Mission: The mission of Kirkwood High School is to recognize, engage, and inspire every student every day.
Vision: The vision of Kirkwood High School is for all Cobras to courageously pursue their paths forward.
Beliefs:
We believe in building community among all stakeholders.
We believe in providing a consistent educational experience that challenges students to learn and grow.
We believe in ensuring that every student feels they have a voice and a place in our school.
We believe in teaching and modeling accountability and integrity.
How to see a counselor
CMCSS Student Referral System
How to access:
Student will log into their Launchpad/Classlink account
Once logged in to the Launchpad, they will see the counselor referrals app and click it to automatically log in.
Select the counselor you want to see, the appropriate category, and a brief description (Nothing confidential)
Categories:
No need for meeting: an easy way for students to update Counselor on a situation
Individual: Academic Planning: discussion of grades, planning of course work, goal setting
Individual: Personal Issues: anything that does not specifically pertain to academics
Peer Mediation: Students are requesting assistance in resolving a matter among peers that is affecting relationships at school
Self Harm/Suicidal Thoughts: Students may be harming themselves, having thoughts of harming themselves, or having thoughts of suicide
Parent Contact: Students may request assistance in speaking/meeting with a parent/guardian about a particular challenge
***Note this system will only be available during school hours on the school system Wi-Fi***
If you are experiencing a mental health emergency, please do one or more of the following:
Contact TN Crisis line 1-855-CRISIS-1 (855-274-7471)
Text Hello to 741741 (Crisis Text Line)
Visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Call 911
Go to the nearest emergency room
YOUR LIFE MATTERS. YOU MATTER.
School Counselors and Confidentiality
The counseling relationship between students and their school counselor requires an atmosphere of trust and confidence. Students must trust the school counselor to be able to enter into a meaningful and honest dialogue with the school counselor (Iyer & Baxter-MacGregor, 2010). However, students should be informed that exceptions to confidentiality exist in which school counselors must inform others of information they obtained in the counseling relationship to prevent serious and foreseeable harm to students themselves or others and if it is legally required.
The School Counselor's Role
The role of the school counselor regarding confidentiality is:
To support the students’ right to privacy and protect confidential information received from students, the family, guardians and staff members
To explain the meaning and limits of confidentiality to students in developmentally appropriate terms
To provide appropriate disclosure and informed consent regarding the counseling relationship and confidentiality
To inform students and the family of the limits to confidentiality when:
the student poses a danger to self or others
there is a court-ordered disclosure
consulting with other professionals, such as colleagues, supervisors, treatment teams and other support personnel, in support of the student
privileged communication is not granted by state laws and local guidelines (e.g., school board policies)
the student participates in group counseling
substance use and treatment are concerns (CFR 42, Part 2; 2017)
To keep personal notes separate from educational records and not disclose their contents except when privacy exceptions exist
To seek guidance from supervisors and appropriate legal advice when their records are subpoenaed
To communicate highly sensitive student information via face-to-face contact or phone call and not by e-mail or inserting into the educational record
To request to a court of law that a student’s anonymity be used if records are subpoenaed
To be aware of federal, state and local security standards related to electronic communication, software programs and stored data
To advocate for security-level protocols within student information systems allowing only certain staff members access to confidential information
To assert their belief that information shared by students is confidential and should not be revealed without the student’s consent
To adhere to all school board policy and federal and state laws protecting student records, health information and special services (i.e., HIPAA, FERPA, IDEA)
School Counselor vs. Guidance Counselor
School Counselors Defined Tennessee Bill #302
Passed May 24, 1999
An act to re-designate guidance counselors as school counselors and to amend TCA (Tennessee Code Annotated), Title 49, accordingly. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Tennessee: Section 1. TCA, Section 49-5-402(a), is amended by deleting the words "guidance counselor" wherever they appear and substituting the words "school counselor".
The state law was passed to formally changing the name from "guidance" counselor to school counselor. Professional school counselors, The American School Counseling Association, Tennessee School Counseling Association, and the Tennessee Department of Education have been working diligently to reconfigure the professional identity of PSCs from its historical guidance epistemology to a comprehensive developmental model. The professional school counselor is a certified/licensed educator (must have a Master's or higher in TN), is trained in school counseling with unique qualifications, and has skills to address all students' academic, personal/social and career development needs. Professional school counselors implement a comprehensive school counseling program that promotes and enhances student development.
In effect, Kirkwood High School employs school counselors, not guidance counselors in the Counseling Department.
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