Job Title:  School Counselor                                                                             Wage/Hour Status: Exempt

Reports to: Principal or designee                                                                      Pay Grade: AD 2                                                                                                                                                                                          

Dept./School: Assigned Campus                                                                        Initiated Date: January 2025     

WHO WE ARE

La Joya Independent School District (ISD) is committed to excellence for students and our community. We have a strong, 100-year legacy in the Rio Grande Valley. The district’s vision - Educational Excellence: The Right of Every Student - conveys our urgent focus on students.

Our work is rooted in five district priorities, which require collaboration and deep commitment to supporting one another as we serve the community. 

1. Customer Service
2. Trust & Transparency
3. High-Quality Instruction
4. Excellence in Leadership
5. Integrity & Accountability

We are focused on ensuring every student in La Joya ISD has access to a high-quality, best-fit school as we work to improve to become an A-rated district. We serve more than 22,000 students in more than 30 schools and span six municipalities, covering more than 220 square miles.

WHY LA JOYA ISD

You will be joining a district that is building on a legacy of achievement while rapidly improving and creating systems to reach new heights for student outcomes. You will receive intentional, targeted support in your leadership journey and have access to the highest-quality, research-based resources and instructional materials. We are also a district focused on continuous improvement and rigorous analysis of where we need to grow and learn.

PRIMARY PURPOSE:

Plan, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive school counseling program at assigned campus. Counsel students to fully develop each student’s academic, career, personal, and social abilities and address the needs of special population students. Deliver guidance curriculum in various group sizes. Educate students of skills necessary to address troublesome circumstances, support students in challenging situations, and assist students with needed resources to navigate crisis situations.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education/Certification:

• Master’s degree required; preferred in Education, Counseling or related field
• Valid Texas Counseling Certification required
• Current certification or evidence of training in CPI ,TBRI, Restorative Practices, and PBIS preferred

Experience:

• Minimum of three year’s teaching experience 

Special Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrated ability to support all types of students, including students with special needs and Emergent Bilingual students
• Deep knowledge of school counseling programs and educational evidence-based practices
• Knowledgeable in the physical, mental and emotional child development process
• Experience in using and interpreting data to inform decision-making processes that allow for intentional actions and lead to improved student achievement 
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills (written and oral)
• Strong organizational and collaboration skills
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) preferred

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES

Professional Growth

Serve as a transformational educator working to create a best-in-class learning environment.

Participate in professional development and training to improve skills related to job assignment.

Foster collegiality and team building among staff members.

Provide for two-way communication with staff, students, parents, and community.

Demonstrate professional, ethical, and responsible behavior. Serve as a role model for students.

Commit to professional growth through active participation in reading workshops, seminars, conferences, and/or other designated professional learning.

Guidance Curriculum

1. Plan, organize, implement, and deliver structured group lessons according to the district’s guidance curriculum to improve students’ interpersonal and intrapersonal effectiveness, personal health and safety, post-secondary planning and readiness, and other developmental needs.
2. Teach the school guidance curriculum components through the use of effective instructional strategies and planned structured groups considering diverse student populations and needs for differentiated instruction.
3. Work with students, staff, parents or guardians, and the community to identify priorities where students will be served through the guidance curriculum component. Collaborate across curricular areas to integrate guidance lessons into content area curriculum.
4. Create a balanced curriculum by using well-planned and intentional activities and materials, incorporating guest speakers, and offering engaging delivery techniques, including technology tools.

Responsive Services

1. Use accepted theories and effective techniques of developmental guidance to respond to problematic or critical incidents to support students and offer services in time of need.
2. Use preventive activities to remove barriers that interfere with a student’s educational, career, personal, and social development.
3. Implement remediation practices to assist students in coping with problem situations or unwise choices. Identify precipitating and antecedent factors, effective and ineffective approaches to dealing with the circumstances, and provide feedback to guide future decisions.
4. Use specialized skills to support students in crisis situations requiring immediate response. Maintain a healthy and safe school environment by collaborating with district staff, parents or guardians, and local officials.
5. Provide continued support to students in need through individual counseling, small group counseling, consultation, or referral to services outside the school or district.
6. Serve as an impartial, non-reporting resource for interpersonal conflicts and discourse involving two or more students, including accusations of bullying.
7. May serve on district or campus behavioral threat assessment and safe and supportive schools team.

Individual Planning

1. Create school counseling services that are developmental and age appropriate and provide information or literature that highlights related topics to students, teachers, and administrators.
2. Assist individual students and their parents or guardians in monitoring their academic, career, personal, and social development as they progress in school.
3. Act as a student advocate, leader, collaborator, and systems change agent. Advocate for a school environment that acknowledges and respects diversity and ensures equitable access and placement in courses and programs for minority, disenfranchised, homeless, and other special populations.
4. Interpret standardized test results, offer career development activities, provide strategies for grade level transitions, and guide students in individual goal setting and planning including creating and reviewing personal graduation plans and providing information about post-secondary opportunities.

System Support

1. Collect, summarize, and interpret testing data to plan, create interventions, guide students, and address specific student needs.
2. Conduct an annual program audit to inform accountability, action plans, time management, and systemic change.
3. Participate in campus-based school improvement planning and goal setting.
4. Provide parent or guardian and staff training and consultation to foster student educational, career, personal, and social development.
5. Clearly articulate and communicate the counseling program’s management system and related program action plans to campus and district staff, parents or guardians, and the community.
6. Participate in staff development and continuing education opportunities to improve job-related skills and research to identify best practices in implementing a comprehensive school counseling program.

Other Related Duties

1. Compile, maintain, and file all reports, records, and other documents.
2. Comply with policies established by federal and state law, State Board of Education rule, and board policy. Comply with all district and campus routines and regulations.
3. Adhere to legal, ethical, and professional standards for school counselors including current professional standards of competence and practice.
4. Follow district safety protocols and emergency procedures.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Supervise assigned counseling aide(s) and administrative assistant(s).

Mental Demands/Physical Demands/Environmental Factors:

Tools/Equipment Used: Personal computer and peripherals; standard instructional equipment

Posture: Prolonged sitting; frequent standing, kneeling/squatting, bending/stooping, pushing/pulling, and twisting

Motion: Frequent walking

Lifting: Regular light lifting and carrying (less than 15 pounds); occasional physical restraint of students to control behavior

Environment: Work inside, may work outside

Mental Demands: Maintain emotional control under stress; may work prolonged or irregular hours

POSITION WORKING DAYS
207 days 

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive description of all work requirements and responsibilities, and management reserves the right to revise the job description or require that other responsibilities be performed when the job changes. Additionally, the minimum level of education notated as a requirement could be supplemented by commensurate experience and/or certification(s) or license(s) as determined by the hiring manager.