What does a Counselor Do?
School counselors provide support in an effort to maximize student achievement and also, serve as an advocate for all children. Support may be provided to students in the following ways:
Classroom Guidance: Classroom guidance lessons are held with each homeroom, approximately twice per month. These lessons will align with each classroom’s needs, as well as Character Counts Education.
Small Group Counseling: Small group counseling sessions may be offered to students throughout the school year, based on student need. This allows students to give and receive help from their peers who may be experiencing similar feelings or situations. These are a few example of small group sessions that have been conducted in the past:
- Changing Families- Divorce, step families, blended families
- Friendship Fun-How to get along with friends
- Social Skills- How to interact with other students and adults
- Anxiety/ Worry- Worries about school, friends, sport
Group sessions typically last approximately six sessions and are made based on teacher or parent referrals. Each session will be about 20-30 minutes long. Sessions will take place at an agreed upon time with the classroom teacher when minimal instruction is missed. Any child may participate in group sessions, with parent permission first. If you have any questions about group sessions, please feel free to contact me!
Individual Counseling: Individual counseling at the school level seeks to remove any impediments that may be getting in the way of a student being the best learner that they can be. It is conducted in a confidential setting and is meant to meet any immediate student needs or concerns. Individual counseling at school is short-term in nature and also requires parent permission. Should a student need on-going therapy, a referral can be made to an outside mental health provider. Individual counseling referrals for students can be made through the request of a student, parent, or teacher.
Meet Your School Counselor Team
Mrs. DuBose is the School Counselor for all 6th grade students as well as 7th grade students with last names beginning with A-K. She is excited to join the MMS community and is excited to help students and their families!
Mrs. Hopkins-Roberts is the School Counselor for all 8th grade students as well as 7th grade students with last names beginning with L-Z. She is excited to join the MMS community and is excited to help students and their families!
Mrs. Rock is the School Psychologist. She is passionate about helping students work through difficult challenges to achieve their greatest potential.
How to Make an Appointment
Students may see the Counselor or Psychologist by asking themselves or being referred by a parent, teacher, or administrator. Please use the links above to make an appointment with Mrs. DuBose, Mrs. Roberts or Mrs. Rock.
Helpful Resources
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
PBIS
Our school motto is The 3 R’s:
- Respect for Others
- Respect for Self
- Respect for Community
MMS uses the “Sand Dollars” incentive program to reward students whose behavior represents the above values.
- The Sand Dollar Incentive Program is a component of the MMS PBIS Program to promote positive behavior in students.
- Each Sand Dollar is worth $1.
- Sand Dollars will be given out by every staff member in the building for positive behaviors such as: any positive behavior, volunteering to help another student or staff member, good attendance, being punctual to class, being prepared for class, good or improving grades, being helpful to others, intervening as a by-stander when someone is being picked on.
- Once a Sand Dollar is given to a student please have the student sign their name on the back to avoid students giving their Sand Dollars to others. The student’s signature on the Sand Dollar validates entrance to an event.
- Surveys will frequently be sent to students to monitor the number of Sand Dollars they are receiving which will help establish the entry fee to planned quarterly PBIS Sand Dollar Events.
- PBIS will have periodic raffles in which students can purchase tickets to try to win items that we purchase with PBIS $ or through donations.
- Students are able to purchase items in the school store using Sand Dollars. Students will be able to access the school store during designated times.
Bullying & Harassment
Queen Anne’s County Public Schools defines bullying, harassment and intimidation as intentional conduct, including verbal, physical, or written conduct or an intentional electronic communication that is repeated over time, creates a hostile educational environment by substantially interfering with a student’s educational benefits, opportunities, or performance, or with a student’s physical or psychological well being and is:
- Motivated by an actual or perceived personal characteristic including race, national origin, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, ancestry, phsyical attributes, socioeconomic status, familial status, or physical or mental ability or disability; or,
- Threatening or seriously intimidating; and
- Occurs on school property, at a school activity or event, or on a school bus; or,
- Substantially disrupts the orderly operation of school
“Electronic communication” means a communication transmitted by means of an electronic device, including a telephone, cellular phone, computer, or pager.
Any student committing acts of bullying, harassment and intimidation, or engaging in reprisal and retaliation, or any person found to have made false accusations will receive an appropriate consequence and/or intervention. Depending on the nature of the offense, consequences and interventions for the aforementioned behaviors can range from parent/student conference to expulsion from school.
Character Counts
The mission of Character Counts in Queen Anne’s County is to support and embrace character development in all aspects of our lives. The Character Counts Program is a coalition of schools, communities, and non-profit organizations working to advance character education by teaching the Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.
The Business/Education Committee has joined with the Community Partnership for Children & Families, local communities, and other organizations for these efforts in Queen Anne’s County. Character Counts is made up of a series of activities that involve business, community members, and leaders.
CommUNITY Mentoring is also a part of the Character Counts family where mentors caringly guide mentees in grades 5-12 in making positive choices for their future success.
New Student Registration
Please visit the main QACPS site for information about enrolling a new student at Matapeake Middle School.