School Counselor

JOB DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHOOL COUNSELOR

REPORTS TO: Principal and/or Chief Academic Officer of Student Services

PURPOSE: To help all students develop skills in the areas of personal-social growth, educational planning, and career and vocational development.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• MAJOR FUNCTION: Program Planning

The school counselor establishes the school counseling program and develops activities and resources to implement and evaluate the program.

The school counselor involves other school staff in making decisions about the school counseling program.

• MAJOR FUNCTION: Counseling

The school counselor provides individual and group counseling services to meet the developmental, preventive, and remedial needs of students.

• MAJOR FUNCTION: Consulting

The school counselor consults with students, parents, teachers, and other school and community personnel to assist in meeting the needs of students.

• MAJOR FUNCTION: Coordinating

The school counselor coordinates all counseling services for students and assists with the coordination and implementation of student services in the school.

The counselor also assists teachers with the Guidance Curriculum.

• MAJOR FUNCTION: Student Appraisal

The school counselor accurately interprets test results and other student data.

The counselor also assists teachers with the educational placement of students by using appropriate educational assessment strategies.

• MAJOR FUNCTION: Professional Practices and Development

The school counselor adheres to the ethical standards of the counseling profession and abides by the laws, policies, and procedures that govern the schools.

The counselor also participates in professional associations and expands professional knowledge and skills when needed.

• Major Function: Threat Assessments

The school counselor proactively identifies, assesses, and manages potential threats of violence or harm to ensure school safety. This involves training students, staff, and the community to recognize and report concerning behaviors, using a multidisciplinary team to evaluate the severity of a threat, and creating individualized intervention plans to support students and mitigate risk.

• Major Function: 504's

The school counselor provides a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to qualified students with disabilities by offering necessary accommodations to ensure equal access to education.

• Major Function: Judicial Attendance Council (JAC)

The school counselor Intervenes in extreme cases of chronic truancy, working to address the root causes of absenteeism and helps families avoid legal trouble. JAC serves as an intensive, multidisciplinary intervention for students with excessive unexcused absences who have not responded to earlier school-based attempts to resolve attendance issues.

MINIMUM TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

Master's degree in school counseling or has a Bachelor's degree, working towards pursuing a Master's in School Counseling

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

Must be licensed by the State of North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in counseling or able to obtain licensure in this area.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS OR STANDARDS REQUIRED TO PERFORM ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

Physical Requirements:

Must be physically able to operate a variety of equipment, including computers, typewriters, copiers, calculators, etc.

Must be able to exert up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to lift, carry, push, and pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body.

Light Work usually requires walking or standing to a significant degree.

Data Conception:

Requires the ability to compare and/or judge the readily observable, functional, structural, or composite characteristics (whether similar or divergent from obvious standards) of data, people, or things.

Interpersonal Communication:

Requires the ability to speak and/or signal people to convey or exchange information. Includes receiving instructions, assignments, or directions.

Language Ability:

Requires the ability to read a variety of correspondence, reports, forms, press releases, etc.

Requires the ability to prepare correspondence, reports, forms, etc., using prescribed formats and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style.

Requires the ability to speak before groups of people with poise, voice control and confidence.

Intelligence:

Requires the ability to apply principles of logical or scientific thinking to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions; to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagrammatic form; and to deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

Verbal Aptitude:

Requires the ability to record and deliver information, explain procedures, to follow oral and written instructions.

Must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently using a variety of technical or professional languages including counseling terminology.

Numerical Aptitude:

Requires the ability to utilize mathematical formulas; add and subtract; multiply and divide; utilize decimals and percentages; and to apply the theories of descriptive statistics.

Form/Spatial Aptitude:

Requires the ability to inspect items for proper length, width and shape.

Motor Coordination:

Requires the ability to coordinate hands and eyes rapidly and accurately in using office equipment.

Manual Dexterity:

Requires the ability to handle a variety of items such as office equipment. Must have minimal levels of eye/hand/foot coordination.

Color Discrimination:

Does not require the ability to differentiate between colors and shades of color.

Interpersonal Temperament:

Requires the ability to deal with people beyond giving and receiving instructions.

Must be adaptable to performing under stress and when confronted with emergency situations.

Physical Communication:

Requires the ability to talk and hear: (Talking: expressing or exchanging ideas by means of spoken words.

Hearing:

Perceiving nature of sounds by ear.) Must be able to communicate via telephone.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

General knowledge of the ethical guidelines applicable to the position as outlined by professional organizations and/or federal, state, and local laws, rules,s and regulations.

General knowledge of the principles of organization and administration.

General knowledge of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.

Skill in counseling and motivating students.

Ability to plan, coordinate, and evaluate the effectiveness of student programs.

Ability to coordinate the efforts of support services personnel and outside agencies.

Ability to use common office machines and popular computer-driven word processing, spreadsheet, and file maintenance programs.

Ability to maintain complete and accurate records and statistics and to develop meaningful reports from them.

Ability to effectively express ideas orally and in writing.

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships as necessitated by work assignments.