The Pershing Counseling department provides services to meet the needs of assigned students, consults with teachers, staff and parents to enhance effectiveness in helping students, and provides support to other educational programs.  The counselors are also available to counsel individuals and small groups of students with problems and refer students with complications to appropriate program specialists or community agencies.

What problems can I bring to my counselor?

Your counselor can assist with school, family and personal issues.  Most conversations with a counselor are kept confidential.  Your counselor will talk to you more about the limits of confidentiality.

I am being teased and/or bullied.  What can the counselor do to help me?

The most important thing to realize about bullying is that we need to know that it is happening to you before we can do anything to help.  Once we know what is happening, we can take steps to help remedy the situation.  The steps we take include but are not limited to:

• Helping you develop appropriate responses to bullying.
• Conducting student mediations and establishing social agreements.
• Maintaining contact with administrators about the situation and recommending disciplinary action when appropriate.

I have concerns about my schedule.  Can I get it changed?

Schedule concerns should be expressed to the student’s Assistant Principal.  At that time, the Assistant Principal will document the concern and present it to the principal.  Each situation is considered individually and, if appropriate, a schedule change is made.

*Schedules cannot be changed after the 10^th school day of each semester.

Submitting a schedule change request does not guarantee that a change will be made.  There are many considerations that go into building student schedules, and it is not common practice for schedules to be changed unless there are obvious errors or extreme circumstances.

Please do not hesitate to contact the counselors if you have any questions about how to improve your school experience.  We will always work to answer your questions and/or help you get connected with the appropriate resources.