Rare Advice : Students Cope With Countywide Shortage of High School Counselors

Oak Park High School, where nine out of 10 students go on to college, has only one counselor for 660 students--one of the worst ratios in a county woefully short of counselors.

Oak Park students complain that the ratio--which is about twice as high as the statewide norm--is so poor they simply don’t bother with counseling services. And that worries counselor Tess Wilkoff.

“If something gets neglected for one student’s college application this year because of a fragmentation,” she said. “That is when it becomes detrimental.”

Oak Park’s problems are echoed countywide, where financially burdened school districts have reduced the number of counselors in past years.

Counselors schedule classes for students, help them apply for college and financial aid, administer the required statewide tests and deal with social issues, such as child abuse or sexual harassment.

Given the wide variety and increasing number of cases she handles every day, Wilkoff, 44, said she fears someone’s problem will slip through the cracks.

“When I think of all the types of interactions that come in and out if this office every day,” she said, “it leaves me with a feeling of being fragmented and feeling like I haven’t met all the needs that are out there.”

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Student-to-counselor ratios vary across Ventura County, but Oak Park’s is among the worst.

In Ventura Unified, for example, the ratio is 400-to-1 and in Simi Valley Unified it is 576-to-1.

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District the ratio has swelled to more than 600-to-1. Newbury Park High School, for instance, has two full-time and one part-time counselor for about 1,500 students. Thousand Oaks has as many as four for about 2,200 students, far exceeding the 400-to-1 ration recommended in counselors’ contracts with the district.

Statewide guidelines suggest a ratio of 300-to-1, but educators acknowledge that ratios are typically about 450-to-1.

Oak Park Unified Supt. Marilyn Lippiatt said a district committee is looking into the high school’s counseling situation, but cautioned that funds for another position are limited. A full-time counselor could cost $40,000 to $50,000, with an added $20,000 in benefits.

“With no additional income, we are going to have to be very selective about our priorities,” she said. “It will literally mean we will have to give up something to add services.”

But school officials say another counselor is needed. “It is a priority as far as we are concerned,” said Principal Jeff Chancer. “My goal is to get a part-time counselor here.”

Oak Park High currently enrolls about 660 students, compared to 617 last year. The sudden influx of new students has been attributed to the community’s rapid growth and the district’s academic reputation.

Oak Park students have consistently outperformed their peers around the county on standardized tests, and the district’s schools have garnered numerous awards for academic excellence. The percentage of graduating seniors going on to college is one of the highest in the county.

But given the rapid development of Oak Park and the school’s enrollment boom, administrators there are struggling with how to manage that growth.

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Wilkoff and many Oak Park students said adding a new counselor to the school would be a step in the right direction.

“I’m hearing, ‘We need two of you here,’ ” she said of the student’s response to the situation. “I would love to see an additional counselor here, part time or full time. It would relieve a lot of the pressure.”

Rheana Mantooth, a junior who had to wait two days for a counseling appointment last week, said students are frustrated with the situation.

“Whenever I come into the office to talk to her, there is usually a long line in front of her door,” 16-year-old Rheana said. “In no way is she insufficient, it’s just the ratio between students and counselor is greater.”

Some students forgo counselor visits because of the usual two-day wait. “I would like to see her, but it is impossible to get an appointment, so I don’t bother,” said Robert Weide, a 16-year-old junior.

“Tess is a really nice lady, and she tries her best, but she needs help,” said freshman Amanda Vinson. “I think just to add at least one more counselor would cut her load in half.”