Greenwich High School
Guidance Department
th
8 Grade Transition Info for Parents whose Students
Receive Special Education Services

Each student will be assigned a school counselor in addition to their special education
monitor, who will work with them throughout their four years of high school.

Families will learn about their school counselor in April, when the House placements are
announced to all incoming students and their parents.

For students in the three middle schools, the 8th Grade school counselor will enter the
course requests for 9th grade at GHS. The 8th Grade counselor works with the teachers
in the 8th grade team, the students, and the parents to determine course requests that will
provide a manageable academic challenge for each student. The goal is to keep the
doors open to a variety of opportunities after high school.

The 8th grade school counselor and the 9th grade school counselor communicate with
each other on behalf of their students, as do the 8th grade special education monitor and
the 9th grade special education monitor.

Course materials (the GHS Course of Study Guide, and other paperwork used to select
courses) will be distributed to students at the three middle schools in late February / early
March.

There is a parent orientation held at GHS in February. We begin in the Performing Arts
Center with an overview of the programs of study, and each program (academic
department, i.e. English, Math, Science) will have representatives available for individual
questions after the overview.

The Greenwich High School Counselor will attend the Transition PPT in April in the
student’s new house. The 9th grade schedule of courses will be discussed and any
changes to the course requests that are needed will be made at that time.

At GHS, 9th graders typically have Resource Room on their schedule full time (6 times a
cycle). This gives them a full credit (1.0) elective for the year. If students have Resource
Room 3 times a cycle, this gives them .5 credit elective for the year.

We spend the spring and summer months creating the master schedule at GHS. Actual
course schedules are distributed to students on the first day of school, which for 9 th
graders will be an Orientation day prior to the official start of school for all students.