Kaleigh Walker Great Educators, Student Supports

Celebrating Heroes of Education during National School Counselor Week

National School Counselor Week is a time to shine a spotlight on a group of heroes in our district – our school counselors. These dedicated professionals play a pivotal role in shaping the academic and emotional well-being of our students. 

For many counselors, the decision to enter the field is rooted in a deep-seated passion for helping young minds navigate the challenges of growing up. 

Kriston Ramsey, the counselor at Gap Creek and Fountain City Elementary, started her career as a family service worker for the Department of Children’s Services but felt her efforts were only retroactively impacting the students she worked with.

“There’s so many things we can do proactively to impact their life longer term,” she said. “I want to try to give these kids the skills they can use to avoid those situations in the future at all possible. I’ve seen the effects of negative situations, and they’re not pretty.”

Sterchi Elementary Counselor Devin Debusk

School counselors wear many hats, providing a wide range of services to address the diverse needs of their students. 

Hardin Valley Middle School counselor Rebecca Gomez said each day is different. She could walk in with a plan for a classroom lesson on diversity and identity, a group counseling session on building friendship skills, and a one-on-one with a student who is struggling, and have her entire schedule change if a child is in crisis.

She added, “There is so much collaboration and consultation behind the scenes with teachers, administrators, and parents as we may identify larger barriers to learning. Side by side, we put the pieces together to remove those for students.”

From showcasing potential career fields to boosting social-emotional skills, counselors play a crucial role in nurturing the holistic development of their students.

Despite the hardships and troubles they assist with every day in their schools, counselors love interacting with their kids.

“One of my favorite things is when the kids say silly things or tell funny stories. They sometimes forget you’re an adult and just pour their heart out to you like you’re their friend,” said the counselor at Sterchi Elementary, Devin Debusk. “Our kids are so loving and supportive of each other. They can be wild and crazy, but they just love their teachers and love to have fun.”

Hardin Valley Middle Counselor Rebecca Gomez

In their daily interactions with students, these counselors are attuned to the common issues affecting today’s youth. 

“I’m working with a lot of students on social skills and coping skills, along with working through anxieties,” Ramsey said. “We’re still seeing the effects of COVID through the behaviors of our kids and how much social learning they missed out on during that time.”

Gomez added, “I have seen an increase in mental health concerns, for sure.” She continued, “But I also see that the conversations around it are being brought into the open and a lot more people are wanting to support students in that area.”

When it comes to supporting their child outside of school, Debusk stressed the importance of community involvement in student development.

“Kids crave undivided, positive attention from adults. That’s something anyone can provide, whether you’re a family member, daycare worker, or school staff member. Just listening to them and giving them respect to share their thoughts is so important to them.”

The stories of these incredible individuals are just a glimpse into counselors’ passion and commitment to their vital roles in schools across the district. 

Gap Creek and Fountain City Elementary Schools Counselor Kriston Ramsey

As we celebrate National School Counselor Week, Knox County Schools encourages the community to take a moment to appreciate and honor these dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to shape the future of our children.

KCS Hall Pass Great Educators, Student Success

Vision Team Makes A Difference For Students

Vision Team Makes A Difference For Students
Janet French creates academic materials in braille for students who are blind or vision-impaired. (Photo credit / Mandi Taylor)

On a recent morning at Sterchi Elementary, Janet French took a one-page sheet of writing exercises and scanned them into her computer.

After making sure the worksheet was correct, she entered a command and a staccato noise like a miniature jackhammer rang out from a nearby printer, as embossed pages unfurled from the device.

Several minutes later, French retrieved a six-page sheet of double-spaced braille pages from the printer, ready for use by a student at the school.

While the KCS Vision Department is a relatively small portion of the district’s overall workforce, braillists like French — along with KCS teachers of the visually impaired and orientation & mobility specialists — have a huge impact for approximately 150 blind or low-vision students in Knox County.

Mandi Taylor, a teacher of the visually impaired, said those students can use a wide range of tools that vary in degrees of technological complexity.

At one end of the spectrum are simple magnifying tools, such as a half-sphere “dome magnifier” for books or a telescope-like monocular to assist with viewing material at a distance, such as writing on a classroom whiteboard.

Digital tools are also available, such as closed-circuit TV devices that can display written material or the image of a teacher on a digital screen.

Braille — a tactile writing system of raised dots on paper —  is also an important resource. Sterchi is one of four district schools with dedicated braille stations, along with Farragut Middle, Carter High and South-Doyle High.

The braille system is utilized in a variety of ways. Students can use braille flashcards to practice math facts or other memorization tasks, and a tactical graphics kit can help teachers create materials by hand.

More advanced tools include the “Jaws” screen reader, which can read on-screen text out loud, and even a BrailleNote Touch tablet, in which braille dots pop up along a narrow strip at the bottom of the tablet as users scroll through material.

Learning to read braille can take two years, and Taylor said the tools used by students may change over time, especially as they get older and take on different challenges.

Lauren Switzer, a teacher and orientation / mobility specialist, said the department works to identify the right tool for each student’s particular needs and goals, adding that the overall objective is for students “to have enormous tool kits to pull from in the right situation.”

The Vision Department includes two braillists, nine itinerant specialists / teachers and a team of vision technicians who travel to schools and conduct vision assessments.

In many cases, the employees who work in the department were drawn to their jobs after an experience of working with a vision-impaired person. Taylor said she was an elementary teacher who worked with two children who had vision impairments, including one who was learning braille — “It blew my mind, and I just became interested in the process,” she said.

Switzer was pursuing a career in physical therapy, but reconsidered after working with a woman who was blind. “I enjoyed how my brain had to work a little bit differently, I had to be more creative,” she said.

The work can also create a close bond with students. French, who creates braille materials, has even been invited to the weddings of former students.

Summer Tucker, special education supervisor for KCS, said the work is rewarding in part because its impact goes beyond the classroom.

“You are giving students skills that are going to help them in life,” she said.