Office of School Counseling
Friday Sendoff - December 20, 2019
I Wish You Well...
MUST DO ITEMS - Please read this section carefully
Mandatory Meetings and Professional Developments - The PD calendar for the 2019-2020 school year was sent to you in August. Please be sure to add the dates/times to your own calendars and share them with your administration. This will prevent any confusion and requests for you to stay at your school during those meeting times.
Use of Time - As the first submission date approaches, be sure to keep accurate accounting of your time with students. This offers insight into your program and supports you may need as we identify staffing priorities.
Upcoming Meetings
Elementary Counselors Meeting
This is a mandatory meeting for all elementary school counselors, which includes schools with more than one elementary counselor.
Wednesday, Feb 19, 2020, 09:00 AM
323 Sollers Point Road, Dundalk, MD, USA
High School Chairs Meeting
Thursday, Feb 27, 2020, 08:00 AM
Crossroads Center, Crossroads Circle, Middle River, MD, USA
Middle School Chairs Meeting
Thursday, Feb 27, 2020, 12:00 PM
Crossroads Center, Crossroads Circle, Middle River, MD, USA
Announcements
**NEW** MSCA Hometown Hero
Maryland School Counselor Association wants to highlight the amazing work school counselors are doing in the state of Maryland. Be creative,use powerpont, Youtube, etc to highlight school counselors who have made a significant contribution to the school counseling profession through advocacy, leadership, collaboration and/or systemic change. Examples of Hometown Heroes are school counselors who are applying for RAMP, started a new and innovative program at their school or in their community, created an outreach or after school program for at risk students, attend board meetings to advocate for school counselors, presents at conferences, uses data to show how their comprehensive school counseling program helped to achieve SIP goals, etc. The information you share will be presented at the School Counselor of the Year Gala on Friday, February 7, 2020. The deadline to submit your nomination is January 17th. See attached flyer below.
**NEW** Free parent workshop series - Below is the SERC FREE Parent Workshop winter series flyer. Please distribute to families in your school community.
MSCA PD: "Anxiety & Action" Materials
Both PowerPoints and handouts from the 12/6 PD are attached below.
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) - The Maryland Suicide Prevention Program will be holding an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) Training for Trainers May 11-15, 2020 in Catonsville, MD. They are seeking interested individuals who would like to apply for the opportunity to become an ASIST trainer. The T4T is being offered at no cost to selected trainer candidates. The application can be accessed here.
Give Time & Save Lives: A Message from Crisis Text Line
This giving season, we launched a movement to spread a little more empathy in the world.
For us, giving back is all about #GivingTime. We launched a bold vision to rally 2,020 people to apply to become a Crisis Counselor before 2020. And, this movement is catching on quickly. In just over a week, we’re 70% to our goal!
We still have a ways to go and we could use your help. If you’ve been thinking about becoming a Crisis Counselor, now is your chance! If you apply to become one of our 2,020 new Empathy MVPs by December 20th, you could get a call from our CEO and ultimate Empathy MVP, Nancy Lublin, welcoming you to this love machine.
Pledge to give time this holiday season and apply to become a Crisis Counselor. You’ll start 2020 with our 30-ish hour training and you’ll be helping people in crisis pronto.
Welcome to the love machine!
XO,
Crisis Text Line
A Message from TABCO
Sheila Harte-Dmitriev is the SE Zone UniServ Director for TABCO/ESPBC. She is the staff liaison for the Curriculum, Instruction and Climate Action Team which is compromised of several sub-groups of our members, including School Counselors. She spoke with Middle and High School Counselors to encourage counselors to be more active so counselor voices are represented. She asked that we share the following:
Your Association not only negotiates the terms of the TABCO Master Agreement (MA) with BCPS, but it is also our responsibility to enforce those terms. If you have questions after reviewing your agreement, speak to your Building Rep or contact your UniServ Director.
