School counselors’ ethical obligations extend beyond student confidentiality to include the active engagement of families in their children’s education.
Scenario: As a middle school counselor, you’re assigned morning duty at the bus drop-off, a fair-share responsibility that you find valuable for connecting with students.
I’m a high school counselor with several seniors on my caseload who have 504 plans and IEPs. One student has been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia and is planning to apply to a four-year college. His parents are concerned about his ability to be successful in college and are recommending he transition directly into the workforce after graduation. How can I ethically meet my student’s needs without dismissing his parents’ plans for his future?
I’ve heard our nation is experiencing a youth mental health crisis and see this within my school. Within the last month, I’ve had many students express suicidal ideation and be admitted to the hospital for evaluation. Several other students who require mental health services are on long waiting lists. These situations make me sad, and I often feel defeated because there are so many to manage. How can I ensure I am doing my best to serve my students when I feel like I’m pouring from an empty cup?
When I reviewed the 2022 revision of the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors, I noticed the revisions were viewed through an equity lens. What are some practical strategies for addressing diversity, equity and inclusion as I serve all students, including students with disabilities?
A student who experiences frequent panic attacks comes to my office for support when her anxiety is bad. I have suggested an outside provider, but she and her mom only want her to work with me. Is it okay for me to continue to provide weekly individual counseling for her anxiety?
School counselors, it has been an honor and a privilege to write this column for the last 20 years.
You are being required to find a space for a student to have a telecounseling session during the school day, to set up the technology, see that the student is ready to go at the appointed time and stand guard at the door in case the student has a need. Is this legal?
The principal has assigned you to be in charge of completing risk assessments with students who present themselves as a potential threat to others. You are uncomfortable with this assignment and express your concerns that this responsibility should not fall on any one person. You are trying to convince administration to make you part of an administrative-led team and not the leader and/or sole assessor. Are you alone in your thinking, or do other school counselors feel the same way?
Although we owe students confidentiality, some instances require us to collaborate with adult stakeholders.
In 1962, states began to develop legislation to help combat child abuse and neglect. In 1974, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) was enacted, and the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect was founded.
A multitiered system of supports (MTSS) helps position school counselors to facilitate the delivery of effective, culturally responsive services, including the powerful tool of classroom instruction.
In the school counseling world of gray, there is one truth that is a constant; school counselors know they cannot accurately assess suicide risk.
Scenario: Cheresa came to you about a hostile environment in which one of her teachers goes out of his way to call her Samuel, the name assigned to her at birth, and overemphasizes the male pronouns when referring to her. You listen, support and seek her input as to how she wants to proceed. You weigh the pros and cons of going straight to administration vs. honoring her request to just talk to her teacher. You decide to talk to her teacher, who reacts to your conversation by calling Cheresa’s parents to say, “The school counselor is encouraging Samuel to be a girl and leaving you in the dark about it.” This results in complaints from the mother to the district, the press and to legislators, who are introducing bills to prohibit educators from withholding information from parents when they learn a child is questioning the gender assigned at birth.
You want to require all students to complete a survey about any mental health problems, suicidal ideation, counseling needs, psychological problems and family mental health issues they may have. Are there any legal and ethical considerations in conducting this survey?
What are the limits of your First Amendment rights as an educator, and what tools can you legally use to raise your students’ awareness to injustices?
A seismic change came about on Aug. 14, 2020 in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 regulations. Title IX is an important piece of legal muscle school counselors use to support pregnant students; transgender students; and/or students who are victims of bullying, sex-based harassment or dating violence.
Even though online school counseling has been a part of our profession for decades, new issues have emerged as school counselors continue supporting students during the pandemic.
Once again, our nation is stunned and emotionally exhausted from another senseless killing. George Floyd should be with us today. How do we explain his death to our students? We tell the truth. We must not dismiss George Floyd’s murder as an isolated incident done by bad people. Just as we must not dismiss the killing of so many other Black people.
In March 2020, thousands of school counselors were suddenly thrust into online school counseling. Myriad questions followed as school counselors found themselves wrestling with the legal and ethical implications of moving from in-person school counseling to providing school counseling virtually.
Scenario: While packing up from delivering classroom instruction, you overhear a student say she wants a fellow eighth-grader to be her boyfriend. Regina, her 13-year-old friend, says, “Not me. I already have a boyfriend. He’s 30 years old, and he has money.” What, if anything, is your legal and ethical obligation?
Recent questions to ASCA’s Ethics Committee and recent court rulings demonstrate the increasingly complex legal and ethical nature of being a school counselor.
One of our most important professional responsibilities is to support the growth and development of school counseling candidates. School counseling site supervisors and school counselor educators are the preservice trainers and first teachers to help school counseling students develop the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to become successful school counselors.
A colleague asks you to talk to one of her students whose English journal describes disturbing suicidal ideation. William writes about needing to “end it all, to float like a balloon into the sky never to return.” Earlier in the year William’s friend told you he was concerned, as often talks about suicide. You talked to William following both his friend’s report and the English teacher’s report. Both times William convinces you he is fine, and you make no attempt to call his parents. You used discretion and judgment in your assessment in determining William was not at risk. He ended his life. Can school counselors afford to treat suicide as a discretionary duty in which we can exercise judgment?
