School-Force helps fund Counselor and Dean of Students

Note: This blog was first published as an article in the February 2010 School-Force eNews.  As of this reposting, January 2012,  Mr. Pavao has been brought to full time, to better serve the 1000 current Ralston students.  There is a new counselor, Ms. Teresa Bergin, who has replaced Ms. Kimple.  School-Force is supporting both positions for the 2011-12 school year.

by Martha Simmons, Co-chair S-F Communications & Cipriani Parent

Many of us parents have clear memories of middle school, and those memories are not necessarily fond recollections.  In retrospect, as adults, we know that what most of us experienced there was “normal”.  Middle school is a time of transition:  the beginning of puberty, trying on behavior perceived as “grown-up”, pushing boundaries, and beginning to step away from parents.    On top of that, there is the increased academic rigor and the shift from having one consistent teacher to having six teachers a day.

One aspect of this challenging time is that parents are less able to help.  The student may not feel like they can communicate easily with their parents or, quite commonly, there is an event at school that seems all-encompassing to the student in that moment….where parents simply are not present.

So it is critical to have support systems available in the middle school to help in those tough moments, ease transitions, place clear limits and consequences, and generally maintain a safe environment that promotes learning.

At Ralston these roles are shared by a team of Administrators and a Counselor.   For the past two years School-Force has been funding part of that team, paying half the salary of the full-time Counselor, Maia Kimple, and for the half-time Dean of Students, Matt Pavao (who teaches half-time as well).  They work together with Principal Jennifer Kollman and Vice Principal Donna Sims to support 837 transitioning kids every day.

Ms. Kimple’s official duties include (but are not limited to) social-emotional counseling, academic counseling, identification of and progress reports for “at-risk” students, new student intake, and teacher consultation and support.  A large portion of her duties are creating and coordinating the federally mandated accommodation (504) plans for students with documented disabilities, as well as setting up and facilitating the Student Study Team (SST) meeting with parents, teachers, administrators and students when a student is struggling and a plan of support is needed.  She also serves as the primary point of contact for Ralston parents who are concerned about their child’s experience at school.  These facilitating roles are logistically challenging.  In elementary school it is fairly straightforward to contact a child’s teacher.  In middle school, with six teachers, it helps to have a facilitator to talk to each and bring them together with the parents and others as necessary to address an issue.

However, Ms. Kimple says there is sometimes part of her day which is hard to define in a job description.  She makes time in her schedule to be a friendly face and provide support to all kids when they need to talk about an immediate issue…something that happened on the bus, at home the night before, or (a new issue since we were in school) an incident of cyberbullying that happened overnight.  Even kids who never may never need see her in person feel safer at school knowing there is another trusted adult they could go to.

Mr. Pavao’s official duties are primarily related to school safety and discipline.  Some of his roles have some overlap with Ms. Kimple’s, such as identifying at-risk students and providing academic counseling.  However, he is also responsible for much of the conflict resolution on campus, counseling kids regarding bullying, and other roles involving student conduct and appropriate discipline.   It’s important to note that issues of student conduct are almost always treated first with conversation and education, not punishment.  Some kids simply need to be educated *why* it is hurtful to say particular things or act a particular way.  Sometimes a conversation is really all it takes to prevent a recurrence.  However, this softened approach takes more time than simply doling out a consequence.

Mr. Pavao also works with the Community Resource Officer (of the Belmont Police) and the bus service to ensure safety while kids arrive at and then leave campus each day.  He does the detective work to figure out exactly what DID happen in any particular incident. He is also the person that confiscates the cell phones if they are used during the school day. (Kids must leave them in their lockers once they arrive at school.) Importantly, Mr. Pavao can counsel those boys who might not feel comfortable going to a female counselor (or principal) with their problems.   It is very helpful to have adults of both genders available for those conversations.

Can you imagine how it might be if these dedicated people were not there for our kids?  Ms. Kollmann says Ms. Kimple and Mr. Pavao are indispensible.  She and Ms. Sims have a lot on their plate already with just day to day operations of a large school (which will be getting even larger over the next few years). Although they are part of the support team even now, they simply could not successfully take on the full roles of safety, discipline and support that the Counselor and Dean provide.  It is critical that we continue to fund these positions.

The recommended ratio of counselors to children in middle school is 1:450.  In California overall the ratio tends to be closer to 1:776, the third lowest in the nation.  At Ralston it is 1:837, and yet Ms. Kimple does an amazing job.  In many states, there is a Dean of Students for each grade level in middle school.   Ralston has half a position for the entire school, yet he too is extremely effective.  This team is keeping our kids safe and fostering a positive learning environment for all our kids, even those who never see this team directly.  Certainly part if this success is that we live a great place, where, in general, there is a lot of support at home and not a lot of discipline issues compared to some areas.  But as kids do the *normal* thing of pushing boundaries in middle school, aren’t you glad we have a team in place to help?  Let’s keep them there.  We need ALL middle school parents, not only ALL elementary parents, to donate to the foundation and keep these positions funded.