Angie Colon

Apr. 14, 2015

MIDTERM

PART II: Steps to Ethical Decision Making: Example from Class

Step 1: Identify the problem

FAITH:
o Ethical problem Mrs. Cares responsibility is to the student and protecting her
from any further harm. Since her parents can be the one doing harm, she must
follow the proper steps to avoid Faith from being put in that abusive situation
again and maintain that her main obligation is to protecting that student from
harm.
o Legal problem What law is being broken? (Sexual Abuse) Faith is implying
that she knows all about sex and is a woman now thanks to her moms
boyfriend. Even though she is twelve years old, which means she is legally
protected by confidentiality, it must be broken because there is an implication of
sexual abuse. Confidentiality must be broken if a student indicates that they plan
to harm someone else, are being harmed by someone else, or are participating in
self-harm.
o Policy problem who does this issue go to, chain of command? Principal?
Dependent on school policy? Mrs. Care must report this situation to CPS in a
timely manner. According to SDUSD Policy Handbook, failure to report cases of
suspected child abuse or cases of child abuse can result in a misdemeanor.
o Political/professional problem How will this influence future working
relationships Mrs. Care expressed that Faith reminds Mrs. Care of herself. She
must be careful not to alter the way she handles the situation so that her

principal, down the line, does not suspect that she acted in a neutral and
unbiased manner. She should still handle it professionally and follow protocol.
She must also try to keep her principal in the loop on the process so that he is not
shut out.
TRACY
o Ethical problem Mrs. Cares responsibility is to BOTH the student and the
parent. The student had a right to keep her sexual orientation private from her
parents. The narrative indicated that Tracy is above age to qualify for this
confidentiality and so Mrs. Care is obligated to keep that information to herself.
In addition, she has a responsibility to the mother who had a court order
forbidding Tracys father from knowing information. In that aspect, Mrs. Care
should have never revealed that information about the student to her father.
o Legal problem What law is being broken? Confidentiality Law Ed
Code49602 & CA Evidence Code 1012 (because Tracy is over 12 years old).
Also breaking FERPA 99.4 , which states that parents have the right to
information about their child in school as long as there is not a court order
forbidding that. Lastly, FAM CODE 3042 is being broken, which states that a
child over 14 years of age may address the court on preference of custody with
their parents.
o Policy problem who does this issue go to, chain of command? Principal?
Dependent on school policy? According to SDUSD C21, when a case of abuse
of power is detected, one must first make good-faith effort to discuss the subject
of complaint with the division head in charge of the division and then file a
complaint with the district. (this applies with the principal trying to switch the
custody of the Tracy because of her sexual orientation).

o Political/professional problem How will this influence future working

relationships Keeping the principal in the loop about wrongfully disclosing
information to a parent that was court-ordered not to receive information. In
addition, since this particular situation has a lot of parts to it, Mrs. Care must be
careful on handling the meeting that she has with the principal regarding custody.
The principal has a strong opinion on sexual orientation so the broaching of this
topic will be difficult without positioning herself as though she is against him.
JOSE
o Ethical problem Mrs. Cares responsibility is to the student & the student
body. He is not being given access to a rigorous academic experience because of
the lack of support for his native language. As a school counselor, Mrs. Care is
responsible for providing him this opportunity and seeking equitable treatment for
him. Later down in the story, the portion speaking about the gun. Mrs. Care has
a responsibility to making sure the entire school is safe. If she is given notice that
the school is in danger, she has an obligation to keeping students as safe as
possible.
o Legal problem What law is being broken? Penal Code 626.9 prohibits any
person from having a firearm or deadly weapon in a school zone.
o Policy problem who does this issue go to, chain of command? Principal?
Dependent on school policy? SDUSD Special Education Handbook states that
assessments should be conducted in a students primary language. Since this is
not the case, this policy is being broken. SDUSD also has a zero tolerance for
weapons, drugs, and violence. Similar to the law above, students are not allowed
to have a firearm or deadly weapon while on school grounds.
o Political/professional problem How will this influence future working
relationships Must be careful in handling the situation of approaching the school