When working with pregnant students, it’s important to remain neutral about value-laden issues such as abortion, regardless of your personal beliefs.
Although the odds of school counselors losing their license are low, it’s imperative to engage in ethical and evidence-based best practices.
School counseling can be delivered effectively in a virtual environment; however, there are legal and ethical issues to consider that don’t typically exist in a brick-and-mortar school.
School counseling legal and ethical issues can run the gamut of topics. Here we’ve gathered some of the more frequently asked legal and ethical questions to help guide you in your daily work.
Your school district has a long history of Caucasian and higher socioeconomic students being overrepresented in gifted and talented (GT) programs and students of color and students on free and reduced lunch being underrepresented. You intend to exercise your ethical imperative to increase the diversity of students eligible for GT services. Can you measure ethical behavior?
You are in charge of implementing professional development for school counselors in your district. You are planning a workshop on legal and ethical issues but have limited time for the presentation. You want to hit the most salient issues. Do you have the presenter focus on criminal cases, negligence cases, laws or ethical standards? Which types of issues occur most frequently?
Your district purchased a software program that monitors all student activity on district-issued computers and district e-mail addresses. School officials are alerted if a student’s online activity generates a keyword that, according to the software’s algorithm, indicates possible suicidal ideation. You learned about this new software the day after it was installed when you were handed a list of 12 students and asked to assess their suicide risk as their online activity put them in the alert category. Most of the student online activity was more than 14 hours old. Are there legal and ethical issues to consider?
You’ve just started a new job, but you’re finding the school counseling program is expected to be an extension of administration. You are trying to establish a comprehensive school counseling program, but everyone else is defining your role, assigning you administrative tasks and not allowing you to deliver school counseling core curriculum classroom lessons. You are able to do little on the appropriate list of activities as established by the ASCA National Model, and you are assigned way too many on the inappropriate list. Can your ethical standards help? Are there any court cases to provide you with legal muscle?
It was only a 13-minute segment of the 13th episode of the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why,” but for the school counseling profession it was a painfully long gasp of, “Why must Hollywood portray a member of our profession as so inept?” The portrayal of Mr. Porter, a school counselor in the last episode of “13 Reasons Why” showed a school counselor, albeit a fictitious one, who was uninformed about his unequivocal ethical imperative to notify the parents of a child who is suicidal and his legal requirements to notify administration when students are victims of dating violence.
Several of your seniors reveal to you they are undocumented but would love to fulfill their dream of a higher education. Does your state offer them financial support for higher education?
In this unstable climate for immigrants, school counselors owe it to their immigrant-impacted students to stay on top of policy and provide resources.
Students exposed to traumatic life events need the legal system and a caring school community to negotiate the horror and helpless feeling that comes from victimization. The legal landscape for child victims of trauma is complex and not always favorable. Federal and state laws are increasingly providing protection to meet the needs of one of America’s most vulnerable populations.
College advising cases have played out in administrative hearings, state professional practice commission hearings, courts of law and in the court of public opinion. Following are four cases – some ethical and some legal – that have caused school counselors to lose their jobs.
As part of your curriculum on celebrating differences, you’ve asked studetns to read the book “King and King,” which depicts same-sex marriage. Two sets of parents have told the principal they want their child to opt out of all future curriculum you offer. Must the principal comply?
You had to make a report to child protective services (CPS) regarding one of your students. Shortly thereafter, you are summoned to the principal’s office, where he sits with this child’s parents, the alleged perpetrators. The principal explains to you that the parents know it was you who called in the report, and they are there to find out what their child said to you and why you felt justified in calling CPS. You are stunned but have the presence of mind to ask the principal for a private word. You explain you don’t want to meet with the parents as you think you can better protect the confidentiality of your student and yourself if you aren’t forced to answer their questions. The principal still requires you to meet with these high-profile, high-powered parents. Did the principal break any laws in this scenario?
Your district expects you to answer e-mail after school hours. You are concerned about the legal and ethical implications of being available 24 hours a day/seven days a week. Should you be concerned?
When you live and work in a rural community, you can be confronted with a different set of ethical challenges than school counselors in urban or suburban communities.
A middle school student who was in the process of transitioning from male to female was told by school officials that she could not wear feminine attire and was sent home every time she came to school wearing makeup, hair adornments and /or dresses. Her parents sued. How did the courts rule?
You are a veteran school counselor but have recently started working in a new district. You are finding that your job is quite different in this new state/district. You are continually trying to act as you did in your old district, but there is often push back from administration. The most recent fight has been over a directive to you to substitute failing grades for incompletes so students who have all the necessary credits but do not have the 2.0 grade-point average can graduate. This smacks of illegal and unethical behavior. Is it?
What do you get when a large, urban school district and a school counselor preparation program work hand in hand? Future school counselors who graduate ready to hit the ground running.
