Comments on: Oakland Unified’s strategic plan: It’s here.

By: Kipsych

Kipsych — Thu, 26 May 2011 03:33:06 +0000

Wow! Talk about factually inaccurate!!!!! I object to Del’s quote from entry #24:

“Due to union rules, it would not be possible to simply hire effective counselors for next year.”

I think that if it weren’t for that pesky teachers’ Union, we would probably have about 500 fewer teachers for next year!!!!!

Neither OEA nor any other Union tells the district who to hire. They have negotiated on rules to follow for tenure and seniority amongst members, but they certainly don’t just opt for lowest grade of worker… I think that librarian teacher positions, counselors, school nurses, school counselors and other “support services” in the schools make the teachers’ work more efficient because then we actually have time to do what we have been trained to do: teach.

And I still go back to my increasingly popular mantra: “School Sites should be closed shop.” Period.

By: Zinnia

Zinnia — Sat, 21 May 2011 06:25:51 +0000

to #23
The ratio is for PPS counselors with an MA in School Counseling. Other support service counselors with nonprofits and county social workers have an entirely different arrangement.

The counselor position has become increasingly data/technology oriented over the years as counselor positions and clerical positions have dwindled and everyone is doing 3 or 4 people’s jobs. So the counselors strong suit, counseling, is maybe not the best combo with many of the tasks that the counselors end up doing which could easily be done by a lower paid employee.

The point is that the schools need PPS School Counselors who counsel to help guide students on their academic path, to have an adult who is familiar to talk to, to be familiar with options for them, to assist the parents with academic and developmental concerns regarding their children, and to help parents navigate the system in a supportive manner. The absence of this figure at schools will be a tragic loss to all.

By: del

del — Fri, 20 May 2011 23:02:06 +0000

For the 1st person above who called themselves “Oakland Teacher”: your statement is factually inaccurate. Scheduling was done by the counselors, who failed to do it accurately or in a way that would allow students to graduate. It was then taken over by the administration and other people familiar with OUSD’s graduation policy.
Again, I know very well the impact a counselor can have and does have on students. But if the impact isn’t there, or it is negative, why have them? Would you favor cutting an equivalent number of teacher positions? Where will the cuts come from if they can’t come from something that is not helping the students? (Due to union rules, it would not be possible to simply hire effective counselors for next year).
In terms of ratio, 700:1 is a very high ratio… but where is the money for more??? And what exactly do we expect from the counselors? And as citizens, how much are we willing to pony up to have our expectations met?

By: Cadnerd

Cadnerd — Fri, 20 May 2011 15:31:10 +0000

Oakland Teacher (the original)
Are the counselor ratios you cite for all types of counseling including psychological, academic and college admissions? Is college admissions a separate thing? I can’t imagine how a 700:1 ratio for college counseling would be sufficient to even get the basics done.

By: Oakland Teacher

Oakland Teacher — Fri, 20 May 2011 13:42:56 +0000

While I certainly agree with #21 above, I wish the poster used identifying info that was different from mine. Even an “OT #2″ would be great!

Sorry for being the grammar/spelling police, but “ratios’ does not need an apostrophe. I would not do editing, except that I don’t want errors made under my “name”. It is just a plural, not a possessive.

700:1 is far too high. Berkeley’s is about 400:1. We can only guess what other districts have, but chances are it is nowhere near 700:1. Katy, it would be interesting to do a follow-up next year at SHS to see how the counselor situation falls out, and how the administrative programming for students works.

On another note, I just heard that the only female PE teacher at Skyline was being eliminated as well. There will only be 2 (down from 4) PE teachers next year, both of them male. You would think that this would violate the Title 9 provision; at the very least it seems to be ridiculous to eliminate all the female coaches. How would parents feel if all the male coaches were eliminated? What kind of model does this send to young women about fitness? Who the heck is going to be with the girls in the locker room?

By: Oakland Teacher

Oakland Teacher — Fri, 20 May 2011 00:34:58 +0000

Counselors are needed in the schools. If anything, there are not enough counselors in each school. 700:1 ratio’s and perfection is expected! Counselors have done their job, but often take the brunt of everything wrong in a school. Please note that Skyline counselors didn’t create the student programs for this year and they certainly weren’t allowed to make changes this year, but look at the errors.

By: del

del — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:32:14 +0000

“support counselors” has it exactly right, those are the critical duties counselors need to perform. Unfortunately, it simply wasn’t happening at Skyline. This year, someone just happened to notice that there were seniors in their honors classes that had never cracked a 1.0 gpa their entire high school career, and were no where near graduation requirements. Turns out that there were hundreds and hundreds of students who were no where near the track for graduation and had been taking classes assigned all willy-nilly with no oversight from the counselors. Additionally, they saw hundreds of students (and teachers) with errors on their schedules… which weren’t available until the first day of school. As we use “results based budgeting” in OUSD, that is a lot of lot of money spent for results that actually IMPEDE student success. Counselors are an important part of many schools and should ideally play an incredibly important role in the development of a school’s program—but if that is not happening there is no recourse and no time to waste in finding solutions.

By: Support Counselors

Support Counselors — Thu, 19 May 2011 18:36:41 +0000

The work of counselors is often behind-the-scenes at schools, but as such it is no less critical than classroom teaching. Counselors’ duties include, but are not limited to, the following:
•advising and programming classes for all students;
•senior graduation evaluations;
•transcript evaluation;
•college admissions, financial aid, and scholarship advising;
•summer and adult school advising and applications;
•ELL and Special Education course programming and monitoring;
•attendance at SART, IEP, and 504 meetings;
•student contract monitoring; and
•behavior interventions/socialization for struggling students.

By: J.R.

J.R. — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:31:04 +0000

Financially speaking, our options are limited, and we need to keep focused on what is most necessary, and what is beneficial for the majority of students. We can’t print money, and those people(who happen to be the people who actually affect fiscal policy) drawing big salaries and pensions are not about to decline even some of the money for the sake of the kids.

By: Can't believe it

Can't believe it — Thu, 19 May 2011 05:21:17 +0000

I remember going to Skyline when there was still money, and counselors didn’t have a big workload. My counselor still didn’t know me, didn’t know what colleges I applied to, never spoke to my parents, or told me what tests to take. Of course I went off to college anyway, just as my classmates went off to Vietnam or sought their way in the world. Counselors with huge workloads don’t get to know too many kids today, saddled as they are with test administration or registering kids for classes(all of which could be done online). counselors are not the key to improving education. I’d rather have a librarian and smaller classes. But increasing a teacher’s workload by adding counseling duties is a ridiculous approach. we are way past the tipping point.