Principal: Lori Sowers

Assistant Principal: Marcine Simpson

Mission Statement

Students, staff, and community design and implement a safe, engaging, and nurturing learning organization to build a strong foundation for students' personal growth.

Vision

Indian Creek is a community that works collaboratively to develop lifelong learners, build meaningful relationships, and place value on each other’s cultures and individual strengths.

Core Beliefs

At Indian Creek Elementary, we:

• Build relationships with all students to support social-emotional and academic skills

• Value students' experiences and cultures

• Believe parent and community support increases student engagement

• Believe every child has the ability to learn

• Value risk-taking

• Recognize students for their social and academic achievements

• Work collaboratively as a staff to support ALL students

Email: pachecol@lisd.net
Website: https://www.lisd.net/indiancreek
Location: 2050 Arbor Creek Drive, Carrollton, TX, USA
Phone: 469-713-5180
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indiancreekes/
Twitter: @IndianCreekES

The counselor’s role at Indian Creek is to help the staff, students and community work together for the Social Emotional needs of students. Through individual and group counseling, classroom guidance and in collaboration with teachers and administrators, programming and resources are provided to help parents, students, and the community.

Mrs. Pacheco is an active member of the Building Leadership Team which plans and implements activities to support engagement and school safety. An example of her leadership is organizing and implementing programs for child safety. She worked together with Denton County Friends of the Family to provide supplemental lessons about child protection in addition to teaching the curriculum of Second Step’s Child Protection Unit in each classroom. This opened communication between students and teachers, students and parents and the counselor. It also follows the federal mandate of Erin’s Law, which expects every school to implement a prevention-oriented child sexual abuse program.

The Indian Creek Elementary Counseling Advisory Council (CAC) meets 4 times each school year: September, November, February and April.

Members of CAC:

Lori Sowers, Principal

Marcine Simpson, Assistant Principal

Leah Pacheco, Professional School Counselor (PSC)

Jordan Utt, PK Teacher

Paige Edelen, Kindergarten Teacher

Kaleigh Cambere, 1st Grade Teacher

Killeen Hossbach, 2nd Grade Teacher

Lisa Cunningham, 3rd Grade Teacher/Parent

Kaylie Murphy, 4th Grade Teacher

Nancy Legg, 5th Grade Teacher

Kristan Hayes, SPED Teacher

Amy DeArmon, Dyslexia Teacher

Use of Implementation Cycle

The CAC met to review the results of the needs assessment, the end of year (EOY) program survey and the Campus Improvement Plan (CIP) to design initiatives for the upcoming school year. A major focus each year is to highlight the different cultures of our families and community. As we try to improve the cultural proficiency of the staff, as well as the students, a night to focus on other cultures and diversity provides the perfect opportunity. We developed a plan of what we wanted our Art & Cultural Night to look like this year. There was dancing, art, food tasting and book tasting included. The expectation is that the EOY survey questions reflect growth of the students' sense of belonging, acceptance and connectedness.

Personal Wellness ... Empowered Students ... Promising Futures

Through partnerships with students, staff, and community, counselors will foster development of self-advocacy skills, personal-social-emotional wellness, and academic-career success in a compassionate and supportive environment.

Indian Creek ES Counseling Program’s goal is to support all students by ensuring mental health, reinforce positive emotional choices, and advocate for students, which would overall maximize opportunities for academic achievement. Professional school counselors, along with staff, teachers, community, students and parents design, deliver and evaluate the school program. These programs are then integrated into the school’s mission and become part of the learning environment regardless of a student’s age or grade level.

The aim of our program is to ensure the best outcome for every student regardless of age, physical limitations, mental acuity, special abilities, and social factors including family circumstances, home environment or cultural differences. The program has a broad base with a special focus on preventative and developmental strategies. Program development is based on student data collected over the years and the collaboration between staff, parents, teachers, community and students. The District and community provide opportunities for the professional school counselor, administration, families and faculty to attend current trainings and practices that will further the understanding of social emotional learning for our students and in turn, improve academic performance.

In order for Indian Creek ES to have a successful counseling program, the following conditions/resources need to exist:

· The professional school counselor (PSC) employed is certified and provides each of the four components (individual planning, guidance curriculum, system support and responsive services).

· All students, families, and teachers have equal access to the resources available and partner with the PSC in the education of their students (TEC §26.001).

· The Counseling Advisory Council is made up of the community, parents, administration and counselor. All partner with the PSC to develop a comprehensive counseling program, as well as provide feedback and evaluate the program for its effectiveness.

· The school administrators and staff support the counseling initiatives, help promote a positive environment and assign roles and responsibilities that will support those initiatives.

· The PSC and the CAC use the data collected to create a comprehensive campus program based on the results and interpretation of the data collected through a campus wide needs assessment. Relationships among all staff on campus are regarded as respectful, collaborative and cooperative.

· Campus and District budgets support the counseling program by providing funds for materials such as books, games, storage and general office supplies.

· A confidential workspace is provided for the PSC with adequate space to provide individual and small group counseling.

Developing the program goals is critical for a school counseling program to ensure the integrity and fidelity of the activities and focus of the program. The process of developing the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound) goals is to review a variety of data points that are to be carefully and purposefully considered. A variety of sources are used such as needs assessments from parents, teachers and students, the EOY survey, the Campus Improvement Plan (CIP), the Academic Excellence Indicator System (AEIS) reports, Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR), Building Leadership Team (BLT), and Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) are some examples. These sources help the PSC collaborate with the CAC and other stakeholders to develop meaningful goals to address specific campus needs.

