Schools

A Pleasant Surprise: Tosa Schools Get $1 Million Grant for Counseling

New model breaks down the walls of the 'guidance office' and spreads the message throughout the building and beyond.

It was the kind of phone call you love to get, although it was disconcerting to Therese Kwiatkowski in the moment after she picked up.

"Out of the blue, I got a call from Senator (Herb) Kohl's office," said Kwiatkowski, director of student services for the . "At first I was a little worried — like, 'What did we do?'

"But lo and behold, they told me we had gotten this grant."

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This almost $1 million grant.

That was just a few weeks ago. Kwiatkowski and her staff had submitted a grant application for student counseling programs to the U.S. Department of Education in February 2010, more than a year-and-a-half ago. And had been turned down.

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"They funded 42 of 616 districts that applied nationwide," she said. "They told us that Tosa had scored 96 out of 100 in the judging, but we weren't funded. There was just only so much money to go around."

The odd thing was that Tosa hadn't reapplied for the grant this year but was funded anyway — not usually the way federal grants work.

The grant covers three years and totals $991,392, with $333,188 already in place for use this year. This time around, Wauwatosa was one of only 43 districts funded, in amounts ranging from $213,000 to $400,000 a year, putting Tosa's award toward the high end of the scale.

The lion's share of the award money will fund 3.5 new guidance counseling positions for the district. But the spirit behind the grant is not just the extra staff.

All for one and one for all

Tosa is among districts changing the way guidance counseling is thought of, and those new minds will be helping to implement the ideas that gave Tosa a 96/100 score.

"This is about providing guidance and advocacy for all students from kindergarten through grade 12," Kwiatkowski said, "not just for the at-risk and the overachievers."

Parents can dismiss the memory of being sent to the counselor, for good or ill and by appointment only — although one-on-one counseling is not going away and will even be enhanced by the grant program.

"It's not, 'Go down to the guidance office, someone will see you now,' " said Dean Heus, supervisor of student services and school psychologist. "It's, 'What are we doing to support learning for the other 80 to 90 percent of students?' "

There are three major areas that will be targeted by the grant program:

  • Transitions – "Not just from elementary to middle school and then middle to high school," Heus said, "and not just when it's about to happen, but maybe in the summer before eighth grade or even in seventh grade – whenever it's needed."
  • Career and college readiness – "We'll be doing career exploration K through 12," Heus said. Student interest and aptitude will be sought, identified and nurtured from the beginning, not just in the last years of schooling. That doesn't mean kids will be targeted and narrowly channeled. It means their interests will be encouraged and advanced.
  • Advocacy and equity – The great grab bag of human experience and behavior that includes dealing with diversity, cultural differences, misunderstandings and bullying, to name just a few of the forces that kids deal with in and out of school, every day.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

More even than that, the program seeks to advance guidance throughout the building and beyond, and certainly outside the guidance office.

"What are we doing systemically?" Heus asks. "What's interesting is that we moved ahead with it anyway. We weren't going to wait for the grant.

"You can see it in 'Abe's Way' at Lincoln Elementary. It's 'the Trojan Way' at West High, 'Raider Respect' at East, the 'Three Be's' at Wilson – 'Be safe, be respectful, be responsible.'"

At the heart of the program is something called PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention and Support.

"It's pumping life into acknowledging what we want to see," Heus said. "We call it 'By all and for all.' It's a team effort, not just guidance counselors but the whole school getting in the act."

In a nuts-and-bolts sense, the 3.5 new guidance counselors will take up some caseload, but each hire will also be identified as a specialist in one of the target areas of transition, career and equity, Heus said.

But when the three years of the grant are up — as much as the district would like to retain its grant-funded positions — it shouldn't really matter if they aren't funded. The plan will goes on.

"Sustainability is the goal," Heus said. "By then, we are all part of the team. We no longer have to rely on that one person who was so great, but who then retired or decided to leave. We have made it systemic.

And, said Heus, fresh back from a meeting with federal program managers, "If we do it well we can leverage it and be in a position to go for more grants. If we become a 'program of distinction,' you can potentially get on a roll."

As for implementing the program, Heus said, it is happening. The funds are already in place.

"We've started to post (the positions)," he said. "We can go whole hog. We can really go forth and conquer."


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