School Counselors Advocating with Legal Muscle

Opening Keynote: November 5, 2020 at 1:00 p.m.

Presenter: Dr. Carolyn Stone

School counselors can be powerful strategists when applying legal muscle to problems that impact the educational environment.  Federal and case law can support and even when they hinder, such as the recent removal of transgender youth from Title IX protection, there are still laws that buoy counselors’ advocacy efforts.  Intervening on behalf of students is infinitely easier if there is a law that provides leverage.  This session focuses on the rights of students who are homeless, gay, transgender, undocumented, under foster care, pregnant, bullied, or victims of dating violence or sexual harassment.  Legal understanding coupled with our ethical imperative to advocate is a formidable combination and increases the odds that counselors will have sway in systemic change and individual support.

Carolyn Stone is a Professor of Counselor Educator at the University of North Florida (UNF) where she teaches and researches in the area of legal and ethical issues for school counselors.  Prior to becoming a counselor educator in 1995, Carolyn spent 22 years with the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida where she served as a middle school teacher, elementary and high school counselor and Supervisor of 225 school counselors.  Dr. Stone was the 2016 Distinguished Professor for the University of North Florida; the 2006 President of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA); the longest sitting Ethics Chair now entering her seventeenth year; recipient of the American School Counselor Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010; and recipient of the Florida School Counselor Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.  Dr. Stone was the chairperson for the last three revisions of the ASCA Ethical standards and serves the court as an expert witness in eight cases involving school counselors.  Dr. Stone has written the only book exclusively for school counselors on legal and ethical issues.  In addition to being a past President of ASCA, Dr. Stone is a past President of the Florida Counseling Association and the Florida Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors.  Carolyn has delivered over 600 workshops in all 50 states and 23 countries and guest lectured for 18 colleges and universities.  She has authored six books, dozens of journal articles, and conducted numerous legal and ethical webinars for College Board and ASCA.  Her professional path in elementary and high school counseling, middle school teaching, Supervisor of School Counseling for one of the nation’s largest school district, and counselor educator has prepared her with first-hand experience and understanding of the professional world of school counselors.