Counselor Communiqué
August, 2015
Welcome Back!
By C. Eallonardo
First, we want to welcome everyone back for the start of another school year and we hope
you all enjoyed your summer break!
As we start the year, we’ve had a few changes in the counseling department. Ms. Orick
has left us to join the “Shark Tank” over at Islands High School, but Mrs. Fell has flown over to
join our Seahawk Flock, and I, Ms. Eallonardo, am very glad to have her on our team! We are
also changing which student is assigned to which counselor. Rather than going by grade level,
students will now have the same counselor for all three years while they are at CMS as we’ve
gone to a “Last Name”-model. So, now it’s:
-
Last names A-L: Mrs. Fell
Last names M-Z: Ms. Eallonardo
An Introduction
By J. Fell
I wanted to quickly introduce myself! My name is Jennifer Fell and I am excited to be at
Coastal Middle School as a School Counselor. Last year my time was split between May
Howard and Marshpoint Elementary Schools so I know many of our 6th graders already. Before
that I had a 16 + year career in the banking industry. I finished my counseling education at
Georgia Southern (Go Eagles!) in 2013 and am currently working on my Specialist degree in
school counseling through Valdosta State University. When not in school working with these
wonderful students I enjoy spending time with my large extended family and being outdoors
with my husband. Please feel free to contact me for anything your family may need. I look
forward to a great year!
Beginning of Year Surveys and Paperwork
By C. Eallonardo
If you missed our Open House on the 4th, there were a couple of surveys we are asking
people to take to help us in the Seahawk Counseling Corner to best tailor our services for our
community in the 2015-2016 year. One is for parents/guardians and can be found by either
clicking or copy and pasting: http://tinyurl.com/CMSparent2015 . Our other survey is for the
students and is located at http://tinyurl.com/CMSstudent2015 . All responses are completely
anonymous and will be of a great help to us in formulating our coming year!
And it’s time for the annual home language survey. Fortunately, we have been informed
this will be the last year you will have to fill this out! We will be sending paper copies home on
Monday, August 10th, with our students but if you would like to get a head start we have attached
a copy to this email as well as uploaded a blank copy to the counseling portion of the CMS
website. You can fill it out then either send it back to your child’s homeroom teacher or scan a
copy and email it to me. You can also send an email to Miss Eallonardo with your
child’s/children’s first and last name(s), homeroom(s), current grade level(s), and what
language(s) they speak fluently.
Home Language Surveys will be due back to the school no later than Wednesday,
August 19.
How Does Attendance Work?
By C. Eallonardo
While it may seem a little soon to be thinking about being out of school, we thought it
would help to answer some common questions we get on our end to give everyone a little more
insight into school attendance at the very beginning of the school year. We’re looking to start
increasing the number of days our kids are present at school. A child who misses 4 days a
quarter or 7 days a semester may not seem like much, but that’s three whole weeks of class time
missed out of a school year once you tally all of those days up! Kids who miss 15 or more days
tend to perform lower on tests and have lower grades than their peers who are in school.
1. What counts as a “full school day missed”?
If your child misses at least four blocks (classes) from school, then we have to count that as
“one day” when calculating attendance. This becomes especially important towards the end of
the year when the attendance committee needs to tally up how many days a student was out of
school to promote a child to the next grade.
2. What is the difference between “excused”, “unexcused”, and “unverified” absences?
Excused: From the student handbook- Absences are excused for personal illness, serious
illness or death of a student’s immediate family member, observance of religious holidays, active
duty military family leave, orders of governmental agencies, conditions rendering attendance
impossible or hazardous to student health or safety, or participation in approved school activities.
A parent/guardian may also excuse up to 5 (five) days per school year with a hand written
note if their child needs to stay home sick.
An excused absence also includes being placed on hospital homebound services (where a
child needs to be out of school for an extended period of time for medical reasons). Any student
whose parent/legal guardian is being sent overseas for active duty or returning from active duty
shall be granted up to a maximum of five (5) excused absences per school year.
Unexcused: These are absences where the parent/guardian has submitted an excuse for the
days their child was out of school, but the reason for the child’s absence was not “acceptable”.
Some examples of this would be:
-
Parent/Guardian has exhausted their handwritten notes (they are over the five day
limit for the year)
Going on vacation
Going shopping
Visiting schools not in the SCCPSS district
Unverified: No excuse has been turned in for the time missed from school at all.
3. How do I make sure my child’s attendance is up to date?
The easiest way to keep track of your child’s attendance- and their grades, too- is by using
“Parent Access”. This isn’t available just yet if you aren’t set up for it, but once it is, we will let
you know the process on how to get it. Along with being able to see grades and attendance, you
can see exactly which assignments are missing and the individual grades your child has received
in each class.
School Bus Stops
By C. Eallonardo
If you haven’t had a chance already, take a look at the updated school bus stop locator on
the district website. Just type in your address, at least those of you who are zoned for CMS, and
you will see the closest bus stop and what time your child will be picked up. The link to the
locator is https://ewa.edulogweb.com/CHATHAMGANT1web/webquery/ .
Jennifer Fell
Christa Eallonardo
Email: Jennifer.fell@sccpss.com
Email:christa.eallonardo@sccpss.com
Serves last names A-L
Serves last names M-Z