Students' First Line Of Support

“My job primarily is to be out in the classroom,” says Slinger school counselor Ann Fuerbringer, who works with students at Addison Elementary School.

Racine school counselor Mark Kuranz can sum up in very few words why he loves his job: "I know I make a difference for kids."

That simple statement reflects the feeling of hundreds of school counselors in Wisconsin, whose roles are becoming increasingly important but seldom fully understood or appreciated. Today's school counselors are playing an increasing role in building bridges between students' personal and academic lives.

"There is a kind of huge shift in the state occurring and it has occurred at the national level," said Kuranz, lead counselor for the Racine Unified School District and a counselor at J.I. Case High School. "That is moving from the old paradigm where counselors sat in their office and let students come to them - to getting out to try and connect with all the kids."

In Kuranz's case, that means taking steps to get into the classrooms and holding student seminars such as the successful freshmen mentoring program where he makes a connection with every student who enters the Racine high school.

"We are trying to ensure that all kids get skills and knowledge," Kuranz said, "and have access to career and education planning so four years down the road they have options."

'Miss Ann'

Known affectionately in the Slinger district as "Miss Ann," elementary school counselor Ann Fuerbringer said she has "contact with every single student every month."

"I pick up every student I see individually that I need to deal with, and the teachers know I come to get them," she said. She also meets with students in small groups devoted to issues such as death, divorce and anger management, and with older children interested in leadership and ambassador duties.

Fuerbringer and her cast of characters teach the youngest of all Slinger students about listening, waiting for their turns and being careful about what they say. Before she joined the district 18 years ago and began working at Addison Elementary School, Fuerbringer worked for eight years with Girl Scouts USA as a camp director. And before that she was a 3rd-grade teacher.

"We really do have a very distinct role and yet all need to work all together," she said of her counseling job. "My job primarily is to be out in the classroom."

She also makes sure she is in the hallway to greet students every morning. Fuerbringer uses friendly characters she has developed to teach very young students about the basic skills needed throughout life and especially in the working world. For example, there is WELCS the Whale who helps with her 4-year-old kindergarten group.

"We Listen, Care and Share (WELCS)," she said, detailing what the character's name means. "Those are the three things that I focus the whole year on - teaching the skills."

There's also BERKL the bee, which stands for Be Respectful, Kind and Listen. And she teaches the skill of thinking before you speak by using the example of how it is impossible to put toothpaste back into the tube once it's squeezed out.

"Once words come out of the mouth, you can't pick them out and put them back in," she said. It works. Sometimes kids approach her and say "toothpaste," and she knows the problem at hand. Fuerbringer also works with a group of 5th graders who act as the school's ambassadors.

"It's a multi-faceted job," she said of a profession she fears is understood little by people outside the school borders. "I don't think they (public) understand that our focus is really working with every child who is in the building."

Kuranz and Fuerbringer said Wisconsin counselors are in the process of finalizing a school counseling model that will reflect the successful model advanced by the American School Counselor Association. The national model, Fuerbringer said, encompasses every aspect of how a school district can look at pupil services. The model addresses student development in academics, personal/social aspects and career, and goes beyond curriculum to individual planning and a district response.

"What do we do in the district? Who gets called, when and where?" Fuerbringer asked, adding that the model looks at system support from the superintendent through all of the administrators. "It is a very good process of finding out what it is you don't have and how you need to get it put down on paper. It is a very comprehensive school counseling program."

The American School Counselor Association, based in Alexandria, Virginia, maintains counselors can be the difference in the success of students in and out of the classroom. Trained in education and counseling, counselors are there to guide students through the developmental stages.

"School counselors are the first line of support for students," said Richard Wong, the national association's executive director. "Students can't achieve academically when they can't cope with social and emotional problems."

In Wisconsin as in other states, school counseling positions are being threatened by lack of funding and shifting priorities resulting from the federal government's so-called No Child Left Behind law, which forces schools to concentrate limited resources on areas in which students are tested.

According to the Web site of the Wisconsin School Counselor Association, which represents 1,400 counselors, "positions in some schools are being consolidated or eliminated, but many districts have recognized the importance of their school counselor in attaining and maintaining the district goals under NCLB.

As a result, there was an increase of 23 positions in Wisconsin for school counselors during the 2004-05 school year."

'Bundle of energy' years

Wauwatosa district middle school counselor James Bentley, who as a student intern was mentored by Kuranz in Racine, said students in these "bundle of energy" years learn to feel at ease to ask questions about life's tougher issues involving divorce, sexual harassment, drugs and bullies.

"The kids see us as an active part of their lives," Bentley said, adding counselors are in the classroom and doing other things such as coaching teams and running clubs. Bentley, for example, handles tennis and flag football.

"Kids are a microcosm of the society they come from. Kids don't just shut off the switch," he said. Kids struggle with divorce, poverty, peer pressures, bullies and more. "And on top of that, they have to study for tests," he said.

'Always a reason'

"If children are having trouble learning," Fuerbringer added, "there is always a reason. Do they have attention or attendance issues? Staying on task? Are there things going on in the home?"

Kuranz said counselors see the "big picture" of how students, parents, teachers, district personnel and the community at large work together to ensure students graduate with the skills and knowledge they need for life after high school.

"We contribute to school success," Kuranz said. "Equity isn't about all the kids getting the same thing.. Some kids need more resources and time. So, some of our work needs to focus on those gaps."

Bentley said solutions to narrowing the academic achievement gap between minority and disadvantaged children and other students can be found in part by dissecting student performance and attendance data.

"We have all that data at our fingertips," he said. But he said counselors have yet to fully tap that information. For example, data may show 97% of his school's 8th graders are proficient or advanced in reading. "That sounds great. But when you look at our special ed, it drops to 40%."

Bentley said by "dissecting the data," the stories behind the achievement gap can be told and solutions can be attempted. "Certain kids are missing more than others," he said as another example. "Is it a lower socio-economic situation? And we start looking at reasons why."

Perhaps it is a case of a single parent who must leave for work and an older sibling must stay home to care for a younger sibling. Or, he adds, it could be a case of a family without a car.

"You start looking at these patterns and trends and figure out why it is happening - then come up with solutions," Bentley said. "It could be as easy as getting the kid free busing."

Or, he said, it may take changing the student's first class period schedule so on days the student is late, the ramifications are not as serious. Bentley gets into the classroom where he talks bout sexual harassment, bullies, alcohol and other drugs.

"It is a lot of prevention," he said of his work that includes helping special education teachers deal with the emotional problems of their students. "The focus is how to stay healthy and stress-free."

Sometimes teachers will refer children to him. Sometimes the kids seek him out and sometimes the parents call. And for the parents, he recommends this book: "Mom, Get Out of My Life. But First Can You Drive Me and Cheryl to the Mall?"

Bentley said he believes counseling is his life's calling. "I always had a desire to help people and I had pretty good interpersonal skills."

After shadowing a school counselor, he knew he had found his life's calling. "I fell in love with it," he said. For more information about the Wisconsin School Counselor Association, go to www.wscaweb.com.

Posted May 15, 2006