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Students and First Gen Scholars seek district funding; counselors ask for wider CCGI training and lower caseloads
Summary
A delegation from First Gen Scholars and more than a dozen student speakers described college‑access successes and urged the board to fund the program; school counselors told the board they need training on the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) and additional staffing to reduce caseloads.
About a dozen current and former participants in the nonprofit First Gen Scholars addressed the Sweetwater board on March 10, giving testimonials about college acceptances and scholarship awards and asking trustees to consider funding the program.
Jonathan Burgos, introduced as the executive director of First Gen Scholars, thanked the board for prior support and asked for continued funding. Multiple students described how summer programming and ongoing mentoring helped them gain acceptances and scholarship finalist status at selective universities; individual speakers named schools and fellow students, and several asked the board to support First Gen for future cohorts.
Separately, school counselors urged the board to fund district training and staffing related to college planning. Elena Vallejo Paez and other counselors requested that the district train more than the 30 counselors specified by an incoming border region talent pipeline collaborative grant so every counselor can use the California College Guidance Initiative (CCGI) tools before the grant’s May funding expiration. Counseling association representatives also urged the board to reduce counselor caseloads — they cited current ratios around 360:1 — arguing that lower caseloads would allow counselors to provide the sustained college, career and mental‑health supports that external providers are currently filling.
