Student Support Services

Dean of Students

Our Dean of Students, Gabe McCool, works side-by-side with students to help them succeed. Whether a student needs help navigating academic issues or social-emotional conflicts, our Dean of Students is a resource for students, teachers, and families. She works with families to address any concerns or provide additional support in navigating their student's academic journey. 

 

Guidance Counselor

We believe each student is unique. Our Counselor works with each to student to meet their individual needs. With a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, Lindsey Scoggins has served as a mental health professional and student counselor in various schools across the South. In addition to leading classes for grades 4K-8^th grade, she also meets with individual students to counsel them on various social and emotional matters. 

 

LEARNING SPECIALISTS 

Highlands School is committed to meeting and supporting the needs of all of its students. Often, students require additional support, specialized instruction, and/or research-based compensatory strategies to enable them to reach or exceed grade-level expectations. Our Learning Specialists, Shara Kernan and Jessica Jackson, work with students in Kindergarten through 8^th grade who have been identified by the Student Services Team as needing additional support outside of the classroom. They provide intensive, specialized reading and writing instruction (including Orton-Gillingham and Wilson Reading), as well as multisensory math instruction. She works with individuals and small groups based on each learner’s identified needs and strengths.

For students identified as needing support, Shara and Jessica provide instruction, compensatory strategies, assistive technology, and appropriate accommodations. They also teach a course in study skills to sixth graders, which includes organizational skills, time management strategies, note-taking and test-taking skills, and effective ways to study. They also assists Middle School students in developing self-advocacy and goal-setting skills to enhance their ability to work independently upon graduation from Highlands.