<p>I read in the news today that a high school guidance counselor (in our state, not our district) was arrested for having an affair with a student about 3 years ago. Shocking and disappointing, of course.</p>
<p>But as I read the article, I learned that this was the one and only GC for the entire high school. </p>
<p>CCers…my first thought?</p>
<p>What on earth are those seniors going to do about transcripts, recs and everything else??? They’ve put a French teacher in charge but…</p>
<p>When I was in high school, my dad was my high school principal at a small school that only had one GC. Nothing like this ever happened there, though I can guess how it would have been handled.</p>
<p>My dad, as principal would have stepped in and taken over the GC responsibilities until a new GC was hired. Dad was also the athletic director, so he may have handed those responsibilities off to a coach while he did the GC stuff.</p>
<p>If there was a teacher with an administrative certification, then that teacher would have also been asked to step up and take over some of the GC or principal job. If not, then the superintendent would have spent more time at the high school filling in for the principal part while dad played GC.</p>
<p>And, the students would have been asked to fill out a very through brag sheet to make it easier for the staff to write the rec. letters.</p>
<p>I imagine many schools would handle it in this way. </p>
<p>I am sure they are dealing with it as best they can. I’m just thinking what an added stress point it must be for kids applying to colleges right now.</p>
<p>On a serious note, this should be a non-event with a bit of organization. Getting transcripts out is a matter of administration. Recs are mostly a matter of lining up the teachers who provide the LORs. The part of the GC is usually pretty mundane with fill-the-blanks reports. By the time the next wave of reports are due, chances are that a GC will be in place. </p>
<p>While not a pleasant situation for the students who worry, there is no reason to think that a school cannot overcome a hasty departure in the GC office.</p>
<p>At our school there were 3-4 (I couldn’t figure out if the 4th one was a real GC or just helping) and the kids were divided alphabetically. There was also a secretary who sent out transcripts and did other things, and there was a parent who was the naviance volunteer. There would have been a shuffling of duties, but things would have been sent.</p>
<p>Or not. My daughter was just informed by her college that they never receives the final transcript that said she graduated. So I called the high school and was not directed to a GC but to one of the assistant deans who said ALL were sent. Fine, but the school never got them. Oh, what should he do? Resend? Oh, he could do that! The NCAA also never got her final transcripts, but those were/weren’t sent by the athletic department. I really don’t know if it is the high school, the college, or the mail that keeps eating these transcripts. No problem with my other child.</p>
<p>^^
If it is really important, get your own envelope and add the type of verification from USPS you like. Provide the envelope to the department that sends out the documents, have them place their SEALED envelope in yours, and send it to its destination. This way you do have the proof but still did not have access to the document … which seems to be the frightening part of the process. </p>
<p>Why this cannot be done electronically in 2014 remains a testament to the cluelessness of the people who did design the system eons ago. It is a shame that it brings out so much unneeded nervousness to applicants and their parents. </p>
<p>All Common App and SUNY App transcripts and counselor and teacher recommendations were submitted electronically by my daughter’s high school last year.</p>
<p>Not quite as dramatic but my D attends a school with 300 seniors and 1 guidance counselor…the GC was out for pregnancy leave and then gave birth but there were complications…which thankfully worked out fine…but she has been gone for 6 months…what the school system did was bring in a retired GC and she sort of muddled her way through it. It’s been a crazy EA for the kids…</p>
<p>XIGGI, it’s this high school’s choice to not submit manually to the NCAA. The school secretary said that she was sure all transcripts were mailed, and that every year about 1/3 went missing. The NCAA does accept the transcript electronically, but this high school doesn’t participate. One of DD’s 3 high schools does do it electronically, and it was easy.</p>
<p>The college my daughter attends has done its fair share of losing stuff too, or not updating things. Test scores not updated, Bright futures not matched up, and now this lost graduation transcript. It was not an option to pick them up, and I no longer live near the school to pick it up (a friend who is still in high school picked up the transcript for the NCAA and mailed it like you said, envelope in an envelope). The thing is, we paid the $50 graduation fee which included all these costs for transcripts, mailing, following up, so I feel the school needs to follow up. They haven’t thrown my daughter out of school yet, so it must not be that important to the college. Yet.</p>
<p>We also have several GCs…4. So the loss of one would increase workload but otherwise be OK. In this case one just hopes she’d written all her recs and such. She was put on leave a couple of weeks ago, I guess.</p>
<p>If the principal is filling in for the guidance counselor, and the superintendent is filling in for the principal, then who is filling in for the superintendent? A coach? The mayor? The guidance counselor??</p>
<p>Not necessarily. Disgusting doings by a male teacher at my daughter’s high school, with many very young girls, his students. More publicity when women do it because it’s unusual–you know, dog bites man stories.</p>
<p>Another HS in the state had its (male) band director arrested a few months ago for more or less the same thing. The GC’s student was 18 which is legal except that he was a student and he a teacher which makes it a felony here.</p>
<p>ETA I looked it up and the band guy was charged with stuff related to 8 different students, and internet stuff as well.</p>