Concern Expressed Over RIS Guidance Numbers

The Board of Education’s fiscal crisis continues to impact the number of guidance counselors at .

Parents and board members raised questions about having two counselors on duty at Roosevelt, while Edison will have three counselors staffing the guidance department next year. Both schools had three counselors a piece until the number was cut back to two following last year’s l.

“Two counselors for a school over 700 is not acceptable,” parent Suzanne Toll said to the board Tuesday night.

BOE Vice President Richard Mattessich also questioned the issue, saying that he wanted to see more counselors at Roosevelt for next year. Edison’s student population is larger than Roosevelt, necessitating the need for the third counselor placement.

Concern was expressed over the lack of counselors in regards to the new state law mandating bullying prevention. It was noted that intermediate school has some of the higher instances of bullying and that guidance counselors are needed to work on the issue.

Schools Superintendent Margaret Dolan said that right now the school system does not have the money to pay for an additional guidance counselor at Roosevelt. She said she is working on finding ways to fund a counselor. Among the ways she proposed was looking for grants that can fund a counselor, or juggling money in the budget. She also said that it is possible a floating counselor can be installed for both intermediate schools.

“I feel we need to find the money,” BOE President Julia Walker said.