How do you stay connected to your students in the time of COVID-19? That’s the question educators have been struggling with since public schools closed abruptly in March.
Karen McCrillis, the grade nine counselor at Gardner High School and the 2020 Massachusetts School Counselors Association’s School Counselor of the Year, is no exception. The recent move to remote learning has not been without its challenges.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, McCrillis had opportunities to connect with students throughout the day by visiting classrooms and meeting with students in school. But since schools have closed, McCrillis has had to find creative ways to help her students and learn how to operate online meetings.
Reaching out to students who are deemed to be at risk is especially hard.
"These are the kids with less access to technology" and sometimes less enthusiasm for school, said McCrillis, who also coordinates the district’s guidance program.
Counseling is about building relationships, she added, and while reaching out is not impossible, it takes time to rethink things and adjust to an entirely new set of circumstances. "I read the kids’ faces and watch their body language — and that’s really missing when communicating over email," she said.
After schools were closed, the first priority was checking on the well-being of the students. Using a system organized by the principal, educators reached out to every student at the school. As a result, educators were able to help out families in need by taking steps such as bringing groceries to a parent with a compromised immune system.
In nominating her for the School Counselor of the Year award, colleagues credited McCrillis with promoting the importance of school counselors, advocating for planning time for the counseling staff, and emphasizing social and emotional learning. McCrillis collaborates with the Massachusetts School Mental Health Consortium and organizes professional development for school counselors and providers. She also has a caseload of 138 ninth graders.
"The best ways to describe her are compassionate, inspirational, coordinated, attentive, helpful and mostly, selfless," Savanna Livingston-Cowen, a 2018 Gardner High School graduate, wrote in her recommendation letter for McCrillis. "She has been a tremendous inspiration to me and my career choice."
"This is what I’ve always wanted to do," McCrillis said. "This high school is home to me."
McCrillis, who has worked at Gardner High School for 15 years, is also a graduate of the school. She was officially named the 2020 Massachusetts School Counselor of the Year by the MASCA at a surprise all-school assembly on Jan. 28. She is scheduled to represent the state at a gala in Washington, D.C., when the gathering can be held, and she is in the running to serve as the national School Counselor of the Year.
"This is what I’ve always wanted to do," McCrillis said. "This high school is home to me."
Electronic professional development resources for counselors can be found on the Massachusetts School Counselors Association’s website at https://masca.wildapricot.org/Electronic-PD.
