At enrollment yesterday, we discovered that our school counselor was promoted over the summer. Awesome for her. Sucks for us. However I was trying to be very optimistic when I looked at Rosie and said, “Oh, I can’t wait to meet the new one. I bet she’s great.”
Her reply?
“She’s going to think you’re crazy, you know?”
“No,” I said quickly. “She’ll have a file on us. It will all be documented there. In black and white.” Then I flashed her a great big smile and hoped she couldn’t see through me. Truth is, I’m a little nervous.
I’ve often wondered how many middle school parents actually know their school counselor. Unless you have a child that has a school-issue, has been bullied or has behavioral or health problems, you probably don’t ever interact with them. We’ve spent some quality time with ours the past two years. We’ve gotten to know her and she us. She’s been delightful to work with and we trust her implicitly.
My daughter Rosie has chronic migraines. And, while we tried to deal with them without involving anyone but the school nurse the first year of middle school, we discovered it was impossible in seventh grade. We had a hard time finding the right combinations of medicines and honestly, we’re still not sure what triggers them except extreme stress. Last year was filled with it and unfortunately, we not only missed a lot of school, we had to go to the emergency room for the first time. Twice.
We’ve had a good summer but there’s a little bit of fear and trepidation for both Rosie and I with school just three weeks away. We’re hoping that we can keep Rosie’s stress level down enough to manage the migraines with medication, chiropractic care, massage and biofeedback but know that may be tough. We had an ER visit just this week.
Our counselor was absolutely wonderful at the end of the school year, making accommodations for us without having to involve the social worker at the hospital. We were allowed to forgo any unnecessary work and freeze Rosie’s grades at the point before she went into the hospital. I spent an hour or so with her discussing our options for this year as we’re wondering if we’re going to need a 504 plan for Rosie. She basically said that the school would go out of their way to accommodate her needs without a plan and to call her at the start of August. I felt very calm and assured after our conversation.
So, I was a little bummed yesterday to find out that she’s gone. I’m happy that she has a Vice Principal job now and think it’s well deserved. But, now we have to start all over with a new school counselor. One we’ve never met. She doesn’t know our history, so we have to start from scratch. I’m hoping she does have that big, thick file and can pull it for background before we meet. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Karly says
Oh shoot, that would make me so nervous! But I have incredibly terribly luck, so I’m always nervous. I hope the school year goes OK with the new counselor.
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debcb says
I think it will go fine. I’ve emailed her and we’ll see what she says when we meet. Fingers crossed.
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