The following email was sent on April 14 from School Counselors Chapter Leader Rosemarie Thompson.

Thank you again for your patience and for all the hard work you're doing during this challenging period of remote learning. I know there are still some unanswered questions about our rights and responsibilities. Here are some updates from the union's conversations with the city Department of Education.

IEP meetings

There may come a time when you are the IEP meeting case manager for students whose IEPs include only counseling as their mandated services. For these cases, please see this annual review guidance issued by the UFT and the DOE.

Encounter attendance

We know you're still waiting for further clarification and specificity on our SESIS encounter attendance issues. The UFT drafted a document on this topic, sent it to the DOE and we are awaiting its feedback. Then, we can finalize a document with guidance for you. In the meantime, the only official guidance I have to offer you that addresses encounter attendance is our counseling Q&A.

I assure you that we'll continue to impress upon the DOE the importance of getting out more clarification as soon as possible. I'm hopeful that they'll respond soon.

Mandated reporting

If a student expresses any negative intent or shares that they are being harmed, school counselors must follow DOE protocols in Chancellor's Regulations A-750 and A-755. Some schools have set their own mandated reporting protocols for their staff. Continue to follow what your school has given you. If you work in a school where there has been no discussion on mandated reporting, the UFT is providing these steps on mandated reporting while working remotely that school counselors should follow.

I'll be in touch soon with more updates. We're in this together. Stay healthy and safe.

Sincerely,

Rosemarie Thompson
School Counselors Chapter Leader
rthompson [at] uft [dot] org (rthompson[at]uft[dot]org)