An Interview with Dr. Sandra Logan-McKibben, 2018 FSCA School Counselor Advocate
By: Dr. Laquieria Nottage, 2018-2019 FSCA Emerging Leader
How can you use your role in the community impact school counselors in your district?
Given that the role of a school counselor educator is to train new school counselors to enter the profession, Dr. Logan-McKibben’s role is unique, in that she has the ability and autonomy to say things that other school counseling professionals cannot, due to employment within a school district. She has been able to cultivate some great relationships with students that have transitioned into the profession. Often times, school counselors working within the K-12 educational setting have to be somewhat reserved in their word choice and disclosures regarding the local and state education systems. However, Dr. Logan-McKibben has been in a position that has allowed her the opportunity to be transparent in sharing information with her students and colleagues. She takes this role and the associated responsibilities seriously, as she maintains her journey in advocating and supporting the work of practicing and incoming school counselors.
What changes need to be made in your district to best utilize school counselors in the schools?
Statewide, there has been a push for school districts to increase the hiring of various positions and titles, with the intent of providing mental health services to students on our school campuses. Rather than creating and focusing on other positions, school districts need to take this as an opportunity to staff more school counselors within the schools. School counselors are uniquely educated, trained, and prepared to do their work of providing mental health support on their school campus. She believes that hiring more school counselors would best support the district and state’s mental health efforts by providing more manageable and appropriate student-counselor ratios for counselors to do their work effectively. In order for this to happen, there must continue to be a greater emphasis focused on the specific role of school counselors.
What advice would you offer to new school counselors?
The way in which school counselors are trained has evolved in the last ten to fifteen years. Dr. Logan-McKibben strongly advises that new school counselors take the time to recognize and understand the true value of their specialized education and training. She tells students and new counselors to simply take the word “just” out of your vocabulary: “You are not ‘just’ an intern or practicum student, nor are you ‘just’ a new counselor.” Further, she stresses the importance for new counselors to take full advantage of reaching out for consultation from other school counselor colleagues, in and out of their school building.
How can school counselors advocate for their role in their schools and district?
Advocating for the role of school counselors is critical to leading the charge for change within the schools and districts. Dr. Logan-McKibben emphasizes that school counselors must utilize student level-, program level, and school level-data to support their effectiveness. She believes that incorporating the use of data in evaluating a school counseling program is the most powerful thing that school counselors can do in supporting advocacy efforts. Although counselors are not expected to be experts in statistical analysis, it is important to use data when advocating for their students. This specifically includes highlighting the national and local student-counselor ratios, as well as the benefits that are found as a result of maintaining manageable caseloads.
What excites you about school counseling today?
Not just today, but every day, Dr. Logan-McKibben finds that her excitement and passion for the school counseling profession continues to strengthen. Given today’s society and the challenges presented, she believes that the role of a school counselor will always be needed and relevant to supporting our youth’s success. Dr. Logan notes that being aware of her role in personally contributing to the next generation of practicing school counselors, as well as planting seeds for future school counselor educators in academia, generates more excitement and passion for her in continuing her work in the school counseling profession.
What do you envision for the future of school counseling?
She states “practicing professionals in the field of school counseling already work hard enough, therefore, we must all focus on working smarter as we move forward. This includes considering ways that we can expand our efforts in building efficiency in our roles, while utilizing evidence-based practices”. Dr. Logan-McKibben highlights her personal three pillars for success: advocacy for the role of school counseling, collaboration with other professionals, and educating others about the specific roles of school counselors. This charge will need to be spread nationally but will need to start with at the local level, by educating individuals within a building, at the district office, and among school boards.
Dr. Sandra Logan-McKibben is the 2018 School Counselor Advocate for school, community, and family. The purpose of this award is to recognize a person whose advocacy for school counseling services in a school setting has impacted school counselors. The nominee may be a school board member, parent, teacher, community leader, or organization who has consistently made a significant contribution to the improvement of school counseling services in the school setting.
Dr. Logan-McKibben provides exemplary support of school counselors and school counseling services by building relationships in the community and participating in initiatives to improve the professional development of practicing school counselors in her district.
She is currently in the process of collaborating with the Educational Leadership program faculty at her University to infuse training about the importance of the role of school counselors in order to advocate for the appropriate roles and responsibilities of school counselors in the school setting.
Her advocacy for school counselors and school counseling services goes above and beyond and leading her to establish working relationships with the administrative and executive directors in the Division of student services as well as their grade level support teams in her county. She has provided three professional development opportunities to elementary, middle and high school counselors addressing the importance of data driven school counseling programs and creating one’s own source of data utilizing technology. She also facilitated a week-long summer institute focusing on the importance of social emotional learning for all students and promoting the role of the school counselor.
She is an active member of her local school counseling association where she serves as a board member and coordinator of the Emerging Leaders program, focusing on impacting on their school counseling graduate students. Congratulations to Dr. Sandra Logan-McKibben for receiving the School Counselor Advocate for school, community and family award.