Kayla comes to see you about her discomfort with a group of boys who are throwing nude pictures on her desk and telling her to pass them to a boy on her right. She asks them to stop and pushes the pictures off her desk, but the boys laugh, lean way over her desk and pass them in such a way as to make certain she sees them. Kayla tells you she reported the boys to the teacher who told her to “just ignore their foolishness.” With assigned seat's Kayla is stuck in the middle of this misery for a year. Is Kayla protected under Title IX?
You are a school counselor in a conservative small town. Your colleague at the high school has just finished writing a book and finds himself at the center of a firestorm. The book recounts sexually explicit details about acts, considered demeaning by many, that women should perform to please men. Promiscuity before marriage and female submissiveness are encouraged and advice is given about how young women with low self-esteem are the easiest sexual conquests. Sexually explicit language is used throughout, and he gives his position as a school counselor as qualification that he knows women. He is fired. Has the school district violated his freedom of speech?
Mia, one of your seniors, asks you for a letter of recommendation. You have not worked with Mia other than a brief conversation over a schedule change. You asked a teacher who happened to be in the school counseling office what he thought of Mia. His opinion was that Mia excels academically (as confirmed by her transcript) and athletically but lacks character; “always in it for herself, not a team player.” This teacher appeared to know what he was talking about so you sent the university a letter emphasizing Mia’s self-centeredness. Are there any legal and/or ethical issues that may arise from this process?
Ryan, a talented basketball player, was enticed to your school from out-of-district by the basketball coaches and his own interest in being part of a winning team. The transcript he presented to his new school counselor had course titles and descriptions that were not offered at his new school. The school counselor did her due diligence, and matched Ryan courses as best as possible. The summer after graduation Ryan learned he did not have enough English credits for NCAA eligibility. The matched course was not on his new school’s approved list for NCAA courses. Is the school district and/or school counselor liable?
A mother and father are getting divorced and ask you to work with her daughter to help her deal with the divorce. You are already working with child whose parents are currently divorcing and know of a third student whose parents are in the midst of a divorce as well, so you decide to form a group.
Two female students were making out in the hallway. Your principal brought the two girls to his office and called their parents and explained the student code of conduct violation and told the parents the gender of the student with whom their daughter was engaged in a public display of affection (PDA). One of the girls is suing the school district and the principal citing a violation of her privacy rights. Will the courts determine that she lost her right to privacy when making out in the hallways or will they conclude that a privacy claim is a valid premise on which she can pursue a court challenge? If you had known in advance of the principal’s plan to out these students to their parents, what advice if any would you have given to the principal?
Mia, one of your seniors, asks you for a letter of recommendation. You have not worked with Mia other than a brief conversation over a schedule change. You asked a teacher who happened to be in the school counseling office what he thought of Mia. His opinion was that Mia excels academically (as confirmed by her transcript) and athletically but lacks character; “always in it for herself, not a team player.” This teacher appeared to know what he was talking about so you sent the university a letter emphasizing Mia’s self-centeredness. Are there any legal and/or ethical issues that may arise from this process?
The liaison officer for homeless students attended the most recent districtwide meeting for school counselors to issue the directive that all school counselors are to report to her office when they learn a child is living in a homeless situation. The officer explained that some of the school counselors were refusing to provide her office with the information on the grounds that homelessness does not meet the ethical imperative of breaching to prevent a “clear imminent danger.” The homeless liaison officer has explained that the information is needed for children and their families to receive transportation, free meals, health care and other essential services. You tend to agree that her office should be notified to help homeless children, but you also appreciate that homelessness is sensitive information for some students, and they may not want this shared beyond their school counselor. The ethical imperative of establishing and maintaining a trusting relationship with students is in your opinion a serious matter, but you also understand if there are legal imperatives they supersede ethical ones. Is this one of the times in which the law trumps ethics?
Heather has been referred to you because she was overheard saying she was going to take her dad’s gun and blow her brains out. You immediately reach out to Heather, who assures you she did not mean it and that she was just blowing off steam. You call Heather’s mother and explain what has been going on, and you tell her you believe her daughter is fine and she does not have to come and get her. You also explain to Heather’s mother that you have completed a suicide or no-harm contract with Heather. You had Heather write on the contract the name of a friend she could turn to if she ever felt like harming herself. She listed another student in your school. Are there any legal or ethical concerns in how this case is handled?
Heather has been referred to you because she was overheard saying she was going to kill herself with her dad’s gun. Heather assures you she did not mean it, that she was just angry and aggravated. You spend some time with Heather, and she convinces you all is well. You send her back to class and go on with the day’s activities. You did not notify her parents or check in with your supervisor. Are there any legal or ethical concerns in this case?
