BREA : School Counselor Lost in Hiring Plan

A decision by the Brea-Olinda Unified School District to replace a high school assistant principal but not a retiring guidance counselor highlights the painful choices that arise when school districts have to make budget cuts.

In a move to save the cash-strapped district about $30,000 a year, the school board voted last week to replace retiring Brea-Olinda High School guidance counselor Wilma Sauer with a para-professional.

But in spite of its budgetary woes, the district plans to replace assistant principal Rosemarie Taylor, who is leaving for another job.

Taylor’s replacement, who will earn more than $50,000 a year, will be one of two assistant principals at the high school. As has Taylor, her replacement will supervise course content and assist in teacher evaluations.

Although the new assistant principal will not deal directly with students on a day-to-day basis, district officials say the replacement is necessary.

“Curriculum and instruction are a mainstay of the school,” district Supt. Peter Boothroyd said.

Even though the new para-professional will take over some duties of the three remaining guidance counselors, their individual caseloads will rise from 350 students this year to about 500 students in the fall.

Sauer says she supports the school board’s decision but thinks that it will make counselors’ jobs harder.

“Students will probably have a harder time getting in to see their counselors,” Sauer said. “It is very hard to know 500 kids.”

The Brea-Olinda Teachers Assn. has suggested that the assistant principal position be left vacant for the new academic year so that a new counselor or another teacher can be hired.

“My feeling is that the board ought to be making these cuts as far away from the classroom as possible,” said John Zoeckler, president of the Brea-Olinda Teachers Assn. “While the assistant principal function is a necessary function, it doesn’t directly influence what happens in class.”

In fact, Zoeckler said teachers would form their own curriculum committees to help out if the assistant principal position is left unfilled. As for the issue of evaluations, Zoeckler said the district reviews teachers more often than state law mandates.

But the school district says that Zoeckler’s view is simplistic.

“The functions that are the responsibility of this assistant principal are not functions that can be picked up by the teaching staff,” Boothroyd said.