Mr. Dickens & Mrs. Robinson - Counseling Department

COUNSELING DEPARTMENT TEAM

James Dickens
Professional School Counselor
Grades 1, 2, and 4
Leesylvania Elementary School
[email protected]

Tabatha Robinson
Professional School Counselor
Grades K, 3, and 5
Leesylvania Elementary School
[email protected]

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND STUDENTS

Area Tele-Mental Health Resources

PWC Community Services Board Private Providers List

PWCS Military Connected Families

School Counseling Student Resources

Mission Statement

To provide a safe and positive learning environment for students to achieve academic success. Students will be encouraged to demonstrate respect, accountability, and exhibit good citizenship qualities. A nurturing environment creates a productive, successful and safe school community.

Vision

The counseling department here at Leesylvania believes in providing a nurturing, safe and fair school environment for all students. We believe in helping students understand the importance of having strong competencies in the academic, career, personal and social areas of their lives. We also believe that all students deserve a world class education.

Beliefs and Philosophy Statement

The professional school counselors serving Leesylvania Elementary School believe:

All students can achieve and deserve equitable access to resources and a rigorous curriculum.
The dignity, culture, and social/emotional needs of every student is to be respected and valued.
The school counselors will use data to continuously improve the school counseling program and to deliver services.
The school counselors will plan and manage a comprehensive counseling program.
The school counselors will advocate for the entire community of learners.
The school counselors will collaborate with families, staff, and community resources to address student developmental needs, primary prevention, and continuous student achievement.
The Leesylvania Counseling Advisory Committee (school counselors in collaboration with staff, families, and students) will annually audit and evaluate the counseling program (using the ASCA Program Audit), in order to provide quality service.
The school counselors will abide by ASCA's professional school counseling standards and ethics.

K-12 Counseling Program

The comprehensive Prince William County Public Schools counseling program (K-12) is an essential and effective educational framework that will enable all students in our diverse population to acquire personal/social, career, and academic competencies necessary to function and to contribute as productive citizens in a changing society.

The Goal Of A Comprehensive School Counseling Program

The ultimate goal of a Comprehensive School Counseling Program is to complement and support the state Standards of Learning to ensure that all students in Pre-K through grade 12 receive support in academic, career, and personal/social development. The Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) Comprehensive School Counseling Program is a collaborative effort with parents, teachers, administrators, and other school and community members to foster, promote, and improve student success and achievement in our schools. In conjunction with the Office of Student Services, each Prince William County Public School shall establish a Comprehensive School Counseling Program which is based on the Virginia Department of Education Standards for School Counseling Programs (PDF) in Virginia Public Schools and the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) National Model (PDF.)

PWCS School Counseling Standards

The Standards for School Counseling Programs in Virginia Public Schools reflect the progression of the student's growth throughout the Pre-K through grade 12 school experience, and are organized by grade level and comprised of the following three domains:

A. Academic Domain

Includes academic counseling, which assists students and their parents in acquiring knowledge of the curriculum choices available to students, planning a program of studies, arranging and interpreting academic testing, and seeking post-secondary academic opportunities. This domain also focuses on achieving goals and assisting students in understanding the relationship of academics to the world of work, and to life at home and in the community.

B. Career Domain

Includes career counseling, which helps students acquire information and take actions relative to work, jobs, apprenticeships, and post-secondary educational and career opportunities.

C. Social-Emotional

Includes personal/social counseling, which assists students to develop an understanding of themselves, the rights and needs of others, and to resolve conflict and define individual goals reflecting their interests, abilities, and aptitudes. Students are also assisted in understanding and acquiring personal safety skills. Such counseling may be provided either in (i) groups in which generic issues of social development are addressed, or (ii) through structured individual or small group multi-session counseling which focuses on the special concerns of the participant.

Learn More

Elementary Program
Secondary Program

Parental Notification

K-12 SCHOOL COUNSELING SERVICES

Parental Notification per Regulation 651-1

Student Participation

Comprehensive School Counseling Program is designed to meet the needs of all students and to be inclusive, preventive, and developmental in nature. Parents may opt-out their child(ren) from personal/social counseling to which they object.

Parents have the option to withdraw their child(ren) from the personal/social portion of the Comprehensive School Counseling Program by obtaining an opt-out form from the school counseling office or by printing the opt-out form (Regulation 651-1, Attachment I) and returning it to the school counselor. This request should be appropriately filed in the student's educational record, and school counseling staff should be advised of student non-participation.

Opt-out request shall not transfer from school to school. Parents must initiate an opt-out request form each time a student changes schools.

The opt-out provision excludes short duration personal/social counseling which is needed to maintain order, discipline, or a productive learning environment. In such situations, affirmative parental consent is not required.

Requirements And Procedures

Parents shall receive annual notification about their student's Comprehensive School Counseling Program which will include the information regarding the following:

1. Purpose and description of the Comprehensive School Counseling Program,
2. Student participation and parental consent,
3. Counseling practices,
4. Confidentiality and maintenance of personal/social counseling information and records,
5. Review of materials used in the Comprehensive School Guidance and Counseling Program at the child's school, and
6. Procedures by which parents may limit their child's participation in such program.

Review Of Guidance And Counseling Materials

Materials used with students in the Comprehensive School Guidance and Counseling Program shall be made available for parent review and comment through arrangement with the school counselor. The selection and review of such material shall be in compliance with Regulation 653-4, Evaluation and Selection of Instructional Materials.

Meeting With The School Counselor
A student meets with the school counselor when he/she requests a meeting; parents/teachers, administrators, and other school staff members refer the student or the school counselor initiates contact.

Consent For Counseling

noted is Section III of Regulation 651-1, parents may opt-out their child(ren) from counseling to which they object. Parental consent shall not be required for any counseling which is needed to:

1. Maintain order, discipline, or a productive learning environment,
2. Respond to a crisis situation where there exists an immediate threat to the health and safety of the student or others,
3. Determine progress with a student who has previously participated in individual or group counseling, and
4. Meet with a student who is suspected of being abused or neglected, as provided by Va. Code § 63.2-1518.

Parental permission shall be obtained when it has been determined that a student would benefit from meeting with the school counselor to address issues that are impeding a student's progress in school.

A student may be included in a small group counseling without parental consent when the school counselor and the appropriate administrator have documented attempts to contact the parent and the parent has not responded.

Procedures For Obtaining Parental Consent

Parental permission forms for group (Attachment II, Regulation 651-1) or individual counseling (Attachment III, Regulations 651-1) shall be sent to parents and include the following:

1. Purpose and goals of the group/individual counseling;
2. Name of group, if applicable; and
3. Number and length of counseling sessions.

COOL AND FUN GOOD CHARACTER SONGS

K-2 "I CAN HELP" SONG
K-3 "KINDNESS SONG"