You are working with a student who you suspect might be anorexic, and many factors are causing her to spiral downward, including a recent breakup with her boyfriend who dumped her and put cruel postings about her weight on Facebook, knowing this is her Achilles heel. Her friends say these posts are causing her tremendous anxiety, and they are worried about her. This young woman appears dangerously underweight and is, in your professional judgment, in trouble. She seems to be changing right before your eyes. You wish you could reach out to her parents, but in your view this student's situation does not meet the threshold of clear, imminent danger; therefore, you feel your hands are tied. You have always operated under the belief that unless a suicide is about to happen (a clear imminent danger) you would not breach confidentiality. You have never defined any circumstance except suicide as triggering a breach under the clear imminent danger test.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) changes with U.S. Supreme Court cases, new statutory acts such as the USA Patriot Act, tragic school events, social landscape changes and evolving technology. FERPA’s primary purpose is to ensure parents’ have the right to view their children’s education records, to seek to amend inaccurate information in the records and to decide, within certain parameters, which entities or individuals can access their child’s records.
One of your counselees, Rachel, comes to you distraught that she was being called a “slut with herpes” by her classmate Sarah online. Sarah asked others to join her online in humiliating Rachel. You assure Rachel that something will be done to help her. You take her case to the principal, who expresses concern for Rachel and disciplines Sarah with in-school-suspension. Rachel and her parents are tremendously relieved and thank you and the principal.
You are working with a group of students who clearly need additional supports. Unfortunately, no matter how much you ask administrators and teachers, the students do not receive the help you need. Your principal says he wants to help the students, but instead of providing additional resources, he asks you to keep him informed about every student you see and the presenting problem. He is a strong child advocate and a good administrator, but on this directive you disagree. You have explained your ethical confidentiality imperative. Although he listens intently, he does not relent except to say he will also respect the students’ confidences unless there is a compelling reason why he must involve their parents or teachers. You do not believe he means any ill will, but you do not believe he understands your ethical dilemma. Can you legally and ethically refuse to cooperate?
A student confided in his teacher that he was homosexual and that he was having a difficult time negotiating a same-sex relationship. The teacher suggests the student talk to you, the school counselor, about his difficulties in his relationship. You inform the teacher that due to a conflict in your values you will be unable to provide counseling services to this student and since there are no other counselors in the school you will find an outside referral resource for this student. Are there any legal and ethical concerns regarding your behavior?
You are a school counselor who works diligently on behalf of students. Your students have greater challenges than most students in your school system of 19 high schools, including a higher retention rate and very few four-year university admissions. Your school’s practice when a student retakes and passes a previously failed course is to change an F grade to the new grade; therefore, many F’s are permanently deleted from student transcripts. This is not a district practice or policy, but it has worked for your students and been silently blessed by your school’s administration. Your school’s practice has resulted in more students being given an opportunity to graduate and/or attend a four-year university. Are there any legal or ethical concerns with the schools practice?
Your school district was challenged by an angry parent who felt her daughter’s school counselor should have informed her when her daughter sought counseling about her pregnancy. In response, the district has issued a new policy saying school counselors must try to get students to inform their parents about their pregnancy, and failing this the school counselors must inform parents. Are there any legal or ethical concerns regarding this policy?
Whitney, a 17-year-old student in your school, comes to your office distraught. Between tears, she tells you she went to a party last weekend with Derrick, another student her age, and ended up passed out in an upstairs bedroom. She was awakened by Derrick forcing himself on her. She protested loudl, but said that no one came to help her. Whitney says you are the only person she has told that she was raped. For the past five days, she has endured the snickering and sneering of Derrick and his friends in the hallways “as they smugly march around with their worlds intact” while she “dies a little more inside each day.” She says she has been having trouble focusing on school, and she blames herself for the incident, saying she drank way too much even though she doesn’t think she had very much to drink that night. She wonders aloud to you if she could have been drugged. She begs you not to tell anyone, especially her parents. We know our advocacy and ethical role but what is our legal role?
A school counselor calls the ASCA office concerned about a colleague who administered a suicide assessment, deemed a child not suicidal and sent him home on the school bus. A mother is distressed when her daughter is named as her friend’s “safe person” in a suicidal contract. An administrator reaches out following the suicide of a student whose disturbing journal entries weren’t recognized as suicidal ideation.
School counseling legal and ethical issues can run the gamut of topics. Here we've gathered some of the more frequently asked legal and ethical questions to help guide you in your work.
Eric, a student you’ve been working with, was living with his aunt when it was discovered his cousin had a methadone laboratory in the woods behind the aunt’s house. You receive a subpoena to appear for a deposition in the prosecution’s bid to learn what Eric has told you about the circumstances of his aunt’s home. In the three years you have known Eric he has been kicked from pillar to post, in and out of foster care and relatives’ homes.
You are a school counselor who has built a good working relationship with your principal except for one area. Your principal is adamant that he wants to be in charge of making all child abuse reports to Child Protective Services (CPS). You have doubts that he will call CPS on all suspected abuse cases because of derogatory remarks he has made in passing about CPS and how, “We should handle some cases with families who trust us as CPS will only make matters worse.” Up to this point he has called in all suspected abuse cases that you have passed along to him, but you worry it is just a matter of time before he takes matters into his own hands.
