Guidance Team
At Rachel Carson Elementary, our Guidance Team is dedicated to supporting students, teachers, and families in helping students reach their highest potential. Here's how we work together:
Purpose: The Guidance Team collaborates weekly to discuss different students and to review existing student data to help determine if students qualify to be evaluated by the Rachel Carson team for a Section 504 Plan or an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Prior to the guidance team process, families are to collaborate with their classroom teacher.
Who We Are: Our team may include: the school principal, psychologist, counselor, special education teacher(s), safety net teacher, speech and language pathologist, school nurse, occupational therapist, and specialist teachers.
How It Works:
- Initiating a Meeting:
- Parents may request a meeting if they have concerns about their child. If parents provide the school with information about private evaluation reports, medical reports, or a new diagnosis, a Guidance Team meeting will be scheduled to determine if any additional support is necessary.
- Staff may request a meeting on behalf of their student if many differentiated strategies have been addressed and academic/social emotional progress is not being made. This request could occur after completing a 6-8 week data cycle through our internal MTSS-I process.
- Scheduling: Meetings are held on Microsoft Teams on Thursday mornings at 8:05 a.m. and 8:40 a.m. Families are always invited to attend, but discussions about the child can proceed without their presence if necessary.
- Confidentiality: All information discussed in these meetings is kept confidential to ensure privacy and trust.
Our Goal: We aim to create an educational program tailored to help each child achieve their limitless potential. By working together, we can ensure that every student receives the support they need to thrive.
Feel free to contact our school psychologist Denise Radecke (dradecke@lwsd.org) if you have any questions or need further assistance. We're here to help!