Independent schools are an attractive option for both faculty and families because of the low student/teacher ratio and the resulting amount of child/adult interaction. Although classroom time may occupy the majority of the day, a teacher’s and an independent school’s effectiveness is to a large extent determined by the frequency and quality of student/teacher interactions. Advising is therefore a primary responsibility for BCDS faculty.

The advising relationship offers faculty the opportunity to get to know individual students better. Individual faculty advisors meet formally with advisee groups regularly to conduct advisor business, to provide progress updates, and to schedule individual appointments as necessary. Middle and high school students both want and need adults who will listen to them and whom they can respect. Therefore, the advisor is often, although not always, the person on the faculty who knows the student best. As such, the advisor is in a position to be the liaison for the student within the BCDS community.

Beyond the academic aspects of the advisor/advisee relationship, the advisor serves as a support for the student and as a link between parents and the school. The advisor's role may therefore encompass the following: monitoring academic and extracurricular involvement and progress, responding to student or parent requests for meetings, and, where appropriate, offering personal counsel. In both the Middle and Upper School, families and students are encouraged to communicate with the advisor as needed. Advisors can be helpful in checking in with the students’ teachers or helping to advocate for the student as needed. Our goal, of course, is to help our students advocate for themselves as learners and as important members of the BCDS community.

Counseling conversations are private and confidential, however, students should realize that the sense of confidentiality -- whether it be with advisors or teachers -- should not be seen as an oath of silence but as the granting of trust. Confidentiality must be waived in rare instances where the conviction exists that the individual's well being, or the well being of others, is at stake.