Scenario: A student, Beth, came into my office with a letter from her best friend, Janey. The letter suggested Janey wanted to hurt another female student. In the letter, Janey implied that the girl who was being threatened might have been the cause of the breakup between the Janey and her boyfriend. Janey was very descriptive about the violence she wanted to inflict upon the other girl. Since I know Janey fairly well, I was sure she wouldn’t do such a thing. However, since the threat was made in written form and given to me, do I have to tell the administrator since this was supposed to be confidential? I don’t want to get Janey in trouble. She has enough issues in her life without being suspended.
Scenario: You have counseled Cedric for two years. He pops in for counseling whenever something is on his mind, and this can include late afternoons after wrestling practice when he sees you are still plugging away in your office. You try to show loyalty to him by never turning him away regardless of the time or place. Additionally, you seek him out to check on him when a week or two goes by and he has not made an impromptu visit to your office. You consider these exchanges with Cedric important as his chaotic family life makes him especially vulnerable. He has never known his dad, his mother is an infrequent presence due to drug abuse and his grandmother, who is his most constant, is frail and physically limited. Cedric is a talented wrestler and seems to find a healthy escape in the sport, but no one in his family has ever seen him wrestle. You have decided you will go to his next match, which is 140 miles away to be held at 7 p.m. on a Saturday night.
Scenario: My school counseling colleague and I were recently having lunch together when she began to tell me about a 15-year-old student she was working with who identified as gay. As she told me about this student she described how strongly her religious beliefs went against everything this boy was talking about. She said that based on her religious beliefs she felt compelled to counsel the boy “out of being gay.” She shared that normally she keeps her religious beliefs out of the school counseling office, but in this case she sees her efforts worth saving this boy. To me this seems unethical. How should I approach this?
You are working with a student who you suspect might be anorexic, and many factors are causing her to spiral downward, including a recent breakup with her boyfriend who dumped her and put cruel postings about her weight on Facebook, knowing this is her Achilles heel. Her friends say these posts are causing her tremendous anxiety, and they are worried about her. This young woman appears dangerously underweight and is, in your professional judgment, in trouble. She seems to be changing right before your eyes. You wish you could reach out to her parents, but in your view this student's situation does not meet the threshold of clear, imminent danger; therefore, you feel your hands are tied. You have always operated under the belief that unless a suicide is about to happen (a clear imminent danger) you would not breach confidentiality. You have never defined any circumstance except suicide as triggering a breach under the clear imminent danger test.
Scenario:
You are a school counselor with a 23-year-old colleague who is in her first year as a school counselor. In January, the school discovers through text messages that she has been having a sexual relationship with one of her 17-year-old students. You are outraged that she has abused her student and her position of trust in such a grievous way and stunned when you learn that she will not be criminally charged. How can it be that no laws have been broken?
Based on receiving many ethical questions and concerns over the past several years, it seemed that the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors needed to be more fully developed. As the school counseling profession continues to grow toward more educational leadership the ethical framework in which the school counselor profession must operate needs to be broad enough to cover the profession’s diverse needs, while also developing appropriate ethical boundaries protecting the students as the primary focus of the work.
Scenerio: Tom, 16, attended a party in which the host’s parents supplied drugs and alcohol. Tom become intoxicated, and his friends rushed him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with alcohol poisoning. A caseworker previously assigned to Tom for other reasons comes to the school to talk to the school counselor about Tom’s hospitalization. The caseworker asked the school counselor who Tom’s friends were, since the police were trying to track down which parent might have contributed to the delinquency of a minor. The school counselor refused to give this information to the caseworker, claiming HIPAA prohibited the school counselor from sharing this information.
Scenario: You are a dedicated, accomplished professional. You go above and beyond to deliver a responsive school counseling program, and no one ever doubts your motives or effectiveness. You would never do anything to diminish the hard-earned respect and shining reputation you enjoy from your school community. In your personal life, you are in a long-term relationship and you have fun with your significant other through playful responses such as sexting (the passing of nude or partially nude photos). One day, you receive a sextext from your boyfriend, and before you can dismiss it your attention is diverted by a squabble in the hallway. You quickly place your phone face down on your desk and investigate the hallway noise to find all is under control with your administrator taking action. The student left waiting for you in your office absentmindedly starts fiddling with items on your desk and when she picks up your phone it comes to life, and there in the palm of her hands is the naked picture of your boyfriend. The fallout results in your dismissal. Should you have lost your job for something that was personal and would never have happened if the student had not meddled with your things?
Scenario: Your school board/employer recently voted to move from an abstinence-only approach to a comprehensive sex education curriculum, which includes information on contraceptives. This is an affront to your religious beliefs, and when provided with the newly approved materials you tossed them and replaced them with abstinence-only literature. You also believe that praying with students is appropriate at times, and although you use this technique sparingly and only with students’ permission, you have on several occasions prayed with distressed students. Is your behavior ethical? Legal?
Q. Some of my students recently talked to me about another student they’re worried about. On several occasions they had witnessed “Beth” making herself throw up after eating. She asked them not to tell anyone. However, she continues the behaviors and is losing more weight. I spoke with Beth, and she has assured me she doesn’t have a problem and denies the behaviors. We talked about what eating disorders are and my concerns for her. Now I am not sure what is ethically appropriate at this point. Although I don’t think she has an eating disorder, I really don’t know that much about the topic. Should I, ethically, contact her parents?
