Cutting Guidance Counselors Is a Terrible Way to Save Money
…but Little Rock School District is planning to do it unless we convince them otherwise.
The Little Rock School District has been trying to cut its expenses every year since state takeover, which occured in 2015. This year, these budget cuts mean getting rid of elementary guidance counselors, and reorganizing the remaining counselors so they each have a bigger caseload.
•No word on why LRSD chose to give their Human Resources Director, Robert Robinson (who already takes home $110,000) a $13,000 raise for next year.
•No examination of where Superintendent Mike Poore got the money to renovate his office and the LRSD board room (with several flat screen TV’s.)
- No explanation of why LRSD pays for Freddie Fields and other special education administrators (plus a team of Hall High School employees and their family members) to do “professional development” in Disney World each year.
All of these things are in the budget — but guidance counselors are a luxury item, apparently.
Guidance counselors in elementary schools have a great capacity to set a foundation for academic success and social/emotional learning. Since LRSD is in Arkansas, which ranks extremely high in “Adverse Childhood Experiences,” the students of LRSD are especially in need of qualified counselors in order to avoid early death.
Elementary guidance counselors also aid in the early identification of students who have special needs, and help build strong ties between schools and the communities who support them.
Needless to say, LRSD’s announcement that it would be laying off guidance counselors caused quite a stir. The LRSD Community Advisory Board halfway discussed it last Thursday, but they really have no power to affect policy. Theoretically, Education Commissioner Johnny Key has all the power — but in reality, the power is ours. We, the people.
If you live in Little Rock, you should join the people of Grassroots Arkansas in their activism on behalf of public education and other community issues. Grassroots co-chairperson, Dr. Anika Whitfield, shared the emails she recently exchanged with Superintendent Mike Poore, Education Commissioner (and LRSD’s de facto school board) Johnny Key, and State Board of Education chairperson Diane Zook regarding the LRSD guidance counselors. View their emails here.
Or, if you only want my abridged version, please enjoy the following webcomic:
