Student Services Director, Carolyn Custard 703.791.7262

“Preparing All Students to Achieve Success” Office of Student Services “News You Can Use”

February 2019 Volume 7, Issue 5

Each high school has a college and career counselor designee who serves as part of a Division level collaborative team. These outstanding professionals work together to ensure that all high schools are offering programs to support the post high school aspirations of PWCS students. Through the offering of pro-grams like the Divisionwide “Paying for College” events, they have reached thousands of parents to offer education and sup-port. This group also collaborates to offer two college fairs each year with over 100 colleges in attendance and thousands of par-ent and student attendees. On any given day, you can find them teaching lessons in the classrooms or taking students on college trips across the state. They are incredibly busy helping and sup-porting the future generations of our local communities. Their next collaborative project is the upcoming Employment and Training Fair. Students from all high schools will gather to meet with employers who are prepared to hire students immedi-ately after high school graduation. This is just another example of their commitment to all students, regardless of their post-high school plan. This month, we spotlight their work and commitment to the students and families of PWCS. The 2018-19 College and Career counselors are:

Happy National School Counseling Week National School Counseling Week 2019, “School Counselors: Providing Lessons for Life,” will be celebrated from February 4 – 8, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of our school counselors to schools, students, families, and our communities. National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counseling Association (ASCA) highlights the tremendous impact school counselors have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career. Each day, our professional school counselors encourage, inspire, and support our students in reaching their fullest potential. Comprehensive school counseling programs help to increase student achievement and are a vital part of the educational process for all students. I hope that all of you will join the Office of Student Services in recognizing all of our outstanding professional school counselors for the awesome job they do daily for our students, families, and communities. I am excited to take the opportunity to recognize and to offer a SPECIAL THANK YOU for all that they do to support ad-ministrators, staff, students, and parents. Let’s continue to show our school counselors how much we appreciate their daily commitment and efforts to make a difference in the lives of staff, students, families, and our community.

College and Career Counselors

• Osbourn Park High School – Erin Fondren • Patriot High School – Geulia Boddie • Potomac High School – Shallene Austin • Stonewall Jackson High School – Marcus Lawrence • Woodbridge High School – Yusef Muhammad

• Battlefield High School – Alissa Bridges • Brenstville High School – Andrea Layton • Colgan High School – Dr. Leah Byrd • Freedom High School – Angela Jenkins • Gar-Field High School – Kait Kellogg • Hylton High School – Tracy Main

Elementary and Secondary Counseling

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“Preparing All Students to Achieve Success” Office of Student Services

As we are celebrating National School Counseling Week this week, please continue to focus your energy on advocating for your profession. Anne Henry, Chair, Advocacy & Government Relations Committee for the Virginia School Counseling Association (VSCA), is keeping us up-to-date on all Legislative bills that will impact school counselors and the services they can provide for students. The advocacy steps that are being taken by school counselors all over the state of Virginia is so impressive and inspiring. I urge you once again to contact your Legislature to encourage them to support HB 1729 (80 percent on direct services). This bill will assure that 80 percent of the counselors’ time is spent on direct counseling services to students. This will allow for counselors to provide developmental curriculum content in a systematic way to all students and pro-vide planning and support for academic needs and the immediate needs of students. SB 1406 (3-year phase in 1:250) provides for a 3-year process for school divisions to reach the 1:250 ratio for school counselors. Please stay abreast of all changes in all Legislative bills that impact school counseling. Please do your part to advocate and support these bills.

Elementary Counseling and Related Services, Supervisor, Dr. Debbie Ransom ......................... 703.791.7265 Secondary Counseling and Student Supoport Services, Supervisor, Bekah Schlatter .................. 703.791.7258

February 2019

Anne Henry, elementary school counselor at Alvey, Lisa James, elementary school counselor at Kyle Wilson, and

Lauren Orgeron, elementary school counselor at Kyle Wilson took the time out of their very busy week to attend Legisla-tive Day on January 9 in Richmond, Virginia. These coura-

geous elementary school counselors attended and participated in Legislative Day to be a voice for the school counselors and students of Prince William County. They met with several

Delegates, shared their stories, and explained the need to ad-dress the counseling ratio and its impact on student success. Please join me in applauding these elementary school counselors who advocated for all of us. We all must re-

member that “Educating is Advocating.” In an article by Shari Sevier, Ph.D., she stated: “Educating is Advocating.” One of our most important respon-

sibilities is to advocate for our program. That means having courageous conversations with various stakehold-ers. In preparing for those conversations:

• Identify the barriers of your program before you have a conversation;

• Think about the impact those barriers have on your ability to support school improvement goals;

• Identify the individuals who may have the most impact on eliminating or minimizing those barriers;

• Request a meeting with those individuals;

• Explain the components of your program. This is another good time to refer to the information contained in the principal/school counselor agreement and the Mindsets & Behaviors;

• Show how the barriers are affecting what you could be doing for students; and

• Ask if you could collaborate to diminish the effect of the barriers on your program – a little is better than nothing.