psychologist about assessing this student. She has been asked 5 times to do so,
but hasnt, but Mrs. Care does not want to come off as she is demanding work
from the school psychologist. She must balance professionalism and the urgency
to get this student properly tested.
Step 2: Identify ASCA Code of Ethics
FAITH:
o A.1.d: Are knowledgeable of laws, regulations and policies relating to students
and strive to protect and inform students regarding their right.
o This is important in terms of the Sexual Abuse taking place. Knowing that she has
36 hours to file a CPS report and letting students know about this breach in
confidentiality.
o A.2.b: Explainthelimitsofconfidentialityinappropriatewayssuchasclassroom
guidancelessons,thestudenthandbook,schoolcounselingbrochures,schoolWeb
site,verbalnoticeorothermethodsofstudent,schoolandcommunity
communicationinadditiontooralnotificationtoindividualstudents
o I would sit and converse with the student on why I have to break confidentiality.
Allowing the student to be involved with the process can help Faith understand

what is going on. All students on campus should also know these limits.
o (More Ethics on Previous Table)
TRACY
o A.1.c: Respectstudentsvalues,beliefsandculturalbackgroundanddonot
imposetheschoolcounselorspersonalvaluesonstudentsortheirfamilies.
o This is important in terms of Tracys sexual orientation. It is important not to
impose any personal beliefs on the student so that they do not shut down if they
feel unsupported. It is also important to allow the student to express their
feelings without imposing judgment on them.
o A.4.a: Avoiddualrelationshipsthatmightimpairtheirobjectivityandincrease
theriskofharmtostudents(e.g.,counselingonesfamilymembersorthe

childrenofclosefriendsorassociates).Ifadualrelationshipisunavoidable,the
schoolcounselorisresponsiblefortakingactiontoeliminateorreducethe
potentialforharmtothestudentthroughuseofsafeguards,whichmightinclude
informedconsent,consultation,supervisionanddocumentation.
o This comes in handy when speaking of the feelings Mrs. Care has for Tracys
mother. Even though it is not a familial relationship, having a romantic
relationship can cloud judgment in this situation. Since Mrs. Care has feelings
for Tracys mom, and Tracy has expressed her crush for Mrs. Care, it is possible

that another counselor may be better suited to handle this problem.

o (More Ethics on Previous Table)
JOSE
o A.1.b: Areconcernedwiththeeducational,academic,career,personalandsocial
needsandencouragethemaximumdevelopmentofeverystudent.
o Mrs. Care must make sure that Jose can get the best access to a rigorous
education by getting him reclassified to the level he belongs in.
o C.1.c: Recognizethatteachers,staffandadministratorswhoarehighfunctioning
inthepersonalandsocialdevelopmentskillscanbepowerfulalliesinsupporting
studentsuccess.Schoolcounselorsworktodeveloprelationshipswithallfaculty
andstaffinordertoadvantagestudents.
o This is important in being able to approach the school psychologist about the lack
of testing and relevant information delivered for Jose and his dad. They must find
a way to work as a team to better the students educational experience.

Step 3: Determine the nature & Dimensions of the Problem

FAITH

o Non-maleficence If Mrs. Care does not report the possible sexual abuse, then
she could be doing harm to Faith by putting her back in an unsafe environment at
home.
o Beneficence Reporting this abuse so that Mrs. Care can prevent any further
harm to Faith. Doing good by removing her from that environment and
contributing to the welfare of the student.
o Fidelity Obligation to try and protect the student from harm stemming from her
household. Since the student entrusted Mrs. Care with this information, she must

act and be proactive in helping her.

TRACY
o Non-Maleficence By the principal calling a meeting and getting multiple people
to agree to remove Tracy from her current custodial parent, he will be causing
further harm to her personal life.
o Justice She is being treated unfairly simply because of her sexual orientation.
The school is trying to decide which parent is more fit based off of personal
choices that have little to do with her academics.
o Fidelity Mrs. Care had an obligation of confidentiality to the student before

breaking it by disclosing information to the father.

JOSE
o Non-Maleficence If he does not get into his proper classes, it could be causing
academic harm by not providing him with an appropriate level of learning.
o Beneficence Having Jose be in a rigorous academic program will contribute to
the welfare of the child.
o Justice He has the right to be treated fairly and tested in his primary language.
This way he can be placed in the correct level and be treated in an equitable
manner as all students should be. Not being properly tested and placed in special
education is not fair if he does not belong at that level of education.

Step 4: Consult with Professionals

After receiving a phone call from Mrs. Care, I would consult with another colleague on
the various ethical and legal issues at play here. I would break each situation up and
handle them separately so they are sure to get the proper attention. (I would choose
another school counselor and my state/national association for a consult after organizing

all the events on paper).

I would make sure to document all that took place and share that in the consultation to
get the next steps in line.

