Counselors and community urge board to spare school-based mental-health positions

Scores of counselors and school staff used the public-comment period at the Jan. 14 board meeting to press trustees to retain counseling and school-based mental-health positions.

Christine Arkin, a counselor at Pioneer High School, said it would be ‘‘ironic’’ to adopt a resolution recognizing counselors while the district contemplates cuts, and asked how training requirements and staffing for early-warning recognition will be implemented. She told the board, "Keep cuts away from the students." (read remarks for Shelley Schubert)

Forrest Arata recounted large volumes of legally mandated work at the high-school level and read a letter from a colleague, Lucy Lucchesi, noting hundreds of 504 meetings and evaluations and arguing that MTSS intervention counselors are essential and cannot be treated as optional.

Blair Murphy, a 25-year middle-school counselor, described day-to-day work and crisis interventions — small, everyday contacts that can prevent escalation — and asked the board to avoid cuts that would remove those supports. Ophelia Reynoso outlined bilingual college-and-career counseling duties and said eliminating that position would harm student access to UC/CSU supports and scholarships.

Elaine Becerra, a Pioneer High School counselor, emphasized that elementary counselors provide early intervention and that without MTSS counselors vulnerable students will "fall through the cracks." Commenters repeatedly connected counseling capacity to student safety, attendance, and graduation indicators.

The speakers acknowledged the district’s fiscal crisis — several commenters said they empathize with the board’s position — but argued that cutting licensed counselors and mental-health clinicians would shift high-stakes work away from trained professionals and ultimately harm outcomes and legal compliance.