School Counselor - AHS

School Counselor – High School

The high school guidance counselor is responsible for helping students understand their abilities and interests in light of the opportunities and demands they currently face or may face in the future.

Essential duties include:

• Counseling students individually and in groups to assist in problem-solving and decision-making of a personal, social, emotional, academic, educational, avocational, or vocational nature.
• Providing for the student's orientation to the high school's offerings, personnel, facilities, regulations, rules, customs, traditions, courses, health, discipline, attendance, guidance counseling, and other available services.
• Collecting, organizing, and disseminating information concerning employment and explaining education opportunities beyond the secondary school level.
• Collecting and interpreting data about students to assist in program planning, occupational and/or educational placement, and student adjustment.
• Providing information for students by assisting in appraising their interests, aptitudes, abilities, educational achievement, and interests and assisting in program planning in accordance with available data so that students may have the opportunity to utilize their abilities more fully and establish realistic goals in education, employment, and life.
• Assisting in the administration of the state-testing programs and administering other tests in accordance with regulations established by the State of Virginia.
• Consulting with others of the school staff on making recommendations for schedule changes, individualizing instruction, submitting and/or processing referrals to the psychologist, and referring students for specialized services beyond those provided by the school.
• Conferring with parents in appropriate individual or group sessions on the personal, educational, and vocational development of their children, the school's total educational program, and the post-high school educational and occupational opportunities for their children.
• Cooperating with other authorized services by assisting in group sessions with teachers, students, and administrators.
• Facilitating the transitions of students by providing for consistent articulation between middle school, high school, and post-high school experiences and serving as a community liaison agent.
• Assisting the public in understanding the total school program.
• Providing for the placement of dropouts and graduates in the appropriate sequential step, whether vocationally or educationally.
• Undertaking the continuous evaluation of the nature and scope of the guidance services as outlined above for the efficient, inclusive, and effective functioning of guidance as an integral part of the total educational program.
• Performing other duties as assigned by the school principal.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must satisfactorily perform each essential duty. The requirements listed below represent the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities who are otherwise qualified to perform the essential functions.

Minimum qualifications (knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required) include:

• Possessing a master's degree in School Counseling.
• Possessing or being eligible for a Virginia Collegiate Professional License or Postgraduate Professional License with appropriate endorsement in the area of guidance.
• Possessing the ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing.
• Possessing the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with students, staff, parents, and the public.

Working conditions and physical requirements include:

• Ability to sit and stand for extended periods of time; exhibit manual dexterity to dial a telephone, to enter data into a computer; to see and read a computer screen and printed material with or without vision aids; hear and understand speech at normal classroom levels, outdoors and on the telephone; speak in audible tones so that others may understand clearly in regular classrooms, outdoors, and on the phone;
  
  physical agility to lift to 25 pounds; and to bend, stoop, sit on the floor,…