School Counselor - Junior High School

Orchard Farm School District is seeking a school counselor to join our team at Orchard Farm Junior High School for the 2025-2026 school year!

The school counselor will help students overcome problems that impede learning and to assist them in making educational, occupational and life plans that hold promise for their personal fulfillment as mature and responsible men and women.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

An individual who holds this position is responsible for:

• Collects, organizes, and analyzes information about individuals through records, tests, interviews, and professional sources, to appraise their interests, aptitudes, abilities, and personality characteristics, for vocational and educational planning.
• Studies and makes appropriate recommendations relative to student-at-risk program.
• Strives to establish individual relationships with students based upon personal knowledge of their interests, goals, and backgrounds.
• Assists students in developing favorable social attitudes and habits of responsibility.
• Compiles and studies occupational, educational, and economic information to aid counselees in making and carrying out vocational and educational objectives.
• Counsels students to understand and overcome social and emotional problems by helping them to understand and gain control of their social interactions and relationships with others.
• Administers evaluates and interprets group and individual tests as required.
• Provides information relative to educational planning, scheduling and enrollment for students and parents.
• Guides students in helping them to value and appreciate the opinion and contributions of others.
• Assists students in developing problem-solving and decision making skills.
• Serves as a resource person for teachers, administrators, and parents to focus and coordinate the school program for the individual child.
• Provides information relative to vocational planning including specific jobs and various job cluster.
• Assists students and teachers to locate career information related to students' interests and aptitudes, or demonstrates use of, internet, files, shelf collections, and other information retrieval systems.
• Establishes and maintains appropriate working relationships by actively communicating with parents.
• Participates in professional organizations, professional growth activities such as appropriate seminars, courses, workshops, and staff development activities.
• Assists with the collection and maintenance of cumulative records of students.
• Formulates annual recommendations to the Principal for group guidance activities and carries out the agreed upon group guidance program.
• Participates and serves as LEA for IEP meetings.
• Provides group counseling and guidance activities for students and teachers.
• Participate in the transition between buildings.
• Interpret test results to parents including results of the individual screening program, group achievement test and intelligence test.
• Other duties as assigned by the direct supervisor and the superintendent.

Supervisory Duties

In accordance with the Board policies and applicable law.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or higher in school counseling
• Valid Missouri counselor’s certificate
• Complete CPI certification (provided by district)

Skills and Abilities

Language

An individual who holds this position must have the ability to:

• Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations; listens and gets clarification; responds well to questions.
• Writes clearly and informatively; able to read and interpret written information.
• Keep information confidential when required by law, policy or a particular situation
• Must communicate appropriately with students, staff, and parents

Computation

• Ability to compute ratios, percentages and create and interpret graphs and figures

Reasoning

• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts and draw valid conclusions
• Focuses on solving conflict; maintain confidentiality; remains open to others’ ideas and viewpoints.
• Maintains composure, keeps emotions in check, controls anger, and avoids aggressive behavior, even in difficult and stressful situations
• Exhibits sound and accurate judgement, supports and explains reasoning for decisions.

Technology

• Basic computer skills including experience with word processing software, spreadsheet software, development software and Internet.
• Utilize standard office equipment such as copiers, printers and telephone systems.

Physical Demands

• An individual who holds this position must frequently move in and around buildings and grounds to visit classrooms, attend meetings and supervise bus loading and unloading areas and sit for an hour or more at a time. The individual who hold this position is regularly required to walk, hear and speak and must have close moderate and distance vision ability.  The individual must be able to travel between district facilities.
• Consistent and regular attendance is an essential function of this position.

Conditions and Environment

• Work is performed in an office setting with various levels of staff to supervise the accomplishment of tasks, however the individual who holds this position will occasionally be required to be outside in temperatures below freezing and above 100 degrees.
• The individual who holds this position is frequently required to work irregular or extended hours.
• Work also requires transporting oneself to schools and other sites in the metropolitan area. Work demands can include handling conflict situations that involved staff members with diverse backgrounds and needs.

Term of Employment

The individual who holds this position will be expected to work the district’s teacher contract.

Salary : $48,000 - $103,100