Special Announcement
This will be the last Counselor Connection newsletter you will receive from me. I will be transitioning to a district-level position within Boone County Schools.
For the past 19 months, I have truly enjoyed collaborating with all of you! Your dedication and hard work are an inspiration of the positive path our profession has statewide. I will continue to support the statewide counselors as president of the Kentucky School Counselor Association in the coming year.
Kentucky School-Based Mental Health Provider Overview
To promote advocacy for the roles of school-based mental health providers, a Kentucky School-Based Mental Health Provider overview document has been created to include all four types of providers (school counselors, school social workers, school psychologists and school-based therapists). The overview provides recommendations based on state and national associations, including appropriate roles, student-to-provider ratio, professional certificates and helpful websites.
Statewide School Counselor Use of Time Templates
The School Safety and Resilience Act requires superintendents to submit school-based mental health provider use of time annually by Nov. 1.
To help make this process more efficient, statewide use of time templates are available for school counselors. These templates offer different platforms that take no more than 2-3 minutes daily to document the use of time spent with students and other activities that may be assigned for their role.
Keeping your use of time also helps with advocating for your role and assigned activities to allow students more access.
Seeking Dropout Prevention Coordinators/Similar Roles for Participation in a Professional Learning Community
The KDE Division of Student Success is seeking participants who play a role in dropout prevention at the district or school level to participate in a professional learning community.
The group will meet quarterly to learn and share school- and district-level strategies, as well as ways to navigate the challenges around supporting systems of interventions and support for persisting toward graduation. The meetings with be virtual and there will be an opportunity to meet in-person at the annual Persistence to Graduation Summit in 2024.
If you are interested or know of someone who would be a good fit and is interested in participating, please add their name, role and contact information on the Dropout Prevention Coordinators Professional Learning Community Google form by Sept. 15.
If you have any questions, please contact Michelle Wilson or Judi Vanderhaar.
Course Data Standard Updates for Virtual Courses
There are several changes to the Course Data Standard for the 2023-2024 school year.
Teaching Method Updates
There is a new teaching method, "20: Blended Instruction," that should be utilized for online/virtual courses that use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning facilitated through a digital content provider and a Kentucky-certified teacher.
Also, the definition of teaching method "10: Digital Learning Provider" is being updated to, "An online/virtual course utilizing a digital content provider with a Kentucky-certified teacher as the teacher of record, largely in an asynchronous format (excluding credit recovery courses)."
New Type Coming Soon!
There will be a new type called "Attendance-Based Online/Virtual" for the 2023-2024 school year. This type should be used for online/virtual courses that use daily attendance tracking rather than performance-based completion to determine credits and funding and described in 704 KAR 3:535. The attendance check box must be checked with this type.
Relatedly, you may wish to check out the Attendance Tracking for Full-Time Virtual Students document for information on setting up blended learning groups.
Unfortunately, Infinite Campus was not able to get this change out yet, however, they are working to get this added as soon as they can. We will let you know as soon as it becomes available and hope you'll plan ahead to make time to update any courses where this type would be appropriate to use. It will be safe to make this change after the school year has started.
In the meantime, please leave the type blank for these courses. A Guidance Document for Setting Up Online/Virtual and Attendance-Based Courses in Infinite Campus will be available to help you understand when it is appropriate to use this type and will be included in this newsletter upon its release.
KDE Legislative Guidance for Non-Emergent Bills
These bills passed during the 2023 legislative session may be of interest for school counseling professionals to ensure you are up to date on the latest legislative changes.
The 2023 regular session of the Kentucky General Assembly adjourned March 30. Per Attorney General opinion 23-03, the effective date of legislation, other than general appropriation bills and acts containing emergency or delayed effective date provisions, passed during this session was June 29, 2023.
 Kentucky School Counselor of the Year Erica Lewis
Shout Outs!
American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Conference
The 2023 ASCA National Conference took place July 15-18 in Atlanta. Kentucky had a large presence as attendees and presenters!
The Kentucky School Counselor of the Year Erica Lewis from Fayette County Public Schools was celebrated as well.
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