The change will not result in any layoffs, because four counselors are retiring and others are switching to teaching positions, but some counselors on temporary work contracts may not be asked to return in the fall if the district cannot afford to keep them employed, Supt. Michael Escalante said.
Glendale Unified used to have a student-to-counselor ratio of 600-to-1, but was able to lower that number in 2006 when it received a state grant with an emphasis on special attention for struggling students.
But with the ongoing state budget crisis threatening to create a local deficit of more than $60 million by 2012 if significant actions are not taken, administrators recommended using new state flexibility options that will allow them to redistribute money allocated for specific grants in order to fund general operations.
Sweeping $820,000 from the supplemental counseling grant to the general fund will force the district to return to its pre-2006 ratios, but will help protect it from going broke, Escalante said.
Counselors understand the need to make cuts, Hoover High School counselor Kathy Frazer said, but have been confused by the administrators’ expectations and their plans for the remaining staff members.
Counselors have not been able to prepare for new job assignments and adjustments on their current campuses because they have not yet been informed of those decisions, which district officials are still making, Frazer said.
And members of the Board of Education at a meeting last week expressed hope that counselors would be able to continue offering the same amount of services to students by perhaps allocating less time for each.
Frazer was concerned that board members were misleading the community.