Elementary School Counselors’ Advocate

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“Preparing All Students to Achieve Success” Office of Student Services

Most of the time, students are approved for homebound for a short period of time and they return after recov-ering from their injury or illness without difficulty. In the case of more chronic conditions such as serious mental health issues, POTs, post-concussion syndrome, Lyme disease, etc., the student may need a gradual return to the school environment. These situations definitely benefit from a team approach! The transition plan is something that is developed by the school homebound coordinator with support from their team. It should always be a consideration when homebound is approved and it is required in order to consider any request for an extension of services. The “team” in these situations includes the school homebound coordinator and school counselor and may also include the nurse, social worker, or school psychologist, depending on what the medical/mental health condi-tion is. Each has a role – the school counselor reviews the student’s schedule, considers how might a partial attendance plan work within the current schedule, and if classes might need to be changed or dropped. The nurse may communicate with the physician, provide feedback on accommodations that can support the stu-dent in school-based on the health condition, and share expertise about the impact of health conditions with the team. The social worker or psychologist can facilitate communication with the student or family around the emotional adjustment to returning to school for the student and/or family and support access to communi-ty-based resources. Sometimes the physician themselves will forward a plan but they are expected to be will-ing to provide input into the plan if this is something the team feels is required. Danica Copp, Mental Health Specialist, is also available to assist you and your team in supporting a home-bound student's transition back to school. Feel free to give her a call at 703.791.7263 for assistance.

February 2019

The Healthy Communities ∙ Healthy Youth (HCHY) Students L.E.A.D. team started the New Year by planning and participating in Give-Back pro-

jects. Youth continue to generate multiple options for projects and spend many hours volunteering in their schools and community. Thank you to those students who read each of the 20 plus nominations and made recom-

mendations for the annual PWC HCHY Council Local Hero Awards. Also, thanks to the Colgan HS Students L.E.A.D. team for volunteering at the

January 5th Parent Summit and Teen Mental Health Awareness presentations.

The “Code of Behavior” revision meeting is an annual Give-Back opportunity. HCHY Students L.E.A.D.

team members represent the youth voice and propose revisions for edits, additions, clarification, readability, and understanding. Several team members will represent the youth at the “Code of Behavior” Revision Lead-ership Committee meeting. Not to be left out, our middle schools and ele-

mentary schools across the Division participate throughout the year as car-ing young people who place a high value on helping other people. What is your school community doing to empower youth to Give-Back through ser-

vice to others? The support, relationships formed, and social competency skills learned benefit our youth as they grow up healthy, caring, and re-sponsible citizens. Please consider sharing your schools’ projects through

Division and community communications.

Healthy Communities Healthy Youth Program Specialist, Debbie Bishop 703.791.7845

Homebound Instruction Supervisor, Dr. Dolores Robison 703.791.7263

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“Preparing All Students to Achieve Success” Office of Student Services February 2019

Spring Camp Registration Opens Soon! AlphaBEST Education will open their online registration for spring camp on Wednesday, February 27. Spring camp will be held the week of April 15 through 19 at Alvey, Belmont, Fitzgerald, Henderson, River Oaks, Rockledge, Signal Hill, and Victory Elementary Schools. The collaborative effort and sup-port between schools and AlphaBEST is greatly appreciated as we seek to provide a quality program while school is out during breaks. Happy end of the first semester! SACC and Next Generation schools will receive their budget increase to Object Code 4003 for custodial fees collected from AlphaBEST for the first semester of school year 2018-19. Those schools that hosted winter camp will receive additional funds. A copy of the Expense Budget Transfer will be emailed to your bookkeeper once the funds have been received from AlphaBEST and the transfer is completed by Financial Services. If you have any questions, please call Lisa Tomsko, SACC pro-gram specialist, at 703.791.7256 or email tomskolm@pwcs.edu. For the most up-to-date information, please visit the SACC website and save as a quick link on your school’s website.

