The Importance Of Legal And Ethical Issues In School Administration

My pursuit of becoming a School Counselor led me to apply to the School Counseling Master’s Program at University of Maryland, College Park. I am a former student at University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. After graduating and teaching for two years in Prince George’s County Public Schools, I discovered my true passion lies not only in the classroom and students’ academics, but playing a pivotal role in the growth of their career, social, and personal development. Although I am no longer teaching full-time at the moment, my interaction with students from diverse backgrounds left an indelible responsibility to continue making a difference in our students. The objectives and mission of the School Counseling Master’s Program at University of Maryland can best help my goal of becoming an effective counselor and leader who is an agent of change to students and service the mental and emotional well-being of the younger generation.

Counseling has many components in different fields such as a school counselor, marriage and family counseling, addiction counseling, individual and private practices, and many more. For my project, I interviewed Mrs. Ross Freeman, a school counselor who talks about her journey of becoming an Elementary School Counselor. We discuss what the requirement and cost were to receive a license in the counseling field. We were also able to discuss the average salary and hourly wages for a counselor in WISD. Mrs. Freeman then goes on to enlighten me about the rewards, challenges, demands and frustrations of a school counselor.

I used to work for Fort Wayne Community Schools as an assistant teacher for an elementary school. I know there are several Human Services Professionals who are riddled throughout the various facilities in our area. I was able to secure an interview with the school counselor at Towles Montessori/New Tech Middle School. The school counselor’s name is Joyce Paige. She has been in the school system for the past 20 years and seen many different changes within the Family and Marriage therapy. I was interested in the many things we discussed and a few of the suggested questions led me to ask some questions of my own.

This case brings up to the administrators who are known as a legal representation that strive to create positive changes in educational policy and processes, that they have rights and power protected by law, but also have a duty to comply with the laws established by the district.

School counselors should be able to distinguish the differences between individual and group dissimilarities and strive to value all students and groups equally. They should advocate for the equitable treatment of all students in their school and in their community. If a school counselor wants to be successful in ensuring an equity-based program, they should consider the role of culture, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and other factors (Curry & Milson, 2013). Any student regardless of background can face developmental and emotional issues that can be detrimental to their success. Some students slip through the cracks because they feel that there are no adults available whom they can trust. They

Examining the information obtained in the interview and the roles and functions of the school psychologist in Burr Elementary School, I would first like to investigate the client basis in Mrs. Montgomery’s practice. With the client focus centered on the children and teachers, as well as the social system, it can be seen through Mrs. Montgomery’s open door policy that she puts herself out there so that students and teachers know they can come to her for guidance and support. Not only does Mrs. Montgomery’s spend time with a student in a 1-to-1 setting, she also meets with students through the many instructional, social skills and outreach groups. For example, she incorporates small group meetings during lunch, to confer with students on various grade levels. This allows Mrs. Montgomery’s to cycle through students who are not on her caseload. Spending observation time sitting-in in classrooms, Mrs. Montgomery is able to consult and collaborate with teachers and administration about students who are struggling or who need extra

It was interesting to learn about her everyday routine. She begins with periodic check-ins with students to make sure everything is going okay. She then handles referrals from teachers about behavior issue concerns. She also spends time in the classroom and does lessons in small groups. Aside from her standard counseling responsibilities she serves on various committees

As school leaders, we have to hold the public trust and so ethics are such an important part what we do in our school. I think there are a few simple rules and one of them is always to think about what is the best benefit for our students. Our ultimate goal is to provide a safe learning environment where students are willing to learn and improve. If we keep this in our mind, we can hardly go wrong with an ethical question that we face. Ethical challenges need to be confronted with courage and compassion for those who would be impacted by difficult decisions. School leaders are responsible for setting the examples that others would wish to follow.

School counselors collaborate with other school personnel such as teachers who will help implement guidance lessons in the classroom. As a school counselor it is important to keep the teachers motivated to help implement these programs. Resource teachers typically work the special education students, collaborating with resource teachers ensures that all students are included in the comprehensive program. The resource teacher can help provide alternative to working with students in an inclusive manner. The principles and assistance principles of the school typically serve on the advisory committee, they provide resources to the program, and help communicate the important of the counseling program. School psychologist are there to assist with mental health services, doing assessments, and working with the school counselor during crisis situations. School nurses provide health services to the students. They monitor student medications and note changes in students behavior or effectiveness of the medication. Secretaries are equally important in the collaborative model. Secretaries are typically the first person a parent will come in contact with when entering the school. They are the ones that create that first impression (Erford, 2015). Community agencies can provide additional support to students outside of

Coordinator of the Student Support Team (SST) for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (2007-2015). In this position, I served as a lead team member working with the building administrator, school psychologist and intervention specialist. I scheduled teacher referrals for student interventions related to academics, attendance an or behavior. I communicated with parents and

A school counselor’s role is vital in many schools across America. Many students see their counselor, to work on any emotional stressors, academic changes and challenges. This may include, interventions, group therapy and changes in class schedule, but sometimes with all the implementations given, students do not succeed in school. Perhaps one needs to take a closer look at the programs being implemented and its success rate. In addition, a counselor should guide itself using the ASCA (American School Counselor Association) to provide evidence based practices in schools.

Over the course of the past few years, I have been very blessed to have professional experiences that reinforced my interest in social work. In 2014, I worked as a guidance counselor and learning support intern at St. Pius Elementary school in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the guidance-counseling department, I assisted with counseling appointments with children in grades K-8. We often discussed topics

Today’s classrooms are more dynamic than ever before. Educational needs of students are changing at breakneck speeds, along with the demands being placed on their teachers. There are associated legal and ethical implications that are evolving as rapidly as the technology that is driving a lot of the change. In order to have a chance to meet the needs of students and legal/ethical obligations, educators must have well developed classroom management techniques. These can get tricky quite often and require balancing the increasingly diverse needs of many different people. To be an effective

The topic of this paper focuses on the battles school counselors face as the law and ethical standards collide. School counselors face a number of legal and ethical issues and recognizing a clear decision isn’t always easy. School counselors have to work with a large number of students, parents, and administrators while conforming to ethical codes, state laws, and school board guidelines. This topic is of great relevance to me as I will be going into the school counseling profession. It is also a meaningful topic to me because life-changing decisions are made every day in reference to legal and ethical issues. Researching this topic has shed some light on the difficulty for school counselors to fulfill both legal and ethical

Impacting the lives of children must be approached from a team perspective to address all aspects of the child’s environment and relationships including caregivers, peers, teachers and school. Behavioral Counselors must collaborate with school counselors to understand the impact that school and teachers have on the child’s life. To appreciate School Counseling a review of the specialization’s history is important. School Counselors have evolved from vocational guidance and job-orientated counseling following World War I to educational guidance following World War II due to the passing of the GI bill as veterans were given right to education counseling (Minkoff, 1985). Today School Counselors support a wide variety of needs from a wide variety of student populations including but not limited to depression, college guidance, anxiety, oppositional disorder and developmentally delayed due to change in access to mental health care being more privatized (Lockhart & Keys, 1998). Lockhart states that because of the restructuring in access to care school counselors have been pushed to handle a wider variety of needs within mental health (1998).