School district officials in Denton will soon be looking for a new counseling services director.
Melanie Lewis said this month that she intends to retire when her contract is up in June. Lewis has served as the counseling department's director for nearly seven years.
"I'm getting old, and I've got grandkids in Colorado and L.A. that I want to visit," she said. "It's been absolutely the most wonderful job I've ever had. It's been a very long career, but I've enjoyed it and look forward to relaxing with my family." Melanie Lewis
Her husband is retiring for the second time, she said, and she's also looking forward to them spending more time together "after long and busy careers."
Lewis was the first to serve as the district's first counseling services director - a position requested by counselors who wanted an advocate for their department. She has been in charge of coordinating counseling programs and designing and implementing the district's extensive guidance program.
Following her arrival in Denton, the department adopted the state's comprehensive developmental counseling model. A year later, the department aligned with the national model of the American School Counselor Association.
Within the last year, Lewis has been awarded the Counselor Supervisor of the Year Award by the Texas School Counseling Association and recognized by the TSCA at the Texas Counseling Association Professional Growth Conference.
During Lewis' time as director, Guyer High School in 2011 and Ryan High this year received the Counselors Reinforcing Excellence for Students in Texas (CREST) award, given by the Texas School Counselors Association annually to recognize the top counseling staffs in the state.
The district's elementary career guidance program in 2011 was recognized by the National Consortium for State Guidance Leadership with its annual ABC Program Award, and Jennifer Carter, lead counselor at Crownover Middle School, and Amy Lawrence, a counselor at Guyer, were chosen as 2011 Counselor of the Year for middle school and high school, respectively, by TSCA. Jeanie Bragg, a career and technology counselor at Guyer, in 2009 was named the national Guidance Professional of the Year by the Association for Career and Technical Education.
"We've had a wonderful string of success with our counseling department, and I'm very proud of all our counselors," Lewis said. "We've made a name for ourselves as a counseling department."
The achievements of the counseling department were not hers alone, Lewis said, but the collective work of the entire department and support group that includes the school board; Superintendent Ray Braswell; Mike Mattingly, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and staff development; and Jamie Wilson, deputy superintendent.
"That's the key to the success," Lewis said. "I'm just happy to be in the right place at the right time."
During her 32-year career, she's worked as a counselor in Washington state, served as the faculty liaison to ParentNet, a national parent support organization headquartered at The Overlake School in Redmond, Wash., and spent five years counseling overseas and several years counseling in Guthrie public schools in Oklahoma.
Braswell said district officials are certainly sad to see her go, but also happy for her.
School board President Mia Price said Lewis will be missed.
"She has made a huge difference in this district," Price said.
District spokeswoman Sharon Cox said school officials are in the preliminary stages of a search for Lewis' successor.
BRITNEY TABOR can be reached at 940-566-6876. Her e-mail address is btabor@dentonrc.com.
