Over the past 28 years, Skyline has had six or fewer counselors supporting the entire student body. Now, as concerns over overpopulation grow, the counseling department is feeling the strain. “The American School Counselor Association recommends a caseload of 250:1 for school counselors,” said Kristen Flemer, who has been a counselor at Skyline since 2006. Currently, Skyline counselors serve around 370 students each. “Having a smaller caseload would allow me to [do] much more proactive work with my students and give families a quicker turnaround time when we try to schedule a meeting,” Flemer said.
When Flemer first arrived, Skyline operated a separate 9th grade campus on what is now the site of Pacific Cascade Middle School. Three counselors served roughly 1,600 students in grades 10-12. Over her 19 years at Skyline, the school has evolved into a 9-12th grade campus with approximately 2,200 students and has doubled the counseling staff to six counselors.
This rise in population made students wonder whether scheduling difficulties at the beginning of the year stemmed from the school’s increased enrollment. Anika N., a Skyline High School Sophomore, was placed in a class this year that was different from what she had originally requested. “I thought the issue was just that there were too many kids requesting a class, because of overcrowding,” she said.
However, counseling department head Stephanie Anderson doesn’t attribute the scheduling problems primarily to overpopulation. Instead, she points to the school’s expanded course offerings as the potential source. “More courses does not necessarily mean more options. It does mean there are more unique combinations of scheduling that can happen. Far more classes were only offered one, two, or even three times,” she said, making it difficult to accommodate every class a student requested. “If every class is only once or twice, the numbers seem very big because then this class might have 35 people in it when really, fewer people requested it because they had more options.”
Though counselors assist with scheduling, they’re primarily trained to support students’ social and emotional well-being. Data helps counselors identify struggling students, but Anderson emphasizes that students shouldn’t wait to be called in. “It is true that we’re busy, but I would also hate for that to prevent somebody who did need to talk and might still see me as the scheduling person,” she said. “I love when I get the chance to sit down with a student, [to] get to know them and their goals and talk about their future. There really doesn’t have to be a specific issue going on for a student to come and see me,” Flemer said.
Counselors have drop-in hours for 15 minutes before and after school and during lunch. Students can also email their counselor to schedule a longer meeting at any time throughout the day. Regardless of whether you have something pressing to talk about, getting to know your designated counselor throughout your four years at Skyline is never a bad idea.
Counselors by student last names:
A – CRO: Hayden Kersey [email protected]
CRP – HOO: Todd Caffey [email protected]
HOP – LOP: Megan Rieke [email protected]
LOQ – PAS: Stephanie Anderson [email protected]
PAT – SPE: Adam Dickenson [email protected]
SPF – Z: Kristen Flemer [email protected]