Regularly evaluating the effectiveness of our program is necessary and critical to serve the ever changing needs of the students and campus. This can be done in a number of ways. The CAC meets 4 times a year, at least, to look at the data points that were used in developing the program goals in the first place. Perception surveys such as pre-tests and post-tests can be effective tools to hear directly from the students/clients affected. An overall audit of the counseling program helps the PSC look at the overall needs of the program. It can provide data on what key elements are working and what might need to be improved. Looking for trends over time by plotting them on a graph can provide valuable information. This is valuable to the PSC and the counseling program to ensure the success and excellence of the program.

Individual Planning: The PSC will hold minute meetings with all 3rd - 5th grade students in both the fall and spring to build relationships/connections to determine individual needs and areas of global concern. This will be evidenced in Google docs.

Guidance Curriculum: Guidance lessons will be delivered by the PSC from August to May, serving 100% of the student body, utilizing the Second Step curriculum for bullying prevention, child protection and social/emotional learning. They can also be delivered by special request for an immediate need.

Responsive Services: Snack baskets will be provided in the classroom for teachers who want to participate and have snacks available for students in need. Productivity and emotional regulation will increase in students as evidenced by pre and post surveys.

System Support: Information delivered to parents in the Falcon Forecast each week from August to May, highlighting current lessons, counseling events, and parent topics for the purpose of increasing student participation and parent awareness to the school counseling program as evidenced in emails.

Individual Planning

• Meet with individual students on goal planning for the year
• Minute Meetings with grades 3-5 students
• Generation Texas (GenTex) Activities - to promote college awareness/readiness
• Transition planning meetings for 5th graders
• Small groups for students on topics such as self-regulation, social skills, divorce, grief, etc.
• Parent/Teacher Conferences
• Coordinate Middle School Tours for 5th graders

Guidance

• Guidance lessons per grade level addressing social/emotional learning needs, bullying prevention, healthy relationships/personal safety, college and career readiness
• Evaluate needs assessment to plan for campus support lessons
• Indian Creek Elementary (ICE) College and Career Day events
• Support teachers and classes during ICE’s Red Ribbon Campaign
• Coordinate Kindness Week, College and Career Week, Start with Hello Week, and Red Ribbon Week

Responsive Services

• Plan class specific lessons upon teacher request, i.e. bullying vs tattling
• Coordinate Angel Tree Christmas support for ICE families
• Coordinate with LovePac Inc. August to May, to provide food to families on long weekends/holidays
• Coordinate with Food 4 Kids through the North Texas Food Bank to provide a backpack for snacks every Friday for the weekends from August to May
• Coordinate with PTA, LovePacs and other community agencies to provide snacks for baskets in the teachers' classrooms.
• Train staff on mental health awareness, Bullying/David’s Law, Child Abuse/Sexual Abuse, Dating Violence, Drug and Alcohol Prevention, McKinney-Vento, Sexting, Suicide Prevention and the Threat Assessment Process
• Provide individual counseling as needed
• Provide group counseling on various topics such as grief/loss, divorce, friendship or regulating emotions

System Support

• Student Data Collection/Evaluation on academic and behavior issues
• Coordinate volunteers for WatchDOGS program (Dads of Great Students)
• Student Response to Intervention (RTI)/Behavior and 504 Meetings
• Serve/Consult on PAWS/CAC & Building Leadership Team (BLT)
• Consult with ICE Administration on state/district testing data
• Update weekly Falcon Forecast Newsletter for Parents/Staff
• Coordinate activities for special weeks such as Red Ribbon Week, Kindness or College Week

The PSC partnered with the North Texas Food Bank's Food 4 Kids BackPack Program and LovePacs, a community organization, to provide food for students every weekend, long weekends and holiday breaks. They are utilized to help families that are in need and have children who are chronically hungry when school is not in session. This year, the LovePacs organization and the Indian Creek Parent Teacher Association (PTA) provided nutritious snacks for our classroom teachers to keep in their rooms for students' access. The idea is to take away any anxiety that comes from hunger, so the students can improve in their academics as well as their behavior.

Snack baskets will be provided in the classroom for teachers who want to participate and have snacks available for students in need. Productivity and emotional regulation will increase in students as evidenced by pre and post surveys.

Based on the data, 81.8% of the teachers agree that their students’ behavior was more regulated having snacks available to them during the day. Additionally, 72.7% observed a decrease in anxiety.

The PSC partnered with community organizations, such as the Carrollton Fire Department, Salvation Army and Lewisville High School's Angel Tree, to connect them with families in need for the Holiday season. They provided gifts for the children, food for the family and even a personal visit on Christmas Day from the firefighters with their truck!

In order for a counseling program to reach its highest potential, stakeholders are an important component. Mrs. Pacheco works with all stakeholders to organize, plan, design, implement and evaluate the school counseling program. The stakeholders are teachers, staff, parents, community, administration and sometimes students. The Building Leadership Team (BLT) and CAC meet to discuss important events, review data presented, and ensure that needs are being met. Stakeholders have opportunities throughout the year to view curriculum, access resources and discuss program plans. The PSC is the guide to help define roles of each stakeholder as the process relates to the four components (Guidance Curriculum, Responsive Services, Individual Planning and System Support). The stakeholders are an integral part to ensure the fidelity and integrity of the entire counseling program.

I Choose Excellence! Fly High, Falcons!