School Counselor

Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8 • Fountain, CO

21h

About The Position

Develops and implements a comprehensive counseling program for students aligned to national school counseling standards and Colorado Essential Skills; utilizes data to design and deliver skill-based social-emotional-behavioral instruction and mental health services to students at the classroom, small group, and individual level; and serves as key leader and contributor to building-level systems and practices; school counselors work collaboratively with teachers, administrators, and families to meet student needs and support academic, social-emotional, and career growth; and support families by making connections to community resources as needed. School counselors play a vital role in maintaining student safety by implementing assessments and designing/implementing interventions to support student mental health.

Requirements

• Master's degree or higher in school counseling from an accredited institution of higher education.
• Have successfully completed an approved program in school counseling.
• Colorado Department of Education SSP license or eligible for at time of hire.
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of the American School Counselor Association Guidance and Counseling Guidelines.
• Ability to communicate effectively and resolve conflict with students, parents, and community groups.
• Advanced organization and communication skills.
• Ability to organize and lead professional development activities to improve knowledge and skills of colleagues.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality in all aspects of the job.
• Advanced knowledge of children with special needs.
• Interpret student behavior as a skill deficit/communication challenge, and create/participate in intervention problem-solving.
• Provides leadership and collaborates with other educators.
• Accurately and appropriately interpret and utilize data.
• Monitors student academic performance, behavior, and attendance and facilitates appropriate interventions.
• Accurately and appropriately uses procedures for determining and structuring individual and group counseling services.
• Advanced knowledge of ethics and standards of professional practice in the delivery of school counseling services and federal, state, local legislation, regulations, policies, procedures, and laws that govern the practice.
• Knowledge and use of counseling theories, models of practice, principles, and evidence-based practice to guide intervention/program decisions.
• Ability to promote and follow Board of Education policies, Superintendent policies, building, and department procedures.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement student programming aligned with the three ASCA domains: academic, career/postsecondary workforce readiness, and social-emotional development; and tied to Colorado Essential Skills
• Utilize evidence-based, trauma-invested practices to plan and deliver direct mental health/social-emotional skill-building services at the classroom, small group, and individual student level based on identified student/group/building needs and data
• Ensure student physical and psychological safety via response to/support of student behavior as it arises, as well as evaluation, planning, and plan management including but not limited to climate surveys, needs assessments, suicide risk/threat assessments, child abuse reports, safety plans, releases of information, etc.
• Meaningfully lead/contribute to building-level teams and processes including but not limited to 504, MTSS, mental health, staff professional development, gifted and talented, etc.
• Collaborate with administrators, educational staff, families and community personnel to create and implement plans for student success, and to meet student/family needs with community resources.
• Coordinate, implement and evaluate school-wide events and initiatives, including but not limited to suicide prevention efforts, school climate initiatives, month of the military child, Red Ribbon Week, Kindness Week, etc.
• Plan and Implement effective transition programs between levels to increase student-school connections and increase knowledge of educational opportunities and supports
• Implement building and district-level crisis response counseling supports.
• Secondary specific: Coordinate efforts to support students in future planning through efforts including but not limited to: coordinating/supporting student registration, orientation, and course scheduling, postsecondary/workforce planning, career pathway navigation and pre-collegiate programming support, transcript audits/credit monitoring, etc.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Fountain-Fort Carson School District # 8 provides medical, dental, vision, chiropractic, life, long-term disability, accidental death & dismemberment insurances, and paid time off benefits.
• There are district and employee contributions to some or most of these benefits.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time