Of course, the best way to effect change is through collective action. One of the Action Teams for TABCO members is Curriculum, Instruction and Climate Team. This team meets the first Thursday of the month at the TABCO office and is made up of several sub-groups, like Early Childhood Teachers, Special Area Teachers and more. There is a group of School Counselors led by BCACD member and counseling chair Venetia Banks, who have started to attend to speak about the responsibilities and challenges unique to your role.
Finally, we are currently negotiating the entire Master Agreement with the core team being supported by a new expanded bargaining team. We wanted to ensure all the varied voices from the bargaining unit were heard and could help craft language which applies to them for the new Master Agreement.
School Counselors need to be represented. Please consider getting involved in your Union! Don’t agonize, organize!
Elementary Counselors
Please keep in mind that the delivery of our curriculum is essential. Every lesson was written to meet the needs of our students. But the Personal Safety lessons are especially important. If you have not been able to deliver these lessons, please contact your specialist if you need our support and advocacy.
Creating Counseling Centers
Do you have space in your office or classroom for student workstations? Take a look at the free Counselor Keri eBook with 101 ideas to create a client centered space.
Middle School Counselors
Counselor Keri resources
High School Counselors
**NEW** Princeton Summer Journalism Program (Friday, July 31 – Monday, August 10, 2020) is a free residential journalism and college preparatory program for high-achieving current juniors from low-income backgrounds who are interested in journalism. Over 10 days, students live on campus at Princeton University and learn reporting skills from professional journalists. They also attend lectures on liberal arts topics led by Princeton U professors. Participants hold a press conference, produce a short documentary, report on a professional sporting event from the press box, attend a play or theatrical production, visit 3-4 major news outlets, and interview subjects for their feature stories in the Princeton Summer Journal. After the program, students are paired with a volunteer college adviser, a professional journalist, to help them through their application process. This is a FREE program! All program expenses, including meals, housing, airfare or train tickets to and from campus, are covered by the program. The online application is available on their website and due no later than Monday, February 17, 2020. Please note that students must submit an unofficial transcript to be considered. You may read about eligibility and the full application process here.
Please visit the new site after December 22 at StudentAid.gov. For more information, please view the full announcement on the current StudentAid.gov website.
Secondary Counselors
**NEW** US Naval Academy Summer Programs Applications for all summer programs open on January 3rd!
SUMMER STEM For Students Entering 9th – 11th Grade (Current 8th graders ARE eligible!)
Considering a future in tech? Summer STEM at the Naval Academy is a vibrant week of problem-solving, exploratory learning, critical thinking, and team building for rising 9th - 11th graders interested in a future in Science, Engineering, Technology and Math.
SUMMER SEMINAR: For Students Entering the 12th Grade
Summer Seminar gives you a taste of life at the Academy and kick-starts your application journey for an appointment to the Academy. For one week in June, you will experience first-class academic, athletic and professional training while building lifelong friendships with campers from all over the country.
Applications for the Spring 2020 BROWN GIRLS CODE Clubs are now open. Deadline to apply is December 28th at 11:59PM EST. Visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdkC0U3pHYf8sQ7Ey_CDQIu__By7ge6Li3AMfbgK3L7gwCiUA/viewform
For camp scholarships, visit: http://www.blackgirlscode.com/programsevents.html
LGBTQ Professional Development The PowerPoint from last week's PD was uploaded into the Secondary Schoology group. If you would like to refer any families or reach out the presenters, the website is https://hawntherapyandconsulting.com/ We sincerely hope that this presentation gave you an appreciation for cultural differences while supporting your efforts to advocate for students. All of the handouts are attached below and have also been uploaded in the Schoology group in the PD folder. If you attended on 12/4 or in the morning of 12/5, there was one page missing on our table. You may want to download the "Supportive Services" document to get that missing page.
