As children’s needs increase, school counselors turn to Grant Wood AEA for help

COGGON — As a teacher and coach in the North Linn Community School District, Sarah Meyer sometimes would be approached by students trying to deal with “traumatic” circumstances.

“They wanted my help, advice and support,” she said. “I thought maybe I’m supposed to be doing something else.”

That’s when Meyer decided to pursue a master's degree in school counseling. Now she is the school counselor to about 250 students in grades K-5 at North Linn Elementary School in Coggon.

“Kids worry a lot more than we ever used to,” Meyer said. “I don’t remember ever going to school and wondering, ‘How’s my mom today?’ Kids are coming in and worrying about their mom or about new things like divorce or a new baby. Changes are hard for kids.”

Some years, Meyer feels equipped to be the only school counselor in the building. Other years, she wishes there were “seven of us.”

Third grader Gannon Carson raises his hand to answer a question during a ‘Leader in Me’ lesson on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at North Linn Elementary School in Coggon, . Iowa’s Area education agency system has identified a growing need for supporting school counselors, and each AEA has staff assigned to support K-12 schools with this need, including the program in Meyer’s classroom. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

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Third grader Gage Port fills out his proactive language worksheet during a ‘Leader in Me’ lesson on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at North Linn Elementary School in Coggon, . Iowa’s Area education agency system has identified a growing need for supporting school counselors, and each AEA has staff assigned to support K-12 schools with this need, including the program in Meyer’s classroom. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

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Third grade students fill out a worksheet about proactive language during a ‘Leader in Me’ lesson on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2023, at North Linn Elementary School in Coggon, . Iowa’s Area education agency system has identified a growing need for supporting school counselors, and each AEA has staff assigned to support K-12 schools with this need, including the program in Meyer’s classroom. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)

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“We have to be experts in so many areas. You never know what challenge is going to be brought to you,” Meyer said.

The Grant Wood Area Education Agency, which provides educational services to local schools, is lending a hand to school counselors like Meyer by adding two full-time school counselor consultants to the agency. Grant Wood AEA serves the seven counties of Linn, Johnson, Jones, Benton, Cedar, Iowa and Washington.

“Unilaterally, across our seven county area, every building has shared an increased need for supporting student social-emotional needs, behavior needs, academic needs and help with leading students to be future-ready,” said Maria Cashman, Grant Wood AEA’s director of special education and associate chief administrator.

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“Our focus is on the whole child, and the needs of the whole child are increasing with the increased complexity of today’s world,” Cashman said. “Our AEA has been increasing resources in school counselor consultants and in staff who can help buildings begin thinking about student needs beyond the classroom and beyond graduation.”

A school counselor often is the only school counselor in the building or — in small, rural schools — the only school counselor in the district.

School counselors help students with academic planning and goal setting, manage emotions and plan for postsecondary options. They provide short-term counseling to students, refer students to longer-term mental health support and collaborate with families, teachers and administrators to help a student succeed.

While Meyer does work closely with Jaci Hilmer, the school counselor for North Linn’s middle and high school students, it’s not the same as having a peer who counsels the same age-group of students to bounce ideas off, they both said.

The Grant Wood AEA staff, however, is “so knowledgeable,” Meyer said. As a school counselor, “We have to be an expert in everything, it’s nice to have someone else who can help with research.”

Hilmer said Grant Wood AEA’s school counselor consultants are a great support system. “You can’t plan for a day in the school counseling role. You never know what’s going to walk through your door. Your day can shift very quickly,” she said.

The ideal case load for a school counselor is one counselor for every 250 students, according to the American School Counselor Association. Iowa, however has on average 400 students to every one school counselor.

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Grant Wood AEA school counselor consultants Debra Brokaw and Aimee Hospodarsky, who previously had both been teachers and school counselors, spent a lot of time last year making sure they had the correct contact information of every school counselor in the seven-county region.

From there, Brokaw and Hospodarsky asked school counselors what type of learning opportunities they wanted. They found that school counselors new to the profession wanted more support as they navigated their first few years in the job.

Hospodarsky recalled the learning curve her first few years on the job. She wasn’t sure how to help students apply for financial aid for college or the deadline for students to take the ACT standardized test for college admissions.

This year, Brokaw and Hospodarsky will continue to develop professional learning opportunities for Eastern Iowa school counselors tailored to their needs. They also are available to school counselors by email or phone.

“One thing we work with school counselors on is ‘How do I get this all done? How do I balance all of this?’ We help them track their time, data-informed way of how they’re spending their time, so they feel like they can be more efficient and effective,” Hospodarsky said.

They are finding ways to help school counselors support students “in the increasing complexity of today’s world,” said Brokaw.

“It’s a hard job, but it’s also incredibly, incredibly rewarding,” Hospodarsky said.

Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com