Ashley Anderson, one of Madison’s beloved school counselors, announced via email on Dec. 12, four days before winter break, that she would be leaving Madison. This news came as a shock to all, leaving many students confused. Her new position at Fairfax High School is titled Director of Student Services, or DSS, a job that oversees the counseling department, a step up in authority from her original role as a counselor. Switching schools in the middle of the year, especially with academic advising and testing season approaching, wasn’t an easy change for Anderson.

Fairfax High School had needed a new Director of Student Services around mid-October, and when Anderson learned of the job, she was excited. For a while, she had been doing classes in a program called the ‘Accelerated Admin Certificate Cohort’ which was a program that she took to have the ability to be in a leadership position. After a series of interviews, Anderson then met with the assistant superintendent for Fairfax’s region and was offered the position. She wasn’t able to jump into her new job immediately after acceptance though. 

“I think it’s just the nature of human resources,” Anderson said. “You rely on a lot of different people to go through different parts of the process, and you just have to wait for the next person to make that decision and when they sign off, it’s in their liberty to then say, O.K. you need to start now.”

Though the transition was bumpy, her new job at Fairfax has been treating her well. Anderson loved her old job as a counselor, and the position at Madison had meant a lot to her. 

“I knew there wasn’t a lot of diversity in [Madison’s] staff population,” Anderson said. “My person when I was at Madison was Ms. Gardner. She was who I went to when I wanted to connect with someone of color. Being able to see people who look like you and have experiences like you means a lot, not just as a Black person but also as a female, getting to see them in a position of leadership.” 

This is why counseling held such an importance to her, but also led her to wanting to be a leadership position such as being an admin. Her job as DSS holds no less meaning to her and she has welcomed all of the varying responsibilities that come with the new role. Being a DSS does require an understanding of the student body, but also of the staff who rely on and work with you. To Anderson, the job involves a lot more paperwork and emails than expected, but she wants to interact with the students at Fairfax more and plans to try to connect with them in the coming years. 

With one less counselor on the student services team, Madison can expect some changes for the rest of this year. For seniors, being left without a familiar face in the counseling office so suddenly may be jarring, and questions regarding college applications and academics will seem to stay unanswered. Thankfully, this is not the case, as the other counselors and members of the student services department are there for any student who has questions. As for the underclassmen, Anderson’s alphabet has been split between the various counselors in case any student needs anything this year. To fill Anderson’s place, the counseling department has brought a new intern, Kelly Hoffman, onto the team. Hoffman will be in various counselors’ rooms from time to time, helping out with students and giving extra support to our overworked and underappreciated counselors. In addition to that, Sheri Masich, a former counselor at Madison, will be working part-time during academic advising to fill in the gap left by Anderson’s departure. While next year’s plans are uncertain, whoever is hired in place of Anderson will be a welcome addition to Madison’s faculty. These changes are still new, and it will take time for every student at Madison to get used to as the year moves forward, but the adults in Madison are here to help and continue to be there for students.

In the end, Anderson had been at Madison for about nine years and affected the lives of many staff and students. While as a school we will always have an Ashley Anderson-shaped hole in our hearts, we will continue to grow and appreciate all that she has done for us as a school. 

“I’m incredibly grateful for my experiences at Madison as it was my first home,” Anderson said. “That was where I grew up as a teenager and it’s also where I grew up as an adult in my working capacity.I learned so much from my colleagues and friends in that department and the school as a whole is a family to me.”