Step 5: Generate possible courses of action

There are different courses of action depending on the situation:

FAITH: For this students situation, I would advise Mrs. Care to report to CPS
immediately of the potential for sexual abuse. If I was in the district/same school, I
would call CPS to consult and then let Mrs. Care know that I have a personal timeline of
36 Hours to report what I just heard. If the student is back in the custody of the parents, it
would be an even more urgent matter to try and get that student out of that situation as
soon as possible. I would also advise Mrs. Care to let her principal know of the matter so

that he is not caught off guard if this goes to the authorities.

TRACY: In this situation, I would advise Mrs. Care to pass on this student to a different
counselor at the school because of the dual relationships and conflict of interests that
seems to be going on. Not only did Mrs. Care break confidentiality with her student, but
also she disclosed information when a court order had prohibited the school from sharing
information with Tracys father. I would also advise Mrs. Care to speak with her

principal regarding the custody matter. Mrs. Care should follow the appropriate steps to
ensure that the student is being treated fairly, and having her personal life become a
decision of her school is violating that. Lastly, I would advise Mrs. Care to call her state
or national association and consult on what she should disclose with her appearance in

court to testify.
JOSE: For the first part of Joses situation, I would advise Mrs. Care to have a meeting
with Joses teachers and the school psychologist to go over what seems to be missing in
his academics. See if there is a way to arrange a testing in his native language and for
that information to be released to his father in their primary language. This is an
important matter and not something that Mrs. Care should be leaving for a time she feels
better. This student is not getting access to a proper education and it needs to be
handled seriously. I would, again, advise Mrs. Care to contact her state/national
association for a consult on how to go about doing this if she is not comfortable with
confronting the school psychologist.

Step 6: Evaluate selected course of action

FAITH:
o Justice would you treat others this way YES! Every student experiencing any
type of abuse should be protected and have a chance to be free of those
experiences.
o Publicity would you want your behavior reported in the newspaper YES!
Reporting a case of abuse to a student is something that should be happening
when a counselor is made aware of it. Reporting that is not something I would be
ashamed of.
o Universality would you recommend the same course of action to another
counselor in the same situation YES! Once again, it is about the safety and

well being of a student. Each individual student deserves their abuse to be

reported so that they dont have to go through it again.

TRACY
o Justice would you treat others this way YES! If Mrs. Care has dual
relationships with her student, it is best for a neutral and unbiased party to be
handling such a complicated situation so emotions dont get involved. (Mrs. Care
may not treating Tracy how she would treat others because of these feelings or
situations).
o Publicity would you want your behavior reported in the newspaper YES!
Tracy deserves a counselor who will keep confidentiality and who will not have
any emotional ties to her story. It will help Tracy in the long run to have a
counselor that can fully support her.
o Universality would you recommend the same course of action to another
counselor in the same situation YES! No student should have to compromise

his or her counseling experience because of a dual relationship.

JOSE
o Justice would you treat others this way YES! Jose deserves to have access to
a great education. One in which he can learn to his best potential and not face a
language barrier because of testing.
o Publicity would you want your behavior reported in the newspaper YES!
Publicity on my advice to get Jose tested in his native language to support his
academic achievement would be something I would love to advocate for and be
known for.
o Universality would you recommend the same course of action to another
counselor in the same situation YES! Far too many students face these
language barriers and are deemed less smart because of it. Each student has an

uncapped potential and should be treated as such and supported until they can
achieve that.
Step 7: Implement course of Action

Carry out the plan

While on the phone with Mrs. Care, I would write down all the facts that she gave me.
However, since there is a possibility that she is intoxicated, there may be a necessity to
continue the conversation the following day, once she is sober. At that time, I would get
all the facts down and contact my state and national associations for a consult on what
my course of action should be. I would advise Mrs. Care to report the incidents that
require reporting. For example, the sexual abuse must be reported to CPS immediately.
In addition, the fact that Jose was said to have a gun should be something that should be
taken seriously and reported immediately. Since I now know about all these situations, I
would have to report as well so that it is known that I properly reported what I was
supposed to. I believe that the administration at the school should be notified of all
situations and how they are ethically challenging in some aspects and how proper
reporting was not done. It is important to keep the safety of the students at the forefront
while trying to solve these dilemmas. Lastly, I would offer my help for as much support as
I could provide in resolving these issues and getting each of the three students to get the
best outcome possible.

