RCS Middle School Counseling Center

At RCS Middle School, school counselors focus on helping students balance the demands of school, family, and friends. We support students in developing healthy habits and skills such as organization, study skills, time management, responsibility, cooperation, teamwork, and other habits and attitudes that will serve students well in any classroom, job, or social situation.

Students are assigned to a counselor upon entering middle school and remain with that counselor throughout their time in the middle school. This assures continuity of services and enables counselors to establish a personal relationship with students and their families.

Counselors are available as resources to parents and caregivers as students navigate their way through the middle school years of their education. This includes, but is not limited to:

Help students deal with and diffuse problems brought into school from home and outside the classroom
Provide academic and career guidance to students, and help them meet and overcome emotional- and mental- health challenges
Establish and promote supportive learning environments
Develop academic and behavioral intervention programs

RCS Middle School Virtual Counseling Office

Meet the Team:

Jennifer Estes
Middle School Counselor
Last Names A - L
(518) 756-5200, ext. 3017
jestes@rcscsd.org

Kayla Hotaling
Middle School Counselor
Last Names M - Z
(518) 756-5200, ext. 3038
khotaling@rcscsd.org

Timothy Houghtaling
School Psychologist
(518) 756-5200, ext. 3027
thoughtaling@rcscsd.org

Eda Graham
Social Worker
(518) 756-5200, ext. 3029
egraham@rcscsd.org

Brette Bateman
Middle School Counseling Center Secretary
(518) 756-5200, ext. 3016
bbateman@rcscsd.org

Kathy Durivage
Social Worker
(518) 756-5200, ext. 3029
kdurivage@rcscsd.org

Anjelica O'Brien
Social Worker
(518) 756-5200, ext. 3029
akrouse@rcscsd.org

Improved Academic, Career, and College Planning with Naviance

Naviance Succeed is a web-based service designed to help students, parents and counselors streamline academic planning and make informed decisions about colleges and careers. Create a personalized account with Naviance Family Connection.

Recommended Websites for Middle School Parents

There are hundreds of resources on the internet that Middle School parents could find helpful. Here are a few that we recommend:

www.girlshealth.gov: A very girl- and parent-friendly website from the U.S. Department of Health that covers many topics from drugs and bullying to illness and nutrition. A good starting point for a parent-daughter chat on difficult topics.
https://childmind.org/topics/covid-kids-mental-health-challenges
www.how-to-study.com: A study skills resource site.
www.khanacademy.org: Thousands of videos that provide a full course on instruction in a variety of topics, from social studies to statistics.

Additional Resources

Mobile Crisis Contacts: For emergency evaluation (or call 911)
518.292.5499
Parent University

Working Papers

Are you a student seeking employment? To obtain working papers or with any questions, please contact Brette Bateman at (518) 756-5200, ext. 3016 or at bbateman@rcscsd.org.

New York State Working Papers Application
Physical Fitness Certification - can be filled out by a Doctor if a student does not have an updated physical on file with the school nurse

Please note that every student is required to have an updated physical (within the last year). Parents/caregivers need to sign the appropriate documentation (above), and the student(s) need to sign the card in front of district officials after they provide the signed paperwork and physical information. If necessary, RCS school officials can mail the necessary paperwork home, and then the child needs to come in with the completed paperwork and required physical to get the card OR if the parent /caregiver and student come in together with the physical, the card can be processed that day.

If you have further questions, parents/caregivers and students can locate guidelines for employment at the New York State Department of Labor website, here.

RCS Middle School