School Counselor

JOB TITLE: Intermediate/Middle School Counselor 

FLSA CLASSIFICATION: Salaried employee

WORK DAYS: 192 days 

STANDARD HOURS PER DAY: 7 hours per day

WORK YEAR: The work year for the Intermediate/Middle School Counselor 

begins approximately 5 work days before the first scheduled attendance day for students, and ends approximately 5 workdays after the last scheduled day for students. 

SALARY SCHEDULE & BENEFITS: The Intermediate/Middle School Counselor is paid on the "Teachers" salary schedule, and is eligible for benefits.    

REPORTS TO: The Intermediate/Middle School Counselor reports to the building Principal. 

SUPERVISES: The Intermediate/Middle School Counselor does not supervise teachers.

GENERAL SUMMARY: School counselors define and focus the comprehensive school counseling program based on the school's academic, attendance and behavioral data. Identifying student needs through this data and consulting with administrators guides program development. School counselors balance their program by addressing students' academic, career and social/emotional development in addition to balancing delivery methods, recognizing that students learn in multiple ways. The end result of this work is reflected in improvement in academic, attendance and behavioral outcomes related to academic development, college and career readiness and social/emotional development.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

1. Meets with students, their families, and other school staff to become familiar with students' personal, educational, and college and career readiness needs;
2. Use student, school and district data to identify achievement, attendance and discipline issues to be addressed through instruction;
3. Create lesson plans, identify activities to be delivered, to whom activities will be delivered, how they will be delivered and how data will be evaluated to determine impact on student outcomes;
4. Collects, organizes, and analyzes information about individual students through records, tests, interviews, and professional sources, to appraise their interests, aptitudes, abilities, and personality characteristics, to assist those students and their parents with college and career readiness and academic course selection planning;
5. Helps students assess their abilities, interests, talents, and personality characteristics in order to develop realistic academic, college and career goals, and creation of a graduation plan using Naviance or other state approved curriculum;
6. Provide short term, goal-focused counseling in small group and individual settings;
7. Use data to identify students in need of counseling intervention;
8. Provides Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 support on topics such as anti-bullying education, alcohol and drug prevention programs and other social emotional curriculum that teach students to handle conflicts;
9. Supports students and families with enrolling into programs such as, but not limited to, 21st Century Scholars to ensure access to funding for future college and career readiness needs;
10. Maintains familiarity with community resources, and refers students and their parents to appropriate services;
11. Act as school PBIS Tier 3 Facilitator for their cohort;
12. Serve as a team member on MTSS, Tier 1 and Tier 2 PBIS teams;
13. Support teachers in their delivery of Second Steps curriculum;
14. Work with school administration to create counseling office procedures for individual and group student referrals;
15. Support student transition from elementary to intermediate/middle and from intermediate/middle to high school;
16. Maintain data on interventions and outcomes related to student progress;
17. Support students who transition into schools throughout the school year;
18. Increase school to family connections and outreach;
19. Participate in school events and functions.

NON-ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

1. Other duties as assigned by the building Principal. 

SKILLS AND PROFICIENCIES:

1. Exudes positivity and proactive/solutions-oriented approach to problem-solving.
2. Working knowledge of Indiana Code/Statute.
3. Ability to produce, analyze, interpret and summarize data.
4. Ability to interpret policy and procedures.
5. Must possess excellent interpersonal skills.
6. Must possess strong writing and verbal communication/presentation skills.

ENTRY-LEVEL REQUIREMENTS:

1. EDUCATION/TRAINING: Master's Degree in school counseling is required. Previous experience as a counselor is strongly preferred.
2. EXPERIENCE:  Satisfactory completion of all practicum/internships and all coursework required by the college/university and required by the Division of Professional Standards (Indiana Department of Education) for an Indiana Teacher's License with School Counselor endorsement is required.
3. CERTIFICATIONS &/OR LICENSES: Current and valid Indiana Teacher's License with an endorsement as a School Counselor is required (or eligibility for an Emergency Permit, if the District is willing to submit a request for an Emergency Permit).
4. OTHER: Ability to perform the essential functions and to fulfill the physical/sensory/environmental requirements of the job (with or without reasonable accommodations) is required.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: Tasks involve the ability to exert very moderate physical effort in light work, typically involving some combination of standing, walking, climbing, stooping, kneeling, crouching and crawling, and which may involve some lifting, carrying, pushing and/or pulling of objects and materials of moderate weight (10-20 pounds).

SENSORY REQUIREMENTS: Most tasks require visual perception and discrimination. Some tasks require oral communications ability. Some tasks require the ability to perceive and discriminate sounds.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: Tasks are regularly performed without significant exposure to adverse environmental conditions, such as dirt, dust, pollen, odors, wetness, humidity, rain, fumes, temperature and noise extremes, machinery, vibrations, electric currents, traffic hazards, animals/wildlife, toxic/poisonous agents, violence, disease, or pathogenic substances.

EVALUATION: