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Counselors urge board to preserve roles as Randolph County plans staff reductions
Summary
At multiple sworn personnel hearings the district's counselors and supporters warned that proposed staffing changes — including part-time coverage or splitting positions — would weaken crisis response, strain social-emotional supports and conflict with proposed counselor-ratio bills. Administration said at least partial coverage would remain and agreed to provide plans.
Several sworn personnel hearings at the special Randolph County Schools meeting focused on counseling positions that administration recommends reducing or reassigning.
Jodie Acres, itinerant counselor at Randolph Technical Center, described 18 years of relevant experience and said her position includes adult-education, LPN management and GED test administration. She said a possible change from a 220-day contract to a 200-day contract — or splitting the role between schools — would harm specialized CTE counseling services and adult-education programming. Acres noted the technical center’s reported indicator score and that a May 14 completer ceremony is scheduled for 162 completers.
Brandy English, Beverly Elementary counselor, recounted a month with 51 discipline referrals and described duties that include crisis response and mandated reporting. English argued that part-time coverage would be insufficient to meet expanded attendance, truancy and expanded school mental-health grant requirements in some schools.
Samuel Hawkins (North Elementary) and Jennifer Noddingham (George Ward Elementary) provided additional examples of day-to-day counselor duties — mandated reporting, short-term counseling, attendance work and classroom instruction — and urged the board to weigh the operational risk of shared positions. Witnesses repeatedly referenced recently introduced bills discussed in testimony that would require ratios (speakers cited a 1:250 ratio) and asked whether any such mandate included funding.
Administration told the board it planned to provide coverage scenarios and to research the funding status of the bills cited by speakers. The board asked staff to provide that material prior to deliberations.
No formal board action on counselor positions was taken at the meeting; the evening consisted of testimony, follow-up questions and a request for administrative plans.
