Parents, counselors and teachers urge Canutillo ISD board to preserve elementary counselors and pre-K programs
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Summary
Multiple community members and school staff addressed the board during open forum to urge retention of elementary counseling positions and pre-K programs, citing mental-health interventions, social-emotional learning, child-development needs and waiting lists for Montessori and pre-K seats.
At the Canutillo ISD board meeting on March 25, several teachers, counselors and parents used the open-forum period to urge trustees not to cut elementary counseling positions or the district's pre-K and Montessori offerings.
Chelsea Nocheba, a school counselor at Jose Delgado Elementary, told the board she has spent five years working in the district and said reducing elementary counseling positions would put students at risk. "Our students, no matter the age, need to know that they belong and that they are supported," Nocheba said in public comment, and she described counseling interventions that intercepted abuse and suicide attempts. She told trustees the American School Counseling Association recommends a 250:1 student-to-counselor ratio and said the district's elementary students already exceed safe caseload levels.
Other speakers recounted the value of pre-K programming and described the Montessori pre-K model. One parent testified the child-development window for three-year-olds is crucial and said Montessori and pre-K experiences lead to long-term academic and social benefits.
Administrators acknowledged the budget pressures and said they were exploring targeted options to protect student-facing services, but the public commentators asked trustees to prioritize counseling and early-childhood investments over some central-office reductions.
Trustees listened and asked administration to provide more granular cost and funding breakdowns for the contested positions and programs, including whether special-funding streams (grants, Title funds, or local 199 allocations) might be repurposed to preserve positions.
The record shows these public comments were part of the board's deliberations on the personnel and program changes ultimately approved later in the meeting; trustees repeatedly cited the public commenters' concerns as they discussed implementation details.
