Aug 16
New job
Paul got on me because I haven’t written about my new job yet; so here goes.
I started my new job at Campbell County High School on 8/7/08. The position is a Transition Coordinator. It’s a grant position under Title 1 Part D. I’m working with students that are currently in Campbell Lodge or Holly Hill (residential facilities) or those that are transitioning back to the high school from the alternative school. Typically, these kids would come to the school, get enrolled, be handed a schedule and basically told “good luck!” There wasn’t anyone to make sure that the kids didn’t fall through the cracks…they had guidance counselors, but they are really busy and don’t have the time or resources to monitor these kids as closely as they need to be monitored. Thus, my position was created.
My overall goal for the program is to make sure that these kids graduate. This grant was created to reduce recidivism and dropout rates. I have spent the past 1.5 weeks developing the position from scratch. It’s been difficult because A) no one knows exactly what I’m suppose to be doing B) I don’t have a direct supervisor or team to ask questions to in my building C) I have a HUGE learning curve with learning the school system, the programs that these kids are coming from, and all of the in-school supports / programs / testing that is available for them.
Basically it looks like I’ll be spending my time helping the pre-transition process like getting their transcripts put into the computer, making a schedule for them, notifying the teachers of the child’s situation, and getting to know the kids before they even come to the high school. Once they are ready to transition, I”ll be showing them around and monitoring them weekly (via face to face visits, emails updates from teachers, phone calls home or to their residential facility) to ensure that they are holding up ok, fitting in, and being successful. There’s a TON more stuff that I have to do including holding ARC meetings, making a graduation plan, career planning, teaching organizational skills, social skills, self-esteem, etc etc etc. I already have about 40 kids on my caseload, and it will just go up from there. I assume that I’ll keep the kids until they graduate so my list will eventually be really huge.
It looks like it’s going to be an exciting job; all the teachers and staff at the high school and alternative schools are really excited for the prospect of the program and what it can do for the kids. I’ll update more in about a month to let you know how it’s going!