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Norwalk outlines counselor-driven mental-health supports and Scholar Tracker caseload data
Summary
District leaders and school counselors described the scope of counseling work, data from a Scholar Tracker system, and recent professional development supports including a resiliency program from Silver Hill Hospital; counselors reported thousands of student meetings this year focused mainly on academic and schedule support.
Norwalk Public Schools staff presented a detailed account of school counselors—roles, new district data tools and training aimed at supporting student mental health and postsecondary planning.
Kelly (central office counseling lead) and three school counselors described the district—s Scholar Tracker system, which asks counselors to log reasons for early meetings with students to inform programming. For grades 9—12 the district reported roughly 4,600 counselor meetings for academic support, about 2,600 schedule-support meetings and roughly 1,600 meetings focused on postsecondary planning during the first two reporting windows this year; attendance support accounted for about 2.7% of recorded meetings in that sample.
Presenters described an expansion of Scholar Tracker participation (now 8—12 meetings per scholar in the tracking window in many schools), a counselor-written K—2 and 3—5 pacing curricula for social-emotional learning aligned to state counseling frameworks, and a middle-school rollout of Tier 1 developmental guidance. Kelly said counselors write curriculum materials to align to Connecticut—s counseling standards and that the district has adjusted lesson length and pacing based on counselor feedback.
The central office has started supports for counselors—including a paid resilient-coach partnership with Silver Hill Hospital (provided at no charge this year), a twice-yearly City Hall work day that allows counselors uninterrupted time for paperwork and student planning, and an expanded practicum/internship program that currently places nine graduate practicum or internship students with counselors.
The presentation emphasized the master—s-level training required for school counselors and the variety of counselor responsibilities: 504 case management, crisis response, group and individual counseling, postsecondary planning and family engagement. The district invited board members to the annual 30th college-and-career fair April 23 at Norwalk High School.
No board vote was required for this briefing; the session was presentation and Q&A. Board members asked operational questions about how counselors log meetings, how often counselors can use the City Hall work day (offered in fall and spring semesters), and about support structures for 504 compliance. Presenters said legal and special-education staff support the 504 process and that no local changes to 504 assignments were announced in the meeting.
