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Alpine School District spotlights counselors’ role in student success for National School Counselor Week
Summary
Alpine School District officials and practicing counselors described how school counselors support academics, social-emotional learning and college-and-career readiness during National School Counselor Week, noting district-wide staffing levels, elementary expansion and attendance as a key barrier to graduation.
Alpine School District marked National School Counselor Week by highlighting the role counselors play in student support, district leaders and counselors said.
Andrea Paxman, director of counseling for Alpine School District, said the district employs 81 school counselors who serve students from elementary through high school and support academics, behavior, social-emotional learning and college-and-career readiness. She said the district has expanded counseling into elementary schools, where roughly 48 to 50 counselors focus on prevention and universal social-emotional instruction.
“Their counselors are leaders in their school communities. They care for and connect to each student,” Paxman said.
District counselors meet several times a year for professional development, Paxman said, adding that the district organizes about seven professional learning opportunities annually so counselors can share best practices across schools.
Esther Shipley, a counselor at Pleasant Grove Junior High, described middle school as a period of rapid change and said counselors help students navigate social-emotional struggles, academic issues and relationships with peers and teachers. “That’s the fun of the job. We’re prepared to help them with social emotional struggles, with celebrations, with academic struggles,” Shipley said. She noted the marked maturation students show between seventh and ninth grade.
Josh Tenney, a counselor at Pleasant Grove High School, said high-school counselors hold annual college-and-career readiness meetings with every student—called CCRs—and meet with sophomores in health classes to review postsecondary options, from trade schools to universities. “We meet every year with every student in our annual college and career readiness meeting. So we call them CCRs,” Tenney said.
District staff and counselors emphasized graduation and attendance. Paxman and Tenney both said counselors play a key role in keeping students on track, and Tenney described attendance as the biggest challenge to graduation. The discussion was informational: no formal actions or policy changes were proposed at the session.
The remarks were part of an outreach effort around National School Counselor Week and presented what district staff described as routine programs and supports rather than new initiatives. Counselors said their work spans prevention, direct intervention and college-and-career planning and that strengthening attendance remains central to improving graduation outcomes.
