This school year we have four counselors and four offices designated for the counseling department.  Next school year we will have five counselors.  Three of the offices and the file room are in one suite with a waiting area.  Secretaries are across the hall.  One counselor’s office is across the hall and separated from the secretaries by a conference room used by counselors and the entire staff for meetings.

Options: 

1. Take the ESOL Department Chair’s office.  Problems include she needs an office, it is a very small office, it is on a separate hall from the other offices although in the general counseling area.
2. Take the file room as an office.  There is no heating or air in the file room, there is no phone or electrical outlets, it is so narrow that a desk and chair would not fit anywhere, there needs to be a place for records.
3. Take an office from somewhere else in the building.  Problem is that there is no other available office.  The counselors need to be in the same area with easy access to records and secretaries.
4. Move the counseling department to another area.  Discussion with the principal indicate that this will be the solution in two years, but because of construction, the principal wants to leave offices as they are as much as possible.  This means we need a "one year solution".
5. Use the conference room as a counselor’s office.  We would then use the conference room outside the principal’s office for meetings and use a counselor’s office for counselors’ departmental meetings and parent conferences.  This is the option agreed upon by the counselors and approved by the principal as a temporary solution to lack of space.

People tend to take “ownership” of their area.  The counselors wanted to decide who got which office.  The lead counselor will take the least desirable office, the current conference room, which will give her easy access to the secretaries and the area where parents and visitors initially arrive.  The entire counseling department is informed that they will probably move the next year so they will not be surprised.