1. WELCOME BACK TEACHERS!
Counseling Rotation

2. BCHS Counseling Services
Academic Social/Emotional College/Career
ASCA has also identified four other components of an effective 21st Century school counseling delivery system. These are:
Guidance Curriculum
Individual Student Planning
Responsive Services
System Support
Updates
Amber Collins - System-wide Counselor (crisis services)
Lynn Suggs - College/Career Counselor (dual enrollment coordinator)

3. Schedule Information/Changes:
Schedules have been balanced. If you have a concern regarding a student’s schedule please notify the student’s counselor. April Loggins – grades 11 and 12, Mary Boykin – grades 9 and 10.
For 9th grade students, please notify Ms. Boykin by 3:00 TODAY.
For upperclassmen, please notify the counselor by 3:00 PM on July 30.
Advisors will print schedules for open house. Please print them the morning of July 31, by 10AM. If you have trouble, contact Ms. Patterson by 10AM on July 31.
Schedule Change Procedures:
Schedule change requests will be accepted in the counseling office Monday, August 5 - Tuesday, August 6. Schedules will only be changed for the following reasons: 1. Credit has already been earned for the class. 2. Pre-requisite course work has not been completed. 3. An academic class is not accelerated enough.
If an elective class was requested during pre-registration, it will not be changed. No other schedule changes will be granted. A parent/guardian signature is required for all changes regardless of student age.
The advisor’s signature is also required. Please do not send students out of class for schedule changes. We will call students as time permits.

4. Advisement and Checking Grades:
Please check that all of your advisees have been assigned to you. The only exception: students that are dual enrolled and who will not be on campus for advisement have been assigned to Mrs. Suggs. They will no longer be a part of your advisement group.
Please check the grades of your students in your advisement weekly. We recommend you do this on Friday so that you can make recommendations for AA.
Remember that if they are failing a class they do not have to go to clubs. They should be making up work for that class.
Please make parent contact for students failing your class. If a student is failing multiple classes, we can coordinate a parent-teacher conference.

5. Graduation Requirements:
All students need 23 credits to graduate:
4 in ELA
4 in Math
4 in Science
3 in Social Studies
½ in Personal Fitness, ½ in Health (or one combo unit)
3 in CTAE/FineArts/World Lang, and 4 other electives
We encourage all students to complete a pathway.
Grade Promotion:
4 units to be a sophomore
10 units to be a junior
16 units to be a senior

6. Dual Enrollment Banks County High School Deadlines:
Spring semester– December 1
Summer/Fall semester – May 1
University of North Georgia Deadlines:
Spring – October 1
Summer – April 15
Fall – May 15
Students must meet BCHS’s eligibility requirements prior to application deadline
Degree Program: Students with a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.70 may dual enroll if the minimum test scores required for admissions to the college of choice are met. Please look on the college of interest’s webpage for admission requirements as they differ for each institution. Students with an unweighted GPA between 3.25 and 3.69 must meet these BCHS test score requirements: Redesigned SAT requires a minimum sub-score of 26 on reading, a 480 on math, and a 1050 total score. For the ACT, a minimum score of 20 on English, an 18 on Math, and a composite score of 20. Students enrolling at a technical college, may take the Accuplacer Exam in place of the SAT or ACT. The following minimum scores must be made: Reading – 64, Writing – 70, Pre-Algebra (numerical) – 34, and Elementary Algebra – 57.
Mandatory Parent and Student meeting with counselor once eligibility requirements are met. Must meet prior to college deadline.
Three dual enrollment information meetings this year:
September 12
October 24
January 30

7. Testing: SAT at BCHS - December 7 and June 6
ACT at BCHS - October 26 and February 8
PSAT: During school on October 16. We will follow a Mon/Thur/Fri schedule that day. Mrs. Boykin will set up a time with world history teachers to do the pre-gridding.
Accuplacer Next Gen: Students can schedule a time to take this at area technical colleges. We will also administer the test at school.

8. Scholarships:
Seniors will join a Google Classroom which will provide information about senior activities and scholarships.
Scholarship lists are added once per month and will also be available on our school website.
The local scholarship application will be available on the Google Classroom in February.
Students can also access scholarship search engines on

9. Mandated Reporting WE ARE ALL MANDATED REPORTERS!
Complete the module on Compliance Directory.
If you suspect any of the following issues, please report them to a counselor IMMEDIATELY
Abuse (neglect, physical, sexual)
Suicidal ideation
Any other concern of a child in danger or makes you feel uneasy.
Do not wait until the end of the day. It may be too late to catch the student before they go home to a dangerous situation.
both counselors or come by the office to let us know your concerns.
If you become aware of a situation after school hours
It is your responsibility as a mandated reporter to make a report with DFCS
Call DFCS at
Also, notify the counselors and administration so we can follow-up

10. Handling and Reporting Student Needs:
If you believe a student is in need of clothing, food, or school supplies, please let us know.
If you believe a student is homeless or doubled-up, please let us know.