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)

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/Standards-Positions/Position-Statements/ASCA-Position-Statements/The-School-Counselor-and-Confidentiality 

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.