PART III: Comprehensive and detailed report of the incident, issues and the actions you
did or did not take
On the evening of December 1, 2014, I received a phone call from a fellow colleague and
friend, in which she described many of the incidents into call today. During this conversation,

Mrs. Care disclosed the events of three particular students and the situations they were currently
in. Being as there are so many people involved, I will describe each scenario separately in order
to avoid confusion. While describing this information, I will also include the issues at hand and
my actions following each situation. On this night, Mrs. Care sounded as if she were intoxicated.
For this reason, I chose to speak to her this night and also call back the following morning to
make sure all the facts I had were written correctly so we were sure to carry out the proper plan
of action.
To begin with, Mrs. Care began speaking about a student named Faith. I was told that
Faith is currently twelve years old and had recently disclosed to Mrs. Care that she knows all
about sex now thanks to her moms boyfriend. In addition, Mrs. Care expressed her concern for
a drug bust that occurred on the same street as the residence of this student. It is standard
protocol to keep confidentiality as a counselor except in the event of three cases. These cases are
if a student expresses that they are being hurt, intend to hurt others, or intend to self-harm. In
this particular situation, Education Code 49602 states that in the event of child abuse,
confidentiality is warranted to be broken. In addition, ASCA Ethical Code A.1.d requires
counselors to be knowledgeable about the rights of students in terms of the law. With these two
Codes, our protocol at SDUSD is to report any instance of child abuse to Child Protective
Services (CPS) within 36 hours. It is because of this, that I then advised Mrs. Care to call CPS
for a consult and to file a report immediately. Since Mrs. Care shared this information with me, I
must file a report if it is not made within the time frame.
Next, Mrs. Care expressed concern for another student named Tracy. This particular
student has previously shared that she is attracted to Mrs. Care. Continuing on with their
counseling sessions, Tracy has disclosed that she believes she is gay. Mrs. Care stated that

Tracys father called her office asking questions about Tracy and Mrs. Care let him know that his
daughter believes she is gay. However, immediately after, Mrs. Care realized that there was a
court order prohibiting her father from having any information on her. In this portion of the
situation, FERPA 99.4 legally allows for a court order to prohibit a parent from receiving
information. As a result, a law was been broken when Mrs. Care divulged that information to
Tracys father. In addition, Mrs. Care broke the confidentiality clause set forth in her Ethics Code
and did not show her obligation to her student.
In addition to these issues with Tracy, Mrs. Care told me about another issue in which the
principal of the school was made aware of Tracys sexual orientation, along with the sexual
orientation of the mother. He received this information from his wife, who is a therapist. Ever
since, the principal has been attempting to strip Tracys mother of her custodial rights. For this
portion, many issues have arisen. First and foremost, the Principals wife, Beth, was bound by
confidentiality when she disclosed this information to her husband. In addition, according to
SDUSD Policy C21, abuse of authority is a reportable offense and can be used in this case. The
principal is attempting to switch the custody of a child, which is not the schools responsibility,
based on sexual orientation. Education Code 49602 also states that any conversation with a
student twelve or older is confidential and cannot be released. In this case, Mrs. Care, Beth, and
the Principal have all broken laws and policies in the district. Since this case was more
complicated and involved more people than Faiths, I recommended that Mrs. Care contact her
state and national associations for a consult on how to go about tackling this. There are more
than just legal and policy issues at stake here. The political relationship between Mrs. Care and
her principal can be easily ruined if it is not handled with care and professionalism. I also
advised her to get any type of documentation of all of these events so that she has a paper trail

and it does not seem like a personal attack. This is something to take into account considering
that Mrs. Care is attracted to women, and the student being advocated for is being discriminated
against because of this same attraction. In addition to Mrs. Care contacting CASC and ASCA, I
went ahead and also consulted with them to receive the correct information on how to proceed in
my situation.
The last student spoken about was Jose, a student in special education classes. His
teacher has asked for his reassessment multiple times and has not heard a response from the
school psychologist. Jose was only tested in English and his father only received information on
the test in English as well. However, Jose and his father are native Spanish speakers and were
not given access to the appropriate information. Mrs. Care revealed that she would try to deal
with that another time. In addition, she told me that she recently received a note stating, Jose
has a gun. She informed me that she did not take any steps to resolve this as of right now. For
the first part of the issue, it is clear that Jose is unjustly being put in classes that may be an under
match for his academic ability. SDUSDs policy on IEPs is that they be reviewed on an annual
basis. If this was the case, perhaps Jose would be in the correct classes. Since his academic
experience can be enhanced, it is important to address his testing immediately. Another policy,
D3c7, states that assessments must be conducted in a students primary language. He was not
afforded this opportunity for his testing. Since two policies are potentially being broken, I
advised Mrs. Care to approach the school psychologist to see if they can get Jose tested
immediately. In addition, I advised her to again consult with her state/national association to
make sure she has all her bases covered.
As for the gun threat, I informed Mrs. Care that in these events, it is extremely important
to locate the student and check to make sure it isnt true. Sitting back and doing nothing about it

