Preserving Counselors for our Middle School Students

When I ran for the Berryessa School Board 4 years ago, I decried the inadequate level of counseling services available to students in our public schools. Elementary school students deserve to have trained counselors on staff to help them work through personal and academic problems, guide their academic progress, and plan their futures. Unfortunately, it is rare these days for elementary schools to offer this service. Middle schools and high schools have counselors, but at a level far below what is necessary to provide for the needs of all the students.

When I joined the board, I pledged to do all I could to preserve our counselors through tough budgetary times. Each year I have been on the board, our district has had to make cuts. Every year, counselors have been on the list of proposed cuts and our counselors have received pink slips. Fortunately, I have succeeded in retaining counseling services at their current level on each of the 3 budgets for which I have voted.

This year will be tougher. The magnitude of the cuts we face is larger than in any of the other years. As a result, counselors are once again in danger. I am determined to preserve as much counseling as possible. While some suggest that we ought to reduce our middle school counseling to one person per school, I will not support a budget at that level.

For a discussion of what counselors do and how California stacks up compared to the nation as far as counseling services in schools, see my post on the Board President's Blog.

Difficult Budget Times

I think it is safe to say that nobody runs for the school board in order to continue to cut services to children. Unfortunately, that has been one of the primary tasks of our board since I was elected in 2006. I hope that our community thinks that we have acted responsibly and protected key programs for the students of our district.

Tonight the Board meets to take one of the least pleasant actions a school board does. We vote on a resolution that would distribute pink slips to 74 of our valued district employees. Unfortunately, the state has reduced our allocation by about $800 per student this year. The result will be a reduction in service we can offer in our schools.

I will continue to look for ways to save money while preserving core services in the schools. My hope is that by the end of the school year, we will find a way to keep most of the 74 employees that receive pink slips this month.

See my President's Blog for an explanation of why the board must take action now to lay off employees when our final budget adoption is still more than 3 months away.