Counseling has been beneficial to district

Two new positions in the Monticello Community School District, shared with Anamosa, are reaping positive benefits for the district, according to a school counselor’s report delivered at the work session of the Monticello School Board, Jan. 8. 

In addition to the high school, middle school and elementary school counselor positions, the district now benefits from the work of K-12 social worker Samantha Hosch and K-12 school counselor Sammy Grippo. 

High school counselor Carmen Stenger reported some positive statistics to the board that have taken place since Hosch and Grippo came on board at the start of this school year. 

The biggest one, she said, was that the number of chronically absent students – those who miss at least 10 percent of school days – has dropped 25, from 107 to 82. 

“That was a ‘wow’ number for me,” Stenger told the board. 

Nine more students are involved in school-based therapy than last year, an increase of 44 percent; and 11 additional students are being supported by Operation Backpack (27 percent). 

The district has also seen increased participation in the National Postsecondary Strategy Institute (NPSI), which helps students develop education and career pathways for their lives after high school. 

Hosch’s main focus, according to the report, is to provide weekly individual counseling to students who need it; at this point there are eight with two more soon to be added. She also does weekly check-ins on three students, assists families in connecting with community resources, makes home visits, and more. 

As K-12 school counselor, Grippo does weekly check-ins with nine students, bi-weekly check-ins with 11 more, is involved in backpack program coordination, makes home visits as needed, as well as other tasks. 

All of these are examples, Stenger said, “of things that are happening this year that weren’t really possible in the past.”