The Legal and Ethical Complications of Working with Minors in Schools

Legal and ethical issues in a school can be complicated. Develop a decision-making framework for analyzing and resolving these issues by applying case and statutory law, school board policy and the ASCA Ethical Standards. Through small-group and large-group discussion of actual court cases, focus on the need to consider your actions in context for each student and to understand the rights of parents/guardians to be the guiding voice in their children’s lives, especially in value-laden issues. Discuss areas such as duty to warn, privacy rights, responsibilities toward suicidal children, civil and criminal liability, academic advising, defamation, child abuse, case notes, educational records and malpractice.

Learning Objectives:
After completing this workshop, you will be able to:

• Examine your own values/philosophies in ethical decision-making
• Tolerate ambiguity in ethical decision-making as opposed to rigid responses
• Reduce fear and anxiety in dealing with legal and ethical issues
• Explain how to avoid legal entanglements in schools by practicing within the minimum standards of care for the reasonably competent professional

About the Presenters
Carolyn Stone, Ed.D., is an associate professor and school counseling program leader, University of North Florida, and former chair of ASCA’s Ethics Committee. She is the author ASCA's "School Counseling Principles: Ethics and Law," as well as numerous other books and articles on school-counseling-related legal and ethical issues.

Wendy Rock, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Southeastern Louisiana University and co-chair of ASCA's Ethics Committee. She is a co-editor of ASCA's "Ethical and Legal Issues in School Counseling."

Haley Wikoff, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Western Illinois University and co-chair of ASCA's Ethics Committee.

Schedule: Full-day training; 0.6 CEUs available to attendees

Cost: $4,000*

To bring this professional development workshop to your district, email Jennifer Walsh.