School Social Work


Kristen Brown, Department Chair - Maine / Rib Mountain / 4K Outreach
Barb Berry - G.D. Jones/South Mountain
Suzanne Huss - Alternative High School/Mann
Ashley Karpinsky - Grant/Lincoln
Sarah Nilles - Franklin/John Muir
Kelly Perdue - PEER program
 Shelly Smith-Payant - Riverview/John Marshall
Megan Blackburn - Hewitt-Texas/Hawthorn Hills
Sara Welsh - Jefferson/Stettin

Kathy Guthman
District External PBIS Coach
Jennifer Graf
District External PBIS Coach

School social workers are a link between home, school and community. The role of the social worker is to assist students, staff and parents with a variety of home and/or school issues that affect a student’s performance at school. Social workers collaborate with other school staff to help students overcome obstacles to education by offering knowledge of social, emotional, and mental health issues.

Today’s students face many social and personal problems that threaten their ability to do well in school and inhibit their progress toward becoming productive citizens. School social work intervention promotes educational success.