What’s happening in the Walton Counseling Office??

It’s been an exciting start to the school year.  We have several new folks that are supporting students alongside Mr. Bloor and me (Mrs. Long).  We have a School Counseling Intern, Josie Boehlert (Ms. B), through UVA’s counseling program.  Peter Schmidt and Curt Gleeson are joining us through Safe Schools/Healthy Students.  Karen Ferrer, our school psychologist, and Renee Lundgren, our family support worker, are still active members of the counseling team. 

Mr. Bloor and I have gone in to all grade levels to discuss what counselors do and how we can support Walton students through the counseling office.  We followed that presentation up by going into PE classes at each grade level to do a Needs Assessment.  The Needs Assessment is a student survey where students can sign up to meet with a counselor one on one or through a counseling group.  The survey is done on their laptops through a link that allows it to be completely confidential.  Mr. Bloor and I will be meeting with students that were interested in some level of support in the next few weeks.  If students are interested in participating in a group with their peers, a permission slip will be sent home.

A letter was sent home this week about the School Climate Survey.  Students will be taking the first part of the survey Oct. 15 during their homeroom classes.  The first part is a brief survey asking students about bullying at Walton and suggestions they have for making Walton an even better place.  

Lastly, we are working on adding to the Counseling website.  There is now an Announcements section for upcoming events and we now have a Twitter account.  The twitter feed is also shown on our counseling page for easy access, but we would love to have you follow: WMS Counseling 1.  

~Mrs. Long

School Counselor for students with last names A-L