6 DeKalb County High Schools Named State Grant Recipients

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — Six high schools in the DeKalb County School District have been chosen as recipients of the Graduates Ready to Attain Success in Postsecondary (GRASP) grant, allowing them to hire more counselors for at-risk students.

Four schools will receive $56,250 each — Clarkston, McNair, Stone Mountain and Towers high schools — while two will receive $102,000 each: Cross Keys and Miller Grove high schools, according to a news release.

The GRASP grants provide selected high schools with funding for one additional counselor to support a specific and limited caseload of at-risk students in achieving academic, personal/social, and career development success. Allowable grant expenditures include salary, benefits, and travel expenses to required training for the additional counselor.

“I want to thank the Georgia Department of Education for awarding the GRASP grant to these six schools,” Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris said in the release. “The district is dedicated to meeting the social, emotional and mental health needs of our students, and this grant will help these six schools meet those needs.”

GRASP counselor duties include, but are not be limited to:

• conducting in-depth student analyses to understand the population needs and establish an appropriate caseload
• providing supportive one-on-one student collaboration to create individually-tailored plans and programs of study for each student on his or her caseload
• establishing a comprehensive team to provide student support for each student on his or her caseload
• engaging his or her caseload students in discovering, examining and exploring postsecondary options and possibilities

GRASP is a two-year grant program, with two participating cohorts of counselors and students.