Board in Fort Smith gets program update

Counseling plan for schools aired

FORT SMITH — Work is underway to develop a comprehensive counseling program for the Fort Smith School District.

Michael Farrell, Fort Smith Public Schools supervisor of student services, provided the Fort Smith School Board with an update, as well as future expectations, pertaining to the subject for the Hatching Results organization.

Farrell cited the Arkansas Legislature’s passage of Act 190 earlier this year, which repealed the Public School Student Services Act and created the School Counseling

Improvement Act of

2019.

“Really, the root of the act is for each district to develop a K-12 comprehensive school counseling program, and as we looked at that and what the state was asking, we knew that we wanted to partner with an organization,” Farrell said.

Farrell said Fort Smith’s school system will work this year with the California-based organization Hatching Results to develop

such a program. Hatching Results does comprehensive, districtwide professional development for school counselors and administrators, among a number of other services.

The system is divided into three tiers of services. Tier 1 encompasses whole class research-based core instruction,

Tier 2 covers targeted small group interventions for at-risk students and Tier 3 includes individualized intensive interventions.

In a video presented by Farrell, Trish Hatch of Hatching Results explained Tier 1 services apply to all students. Meanwhile, Tier 2 and Tier 3 services would typically only apply to about 20% and between 5% and 10% of students, respectively.

Farrell said Hatching

Results visited Fort Smith schools to work with the district Oct. 28-29, and will visit again Feb. 3-4 and April 20-21. In between these meetings, which includes the present time, the district will be working on developing an action plan for the program.

The Hatching Results organization has worked with school systems in Chicago, Los Angeles, Tulsa and San Marcos, Texas, according to its website.

Farrell