is simply not an option when students lives are at risk. Penal Code 626.9 speaks on the GunFree School Zone Act of 1995, which prohibits any person from carrying a deadly weapon on
any campus. In addition, SDUSD has a Zero Tolerance for Weapons, Drugs and Violence Policy.
It is for this reason that I wanted to call my state/national association for further assistance. Since
the students are no longer in the school, I would need a consult to see how to go about this type
of threat, and so I advised Mrs. Care to do the same.
After speaking about this student, Mrs. Care and I got off the phone. The following morning I
had another conversation with Mrs. Care to verify that these events were all the correct facts so
that we could begin our various plans of actions. These included consults, filing reports, and
following protocol to resolve these issues. For all of these situations, there are multiple policies
in place, laws to abide, and Ethical Codes that are in support of the plan of action and the duty of
a school counselor. In addition, each one has various political implications to consider. After
creating a table and an outline of all the issues, the above plan of action is what I took and
advised Mrs. Care on. I have documentation provided in the table outlining the policy, politics,
ethics, and law in each situation.

PART IV: REFLECTION

I really enjoyed figuring out my personal plan of action to each situation. It was fun to
look at all the facts and play detective to decide what would work best to solve each situation.
In addition, I thought that being able to work in a group for the legal and policy issues was
beyond helpful. When we found a particular law or policy and were unsure, we had each other
to consult. It made me realize that in the future, we will continue to need our colleagues to be

able to consult with and get a second opinion on a situation before moving forward. It is not
necessarily because we have to always be unsure, but it can be helpful to see a different
perspective or just to run it by someone so that you can check all your bases.
When I first began the midterm, I was concerned that with so many situations, I would
get lost in it or miss something. It is totally possible that I did miss something, as this is the first
real time I went through this entire detailed and lengthy process to develop the best plan I could.
However, I found that having different situations actually helped the process go smoothly. If I
got to stuck on one situation, I could take a break from it and continue on another. When I
returned, I felt fresher and like I could now take another crack at it. The most challenging part for
me was not knowing when to stop looking for laws or policies. I would try to fit in as many as I
could, but I could never know if there was another policy out there that could apply. I chose San
Diego Unified because I currently work in it with Cal-SOAP so I have had some experience with
it. However, I had never fully read through their policies so it was always just trying to find
something new. That made me realize how important it is to really be knowledgeable on all your
districts policies so that when these situations arise, you already know what is and is not a
policy.
I believe in my group we all worked really hard to get us all the information that could
help us. We were able to equally contribute to the group and discuss some issues when we did
not know which direction to look. Looking back on the experience, Im not sure how well I
would have done without the help of my cohort members. We would all be searching for the
same thing and find two different policies that applied. It just helped us get more resources for
our situations and turned out to be a pretty positive experience. From this project, I really mostly
learned that I have to read up more on laws, ethics, and policies for when I am hired as a school

counselor. Knowing these is as important as the everyday work we will do, because without this
knowledge, we may not know how to go about advocating for a student without support. It also
helped to run through the ethical steps model because I now feel as though I have my style in
writing it and organizing it for myself.
I would recommend allowing for maybe two weeks for the assignment as opposed to one.
Since it was three separate parts, all which require a lot of organization, it would have been nice
to have a little more time to concentrate on the dilemmas and do even more research. I thought
about how this assignment would not be as effective if we were given too long to complete. This
is because as school counselors, we may only have a few days to figure these situations out and
make the right decisions based on these models. However, since it was our first time going
through the whole process, a little more time would have been nice, but I dont think it is
imperative to be able to complete the work successfully. I recommend continuing the group
work for part one and having the rest of the parts be on our own. This helped us get all our
information together, but still made us pick what we would do if we were in that situation. This
helped me figure out a little bit about how I would like to handle ethical dilemmas in the future
and is one of the highlights of the assignment. Overall, it was a great assignment with a lot of
hard work, and Im excited to see how we all did.