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Board reviews updated K-12 comprehensive counseling plan; staff emphasize 80% direct service time for counselors
Summary
District leaders presented the K-12 comprehensive counseling plan required by state regulation, describing a continuum of services from elementary SEL lessons to high school individual progress reviews and tools like Naviance; board members pressed for clearer public reporting on fidelity and disaggregated outcomes.
The Schenectady City School District on Oct. 29 presented its updated K-12 comprehensive counseling plan required under New York State regulation 100.2 and board Policy 8230. Dr. Rebecca DeBries (title stated in the presentation) and other counseling leaders outlined how the plan connects to the district's strategic goals and how counseling services are delivered across elementary, middle and high school levels.
DeBries said the plan is purpose-built to make counseling a continuous, developmentally appropriate system: "That every student in Schenectady has equitable access to the academic, social emotional, and career readiness skills they need to be successful," she said. The plan emphasizes that roughly 80% of a counselor's time should be direct work with students through classroom lessons, small groups and individual meetings.
Counseling staff described data-driven practices — using SEL screeners, attendance and achievement data, and fidelity measures (how many lessons and individual contacts occur) — to target interventions and measure results. The district highlighted tools such as Naviance for career and college readiness and said it will expand counseling content and resources on school websites.
Board members asked about the frequency and public availability of counseling outcome data; presenters said advisory-council reviews occur twice a year and internal teams review data more frequently, but the district does not yet present the comprehensive dataset to the full board on a fixed twice-a-year public cadence. Staff also discussed supports for special education students, tiered interventions (MTSS) and efforts to map counseling activity to outcomes such as FAFSA completion and early college participation.
District leaders noted next steps include improved public visibility of the plan and expanded fidelity links once the plan is available online. The presenters also highlighted recognition at the elementary level: Page Elementary's counseling program has earned a New York State School Counseling Association scholarship and is pursuing national recognition.
What happens next: Staff said they will continue internal and advisory data reviews, expand public-facing materials, and consider policy updates to align policy language with current practice where needed.
