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Home My WebLink About2020-03-09-LHS-min V -i il G 1--i S (", or LEXINGTON 1"10 0 L Andrew Stephens, Ed.D. (781) 861-2320, ext. 69103 Principal astephens@lexingtonma.org May 2020 To: The Lexington High School Site Council From: Andrew Stephens Re: March Meeting LHS School Site Council met on March 9th, 2020 from 6:00-7:30 pm in Room 505D in the World Language Building Present: Cathy Swan, Kate Vogelzang, Sam Off sey, Nancy Shepard, Erin Barett, Angela Chang, Ed Li, Sheera Knecht, Kate Riley, Khoi Le, Elizabeth Curtin Absent: Andrew Stephens, Karen Griffiths Guest Speakers: Stacy Glickman LHS Director of Counseling and Stacy McFadden school counselor Approved the February meeting minutes LHS Counseling Department *Goals -support all students academically and socially emotionally -would like to have a first rate college career service -broaden college and career planning programming so it is successful for all students' post secondary outcomes *Counseling is a 3-Legged Stool -social emotional -academic planning -post secondary planning *Trying to figure out student needs and build programs to support those needs -run groups during I Blocks -it is harder to get students together with rotating schedule -tried a cascading which kids did not like -could have enrichment only I Blocks *Provide professional development -8 week program as leaders *Using student voice to drive programming *Once we have programs, how do we articulate *Peer to peer support services -kids are reluctant -rely on adults *Build core values of district into programs -in homerooms *Using I Block -care for yourself and others -no academic work -change messaging that is here at LHS *Services are available to all students *One of the social workers is open to meet with all students for "in the moment" meetings -support kids to give them skills to deal with hardship and move on *How can we support kids -mental health issues are on the rise with kids -how can our programming support them -take care of yourself and others Counseling Department Post Secondary Planning *What have we done? Summer Session -Last spring 2 counselors wrote an LEF grant to provide college planning over the summer -80 students participated -first come first serve -20 kids per session -80 on waitlist -this was a pilot program to provide individual counseling -intensive week long sessions to "jumpstart" process and help with: -developing a college list -essay -teacher recommendations- worked with an English teacher -nuts and bolts of applying -for kids who couldn't attend, there was junior and senior seminar *Seminars -Offer seminars to each grade level -Junior Seminar -talk about all options for post high school -what do you want? -finding a fit -gap year -Senior Seminar -focus on the application process -75% of students apply "early" (ED or EA) -more kids are applying to more colleges *Colleges -Counselor statement -highlights what kids have done -use input from students and parents -College Board -the way College Board changes its requirements and the way institutions change must be known and communicated -colleges reach to counseling department to visit -colleges set up in the hallway -seems to work better than having kids sign up -try to balance the colleges that come and the military -usually 2 visits per college per year -Naviance -students create accounts sophomore year -junior year kids start building their college lists -posts what colleges are visiting LHS and kids get emails from schools who are on their list -looking at doing a half day field trip for seniors in the fall -festival for kids -post secondary class Counseling Department Issues and Actions *How do we provide information to students that they need at the time they need it? -hard to balance supporting freshman and seniors at same time *Survey -collect data pre and post college process -need more support with essay -helped to inform department of students' needs *Set up individual meetings over the summer for those who don't work well in big groups -serviced another 40-50 kids *Not enough time in seminar because the college application process is so exhaustive -post of lot online -tutorials -only appeals to one subset of kids *Did not get funding for post secondary coordinator *Not sure we can offer this summer session again -if we do, probably not to same capacity -budget -hopefully we can reach 1/4 of the class -use different models to reach different kids -hopefully get another year of data collection -will inform the seminars *Outreached to families who might fall through the cracks *Jumpstart- Executive Function piece to get organized to see what they need to do *1 st Generation Students -Brielle Palin is going to focus this spring on juniors who are first generation -1st generation kids are behind in access to info -will meet once a week during I Block -she will make aware of opportunities- scholarships, etc -when students were surveyed, half identified themselves as 1 st generation and 1/2 didn't so they were in different starting places -10-12 kids participating -discussing having a mentor program for first generation parents with others who have been through it -parents who have been to college not in the US face a very different process than in their own country and struggle to support kids going through it here *Would like to move to an internship program for all -for community service or credit? -open up traditional stand and deliver education to hands-on experience *Freshman Programs -revise freshman program -transition from 8th grade -what resources are at LHS? -normalize getting help from teachers and resources -changed 9th grade night to include students, not just parents -contained an emotional piece -had a coffee for parents -also visited middle schools before 9th grade night -broke them into 3 groups and had counselors do presentation -helped 8th graders register for classes -Freshman were reporting a higher number of kids expressing stress and a higher number of kids who had issues with other students -Clarke pilot for at-risk kids -peer leaders -went to Clarke and kids visited LHS -of the kids who were in the program at Clarke, very few referred to social services once they came to LHS *Tier 2 Services-Social Workers -kids are feeling down -ran an anxiety group for students for 8 weeks -skills driven -ran a group for kids new to Lexington -Sophomores who were new to Lexington participated -there was a girls group dealing with girls' issues Thank you to Stacy Glickman and Stacy McFadden for a thorough explanation of all the amazing things the counseling department is doing to support LHS students and their families Meeting adjourned