Counselor's Meeting

Andrew Chang
Counselor’s Meeting

For years, the counseling program at Arcadia High School has been a statewide leader in innovation and efficiency. From winning the H.B. McDaniel Counseling Award in 2007—given to one school in the state per year—to having our own Ms. Sharon Sandoval win the Counselor of the Year award, it’s quite clear that our school’s counselors have a lot to offer. For that reason, on Dec 4, a meeting was held, comprised of the 8 district heads of the LAUSD, representatives from various schools around the state, and our own counseling staff.

Given Arcadia’s history of excellence, the meeting was called as a discussion of Arcadia’s successful methodology. According to senior counselor Ms. Kathy Rapkin, our school does three great things in particular. First, the Counselor of the Day desk has made great strides: from the days when students had to wait a week to be seen by a counselor to today, where students can be seen almost immediately. Secondly, the SPARC, or Support Personnel Accountability Report Card, is a document sent out to district constituents; by distributing collectible data, the SPARC allows our school to consistently approve with the help of the community. Finally, parent involvement has always been a critical trademark of the AUSD counseling program.

The importance of allocating funds to a successful counseling program cannot be understated. When Senate Bill SB1802 was passed, it allowed enough funding to double the amount of counselors at each school. But with the budget deficit, the funding of SB 1802 eventually become generalized; no longer confined to the counseling budget, the money became the property of California districts to spend on education in general. Arcadia, in spite of this, continued to allocate these funds exclusively within the counseling program. And the success of that decision shows, especially in juxtaposition to some other schools in California who took the opposite approach.

Today, Arcadia High School stands as a school with one of the best counseling programs in the state—but according to Ms. Kathy Rapkin, our improvement has not yet reached its peak. “I hope to improve various aspects of the system, including meeting with parents regarding course selection,” remarked Ms. Rapkin. In the end, the high school’s counseling program truly represents our city as a whole: the best, and getting better.

Andrew Chang
Counselor’s Meeting

For years, the counseling program at Arcadia High School [AHS] has been a statewide leader in innovation and efficiency. From winning the H.B. McDaniel Counseling Award in 2007—given to one school in the state per year—to having our own Ms. Sharon Sandoval win the Counselor of the Year award, it’s quite clear that our school’s counselors have a lot to offer. For that reason, on Dec [Dec.] 4, a meeting was held, comprised of the 8 district heads of the LAUSD, representatives from various schools around the state, and our own counseling staff.

Given Arcadia’s history of excellence, the meeting was called as a discussion of Arcadia’s successful methodology. According to senior counselor Ms. Kathy Rapkin, our school does three great things in particular. First, the Counselor of the Day desk has made great strides: from the days when students had to wait a week to be seen by a counselor to today, where students can be seen almost immediately. Secondly, the SPARC, or Support Personnel Accountability Report Card, [the Support Personnel Accountability Report Card (SPARC)] is a document sent out to district constituents; by distributing collectible data, the SPARC allows our school to consistently approve [approve ____] with the help of the community. Finally, parent involvement has always been a critical trademark of the AUSD counseling program.

The importance of allocating funds to a successful counseling program cannot be understated. When Senate Bill SB1802 [SB 1802] was passed, it allowed enough funding to double the amount of counselors at each school. But with the budget deficit, the funding of SB 1802 eventually become [became] generalized; no longer confined to the counseling budget, the money became the property of California districts to spend on education in general. Arcadia, in spite of this, continued to allocate these funds exclusively within the counseling program. And the success of that decision shows, especially in juxtaposition to some other schools in California who took the opposite approach.

Today, Arcadia High School [AHS] stands as a school with one of the best counseling programs in the state—but according to Ms. Kathy Rapkin, our improvement has not yet reached its peak. “I hope to improve various aspects of the system, including meeting with parents regarding course selection,” remarked Ms. Rapkin. In the end, the [our] high school’s counseling program truly represents our city [Arcadia] as a whole: the best, and getting better.

Andrew Chang
Counselor’s Meeting

For years, the counseling program at AHS has been a statewide leader in innovation and efficiency. From winning the H.B. McDaniel Counseling Award in 2007—given to one school in the state per year—to having our own Ms. Sharon Sandoval win the Counselor of the Year award, it’s quite clear that our school’s counselors have a lot to offer. For that reason, on Dec. 4, a meeting was held, comprised of the 8 district heads of the LAUSD, representatives from various schools around the state, and our own counseling staff.

Given Arcadia’s history of excellence, the meeting was called as a discussion of Arcadia’s successful methodology. According to senior counselor Ms. Kathy Rapkin, our school does three great things in particular. First, the Counselor of the Day desk has made great strides: from the days when students had to wait a week to be seen by a counselor to today, where students can be seen almost immediately. Secondly, the Support Personnel Accountability Report Card (SPARC) is a document sent out to district constituents; by distributing collectible data, the SPARC allows our school to consistently improve with the help of the community. Finally, parent involvement has always been a critical trademark of the AUSD counseling program.

The importance of allocating funds to a successful counseling program cannot be understated. When Senate Bill SB 1802 was passed, it allowed enough funding to double the amount of counselors at each school. But with the budget deficit, the funding of SB 1802 eventually became generalized; no longer confined to the counseling budget, the money became the property of California districts to spend on education in general. Arcadia, in spite of this, continued to allocate these funds exclusively within the counseling program. And the success of that decision shows, especially in juxtaposition to some other schools in California who took the opposite approach.

Today, AHS stands as a school with one of the best counseling programs in the state—but according to Ms. Kathy Rapkin, our improvement has not yet reached its peak. “I hope to improve various aspects of the system, including meeting with parents regarding course selection,” remarked Ms. Rapkin. In the end, our high school’s counseling program truly represents Arcadia as a whole: simply the best, and getting better.