Secondary Department Chairs
**NEW** World Language Grade 9 Placement
Reminder: Course Registration Guide Order
Please complete the survey below so we know how many Course Registration Guides to order for your office:
ESSA At a Glance
**NEW** Well Rounded Curriculum
Access to Well-Rounded Curriculum is awarded a point value towards an overall rating for a school on the Maryland Report Card. The metric is measured for students completing high school and does not follow the cohort model. For students completing high school with a regular diploma, the student must have done at least one of the following during high school:
Be enrolled in an AP course
Be enrolled in an IB course
Participate in Dual Enrollment
Be enrolled in an MSDE-approved CTE program at the CTE concentrator level or higher
School counselors impact this area through your continued academic advising during the 6 year plan meetings and the registration process. Encouraging students to attempt rigor will be of benefit to them in their post-secondary plans.
**NEW** Well Rounded Curriculum Scores
- scored a 3 or better on any AP exam
- scored a 4 or better on any IB exam
- scored a 530 or better on the Math and 480 or better on the EBRW SAT exams
- score a 21 or better on the ACT exam
- earned a Dual Enrollment credit**
High School Counselors
Course History Process: Transcript Articulation
Counselors should do their due diligence to contact the sending school to research information about courses if there are questions. If there are questions about graduation requirements, please don't hesitate to contact your Specialist or individual content area offices. This contact should be documented directly on the transcript so there's a record of any contact made to resolve questions.
When entering information on the Course History Form, the course titles used should be the comparable BCPS course title, not the title from the sending school.
Home school students who present a transcript with grades and "credits" from their home school do not earn credits and should go through the credit by exam process for any courses they'd like to earn credits in.
When records secretaries add credit be exam courses to a home school student record, they should add the statement "credit by exam" in the teacher column.
Quarter grades are not transferable to another school year for use with current year quarters for credit to be awarded.
Counselors and records secretaries should not delete or edit BCPS courses from a student record for any reason that would give a student an unfair advantage. Please refer to BCPS Rule 4100 Sec V and ASCA Ethical Standards.
Course histories should be entered in SIS by the records secretary with all supporting documents attached to the course history form so they can be added to the educational record.
There are far reaching implications for the failure to accurately document student records, costing students college admissions, scholarships and NCAA eligibility.
Below is an example of a grading scale from Archbishop Curley High School:
Entering ASVAB Scores in SIS - If you receive a request to enter ASVAB scores in SIS, this task should be completed by your records secretary only. They can be entered the same way that you would enter a student's test scores if they were a new entrant to BCPS.
**As a reminder, ASVAB scores should not be released to military recruiters.**
High School Department Chairs
College and Career Readiness (CCR) Letters
College Counselors
**NEW** PCACAC Conference
Spring Signup Genius
Discover CCBC
Rediscover the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) With $863 billion dollars in projected industry sales for 2019, there’s never been a better time to launch a career in food, beverage, and hospitality. And there’s nowhere better to do it than at the CIA, where students will get the experiential education, academic and financial support, and professional connections needed to get right into the industry they love.
$1K CIA GRANT FOR YOUR STUDENTS
What better way to end 2019 than by helping your students receive a $1,000 Early Application Grant from The Culinary Institute of America! All they have to do is submit their completed application—including all supporting docs like their official transcripts, essay, and recommendation—by December 31, 2019. We’ll process their file right away and, if they’re admitted, they’ll automatically receive the $1,000 grant.
2020-2021 Guaranteed Access Grant and the Maryland Community College Promise Scholarship Program
The application cycle is now open.
The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) started importing the 2020-2021 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and Maryland State Financial Aid (MSFAA) applications.
Therefore, students who meet the income requirements in either the Guaranteed Access (GA) Grant or the Maryland Community College Promise Scholarship (Promise), will begin to receive notifications that they may be eligible for the program contingent upon submission of all required documentation. It is important to note that there is no separate application for either the GA or Promise program. Students are identified as potentially eligible for the program based on their income as reported on the FAFSA or MSFAA.