Q: I have set up a Facebook page for my school counseling department. I’m careful to keep my personal Facebook account totally separate from my school one, and I don’t accept friend requests from any students on my personal account. However, via the school counseling Facebook account, sometimes I see things on students’ Facebook pages that concern me, such as inappropriate pictures, status updates about underage drinking or bullying comments about other students. What is my role, if any, in addressing these issues?
My school principal wants a list of all the students I see and the topics we discuss.
My principal wants the names of all the pregnant students we have in the school so he can suggest an alternative school.
The principal has asked me to disclose any student who discusses suicide.
Q. I have been involved in a difficult situation, and I am not sure how to proceed. One of my elementary school students was turned into Child Protective Services as a sexual perpetrator last year. CPS has been involved with this child since that report. The mother of another one of my students, who is autistic, has recently decided to allow her son to learn how walk home from school with the aid of a peer. The peer, a next-door neighbor, happens to be the sexual perpetrator child. I am concerned about the safety of the autistic child; however, when I told the administrator of my concern, he said it wasn’t our problem since the walking home is technically off school property. Ignoring this potentially risky situation doesn’t seem like the correct course of action. Do you have any suggestions on what I should do?
Q: Our district recently decided school counselors should have to get parent permission before they see students individually. This decision was made without any input from the school counselors. Are there ethical issues we need to consider if this mandate is enacted?
Q: I reported an abuse of one of my students to both law enforcement and the Department of Human Services. However, once the police became involved and came to the school for questioning, I was told I was not to speak to the student (only if she came to me and even then, I could not discuss the case). In other settings I have always been able to ask students if they would like me in the room while they are being questioned. I obviously don’t speak for students, and I would never have asked leading questions that could jeopardize the investigation. I want to be an advocate for my students. Where is the line between advocacy and interference?
My colleague has some strong feelings about U.S. involvement in the Iraqi war. As a result, this school counselor has refused to write a letter of recommendation for a student who is applying for an ROTC scholarship. This seems unethical to allow those strong feelings about the war to influence helping a student.
Q. I would really appreciate some feedback on this ethical concern that has recently come up at my school. Last week, I spoke with a student who had concerns about her friend thinking of suicide. I spoke with the friend in question, and she denied any suicidal ideations or intentions. She did admit to a recent incident of cutting herself but said she did not have thoughts of suicide, thought the cutting was “stupid” and did not intend to do it again. The student is 18. Administration feels strongly that I should call her parents and inform them of the situation. Is this an unethical breach of confidentiality due to the fact that the concern of suicide is based solely on rumors from other students? Is the fact that she is 18 and legally an adult also a part of breaching confidentiality? Please help by giving an interpretation of the ethical code in this situation and what actions we should take from here or in similar situations in the future.
Students have privileges and deserve confidentiality. But when they are a danger to themselves or others, it’s important for school counselors to know where FERPA stands.
Q: In my school we have a policy in place to charge students money for schedule changes. Although this policy has been in practice for some time, I wonder about the ethical implications of it.
Q: Our district counseling director, who isn’t a school counselor, recently told us that school counselors are required to use our district's new student data program to log in all students we see. We will be logging their first and last names, as well as the general reason we are seeing them. We have been told that only our building principal and the counseling director will have access to print reports and view this information. I want to make sure that following my district directives will not pose an ethical conflict.
When it comes to confidentiality in the schools, sometimes teachers and administrators could benefit from additional education about the school counselor’s confidentiality and privacy requirememts.
For school counselors, unlike other counselors, being involved in multiple relationships and roles is almost a given. But it’s still imperative to set some boundaries as you work through this quagmire.
In divorce cases, school counselors can often find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Learn how to deal with the legal and ethical issues of this tough situation.
Students may exercise their freedom of speech rights in public schools, but how far does this right extend? School counselors can help students’ voices be heard and teach them something about democracy in action as well.
When it comes to their children meeting with a school counselor, some parents are reluctant to support such a decision. They may fear the child will share “family secrets,” which will then be spread throughout the school. Or that all the teachers in the faculty lounge will learn of their child’s specific problems and hold it against the student.
Q: If I’m keeping personal notes on my student caseload and then decide to leave my current school, are the notes considered the school’s property or are they mine to take with me and/or dispose of?
Q. Last night I saw a 12th-grade girl at my school coming out of the movie theater holding hands with one of our science teachers. How should I handle this situation? Does it warrant a report to child protective services? Should I tell the student’s parents?
One of the most difficult ethical questions for professional school counselors to resolve is when to tell parents about a counseling session with their child and break confidentiality. This professional quandary is not easily resolved by looking at the ethical standards for ASCA or the American Counseling Association (ACA), nor is it defined clearly by reviewing the literature. It seems many of the experts have opposing views on this significant ethical issue.
