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Octorara counselors present revised Chapter 339 plan, stakeholder feedback and career artifacts
Summary
Counseling staff described the district’s updated Chapter 339 (school counseling) plan, stakeholder meetings, an artifacts requirement by grade band and proposed adjustments for K–12 counseling delivery.
Octorara Area School District counselors presented the district’s updated Chapter 339 plan to the school board, describing team development, stakeholder input and specific activities designed to support academic, career and social-emotional development from kindergarten through grade 12.
“Chapter 3 39 is the section of our school code that tells us… we have to have a concerted plan that develops our students from kindergarten through grade 12 on how they can establish plans for college and career readiness,” said the presenter introducing the counseling team. He introduced four counselors who described the plan’s structure.
Counseling staff said the plan is revised every three years; the current iteration reflects roughly seven planning meetings with counselors, principals and stakeholders, and a stakeholder meeting held Jan. 30. The team described a table of contents that includes a monthly schedule of counseling activities by building, external community and business partners aligned to career clusters, annual goals for academic/career/social-emotional areas split by K–6, 7–8 and 9–12, and CTE guidance services.
Counselors described four delivery methods used across grade bands: guidance curriculum (large-group presentations and assemblies), prevention/intervention and responsive services (risk assessments, restorative practices and student assistance), individual student planning (course selection and postsecondary planning) and system support (data, testing coordination, transcripts and graduation checks).
The team emphasized transition programming and multiple postsecondary pathways. Counselors said career artifacts are a central accountability mechanism: K–6 students complete six artifacts by the end of that band, by eighth grade another six are complete, and by the end of junior year students complete eight artifacts tied to individualized career exploration.
Staff said K–8 counselors will use surveys administered when students leave a building to collect feedback, and the high school uses a required senior survey to capture participation in CTE, dual enrollment and other postsecondary-prep activities. The presenters noted adjustments to scheduling outreach at the 11th-grade level to provide smaller, repeated sessions rather than one large presentation.
Board members asked whether the proposed plan is final and about where the posted plan will appear; staff said the plan would be posted on the district website after board approval and state approval. The presenters acknowledged additional team members who contributed to the plan but were not present at the meeting.
The board thanked the counseling team and said it would move the plan forward for approval and state submission as appropriate.
