Keri Moore
KERI MOORE, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COUNSELOR
(509) 996-2186 ext 4224
Roles and Responsibilities
- Methow Valley Elementary’s first full time school counselor.
- Responsible for leading Sol & Emotional Learning programs;
- Facilitating the Student Support Team (which responds to needs of students of concern)
- Leading small groups or meeting with individual students when working through problems, big changes, grief, or other needs;
- Partnering with local mental health and social work providers to support families across varying levels of need.
Keri grew up in the suburbs of Chicago with a large extended family of Michiganders. After finishing her degrees in English and International Studies at the University of Iowa, she found herself immediately in the classroom as an elementary special education paraprofessional. It became clear to her that teaching filled her heart. She quickly moved on to receive her Masters in TESOL/Applied Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago, leading her to teach English Language at an inner city community college that predominantly served refugee and asylum-seeking students.
Keri moved to the Methow Valley in 2016 and worked at Room One for nearly four years. Outside of school, Keri enjoys spending her time foraging, running, gravel biking, and kayaking in the surrounding landscape, as well as tending to her ever growing garden. She lives here with her husband Chris.
Tara Madsen
Literty Bell Guidance Counselor
Tara Madsen, Liberty Bell Jr Sr. High School Counselor
206-509-2215, option "4"
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Lead a Comprehensive School Counseling Program that serves the social-emotional, academic, career and college needs of all students
- Participate on the interdisciplinary Student Support Team and collaborate to address student support needs- Individual and group counseling to support social-emotional skill-building, progress monitoring, difficult transitions, grief and loss and other needs that arise
- Facilitate mental health & substance use counseling referrals to school-based and community providers.- Intervention and support with crisis prevention and safety planning
- Section 504 coordinator and Homeless Education Liaison
- Individual student goal-setting, academic planning and problem solving, including appropriate scheduling and checking credits for graduation eligibility
- Partnering with community providers to connect students and families across varying levels of need
Tara was born and raised in central Oregon--playing in the high desert, riding horses, camping and fishing with her family, clogging, and doing umpteen 4-H projects. She graduated from Dartmouth College where she majored in Anthropology, Education and Human Development. After college, she worked as a school-based skills trainer and youth case manager for the community mental health clinic in Homer, Alaska. She was inspired by the resilient youth and incredible mental health teams she worked alongside. Tara received her Master of Social Work from the University of Washington and worked as a primary care pediatric social worker at UW Medicine for 13+ years before obtaining an ESA certificate in School Social Work and transitioning to work in the school setting. Prior to joining the Methow Valley School District, she worked as an Educational Advocate based at Omak MIddle School, providing Tier 3 progress monitoring, case management, and social-emotional skill building to students. She enjoys gardening, sharing food, traveling, percussive dancing, bluegrass music, hiking, cross-country skiing and new kinds of adventures with a kid in the mix. She looks forward to collaborating with students and families and earning the trust and respect of the community over time.
Beth Anderson
BETH ANDERSON, CAREER AND COLLEGE COUNSELOR
509-996-2215, x4175
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Educating students and parents about the full range of post-secondary options, including: technical college, 2- or 4-year college/university, apprenticeships, military service, and joining the workforce.
- Meeting individually with juniors, seniors, and parents to help them with college lists, the application process, SAT prep and registration, essays and financial aid needs, including the FAFSA, the CSS Profile, and scholarship applications.
- Holding financial aid information sessions for students and parents to make sure that they have all the resources and support they need to reach their goals.
- Working with the school counselor to ensure that 9th and 10th graders take the necessary classes to be eligible for their post-HS goals, including college admissions.
Ian Bruce
Ian Bruce, Liberty Bell Jr. High Counselor
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Supports the academic, social, and emotional growth of students in grades 6–8, working alongside the HS counselor and school administration to build a student-centered environment.
- Provides individual and group counseling for students navigating difficult transitions, conflict, and emotional or behavioral challenges, using restorative practices to coregulate and mediate.
- Manages Section 504 case coordination and supports
- Scheduling, academic planning, and participation on the school's Student Success Team to help identify and support at-risk students within a Multi-Tiered System of Support,
- Delivers social and emotional learning activities and lessons to grades 6-8, and facilitates referrals to community mental health and substance-use providers when students and families need care beyond what the school can offer.
- Partners closely with teachers on accommodations, supports crisis response and safety planning, and works to keep families connected to the resources available to them.
Ian grew up in Massachusetts right around the corner from Plymouth rock where he played on the beach, rode his BMX bike, and overall enjoyed the 80's. Ian holds a Master of Science in Counselor Education from Portland State University, with a Community Mental Health concentration through PSU's CACREP-accredited program, a graduate Certificate in Marital, Couple, & Family Counseling, and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Field Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. His work with students and school districts began as an outdoor educator for several years with a company called Naturalists at Large. Ian's counseling career began in direct work with at-risk and homeless youth, including several years as a counselor and case manager with Outside In's RISE ACT Team in Portland, OR. supporting young people navigating co-occurring mental health and substance-use challenges, and earlier experience through Aspen Achievement Academy's wilderness therapy program. He went on to serve as a Crisis Intervention Specialist and ED Outreach Specialist with Providence Health & Services, conducting crisis assessments and building care plans for individuals and families in acute psychiatric and substance-use crises. Ian spent the past several years applying that same clinical background at a systems level, serving as a behavioral health subject matter expert and clinical strategist for two national healthcare technology companies, where he helped shape programs, training, and compliant care-coordination practices across hundreds of health systems, as well as clinics and schools. He now lives in Winthrop with his wife, two sons, and energetic dog Daisy. Outside of school Ian enjoys gardening, music festivals, and the many ways to explore the great outdoors, most favorite of all is meandering off trail in interesting mountain nooks. Ian is glad to bring his clinical, youth, and crisis-response background back to direct work with students in the community of the Methow Valley.