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The Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools now have a new member joining the staff as the school counselor. Christy Kunstmann of Spokane Valley accepted the position shortly before the start of school and is currently working on transitioning into the district on a full-time basis.
Kunstmann has been applying for school counselor positions throughout the last couple of years, and as one of the most competitive school positions to receive a job in, she is excited to be a member of the staff at the cooperative schools.
Kunstmann began her career in juvenile corrections as a probation officer in Kootenai County. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University in criminal justice and sociology, and also earned her master’s degree from Whitworth College in education with a focus in school counseling. She has also attended a chemical dependency program at Spokane Falls Community College.
After eight years of working in the juvenile corrections system, Kunstmann began interning at University High School in the behavior intervention program at the school. She worked in the district for one year before working in the same program at Central Valley Schools.
“Then that’s when I really realized I loved counseling, I loved being in the schools,” Kunstmann said about her internship. “I just really knew that was a good fit for me.”
After working in the behavior intervention program, Kunstmann received a job with Spokane Public Schools as a student assistant specialist. The job focused primarily on counseling, both for individuals and groups, and she also taught drug and alcohol prevention courses.
After the grant program lost funding, Kunstmann found herself looking for work and secured a job with ESD 101.
In a program called Youth Build, she worked with young adults who were looking to get their lives back on track by working to earn their GED.
Kunstmann recently make the transition from her position with ESD 101 into the Lind and Ritzville districts, and began full-time on Monday, Sept. 23, as the cooperative school’s counselor. She has been working on a part-time basis for both jobs during the first few weeks of the school year.
Since school is already in full swing, Kunstmann has been working with students on scheduling and helping seniors prepare for graduation. At the middle school level, Kunstmann is focusing on working directly with the students instead of with scheduling.
“My main responsibility is the well-being of students and making sure they’re on track to graduate,” Kunstmann said. “I make sure if there’s any outside things that are holding them back that we can deal with, like any personal issues that we can deal with that are keeping them from being successful.”
Kunstmann explained she made the transition from the corrections system to school counseling because she wanted to be more proactive in kids’ lives and help work in a more preventative role for youth. She explained she wants to work with students to prevent hardships, and discuss issues, instead of having to reprimand them for mistakes like she did as a probation officer.
Currently, Kunstmann is still working to identify the largest needs within the district but she has trained her focus on the group of seniors preparing to graduate this spring. Kunstmann said she wants to make sure that every senior is on-track to graduate, and wants to be working with students as soon as possible to make that a reality.
At the high school and middle school level, Kunstmann is planning to work with students to help them learn about potential career fields, colleges and apprenticeships. Kunstmann said it is key for students to begin learning about careers at a young age, and hopes to assist students select a potential career field or college to attend after high school graduation.
Kunstmann is predominately working out of her office at Lind-Ritzville High School but is expecting to spend two-half days a week at Lind-Ritzville Middle School. Kunstmann will also be traveling to the two grade schools in the district to work with students as well.
“Because of it being a smaller school, I won’t work with as many students so hopefully I’ll be able to help them meet their needs,” Kunstmann said about the district.
Kunstmann said she enjoys the small community, having been raised in a smaller community herself. She attended Northwest Christian and said she understands what it is like to graduate with a small class and the opportunities that are available at smaller schools, and she hopes to be able to apply that knowledge to her counseling position.
“My main thing is to be able to build some strong relationships with the staff and the students, so that they know I’m available. I want to be a counselor that can drop everything and know if there is a crisis I can handle it, but at the same time make my deadlines. That will be a learning curve, but most of the jobs I’ve had in the past have been very similar,” Kunstmann said.
After three years of searching for a school counseling position, Kunstmann is ecstatic to be a member of the staff at the Lind-Ritzville Cooperative Schools. She plans to continue to commute from Spokane Valley as her husband, Troy, currently works there, but explained hour-long commutes have almost always been a part of her routine for her career.
“I’m so happy to be here and I can already tell this is a tight-knit community,” Kunstmann said.
Kunstmann can be reached at Lind-Ritzville High School at 659-1720 or by email at ckunstmann@lrschools.org.
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