Dr. Shoemaker met with the Corporation Counselors Wednesday to celebrate "National School Counselors Week." Our enlarged staff has benefited students; our goal is to serve individual needs with utmost care in academics, but also physically, socially and emotionally. We are grateful for this team of eleven Counselors, and three Career Coaches. Working together, they have provided our students with multiple avenues of support.
Travis Weik, Editor of The Courier Times, attended the meeting, and captured the above photos.To read his full article, please click this link, or continue reading the copied version below:
Tuesday morning, Dr. Matthew Shoemaker, superintendent of New Castle schools, invited the corporation’s counseling team to New Castle Middle School to recognize their work.
New Castle has 11 school counselors, which includes one at each elementary school and three each at the city’s middle and high schools.
Shoemaker said the overall well-being of all of students is paramount to the NCCSC mission. This not only includes developing the students’ academic potential, but it also involves investing in their physical, social and emotional well-being.
“To this end, we have greatly expanded our counseling resources the past few years,” Shoemaker said. “We have invested a great deal of money toward establishing what we believe to be healthy school counselor to student ratios.”
According to the American School Counselor Association, the state average ratio of student to school counselors in Indiana is 694:1. Whereas, with the 11 full time school counselors in New Castle, the ratio of students to school counselors is 250:1.
The New Castle High School counselors are Karen Bimber (who is also the director of school counseling), Todd Conklin and Mercy Jumbo. Patrick Burris and Karlee Bennett are the NCHS career coaches.
The New Castle Middle School counselors are Dana Diep, April Hughes and Audrey O’Malia. Kaleigh Brown is the NCMS career coach.
The Eastwood counselor is Emily Orr. The Parker counselor is Sarah York. The Riley counselor is Nancy Williamson. The Westwood counselor is Rachel Crabtree. The Wilbur Wright counselor is Lynn Swarzkoph.
“Our investment in school counselors places New Castle in the position to better serve the needs of our students and families,” Shoemaker said.
He gave special thanks to the New Castle School Board and New Castle Certified Teachers Association for recognizing the importance of school counselors and for prioritizing numerous additional wrap-around support services for our students.
In addition to the low student-to-counselor ratio, New Castle schools also hired three full-time career coaches in 2023. Shoemaker said these career coaches help 6-12th graders explore career options and have placed New Castle High School juniors and seniors into internships at local businesses to fulfill their graduation pathway requirements.
“We are extremely grateful for our school counselors and the work they do every day with our students,” Shoemaker said.