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Kennett Consolidated SD outlines timeline for districtwide school counseling plan, ties it to MTSS roles
Summary
District staff presented a timeline to develop a formal school counseling plan that will define counselor roles within the district's MTSS framework, create a steering committee and seek public comment before filing with the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
District staff presented a multi-month timeline for developing a districtwide school counseling plan that will clarify counselor duties, staffing needs and how counseling fits inside the district's MTSS framework.
The administration said formation of a steering committee will occur in August and September, followed by a program assessment in October and November. Plan development and a review of staffing aligned to the budget timeline were scheduled for December through February. A draft plan is to be presented to the board in February and then posted for 28 days for public review and comment before the board returns it for final approval and submission to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, with an anticipated submission in March.
The work aims to define roles within the district's multitiered system of supports (MTSS). Administration explained that school counselors will emphasize tier 1 proactive and preventative work—pushing into classrooms, providing counseling lessons and college- and career-related guidance—while supplemental interventions at tier 2 may also be provided by counselors. Additional positions focused on mental-health and behavioral-health work will be directed at tier 3 for students needing intensive supports.
District staff said the steering committee will include school counselors, representatives of general education at each level (elementary, middle and high), special education staff, administrators and selected parents or community members. Officials noted this composition exceeds the minimum steering-committee requirements from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Board members and staff tied the counseling-plan work to a multiyear MTSS action plan the board approved the prior year; that three-year MTSS plan expands the framework beyond academics to include behavioral health, trauma-informed and restorative practices and will be used as a reference during counseling-plan development. Staff said there is not currently a separate, comparable written plan for social workers, interventionists or behavior specialists but that the district can consider developing those documents in the future.
The district said the counseling plan will explicitly define the role of school counselors going forward and identify the staffing level needed to accomplish the stated goals; any changes tied to staffing will be aligned with the district's budget process.
