Educating the whole student — Oregon City Schools Counselors innovate to meet everyday challenges
This post was originally published June 3, 2019, on my previous blog page. I’m re-posting it to help share the great news that Julie Ford Taylor, who was named last year’s Ohio School Counselor of the Year, is now a finalist for the 2020 American School Counselor Association Counselor of the Year! Read below about the groundbreaking work that Julie and her colleagues in the Oregon City School District are doing.
Earlier this spring, along with Oregon City Federation of Teachers President Terri Hook, I was able to visit two Oregon schools to learn from their counselors about how they are innovating to meet the educational, social, and emotional needs of their students. At Starr Elementary School we met with Julie Ford Taylor, Ohio’s 2018 School Counselor of the Year, about pilot programs that are having a positive impact on her students, and at Clay High School, we met with their counseling team, Brandi Birr, Kristen Rice, Mike Celusta, and Beth Kohler, about the increasing challenges their students face and potential changes to Ohio’s graduation criteria.
When I met with Julie, it was easy to understand why she was chosen as Counselor of the Year. She’s compassionate and dedicated, she’s constantly looking for better ways to help students overcome challenges, and she goes above and beyond in everything she does. During our discussion, we focused on three concrete programs where Julie’s work has been instrumental: grief counseling, digital citizenship, and attendance.
When our students are dealing with personal grieving, it can make educating them that much harder. That’s why Julie took part in an AFT grant-funded program that trained school personnel on how to identify and support students who are grieving, whether that grief is a result of moving, of divorce, or of losing a loved one. Many students in our schools are also dealing with compounded grieving, where they’re dealing with more than just one of these issues.
Through the training program, Julie was able to take proven techniques back to her school and district and train elementary and middle school teachers on how to respond to a grieving student. Her work on this issue has even motivated teachers to seek her out when they are grieving as well. The importance of this can’t be overstated; as educators we need to deal with our own emotional needs to be able to support our students.
One emerging problem for our students, of any age, is learning how to interact online responsibly and protect yourself from harmful online behaviors. That’s why Julie, along with her School Resource Officer, has developed a program to educate elementary school students in “digital citizenship.” This includes learning how to avoid online predators and cyber-bullying, how to be informed about privacy and personal data, and even how copyright law impacts what we should and shouldn’t post online.
Julie is also innovating when it comes to a problem that has been around as long as we’ve had public schools — absenteeism. In a pilot program, she developed attendance groups, where she meets weekly with students who have poor attendance and gives them skills to get to school on time, every day. Each week, students in these groups who attended school each of the last five days receive a reward. The combination of problem-solving and rewarding good behavior has led to huge improvements for nearly every student in the attendance groups.
Julie and her colleagues have also helped the school rethink teacher-parent engagement, with a pilot program being developed where teachers use strategies to more actively engage families, including home visits with parents. This helps the teacher get a fuller picture of the strengths and needs for that student, and also gives parents and teachers an early opportunity to collaborate for that student’s success, rather than waiting for the first parent-teacher conferences in November.
Beyond counseling programs, Julie is active in getting students involved with service projects like Recycling Friday, Operation Agua, and food and coat drives.
“At Starr Elementary, we are continually modeling and teaching compassion, empathy and kindness,” said Julie. “Service projects are a wonderful way to help students put these character traits into action in a meaningful way.”
We’re so proud to have Julie in our union, and wish her the best of luck in her application to be the National School Counselor of the year!
Later that day, and just few miles away, I was able to meet with the counseling department at Clay High School: Brandi, Kristen, Mike, and Beth. I was struck by how committed they are to supporting their students through some of the hardest things teenagers have to face, and how they often feel they can’t live up to that commitment because of the strain of paperwork and academic tracking required for Ohio’s graduation criteria.
As legislators look into changing the criteria yet again, CHS counselors have a message for them: trust educators and counselors, and simplify the requirements. Currently, these counselors estimate spending 90% of their work time on paperwork and tracking, and that means they’re losing the ability to work with and support students in need.
With tears in her eyes, Brandi explained how this makes the counselors feel about their work. “Recently, I had three kids in my office with different issues and at the end of the period, I realized I couldn’t spend the time with them that they needed. This is not why I got into the field.”
Simplifying graduation requirements won’t just allow counselors to have more time working with students, it will also reduce confusion among students and parents. CHS counselors also want to make sure that when changes are made, there’s a long enough transition period to prevent disrupting students’ academic plans.
I was thrilled to hear though, that despite these challenges CHS counselors have been successful with new programs to improve the emotional well-being of their students. One example is their Kindness Club, where approximately 40 students meet regularly to quash bullying and bring more compassion and caring into their school by facilitating more positive and complimentary conversations between students.
They were also able to start bringing in a psychologist for students who need mental health services. Previously, they would have visits from different psychologists provided by an agency, but now they have a regular, consistent presence from the same doctor, two days each week. This builds familiarity and trust and eliminates many obstacles to mental healthcare that students face.
I was so impressed to see the emphasis on educating the whole student in Oregon City schools, and how their school counselors are solving problems that impede successful education.
Thank you to OCFT President Terri Hook, and Counselors Julie Taylor, Brandi Birr, Kristen Rice, Mike Celusta, and Beth Kohler for being so generous with their time.
Is something amazing happening at your school that Ohio teachers should know about? Let us know and we’ll schedule a school visit to learn more.
