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District updates school‑counseling plan, adds wider community advisory board
Summary
The district presented a revised annual school counseling plan mapped to ASCA standards, restructured its advisory board to include community partners, and outlined implementation and feedback timelines.
The district presented its annual school‑counseling plan, updated to align programs and services with American School Counselor Association standards and to broaden the plan’s advisory board with community partners.
Mary Geer, department chair for guidance, told the Board of Education the district revised its counseling plan to map each program and service into an Excel-based inventory by domain (academic, social‑emotional, career) and to align services with ASCA mindset and behavior standards. Geer said the district reviewed other area districts’ plans and incorporated elements that fit local needs.
The counseling advisory board has been restructured to include fewer district employees and more external partners. The advisory roster now includes one counselor and one social worker from each level (elementary, middle, high school), administrators from each level, a parent representative, board member Shontay Middleton, and community partners including VA Systems, UHS, BT BOCES (work-based learning and community schools), Broome County Workforce, SUNY Broome, and the American Civic Association.
The district will solicit written feedback from advisory members via a Google form and will meet April 8 by Zoom to review advisory input; staff said they will reconvene next fall to review the plan’s impact and next-year revisions. Geer noted that Commissioner’s regulations adopted in 2019 require districts to prepare and annually review a school counseling plan.
Geer also described counseling staffing and caseloads. The American School Counselor recommended ratio of 250 students per counselor was cited; Geer said district caseloads are “about right” overall though one counselor’s specialized assignment reduces that person’s numerical caseload. She highlighted increased student participation in college and career events, growth in CTE (career and technical education) participation and SUNY Broome enrollment among recent seniors, and ongoing work to improve crisis response and increase pathway completion rates.
Board members thanked staff and noted pathways work will support upcoming changes to graduation requirements.
