The last few years have brought changes with our Counseling Center. The Counseling Center is separate from the administrator with whom we’re teamed at each grade level. We wanted a place where we could better cooperate with all counselors, creating a homey, welcoming place where if one of us was unavailable, the others could help any student.
We are now ready for the next step. Next year, each grade level counselor will move with the class of students up to the next grade. Looping, as it is called, is already done with the administrators, and now counselors will have the advantage of already having worked with families and students. This decision to move up with our kids was not done without thought and data collection. We sent a survey out to all the students in the school asking if they’d like one counselor over the three years, a new counselor each year, or if they didn’t care one way or the other. The majority of students who had a preference wanted one counselor.
There are some cautions of looping of course, that we will address with students. What if for some reason your student doesn’t click with the counselor assigned, or if a girl or boy has an issue and only feels comfortable speaking with a same sex counselor? For these issues, all Eckstein’s counselors are available for any student, regardless of grade level. We feel excited about this change and hope that it will enable us to reach all our kids more effectively!
Another change in our Counseling Department is the implementation at 7th grade of Life Skills, a curriculum that promotes health and personal development. Most of the classes are taught by our Intervention Specialist, Christine Talianis, but the counselors are also teaching. The classes are one day a week, and are in one of the academic classes. You may have already heard about these lessons through our Northeast Seattle Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking. The grant for our coalition has paid for this curriculum.
That’s the New Year news, although it is February!
Happy New Year!