“There is no such thing as evolution.” This was a declaration made a few years ago by a state board of education. The mandate that evolution couldn’t be taught in schools was based on the concept that evolution was merely a theory and not fact; it could no longer be used as an explanation of how the world, dare we say, progressed. Fortunately for the students in that state, the mandate has been amended.
Considering the fact that approximately 19.5 million Americans consider themselves illegal substances users and 22 million Americans are coping with substance-abuse dependency issues, it’s a given that most professional school counselors will work with this issue more than once in their careers. Countless students at all age levels are affected by substance abuse in some form or another – either their own, a family member’s or a friend’s. Arguably, dealing with substance abuse may be one of a school counselor’s most difficult ethical concerns. Its metaphoric equivalent is like walking down the Yellow Brick Road, never knowing for sure if you’re on the right path heading toward the Emerald City or if you’re about to run into the flying monkeys.
Picture this: A student enters the school with a weapon, threatening to kill another student who has bullied him in the pas. An adolescent with whom you have been working attempts or completes suicide. An unknown man enters the school and takes students hostage, threatening to kill the students.
Today’s uncertain academic climate makes it necessary for professional school counselors to demonstrate the impact school counseling curriculum has on students. However, in the fervor to prove the validity of counseling programs, we must not overlook the ethical mine fields surrounding the collection of sensitive information about our students.
As the school counselor, you have been asked by a grade-level team of teachers to sit in on a retention meeting for an underperforming second-grade student and his parents. There has been little discussion between the team, you and the parents regarding retention. However, the teachers are adamant this child should be held back. What is your role as the school counselor, and what are the ethical issues surrounding retention?
One of your ninth-grade students (A.J.) was sexually abused by a cousin from the time he was in seventh grade. The cousin gave A.J. elaborate gifts, watched pornographic videos with him and provided him with prostitutes. The cousin’s conduct escalated to sexual molestation. The cousin was arrested, tried and with the help of A.J.’s testimony, sentenced to six years in prison. Following the conclusion of the court case, A.J.’s parents asked that you bring A.J. before the Student Evaluation Team for possible placement into the emotionally handicapped class. A.J.’s parents and his social worker attended the SET meeting, and during discussion, you revealed the details of A.J.’s sexual abuse to the social worker and later to the school psychologist evaluating A.J. Was your behavior legal? Ethical?
You work in a school with a principal uses his own judgment about whether or not to call child protective services about suspected child abuse. There are many times when black eyes and bruised cheeks go unreported because the principal knows the child’s parents and says they shouldn’t be reported. The reasons he gives for not reporting usually involve protecting the school/parent relationship to better serve the children. For example, the principal calls in the parents when abuse is suspected, gains the parents’ trust and lets the family know the school won’t tolerate abuse. He feels parents will move their children to another school if reported to child protective services and believes the children are better off in this school. The principal says he can do far more good for the children by preserving and building relationships with the families. He works hard to help the children in this troubled community, and the school has a reputation of being an oasis in a community fraught with social ills, including a high incidence of problems including child abuse.
You are a school counselor at Beaumont High School (BHS). Several of the BHS coaches successfully convinced Cedric, a talented young basketball player from a rival school, to finish his senior year at BHS. You placed Cedric in all the same courses scheduled at his previous school with the exception of his science course, which was replaced by another close match. This course did not meet NCAA eligibility, and shortly after enrolling in college, Cedric leaned he was ineligible to play college basketball. Can you be sued and found guilty for giving Cedric incorrect information?
Hansen has been in and out of foster homes all his life. In the three years you have known him, he’s been in three questionable foster homes. He has a difficult time trusting adults and is guarded. You have painstakingly built a bond with Hansen, and even though it is a fragile bond, it is probably the strongest bond he has formed with an adult. One of Hansen’s former foster families is being investigated for receiving and selling stolen property, and you receive a subpoena from the prosecution to give testimony about your confidential conversations with Hansen. Hansen was, in the words of the prosecution, “noncommunicative and evasive” in his deposition, and the attorneys are hoping you learned more from him about his time in this home. What are your legal responsibilities to the court? What are you ethical responsibilities to Hansen?
Your assistant principal asks you for a list of all students in the school that you know are pregnant. He says he wants to notify these students about an alternative school for pregnant and parenting teens and encourage them to go there. Do you have any concerns about this request? Must you comply with this request?
A teacher reports to you that Donnell, one of her eighth-grade students, had a bandaged wrist and that she overheard her telling someone she decided to experiment with cutting just “to see what it would feel like.” At the teacher’s request you talk to Donnell, who admits the cutting but says she was only experimenting and that it was horrible and she never plans to do it again. She explains that her friend Catherine, another eighth-grader in your school, cuts all the time. Do you call Donnell’s parents? Catherine’s parents?
There is an urgency in high school reform. All educators and especially school counselors are needed to exercise accountability measures to close the achievement gap and to support all students, regardless of race, to access and be successful in higher level academics. A serious difference exists in the success rates for students of color graduating from high school and accessing higher level academics Yet, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, by the year 2040 Latinos will be the majority population for school-age students. These serious educational inequities will have an impact on America’s economic strength. No Child Left Behind seeks to legislate educational accountability to close the achievement gap and help secure America’s economic future.
