Welcome Back Panther Clubs! My name is Tifinie Hadley and this is my 2nd year as the Student Services Coordinator.
I have taught 7 years in elementary schools in general and special education. Through those 7 years, I have fostered positive, strong relationships with students and families to provide support and advocate for student need. Here at Vern Patrick, I do many of those same things. Student Services is a mouthful, but it basically means that I am available to foster and help students, staff, families, and community partnerships to best serve our school community here at Vern Patrick.
This school year, I will be teaching Social Emotional Lesson (SEL) in your child’s classroom, running small social and friendship groups, focusing on school-wide attendance, running school committees for Positive Behavior Support and Student Support Team. I absolutely love my job here at Vern Patrick!
I am a Central Oregon Native, growing up in Prineville where I attended Kindergarten through 12th grade. After high school, I went to Oregon State for my Bachelor’s and Pacific University for my Masters in Teaching.
In my free time, I play competitive slow pitch softball, ride four-wheelers, do CrossFit, go camping, and spend time with my family and friends. My family includes my husband, Sam, and my 6-year-old daughter. My daughter also attends Vern Patrick.
I am really looking forward to a new school year and the excitement it brings to work with your student(s).
Meet Student Services/Counselor
What does the School Student Services/Counselor do?
As a Student Services/Counselor, my job is to support students academically, emotionally, and socially so that they can succeed in school. I accomplish this through many different tasks:
- Guidance Lessons:
- Every Week, I teach guidance lessons to grades 1 through 5 for approximately 30-40 minutes. The focus of these guidance lessons is social-emotional growth lesson from Redmond School District adopted curriculum.
- Small Groups:
- Occasionally, I hold groups, depending on the needs of the school. Groups could focus on community building, social skills, attendance support, divorce support, and grief.
- Individual Sessions:
- The teachers in our school are very skilled at helping students overcome most problems within the classroom. However, every once in a while a student might need more one-on-one attention to help them solve a problem or accomplish a certain task. I might support students in their classroom or in my office. Individual interventions are usually short term in nature. If a student has long term needs, I can help connect parents to outside agencies for further assistance.
- Student Support Team meetings:
- Every week, I help to facilitate an interdisciplinary Student Support Team (made up of the counselor, principal, school psychologist, nurse, teachers, etc.) that pulls together to determine the best interventions for students who are struggling.
Here at Vern Patrick and the Redmond School District, we strive for the following components of support and growth for all the students in our school:
- A comprehensive school Student Service/Counseling program:
- Serves all students
- Includes large and small group counseling
- Incorporates short-term individual counseling
- Works with all stakeholders: parents, teachers, and community
- A Student Services/Counselor is an educator who…
- Advocates for the student at school.
- Works with teachers and parents to provide helpful suggestions and support for children’s needs.
- Provides Classroom Lessons for every class.
- Helps in identifying academic and social/emotional needs of children.
- Helps children understand themselves and others.
- Provides information about community resources that would benefit children.
- Makes referrals to outsides agencies.
- Provides parents with resources and information.