Two Into One

Abstract

A preventive consultation guided by an ecological perspective was carried out in a suburban public school system. The broad goal of this consultation was to facilitate the closure of one public junior high school and its consolidation into another school which was quite different in terms of student body characteristics, administrative philosophy, and social and physical environments. The elements of the consultation consisted of: (1) serving as a source of support and information for the school administrator who was almost single-handedly orchestrating both the closure and the consolidation; (2) attempting to illuminate potential resources to enrich the consolidation process; and (3) developing events to aid both staff and students in understanding the existing social environments of both schools and the common culture to be formed as a result of the consolidation. In addition, conclusions about the usefulness and limitations of an ecological approach to consultation are outlined, and reactions of members of the two schools involved in the consultation are presented.