How to Not Spread Your Cold It is cold and flu season. Here is helpful information to keep you and our students healthy: As a general rule, adults with a cold will be able to infect other people one day before symptoms appear, and up to five days or so after becoming sick. Infants and children are able to transmit these viral infections for seven days or longer. The precise number of days for transmission can vary from person to person. Those in poor health tend to get infected more easily. Children are also more likely to catch (and transmit) colds. Cold viruses, abundant in nasal and throat secretions, are mainly transmitted via hands. When you are sick and blow your nose, touch your face, or wipe your eyes, the virus transfers to your hands, and then to what-ever or whomever you touch. If you contaminate a telephone, the next person who uses it may catch your cold. To avoid spreading or catching a cold, the most important precaution is to wash your hands often and well. Hand sanitizers are a good option when you're not near a sink. Coughing and sneezing can also spread the virus, of course. If you don't have a tissue, instead of sneezing or coughing into your hand, do it into your arm or shoulder, thus avoiding contaminating your hands. If you think you are getting sick, limit your contacts. Don't hug and kiss. If you're around someone who is sick, stay at least six feet away—cold viruses can't be propelled much farther than that. Don't share drinking glasses, utensils, phones, or towels. Flu viruses may not travel in exactly the same way as cold viruses, but taking these same precautions will also help keep you from transmitting or catch-ing the flu.

School Age Child Care (SACC) Supervisor, Glynis Taylor 703.791.8844

School Health Services Supervisor, Teresa Polk 703.791.7266

School Social Workers Supervisor, Betsy Young 703.791.7260

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“Preparing All Students to Achieve Success” Office of Student Services February 2019

We are happy to report that school social workers have had a 260 percent increase in student contacts since this time last year. We attribute these increases to the 13 new school social worker positions hired at the be-ginning of this school year. Adding these positions resulted in a decrease in the number of schools each social worker is assigned. The social workers at the middle and elementary schools are assigned to two schools in-stead of three, and the social workers at the high school level are assigned to one school. We hope you have seen a support difference with increased coverage. Other notable results from the mid-year report include, a 123 percent increase in parent contacts and a 66 percent increase in community referrals. Social workers have made 1,777 referrals for food, clothing, and shelter. There were 950 referrals for mental health, 630 for out patient therapy, 192 for in-home therapy, and 128 for emergency services and hospitalization. Please know your school social workers are trained and available to assist you with students and families ex-periencing complex mental health issues. Thank you again for your wonderful support of school social work services.

Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention Training Opportunity “It’s Real: College Students and Mental Health” Mental health issues are a very real and growing problem among high school students. We want to make sure that those struggling know they are not alone. There are many resources available to help them and the Office of Student Services is supporting efforts to make suicide awareness education more prevalent in our schools. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention produced film, It’s Real: College Students and Mental Health, is designed to raise awareness about mental health issues commonly experienced by students and is intended to be used as a supplement to a school’s educational program to encourage help-seeking. It’s Real is a documentary featuring the stories of six college students from across the country. The target audience is high school seniors and first-year college students. By featuring real stories and experiences, It’s Real conveys that depression and other mental health conditions are real illnesses that can be managed through specific treatments and interventions. It encourages students to be mindful of the state of their mental health, to acknowledge and recognize when they are struggling, and to take steps to seek help. Patriot High School social worker, Michelle Wilson delivered It’s Real to Patriot’s senior class in November 2018. When asked about the success of the program, Ms. Wilson replied, “We were excited to provide our twelfth-grade students with the It's Real presentation in November of 2018 here at Patriot High School. The students were actively engaged throughout, and the large majority provided very positive feedback at the con-clusion of the presentation. It's Real gave Patriot High School the opportunity to provide its seniors with much needed information as they prepare to graduate and embark on new adventures in their future, and we will def-initely plan to use It's Real again in years to come.” On Tuesday, February 19, the Office of Student Services will host a two-hour facilitator training. The 17-minute film is accompanied by facilitator’s tools and resources, including a facilitator’s guide containing talk-ing points and additional information, and is intended as a group presentation. Registration for the training is available through the PWCS Professional Development Catalog (STU 884, It’s Real, Suicide Prevention).

Student Assistance & Prevention Programs Supervisor, Richmond Hill 703.791.7436