Maternity Leave Scenario

Maternity Leave Scenario

It is October; the tenured and respected counselor on your staff is soon to go on maternity leave any day now. She is a leader in your department in terms of popularity with students, experience, and mentoring other counselors. The counselor is not sure how long her maternity leave is, but at a minimum, she is going to be off for the rest of the school year. The other two counselors are new, with less than a year of experience each. They are concerned about her workload dispersement. This is a 6-12 school; you cannot get a leave replacement due to insufficient budgeting. Currently, the counselors are overwhelmed with the amount of crisis the students are in, and they are still in the process of learning the job. With this counselor gone the others will have more work and morale is a concern for both staff and students accepting changes within the department. Due to your supervision status and overwhelming duties, you cannot take on a caseload.

Make a plan that will allow you to efficiently lead your staff through this time.

What should you do and why? Give a detailed plan on steps to take. Provide a clear and concise reflection paper on your thought process with consideration of your ethics, experience, school regulations, and all factors that influence your decision-making. Give suggestions for possible solutions, approaches and anticipated outcomes. Include approaches for staff, students and parents.