ARCHIVES OF LEAD STORIES
June 23, 2005
School counseling flawed, say teens
Jeremy Schwab
For years, Boston-area high schoolers have complained
that guidance counselors do not give them enough individual attention
and too often fail to encourage black and Latino students to consider
advanced placement classes and college options.
Two years ago, teens and youth workers from the Boston-area Youth
Organizing Project decided to do something about it. The teens
conducted a survey of public high school students throughout Boston
and at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School on how to improve
guidance counseling services.
The youths and youth workers then incorporated these suggestions
into two proposals, which they presented to officials from BPS
and Cambridge Rindge & Latin. Last week, officials from BPS
and Cambridge Rindge & Latin met with youth in the basement
of the United Methodist Church on Columbus Avenue in the South
End to sign the agreements.
Carolyn Riley, BPS senior director of unified student services,
signed the pact before an enthusiastic audience of over 50 youths
calling for the youths to present student perspectives on guidance
services at a meeting of all district guidance counselors at the
beginning of the coming school year.
Also, the BYOP youths will lead a workshop for guidance counselors
focusing on supporting and setting high expectations for students
of color. Flyers designed by BYOP informing students in multiple
languages about the resources counselors provide will be posted
in every school.
Riley also agreed to pass on to her superiors the youths’
suggestion that the district create Maximum Achievement Plans
for each student entering high school so the students can name
their dreams, set goals and create a plan for attaining those
goals.
Cambridge Rindge & Latin Dean Cathy Womnis signed a parallel
agreement calling on the school to distribute a brochure explaining
the requirements and benefits of advanced placement courses. The
school will also ensure that every black and Latino student meets
with a guidance counselor to discuss AP and honors courses and
create a phone calling system to inform parents about meetings
to discuss AP issues. Finally, the school agreed to set up a task
force to combat the low participation of black and Latino students
in AP classes.
“Sometimes adults say that youth expect a lot,” said
BYOP Operations Chair Tiana Williams. “They say we are not
responsible. But we at BYOP are here to dictate our futures. We
need [counselors] to step up.”
Students at the signing ceremony, which included a skit demonstrating
the encouragement youths should receive during a guidance counseling
session, gave each other enthusiastic support, shouting encouragement
to microphone-shy speakers and cheering those who took the stage
to call for better counseling.
The BYOP teens and youth organizers are still hoping to convince
school officials to agree to further points, especially hiring
more guidance counselors.
“The BPS is going to argue about the money,” predicted
BYOP program director José Braulio Morales. “We want
to find out how to get more counselors.”
A spokesman for the BPS said that each high school guidance counselor,
under collective bargaining contract, has about 300 students in
his or her caseload, and that number is not likely to change unless
agreed on in collective bargaining, which will take place again
in 2006.
“That is something we’ll look at during our next conversation
with the union when we negotiate a contract,” said the spokesman,
Jonathan Palumbo.
Members of BYOP suggested that the school department take on college
students who are studying counseling to work as interns. Students
say that guidance counselors often simply do not have enough time
to meet with them because their caseloads are huge.
“Some students will stumble around blindly because guidance
may not be great,” said Collique Williams, a recent graduate
of the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science.
“It’s not that guidance counselors don’t care.
But they may not have enough time for all students.”
Lakeisha Graham, a junior at the O’Bryant, said she scheduled
three meetings with her guidance counselor only to be rebuffed
each time. The first time she showed up for the meeting and was
told he was outside smoking. The second time, he said he had to
work on a recommendation for a girl who was going to college.
“The third time, he was like, ‘I have to go right
now. I have a parent to go see,’” Graham told the
crowd at last week’s meeting. “I felt really hurt
because my guidance counselor is supposed to be there to help
me go to college. Now, I’m a junior at the O’Bryant
and my guidance counselor still doesn’t know me. And what
am I supposed to do now?”
Superintendent Thomas Payzant launched a campaign at the start
of this past school year to reduce the achievement gap. The BYOP
students’ demands for better guidance counseling apparently
meshed well with the department’s goals of reducing the
gap by giving struggling students more targeted support.
“If we are working in the BPS to close the achievement gap,
we need to hear the youth voice,” Riley told the audience
as she prepared to sign the agreement with the youths.
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