On August 24, The Sting met with and interviewed Mrs. Brown about her new position as the part-time guidance counselor and dean of students. Before her role in guidance, she worked as a paraprofessional as well as a special education teacher.
Question 1: What are your goals for this year?

Mrs. Brown: “I have a lot of goals. My goal for this job right now, and the foreseeable future is to make sure that all of the students are taken care of academically, credit wise, and to keep them on track to graduate. If there is some issue a student may have emotionally, I just want to make sure that the individual gets the help they need to be more successful and help them along in their lives. I always strive to do the best job no matter what I’m doing.”

Question 2: What made you take the role of guidance?

Mrs. Brown: “Well, that’s a tough answer. For the role of guidance, they sought a person and put out a notice for a position available, and the position was not filled, so the district requested that I fill this position until someone permanently fills the role.”

Question 3: Do you prefer the role of guidance or education?

Mrs. Brown: “There’s parts of both that I really enjoy. With both of them I interact with students and I enjoy doing that. Each job comes with its own set of challenges and rewards. It’s kind of a toss up.”

Question 4: Was there a large workload leftover from last school year?

Mrs. Brown: “There was a lot to do to prepare for the school year. I can say that having had no experience in this area I don’t have anything to compare it to, considering this is my first year. There is always work for guidance during the summer, to keep track of credits and make sure that everyone is in the required classes they need.”

Question 5: Many students feel that guidance is not doing their best to fix schedules, do you have any input on this?

Mrs. Brown: “It’s complicated. The process of making a schedule starts around the beginning of each school year. In the curriculum meeting we must look at the needs and amount of students in each class. It’s just a very complicated process to keep track of all of the state requirements and make sure that every student has their required credits. The more classes you have on the schedule the more flexible the schedule would potentially be. Although this is true, you have to consider the fact that there also has to be a need for students to fill those classes up.”

Question 6: Do you feel that you have been given the proper materials to help yourself and students succeed?

Mrs. Brown: “Yes. I think I have the proper materials. I have everyone in the office area, they’re very helpful. Everyone has a teamwork attitude. It’s a learning process but I have the rest of the office team and Mrs. Howie to help me.”

Question 7: Do you feel that the part time hours give you enough time to fulfill your duties?

Mrs. Brown: “I would say as important as this job is, full time would be a preferable chunk of time to meet the needs of students. Now I do have people that offer to help me, but it would be great for the students to have someone full time from the counseling aspect.”

Fun Fact: Mrs. Brown’s administrative office (student services) was the same one her father had when he was superintendent, and her classroom had previously been used by her sister