Schools

BOE to Reinstate Guidance Director Post

Slater calls for search process to include interviews with stakeholders.

The guidance director post will be returning to the Westfield schools following a round of budget studies by school officials.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan announced Tuesday evening that she was recommending to the Board of Education that the post be reinstated and a search be commenced over the summer to fill the vacancy. The board voted to eliminate the job in March as part of a round of budget cuts following Gov. Chris Christie's decision to slash state education aid to Westfield by $4.22 million. The position has remained vacant since Colleen White's sudden resignation in February.

"As I thought more about this and looked at the funds, I am making the recommendation that this postition be reinstated," Dolan said.

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Dolan's recommendation came following a split recommendation by an ad-hoc BOE committee on guidance issues. BOE Vice President Ann Cary and BOE member Mitch Slater recommended that the post be reinstated, while the other ad-hoc committee members, BOE President Julia Walker and BOE member Jane Clancy expressed concern based on how the post would be configured going forward based on the budget situation. Slater made the guidance director reinstatement a key part of his campaign platform this year and joined with Cary to be the leading proponents for the position's reinstatement.

"I want to thank the administration and Dr. Dolan for doing this," Slater said during the meeting.

Find out what's happening in Westfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Slater called for the search process to follow a series of meetings with stakeholders in the guidance process in the school district. He cited the high turnover in the post - White was the third consecutive guidance director in three years - and concerns expressed by parents on the lack of leadership in the department. During a high school PTO meeting on guidance issues in February - coincidentally held hours following White's sudden resignation - parents told guidance counselors, school administrators and former BOE member Richard Solomon that they would like to see more communication from the department, along with a closer working relationship on the college search process.

The process Slater outlined includes interviews with all of the district's guidance counselors on their thoughts on what the department needs, along with meetings with parents on guidance issues. He would like to have the board comment on the department's functions and also bring college search process experts into the conversation to help determine the criteria needed to find the best guidance director possible for the district. Slater told his colleagues that he thinks this would allow for a long term director to be found for Westfield.

"I believe we need as with the and student activity fee, a community based committee," he said.

The exact process used to find a guidance director was not announced last night.

Dolan said the position will remain in the current configuration, overseeing all guidance issues from kindergarten to senior year. She noted that given the issues in the high school guidance department and the budget cutting reduction of intermediate school guidance counselors from three to two at Roosevelt and Edison, she plans to direct the new guidance director to focus specifically on high school and intermediate school issues when first hired.

"The elementary does not need to be an area of focus," Dolan said.

 


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