The Guidance and Counseling Program at Lancaster High School seeks to positively impact the lives of our students by partnering with parents, community, faculty, and staff.  Our program offers comprehensive planning and counseling services addressing student academic and career goals, as well as personal and social needs. We work to give students the opportunities to acquire the educational and social competencies necessary for growth toward lifelong success and effective, responsible citizenship in a diverse and changing world.

Students are alphabetically assigned to a counselor based upon the first letter of their last name.  A student may schedule an appointment with his or her counselor before school, after school, or during their lunch.  Parents wishing to meet with your student's counselor may call or email the appropriate counselor to schedule an appointment. 

Our support staff help out in big ways by working with parent & student general questions, enrollment & withdrawal information, coordinating & organizing standardized testing, and helping students with college related questions, process, & support.

Counselors are the heart of the school.  Below are just a few of the topics we address as we support our students in becoming their best future selves while developing and promoting positive development in academic, career, and personal/social areas.

• Prepare for and manage individual, small group, & classroom (i.e. large group counseling) learning sessions like

  • • developing healthy relationships

    • understanding healthy risk-taking

    • planning for academics and careers

    • managing conflict and response to conflict

    • registering for college and career testing, such as ACT, ASVAB, Ready2Work, and SAT

    • researching careers, training and employment for life after high school

• Attend and participate in academic intervention meetings

• Observe students in various school environments

• Consult and collaborate with parents, teachers, administrators, social workers, & students

• Respond to school crises or emergency situations

• Provide information and resources to parents on a variety of topics related to academic and personal success

• Aid students in becoming more responsible, productive, and mature global citizens

• Host Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) meetings

• Address student needs who are at risk of leaving school before a high school diploma is earned

• Serve as an advocate for students with exceptional abilities

• Create & initiate professional development for school counselors and building staff

• Communicate with administration regarding concerns for students, staff, and departmental concerns to better meet the needs of each student

• Maintain professional meetings for delivery of services such as, the opening of the school year, ensuring students are enrolled in appropriate courses for graduation requirements, conducting consultations

• All students are valuable and deserve respect. 

• All students can be taught appropriate behaviors and can learn and grow to reach his/her full potential, if given the right environment. 

• All students learn best when they feel good about themselves and their relationships with others. 

• All students should have equal access to counseling & guidance services. 

• The school counselor is a resource and an advocate for all students, staff, parents and the community. 

• A school counseling program should be comprehensive in scope, developmental in nature, and preventative in design. 

• A school counseling program should be intentional and include academic, career and personal/social components. 

• Positive relationships between students and adults are the key to student success. 

 School counselors recognize their primary obligation for confidentiality is to the student but balance that obligation with an understanding of the family or guardians’ legal and inherent rights to be the guiding voice in their children’s lives (ASCA Code of Ethics, 2010, A.2.d). 

The role of the school counselor in regards to 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: 

  • Student poses a danger to self or others 

  • Court ordered disclosure 

  • Consultation with other professionals in support of the student i.e. colleagues, supervisors, treatment teams, and other support personnel 

  • Privilege communication is not granted by state laws and local guidelines (e.g. school board policies) 

• 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 assert their belief that information shared by students is “confidential” and should not be revealed without the student’s consent 

• To adhere to all laws protecting student records, health information, and special services (i.e., HIPAA, FERPA, IDEA) 

Source: https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/PositionStatements/PS_Confidentiality.pdf