PSS declares National Counseling Week

Board of Education chair MaryLou Ada hailed the commitment and hard work of school counselors, as Education Commissioner Cynthia Deleon Guerrero, BOE teacher representative Paul Miura, Associate commissioner for Student and Support Services Yvone Pangelinan, and school counselors look on. (Contributed Photo)

Board of Education chair MaryLou S. Ada signed a proclamation last week declaring the week of Feb. 6-10 “Public School System Counselor’s Week.”

This is also a landmark year for the Public School System’s Counseling Program: for the first time, funding will be solely dedicated for training/professional development of school counselors and the Board of Education will be investing more resources for the use of school counselors on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.

“The Board of Education will always be behind you, and I am proud to announce that the Board of Education will be committing funding directly for all of you—for your work,” Ada said during the signing ceremony held at Dandan Middle School Friday morning.

Education Commissioner Cynthia Deleon Guerrero celebrated the announcement with school counselors, administrators and public school students who witnessed the proclamation signing.

The proclamation is in conjunction with the American School Counselor Association, which has sponsored the week of Feb. 6-10 as National School Counseling Week, anchored on the theme, “Helping Students Realize Their Potential.”

“We will be providing for more training opportunities for all of you so that you can continue to help our public school students and your peers,” Ada said. “On behalf of our BOE thank you for your hard work. We love you.”

This week’s celebration will be highlighted with several activities dedicated to public schools’ counselors.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the school district will conduct the Safe Space training for counselors. This training is designed to facilitate competency working with and serving LGBTQ youth.

On Feb. 9 and 10, the Youth Advisory Panel will also hold a separate celebration honoring PSS counselors.

Also on Feb. 9, there will be a Youth Health Summit. This will be conducted in collaboration with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.

Each of the 19 public elementary, middle and high schools on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota will also hold a series of in-school activities celebrating PSS Counselor’s Week.

Following the proclamation, Deleon Guerrero met all the public school counselors and administrators, hailing them for their sacrifices.

“I thank you all for your strength because not everyone could be a counselor,” said Deleon Guerrero, herself a former school counselor. “It was the toughest job that I ever had. The reason why I say that because it requires strength to be able to handle all the challenges in making sure that our public school students are given the necessary preparation and support.”

“Every child comes to our schools everyday because of you: our school counselors who works in partnership with our classroom teachers, school administrators, staff, and our parents,” Deleon Guerrero added.

The current PSS State Counselor of the Year is Patty Mendoza of Dandan Middle School. “I am really excited [about Ada’s] announcement. This is really something, especially that our BOE is going [all out] to support us. This is a good news to hear,” Mendoza said.

Associate commissioner for Students and Support Services Yvonne R. Pangelinan said 2017 is a landmark year for PSS’ counseling program.

“This is a landmark year for us because the Board of Education will begin hearing our proposal to adopt the national counseling standards. We will also be finalizing the Child Abuse and Neglect Policy revision,” Pangelinan said. “The one that is really landmark for us is because the [BOE] is really committing funding for our school counselors’ continued training and providing for more resources.”