Guidance and Counseling fall in the student services area, and the special education director who oversees this area coordinates the implementation of the Macon County Schools Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Plan and provides professional development and training for the system’s counselors.

The mission of the Macon County School System’s comprehensive school counseling and guidance program is to prepare every student socially, academically, and emotionally for present and future challenges. Students are provided with opportunities to gain an understanding of self and others, to participate in educational and occupational exploration, and to pursue career planning opportunities in an environment that is safe, caring, and encouraging. Counselors work in collaborative partnerships with students, educators, parents, and community members to empower students to reach their highest level as productive members of society.

The comprehensive counseling and guidance programs provided by counselors in the Macon School System are based on the following tenets:

1. Every student has the right to experience respect and dignity as a human being and to benefit from the counseling and guidance services described in the Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance State Model for Alabama Public Schools (the State Plan), Bulletin 2003, No. 89.

2. Every student has the right to participate in activities that promote self-direction and self-development.

3. Every student has the right to make choices and accept responsibility for choices made.

4. Every student has the right to participate in a comprehensive school counseling and guidance program designed to assist all students in attaining their maximum potential in academic, career, and personal/social development.

The Macon County Schools’ comprehensive school counseling and guidance program is an essential integrated component of the total instructional program through which students have maximum opportunity for academic, career, and personal/social development. The school counseling and guidance program involves a planned, purposeful, and sequential program of activities that begins in pre- kindergarten and continues through the twelfth grade. The Macon County Schools’ comprehensive guidance and counseling program is data-driven by student needs and provides outcome-based accountability measures that align the school counseling and guidance program with the school’s overall academic mission.