To assist you in navigating students through the 2020-2021 GA and Promise process, below you will find the following:
1. 2020-2021 OSFA Newsletter
2. GA Grant One-Pager to advertise the grant program at your school
3. Promise Scholarship One-Pager to advertise the scholarship program at your school
Important Things to Remember:
- NEW Effective for the 2020-2021 academic year the “High School Certification Form” is NO longer required for consideration of the Guaranteed Access Grant Award program. Therefore, high school counselors are not required to complete this form, as done in the past for applicants identified as potentially eligible for the GA program.
- NEW Effective immediately all required documentation for both the GA and Promise programs must be submitted by mail only at the address noted below. Electronic submissions of documentation are NO longer accepted due to the sensitivity of the information that is being transmitted.
Maryland Higher Education Commission
Office of Student Financial Assistance
Ground Floor Suite
6 N. Liberty Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
- For the 2020-2021 academic year, MHEC has elected to only select 60% of its GA initial applicants for the income verification process. However, all GA initial applicants regardless of being selected for the income verification process must a High School Transcript by April 1.
- The deadline to file the FAFSA or MSFAA for consideration of the GA Grant or Promise Scholarship is March 1, 2020.
- High School transcripts with approved signatures: Transcripts must include up to the first semester grades of a student’s senior year, including courses still in progress. If your school does not have a HS transcript that includes all 1st semester grades of the student’s senior year, please provide the most current HS transcript AND the student’s grade/progress report at the end of the 1st semester of their senior year. We will not be able to review the student’s information until this documentation has been provided.
- Encourage your students to check their emails, To-Do lists, and Application Status frequently. MHEC will send notifications to students regarding initial award acceptance and additional verification documents that may be requested.
- The deadline to submit all required documentation to MHEC for GA students selected for verification is April 1, 2020. This is a hard deadline.
- The deadline to submit all required documentation for the Promise Scholarship is June 15, 2020. This is a hard deadline.
If you have any questions regarding the information shared feel free to contact the Office of Student Financial Assistance at 410-767-3300
MHEC Financial Assistance Programs
State Financial Assistance Programs and Applications
Tuition Waiver for Unaccompanied Homeless Youth
Tuition Waiver for Foster Care Recipients
NACAC Request for Admission Application Fee Waiver
Students who have limited financial resources may use the NACAC Request for Application Fee Waiver Form when applying for college. The form — aimed at students planning to enroll in post-secondary education immediately following high school graduation — helps ensure that access to college is possible for all.
College Fly-Ins
Landmark College Professional Visit Days
https://www.landmark.edu/admissions/professional-visit-days
University of Tampa - 2/16-17, 2020
https://apply-undg.ut.edu/portal/gcvisit?id=5a86e0f3-8a25-4ff2-b98f-e7ce59d5844b
Southern Illinois University - 3/19-20, 2020
https://www.siue.edu/counselors/events-feed/fly-in.shtml
Roanoke College - 3/22-23, 2020
https://www.roanoke.edu/about/news/counselor_fly_in
Saint Anselm College Counselor Fly-in Visit Program - 3/29-31, 2020
https://admission.anselm.edu/register/fly-in-interest
PCACAC College Tour - 4/1-4, 2020
https://www.pcacac.org/counselor-resources
MU/UD Counselor Visit Program - 4/26-28, 2020
https://udayton.edu/apply/undergraduate/guidance/visit-program.php
Relevant Bulletin Items
December 13, 2019 Bulletin
https://intranet.bcps.org/superintendent/bulletin/2019/1213/Bulletin121319.pdf
1002. TEAM BCPS DAY 2020
1003. E-NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS
1006. THE EDUCATION FOUNDATION OF BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (BCPS), INC. – THE EXCHANGEREE – SHOPPING DATES
1013. CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SPRING 2020 COURSE REGISTRATION
1014. DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING EFFECTIVE PARENT INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMS
1017. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR PROSPECTIVE DEPARTMENT CHAIRS ORIENTATION AND TRAINING – SPRING 2020
1017. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT FOR PROSPECTIVE DEPARTMENT CHAIRS ORIENTATION AND TRAINING – SPRING 2020
1031. HOW TO APPLY FOR A DEPARTMENT CHAIR INTERVIEW – FEBRUARY 2020
1032. MARYLAND CERTIFICATION
1034. MARYLAND RETIRED SCHOOL PERSONNEL ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP
Leadership Development
All department chair postings will open on Monday, December 2, 2019. Applications are being accepted online for staff interested in a department chair position. The deadline for applying to be in the department chair candidate pool, and to be considered for a January/February 2020 interview, is Wednesday, January 8, 2020. Only complete applications will be given consideration for an interview.