You are in a school with a deeply divided faculty. Two strong, charismatic faculty members are in control and decide if a faculty member will be embraced or ostracized. Members of the “in” group socialize together and offer strong support to each other. The faculty members that have been branded as “outcasts” spend some lonely hours at the school. It is not apparent why some people are accepted and others are rejected, but what is clear is that these two strong personalities make the decisions and everyone else falls in line. You have been chosen to be included, and you love having the warmth of the camaraderie of a large portion of the faculty. The fact that you are accepted helps you accomplish what you need to for students. However, the good that comes from having such support is tempered by the constant reminder that some faculty members are ignored. Your suggestions to include those who are left out are met with silence and warning signs that you could be pushed out if you continue along this path. How can you deal with this ethical dilemma?
Justina, who lives with her mother, has a history of conflicts with her mother and is often in your office distraught over their latest verbal bout. A teacher comes to you worried about Justina who “isn’t herself.” When you talk to Justina, you too become worried; she appears withdrawn, distracted and depressed. You suggest to Justina that you need to talk to her mother so Justina can get some help, but she begs you to call her father instead. After consulting your supervisor and discussing the issue with Justina, you honor her wishes and call her father, the noncustodial parent. He immediately responds by coming to the school to discuss Justina and picking up copies of her educational records to take to a psychologist whose help he will seek. He says he will contact Justina’s mother and the two of them will set up an appointment for Justina. Justina’s mother calls you furious that you contacted Justina’s father and says she is refusing to allow you or any other school representative to ever again contact the father or give him information about Justina.
You are a high school counselor in an urban school with a diverse student population. One of your seniors, Sidney Ferguson, comes to you and requests your help with her application to Harvard. Sidney has an 86.6 average, is on the yearbook staff, has spent two years on the track team and is enrolled in four advanced placement classes. Sidney says, “I know Harvard may not be a sure thing, but I have to try.” Your frustration rises as once again you are forced to look a student in the eye and explain that it is the practice and policy of the school’s administration that only the top five students in each graduating class can apply to an Ivy League school. How do your profession’s ethical codes support you to advocate for a change of policy?
School climates are often hostile for students but never more so than for gay, lesbian and transgender youth. Legal rulings are opening a window for change in how all students will be supported against bullies, which is especially good news for this most invisible, and yet most vulnerable, at-risk minority group. On May 24, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court in Davis vs. Monroe County Board of Education imposed a ruling that, when coupled with recent interpretations of legislation and court cases, will have far-reaching and positive implications for gay, lesbian and bisexual students in schools. The Davis case established that public schools can be forced to pay damages for failing to stop student-on-student sexual harassment.
Dear School Counselor: Please join us for an all-expenses paid weekend to visit the Central University of the South. Accommodations will be in a well-known local inn. Recreational activities will include golfing at a country club and a trip to the racetrack, where you will have dinner in the clubhouse and receive a $50 stipend to gamble on the horses. The purpose of the trip is to familiarize you with our university. It is not our intent to unduly influence your college advising role or to seek an unfair advantage for our university. Our intention in having you visit is to have you learn about our university so you will be able to speak with first-hand knowledge about the fine programs we have to offer your students and make sure you have a good time in the process.
Sincerely, Your College Admissions Representative
Child abuse and neglect is a pervasive problem faced by all professional school counselors face. As a professional school counselor I knew my legal and ethical duties to report cases of suspected child abuse and neglect. However, I felt as if simply reporting the suspected cases to child protective services (CPS) was not enough. The family situations of the students I reported to CPS rarely seemed to change. Therefore, it seemed necessary to work to establish a systemic and preventive program relating to child abuse and neglect.
Part I: You love being a school counselor, especially for a select group of students that you describe as bright, engaging, accomplished students. It is this group of students that receives most of your time and attention. You believe these students have tremendous potential and are destined to make a considerable contribution to society. Further, you believe that with your limited time, it is in the best interest of the future of society to give most of your time and attention to the students you consider to be the future of America. For this select group you seek optimum schedules with the best teachers and frequent academic advising sessions. Because of your efforts these students have all the information they need to choose from a wide array of post-secondary education opportunities.
Part II: Your eagerness to interact with this select group of students is demonstrated by frequent attendance at their extracurricular events such as piano recitals, tennis tournament and, soccer games. You communicate and joke with these students as you would adult friends, encourage these students to call you by your first name and give them your home phone number and home e-mail address. You make certain you are extraordinarily responsive to the parents of this group and encourage their praise, gifts and invitations and accept personal favors such as the attorney parent who helped you free with a real estate closing. Are there any ethical and legal problems with your behavior?
Regina is 16 years old and pregnant. She is considering an abortion and comes to you, her school counselor, seeking help. Regina says she really needs to talk her options over with an adult who is “outside of her family.” Can you discuss Regina’s pregnancy and her consideration of an abortion with her? Are you required to call Regina’s parents and tell them about her pregnancy?