at school.
• Provides counseling to individuals and/or in small groups on identified issues or in preventive intervention with emphasis on those students identified as most at risk.
• Tailors counseling to address specific needs for social skills, stress and anger management, conflict resolution, bullying or transition out of Whitby.

System Support & Accountability

• Informs teachers and administrators of Whitby behavioral counseling services and provides Guidelines for Teacher-Counselor Collaboration on Behavioral Issues.
• Assists teachers, parents/guardians and S.A.I.L. in interpreting and understanding student behavioral reports. Conducts a yearly program audit to review extent of program implementation and results.
• Maintains the confidentiality of student assessments.

GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Prepares goals and objectives annually and participates in staff evaluation; secures the resources necessary to support the development of individual professional development goals.
• Actively engages in professional development activities in collaboration with other members of the staff and on an individual basis. Professional development opportunities include attendance at workshops, conferences, class observations, peer dialogue, graduate-level courses, professional reading, and school visits.
• Participates in accreditation committees, faculty and Board committees, school projects, special programs and strategic planning as requested by the Head of the School.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Holds a Master's Degree in psychology, and/or a related field
• Successful counseling experience in elementary and/or middle-level schools
• Committed to restorative practices
• Knowledge of the Montessori and IB philosophy preferred
• Satisfactory completion of a pre-employment background check
• Meets any local or state health requirements

About Whitby School

A Whitby education is about allowing students to define success on their own terms by inspiring their love of learning, broadening their sense of responsibility, developing their critical thinking skills and empowering them to take action in a global community. These are the ideals that we value and they inform our teaching, learning and curriculum development each and every day. Whitby is recognized by three accrediting bodies - the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), the American Montessori Society (AMS) and the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools (CAIS). We think this is pretty amazing. This ensures we remain focused on our mission and progressive in our continued commitment to provide an exceptional learning continuum for our students. Whitby is an Equal Opportunity Employer. For more information on Whitby School visit www.whitbyschool.org.

Connections working at Whitby School