4/21 CSD Board Meeting

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

When Teacher's Unite:
Last night, Keene Elementary School's Educators showed out in force for their school counselor who learned earlier in the week that she was among CSD personnel to be RIF'd (layed-off by Reduction In Force) come the completion of her contract in June.

For more than an hour they presented statements from parents, students, and school and district staff in support of keeping stand-out employee. They left victorious, managing to defer the vote to next month's Board Meeting. But, this fight is far from over and while the Keene Supporters are trying to keep Dawn Hagan, there are 10 other names (or rather numbers) on the list for terminations.

Where to Start? I have far more questions than answers on this one:

1) When 10% of the school population, 100 students, at Shue-Medill is absent daily, how can we as district justify laying off guidance counselors?

2) When both Shue and Kirk have failed to make Academic Yearly Progress, AYP, and both schools have disproportionately high rates of out-of-school suspensions, how can we even consider RIFing counseling staff?

3) When our guidance staff members play integral roles, serving as their school's steward, in the Response to Intervention Program, RIT, the model currently being utilized by CSD to match student need with resources, how can we even contemplate cutting this staff?

4) With our high school students bring guns to school and our drop-out rate through the roof, how will we even begin to reach these students with limited to no access to mental health professionals.

Our school psychologists cannot be in the schools every hour, nor every day. It is our counselors who are in the battle field, dealing with children of divorce, abuse, neglect, homelessness, children who are bullies and those tormented by them, they reach out during tragedies such as house fires and deaths of family and friends, national moments of sadness such as 9/11 and Columbine. They teach our children the right way to respond to stresses, reaffirm identity and teach self-esteem.

I could go on and on about the value of counselors, but I shouldn't have to.

When a teacher who's never attended one of these meetings and facing an 8-10% pay cut stands before your school board and says both my wife and I educators in the CSD and we will gladly take an additional pay cut to keep this school counselor you have to take notice.

In this day, when we as a business community outsource so many functions, we are all aware that that you can seldom outsource caring with success. When your counselor is employed by your school, your district, they have a vested interest in your community. When they are outside contractors visiting your building for a couple hours a week, you are just one portion of their caseload. Our children are students, not cases. Our counselors are a part of our district family, valued, needed. They are not disposable.

Our educators have my vote! Do they have yours? Take a stand for yoru teacher and let your board members know that it is unacceptable to RIF these important members of our school communities! http://www.christina.k12.de.us/SchoolBoard/Members.htm