have an aura of confidentiality. Mr. Thelen made use of alternatives. He
observed whole-class counseling sessions. Not having been teachers,
counselors needed his expertise with “lesson planning” and management
issues. With the permission of the students involved, he also observed
small-group sessions for students facing similar issues. Finally, there is
no confidentiality involved when observing a counseling session to help a
student determine her program for the coming school year.
Principal Thelen found he also needed to deal with the inherent conflict
between security personnel and the guidance staff. On the surface, the
responsibilities of each are diametrically opposed. Security’s responsibil-
ity is to make sure the school runs well for students and staff and to mete
out the prescribed punishment to any student who disrupts the classroom
or the school. Guidance’s responsibility is to advocate for each child and
help integrate each into the fabric of the school. The former saw the latter
as mollycoddlers; the latter saw the former as nothing less than agents of
a police state. Principal Thelen brought both sides together and found they
could agree to the following:
- If the security staff, the deans, and the assistant principal of security saw
that a student referred for disciplinary reasons had underlying issues, this
student would be referred to her counselor for follow-up advisement. - If the guidance staff saw that a student referred did not really have un-
derlying issues but was basically in need of some discipline, they would
send the student to the dean’s office. - A student’s guidance counselor would be invited by the deans to partici-
pate in meetings with students’ parents and in suspension hearings.
Over time, the two entities began to see that each was the flip side of a
coin. In truth, both tried to help the individual student and the school but
used techniques appropriate to their different roles.
Another important segment of the school community is the secretarial
staff. One of Ms. Valletta’s first new teacher workshops had as a topic,
“Who are the most important persons in the school for a new teacher?”
School leaders take note: The principal is not at the top of this list. This
slot belongs to the principal’s secretary—for a prospective teacher would
never have even seen the principal for an interview had he not passed her
Remember the Support Staff 149