Professional Development
Loyola Spring Continuing Education courses:
Thank you for your interest in our Continuing Education Courses. Below, please find the information for our spring 2020 semester:
Lauryn’s Law This course meets the educational requirements outlined in Lauryn’s Law. Specifically this course enhances the school counseling practitioners knowledge and skills to understand and respond to the social, emotional, and personal development of students, including knowledge and skills relating to: (1) the recognition of indicators of mental illness and behavioral distress, including depression, trauma, violence, youth suicide, and substance abuse; and (2) the identification of professional resources to help students in crisis. This course for school counselors provides a current, interactive overview of these skills and supports participants’ development/acquisition of a resource bank for distribution to parents or guardians, school staff, and students, as appropriate.
Spring 2020 Dates: February 10th- March 16th
Cost: $350
CBT Approach to Bibliotherapy : Drawing from a CBT approach practitioners learn to use literature to create a safe distance for young people to deal with issues related to self-regulation, anxiety, or chronic stress because of traumatic experiences. Literature and strategies for working with elementary and secondary students are explored along with the facilitation of coping strategies.
Spring 202 Dates: March 23rd- April 27th
Instructional Format: Online
Cost: $350
Clinical Supervision I: Students seeking supervision hours toward a LCPC may participate in this group supervision experience. Students are expected to be working with clients, and to bring cases to the supervision class for supervision, discussion, and problem solving. Students will utilize the required forms for supervision as outlined in state requirements for supervision experience. The focus of this supervision experience as case conceptualization and the development of treatment plans. A final written evaluation will be provided to each student to maintain in their records as required to document supervision.
Participants must have Maryland LGPC to enroll.
Spring 2020 dates: January 20, February 3 & 17, March 9 & 23, April 6 &20, and May 4th 5:30-7:30pm
Cost: $650
Resource Roundup
Office of School Counseling Lending Library
Email Sharon Holter to borrow any items from our Lending Library.
Inspiration and Good News
Holiday Help for Families
Thank you for your hard work to support your students and their families each and every day!
Holiday Ready!
Websites
Traitify: https://bcps.traitify.com/
MD CAPS (MHEC): https://mdcaps.mhec.state.md.us/MDCAPS/login.aspx?c=-8586295899786270826&ReturnUrl=/MDCAPS/int/FinAid
College Covered resources for school counselors https://www.collegecovered.com/resources-for-counselors/
Schoology Access Codes
Elementary Counseling Curriculum: M4HSN-FCFN4
Secondary Counseling Curriculum: CFBV7-B6PCM
Threat Management: Q6RHK-WHHVC
College and Career Counseling: PFZD6-65N4V
Curriculum Updates: T7BM2-R8JSC
GSA Sponsors (LGBTQ+ resources): ZMBZ-4QXP-DKC89
Contact Information
Naviance Support: 1-866-337-0080 option 2 & support@naviance.com
Signup Genius Support: support@signupgenius.com
CPS email address: dhr.baltimorecountycps@maryland.gov
MHEC FAFSA Completion (MD CAPS): fafsa.mhec@maryland.gov