Meet the Director

 

DanaKaras@princetonk12.org
609.806.4280

Hello to all in the Princeton Public Schools! I am so excited to be returning to my professional roots as the Director of School Counseling Services (having formerly served the PPS as a French teacher at the John Witherspoon Middle School and as a high school counselor at Princeton High School).  
 
Having served in the role of a school counselor and school counselor leader for 25 years, I have been very fortunate with unique opportunities to better address the unique academic, personal/social, and college and career needs of students throughout the state of New Jersey, as well as support the development and advocacy of the school counseling profession. 

Some of these advocacy programs have included the implementation of the state approved model for school counselor evaluation and observation, serving on the NJDOE committee that developed our state’s SEL competencies, and participating as a working group member of ‘On-Ramps to College’ with the NJ Department of Higher Education. At the national level, I have also been actively involved with the American School Counselor Associations (ASCA) school counselor ethics committee and participating in several leadership development institutes to improve school counseling from the national and state level. I was honored to be selected by my professional colleagues as the 2016 New Jersey School Counselor of the Year and later represented the state of New Jersey at the National School Counselor of the Year celebration at the White House.  
 
I consider myself to be a life-long learner and am currently attending Kean University towards the completion of my EdD in Educational Leadership. When I am not at work or school, I enjoy spending time with my two puppies (Sully and Bailey), and my husband, as well as spending time at my second home in Florida with my grown daughter. We are a diehard Disney family, and we enjoy our time at the parks doing backstage tours, experiencing new attractions, and participating in Disney Run events throughout the year (having a cast member in the family has made this obsession so much easier to fuel).