Tag Archives: School Counselors

Alaska teacher and State Senator Jan Faiks

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Jan Faiks

Alaska teacher and state senator Jan Faiks working with her llamas.

Talented classroom teachers often go on to have successful careers in politics. One teacher who proves this to be true is Jan Faiks, a math teacher and school counselor who served in the Alaska State Senate.

Janice O. Faiks was born on November 17, 1945, at Mitchel Air Force Base in New York. As a young girl, she attended Choctawhatchee High School, where she graduated in 1964. After her high school graduation, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at Florida State University in 1967. She earned a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, in 1975.

After college, Jan taught mathematics and worked as a school counselor in the Anchorage School District. She worked there from 1968 to 1978. In addition to her work in the classroom, the educator was well known for operating a llama farm.

In 1982, Jan was elected to the Alaska State Senate on the Republican ticked. She served two terms, and became the first woman president of the Alaska State Senate. While there, her biggest claim to fame was that she was one of the key legislators to create the Constitutional Budge Reserve, a savings fund for surplus tax revenues that could be used in times of economic downturn.

After her service in the state senate, Jan moved to Washington, DC, where she earned a law degree from Georgetown Law Center. She worked for several years as a Congressional staff member. She also served briefly as an assistant secretary with the Mine Safety and Health Administration at the US Labor Department. Finally, she became a lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). She retired in 2013.

After her retirement, Jan relocated to Amelia Island, Florida. There the former teacher was diagnosed with brain cancer, and five months later passed away on April 10, 2017. She was 71 years old. You can read her obituary at Anchorage Daily News.

School Violence Prevention Counselors Could Help Prevent Tragedies

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As a nation, we are now attempting to recover from yet another school shooting, this latest one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which claimed the lives of 14 students and three teachers. The tragedy has sparked yet another heated debate about best practices for protecting students in our nation’s schools. Much of the current debate has centered around such strategies as enforcing stricter gun control laws, strengthening mental health services, bettering law enforcement responses to reported threats, and arming teachers in schools. Are there any other strategies that could be considered? I think so.

After the Columbine shooting, the California legislature mandated that a school violence prevention counselor be placed in every high school. Unfortunately, state funding for these positions was cut about a decade ago when the economic downturn hit, but it would certainly be a good idea to consider passing a similar mandate on a federal level.

A school violence prevention counselor can develop beneficial instructional programs on such topics as anger management, conflict resolution, anti-bullying, stress management, depression, or domestic violence. As for “see something, say something,” there are times when a student may be more willing to share about a potential threat with a counselor than with a resource officer, who, as a policeman, may seem like an intimidating person to approach. School violence prevention counselors have been specially trained to recognize and respond to potential threats, serving as a front-line defense. Because they have more training, more resources, and more time than other school personnel, they are better able to sift through rumors and reports and identify those threats that are the most likely to pose real danger. They may even be able to reduce the tensions that sometimes give rise to violent incidents.

When considering strategies for preventing further tragedies like the ones that have occurred at Columbine and Stoneman Douglas, it’s important to remember that there is no one single fix. We must use a combination of approaches that are both vigorous and innovative. Let’s include federal funding for the training and hiring of school violence prevention counselors in the conversation.

 

 

Michelle Obama recognizes Michigan’s Terri Tchorzynski as School Counselor of the Year

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In previous posts I have expressed my strong belief that, like classroom teachers, school counselors are chalkboard champions, too. So it truly excites me to discover that our nation’s First Lady, Michelle Obama, also values the hard work and commitment these dedicated professionals provide to our young people. In a White House ceremony held Friday, January 6, Mrs. Obama honored fifty of our nation’s most talented school counselors, and recognized one of them, Terri Tchorzynski from Battle Creek, Michigan, as the School Counselor of the Year.

Terri works at the Calhoun Area Career Center in Battle Creek, Michigan. A graduate of Central Michigan University and Spring Arbor University, this dedicated educator has been a high school counselor for seven years. Previous to her service in this capacity, Terri served as an English teacher and girls’ varsity basketball coach. One of Terri’s most impressive achievements as a counselor was the creation of school-wide college-readiness program.

The ceremony to recognize the work of school counselors is part of Mrs. Obama’s Reach Higher initiative. The fifty finalists who attended the White House event were selected by the American School Counselor Association. The criteria used to select the honorees include creative school counseling innovations, effective school counseling programs, leadership skills, and contributions to student achievement.

Well done, Terri, and congratulations to the 49 other honorees! As Mrs. Obama said, “You are Heroes!”

Let’s Celebrate Our Nation’s School Counselors

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TeacherAppleTN1[1]This week, February 2-6, is National School Counseling Week 2015. The purpose of this celebration is to focus public attention on the unique contributions by professional school counselors within American school systems.

National School Counseling Week highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping our students to achieve school success. Day in and day out, these dedicated professionals labor tirelessly to help ensure the academic success, personal achievement, and emotional well-being of our kids.

On the campus where I work, their commitment to the success of each student starts with their very first interaction with students through their eighth grade outreach programs, and continues with assisting the freshmen with their graduation requirements plans, one-on-one meetings with English-language learners, counseling students who are failing classes, helping students who are lacking credits with strategies for credit recovery, and making sure seniors are on track to graduate. In between all this heavy-duty work, counselors help students find scholarships to fund their post-graduation education programs, write letters of recommendation, judge senior projects, and attend IEP meetings. And as if all that wasn’t enough, they also organize small group counseling sessions to help students deal with such issues as bullying, smoking-cessation, teen parenting, or bereavement. When the inevitable quarrels between students arise, they serve as competent conflict resolution facilitators, and they have even been known to mediate the occasional dispute between a student and a teacher. And then, just to top it all off, if—God forbid—some tragedy such as a fatal traffic accident or a suicide strikes, school counselors quickly mobilize into a highly-effective crisis management team.

Phenomenal, aren’t they? Chalkboard champions, in the truest sense of the word.

School Counselors are Chalkboard Champions, Too

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chalkboard2[1]This week, while I was absorbed in volunteer work for my school’s Scholarship Committee, I was reminded once again of how amazing our school counselors are. Day in and day out, these dedicated professionals labor tirelessly to help ensure the academic success, personal achievement, and emotional well-being of our kids. Their commitment to the success of each student starts with their very first interaction with students through their eighth grade outreach programs, and continues with assisting the freshmen with their graduation requirements plans, one-on-one meetings with English-language learners, counseling students who are failing classes, helping students who are lacking credits with strategies for credit recovery, and making sure seniors are on track to graduate. In between all this heavy-duty work, counselors help students find scholarships to fund their post-graduation education programs, write letters of recommendation, judge senior projects, and attend IEP meetings. And as if all that wasn’t enough, they also organize small group counseling sessions to help students deal with such issues as bullying, smoking-cessation, teen parenting, or bereavement. When the inevitable quarrels between students arise, they serve as competent conflict resolution facilitators, and they have even been known to mediate the occasional dispute between a student and a teacher. And then, just to top it all off, if—God forbid—some tragedy such as a fatal traffic accident or a suicide strikes, school counselors quickly mobilize into a highly-effective crisis management team. Phenomenal, aren’t they? Chalkboard champions, in the truest sense of the word.