COUNSELOR SHORTAGE WORRIES SCHOOL LEADERS.Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer As the country agonizes over what caused the Colorado shootings, Los Angeles school The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. officials expressed concern Friday about the LAUSD's lack of counselors to help troubled students. Despite efforts to hire more, California schools have fewer per student than any other state, with just one for every 1,182 students. The Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. has just one for every 1,077 students, falling short of the nationwide average of one counselor for every 512 students. ``When you've got 500 kids, let's hope it's not your kid who's No. 499 and waiting,'' said Arlene Anderson, assistant principal of counseling at Chatsworth High School. Across the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) , there are only 54 counselors to serve 418 elementary schools, and every high school counselor A school counselor is a counselor and educator who works in schools, and have historically been referred to as "guidance counselors" or "educational counselors," although "Professional School Counselor" is now the preferred term. typically sees about 500 students a year. ``We are drastically overburdening our counselors,'' said Principal Robert Kladifko at Reseda High School Reseda High School, established in 1955, is located in the Reseda section of Los Angeles, California, United States. The current principal of Reseda High is Alfredo Tarin. The mascot of Reseda High is the Regent, a lion welding a crown and a scepter. , where three counselors are responsible for 2,400 students. Board of Education members voted in January to beef up the counseling staff, providing money to hire a new position at all 36 district high schools. There are other school personnel trained to handle some of the crushing workload. The district has 450 school psychologists, who mainly work with special education students, and 220 pupil services and attendance counselors, who deal with some of the more troubled students, said Hector Madrigal madrigal, name for two different forms of Italian music, one related to the poetic madrigal in the 14th cent., the other the most common form of secular vocal music in the 16th cent. , the director of pupil services. If the number of students per counselor seems daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin , so too are the many jobs counselors perform. Counselors do more than help kids apply to college and monitor course work to make sure students have the classes and grades needed to graduate. They offer advice on turbulent home lives. They piece back together young lives shaken by unexpected pregnancy or shattered shat·ter v. shat·tered, shat·ter·ing, shat·ters v.tr. 1. To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. 2. a. by rape. ``The problem is no longer, Johnny is chewing bubble-gum in class and it's a distraction,'' said Anderson, who has counseled in the district since 1959. ``These problems are heavy-duty.'' Some counselors argue that even with the high workload, students with extreme behavior problems will still be found. But many other kids, whose problems don't manifest themselves as openly, may not get the attention they need. ``Kids are bringing so many problems to school, not ones that will make them violent, but ones that make it hard to get through the day,'' said Beverly Bushner, assistant principal of counseling services at John Francis John Francis may refer to:
The extreme scarcity of counselors in elementary schools is particularly disturbing, officials say. Some counselors argue that if further violent attacks are to be prevented, districts must try to reach students at a younger age. ``If you wait until senior high school to do the counseling, the problems are already there,'' Anderson said. The number of counselors statewide started inching upward after dramatic cuts during the early 1990s recession, but it has not kept pace with booming school enrollment, state officials said. Because of hikes in enrollment, the ratio of students to counselors has remained roughly the same despite the gradual increase of new counselors, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. state figures. ``Whenever there's a budget cut, they think, What can I do without? and they think they can cut counselors,'' said Nancy Perry, executive director for the American School Counselor Association. Her group recommends a 250-1 ratio, although no state meets that standard. With the number of counselors low, teachers have taken up more responsibility for watching for troubled students, said Obie Slamon, president of the Parent-Teacher Association parent-teacher association Noun an organization consisting of the parents and teachers of school pupils formed to organize activities on behalf of the school at El Camino Real High School El Camino Real High School (also known locally as "ECR" and by some more recently as "ELCO") is a public secondary school located in the Woodland Hills district of the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. . To their credit, she said, they seem to be doing a good job. ``The teachers have taken the place of counselors in being the first to spot people,'' she said. ``It used to be the counselors. But now they realize they can't possibly work with 3,000 kids.'' Some worry that counselors may be stretched too thin to reach every student who needs help asking how they can be expected to recognize the sometimes subtle clues that students may turn violent when they barely have time to learn their names and faces. Kladifko said there are other ways for schools to spot and work with troubled students. Reseda High uses a peer counseling program, encouraging students to help other students. Several teachers have been trained to counsel kids on social problems, like alcoholism at home or thoughts of suicide. Kladifko has also assembled a team of students he considers natural leaders, those respected by other kids, to help him find and defuse de·fuse tr.v. de·fused, de·fus·ing, de·fus·es 1. To remove the fuse from (an explosive device). 2. To make less dangerous, tense, or hostile: problems on campus. But ``if I had an adequate number of counselors, we wouldn't have to do half these things "These Things" is an EP by She Wants Revenge, released in 2005 by Perfect Kiss, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Music Video The music video stars Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Track Listing 1. "These Things [Radio Edit]" - 3:17 2. ,'' he said. SCHOOL COUNSELORS The American School Counselor Association says the optimum ratio of school counselors to students is one to 250. No state meets that goal. Here is a sample: Vermont (No. 1): 1 to 313 National average: 1 to 512 L.A. Unified: 1 to 1,077 California (Last among the states): 1 to 1,182 (x) Ratios include all grades but do not include school psychologists, which number 450 in L.A. Unified. L.A. Unified also has 220 pupil services and attendance counselors, who handle some of the more difficult cases. Sources: American School Counselor Association; L.A. Unified CAPTION(S): Chart CHART: SCHOOL COUNSELORS (see text) |
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