Grade Level Counselor

Opening for 2025-2026 Academic Year

St. Joseph's Academy is an all-girls Catholic high school in Baton Rouge, LA.  Our mission is to educate young women as responsible and unifying members of the world community.  In the spirit and charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph, St. Joseph's Academy offers opportunities for faith development in the Catholic tradition, academic excellence and personal growth.  

St. Joseph’s Academy seeks a full-time School Counselor for employment for the 2025-2026 school year. Preferred candidate will have a master’s degree in School Counseling or Social Work with licensure. A minimum of two years’ experience in school counseling and/or mental health are preferred. Job duties include meeting individually with students and creating and facilitating classroom and small group presentations to discuss academic, personal, social, college and career issues. This individual will consult with and serve as a liaison between students, parents, faculty and administration. This individual will make applications for 504-type accommodations with ACT and the College Board, assist with standardized testing and attend professional workshops, seminars and conferences. Applicants should also have a working knowledge of the college admissions process and career planning.

Full Job Description: 
Grade-Level School Counselors work collaboratively with all stakeholders to support students’ success throughout their four years. Counselors are advocates for their students’ behavioral wellbeing and academic achievement, including college and career planning. Counselors work both individually and in group settings, creating and providing presentations, programs and meaningful meetings designed to help each student reach her full potential. Grade-Level School Counselors submit applications for 504-type accommodations with ACT and the College Board, assist with standardized testing and attend professional workshops, seminars and conferences.

A master’s degree in School Counseling is preferred, or Social Work with Licensure, and a minimum of two years’ experience in School Counseling and/or mental health are also preferred.  

Confidentiality Statement

Grade-Level School Counselors adhere to The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) standards for confidentiality.  

School counselors recognize their primary obligation regarding confidentiality is to the student but balance that obligation with an understanding of the family or guardians’ legal and inherent rights to be the guiding voice in their children’s lives (ASCA, 2016).  

Confidentiality is the ethical and legal term ascribed to the information communicated within the counseling relationship, and it must be maintained unless keeping that information confidential leads to foreseeable harm. “Serious and foreseeable harm is different for each minor in the school setting and is determined by students’ developmental and chronological age, the setting, parental rights and the nature of harm” (ASCA, 2016, A.2.e).  

Exceptions to confidentiality exist, and students should be informed when situations arise in which school counselors have a responsibility to disclose information obtained in counseling relationships to others, including parents or guardians and school administration, to protect students, themselves or other individuals.  

Primary Responsibilities
General

• Meet with students individually at least once per semester and more if the need arises or a request is made.
• Refer students/families to outside resources as needed.
• Create and conduct classroom presentations throughout the school year on relevant grade-level topics (orientation, college and career planning, test interpretations, course scheduling and other counseling topics.)
• Create and implement a year-round communication plan for students, parents and faculty.
• Complete chaperone, monitoring and proctoring duties as assigned and as needed.
• Represent Counseling Center at events as needed.
• Be available on the last calendar day (record day) to work with students needing summer school.
• Attend summer meetings with administrators and parents as needed.
• Return to school one day prior to the scheduled faculty orientation days.  

Social Emotional and Behavioral Support

• Maintain counseling licensure.  Attend professional development programs.
• Educate faculty/staff on pertinent trends, data and student personal growth topics as needed.
• Develop and implement plan to discuss student needs/background information with faculty.
• Attend student disciplinary meetings, and provide counseling support and information as needed.
• Attend and support students at grade-level retreats.
• Plan and implement special programs on testing days. 

Academic Advising

• Monitor students’ academic progress.
• Meet bi-monthly with students assigned to academic support.  
• Facilitate parent meetings and parent/teacher conferences as needed.
• Provide academic advising. 
• Develop an understanding of the TOPS program including guidelines, requirements and restrictions for all grade levels.  At the senior level, the counselor will be responsible for ensuring the completion of the FAFSA form.  
• Coordinate accommodation plans for students working with teachers as needed during standardized testing, mid-term and final exams
• Assist the Testing Coordinator with standardized testing as requested including proctoring. 

College and Career Planning

• Create and conduct semester presentations for college and career planning meetings.
• Use Naviance and Naviance assessment data to assist students with college and career planning.  
• Develop and facilitate Career Day and/or Job Shadowing Day.
     o Freshman and Sophomore Counselors will collaborate to develop and facilitate an on- campus Career Day for their grades during the school day.
    o Junior and Senior Counselors will collaborate to develop and facilitate an off-campus Job Shadowing Day for their grades.  

Equal Opportunity Employer/Disabled/Veterans