In recent years we have all come to
understand the significance of social-emotional learning to a student’s overall
development and progress. We have a better understanding of the emotional
conditions that best support academic learning, among these being a sense of
belonging, of mattering, of being known and understood by their teachers. We also know that without self-regulation and
resilience, a student is much less likely to learn and thrive in school or at
home. Helping students feel safe AND helping them develop the dispositions, independence and
sense of self that are needed to strengthen learning has become an important focus
of our work across all of our grades. At
the same time, the social-emotional complexity of children has also increased,
with greater numbers and percentages of students coming to school with anxiety
or a history of trauma that can potentially interfere with learning and
developing strong relationships necessary to it. We see this rise in acuity among all demographics,
among majority and minority members of racial and income-differing subgroups.
In responding to that need, the
district leadership team has become increasingly aware of the importance of a
coherent, coordinated K-12 guidance and counseling program. We have effective
counseling programs, interventions, services, and supports in place within each
of our schools, but we recognize the need to coordinate and facilitate those
programs more closely K-12 in order to develop the coherent program that will
be most effective for students and their families. Last spring, we created a
K-12 Program Director position for Guidance and Counseling and hired Alicia
Linsey to fulfill that role. Alicia
comes to us from Lexington High School, where, as a guidance counselor, she has
played an important leadership role in national guidance counselor
organizations. She brings to Bedford a deep understanding of social-emotional learning, a strong commitment to equity, and a powerful set of skills and relationships derived from her years of experience running a college counseling business.
Knowing that the 6-12 Guidance and
Counseling role has traditionally been a full-time position in itself, we are
working to develop the necessary infrastructure to make the position and
program development manageable and successful. Early this fall, then, we also
created a K-5 Guidance and Counseling Coordinator position. Paula
Francis-Springer, an exceptional counselor at the Davis school, has been appointed to this
position. Highly respected both for her direct service to students and
families and for teaming with Principal Benoit as a school leader, she will
continue her counseling work at Davis, but in addition will receive a stipend
to help coordinate the K-5 aspects of this larger program. These two positions will help us to become
more effective in helping students navigate the transitions from 2nd
to 3rd grade, from 5th to 6th grade, and from
8th to 9th grade.
The 18-19 school year will serve to
lay the groundwork for this program. To that end, Alicia has arranged for
quarterly K-12 Guidance and Counseling meetings. During these sessions,
counselors are reviewing data, such as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)
and presenting grade level programs and curriculum to the K-12 team with the
purpose of collectively identifying common threads. Simultaneously, counselors
will observe one another across the district to determine similar services and
programs and identify areas of need. The K-12 meetings will also act as a
conversational platform to begin to align department goals and objectives.
While there is current parent outreach, the department aims to expand resources
for parents/guardians. This concerted work will inform next steps for the
2019-2020 school year.
As a district, Bedford is deeply committed to the important work of social-emotional learning and pleased to announce this plan for strengthening our program. MLS
