Orange Trustees Cast Off Psychological Counseling

Bolstered by a group of conservative parents who agree with their philosophy that the schools should not try to cure society’s problems, trustees of the Orange Unified School District decided Thursday to cancel a program that offers psychological counseling to students.

“I think we have created a situation of dependency on social services,” said Trustee Max Reissmueller. “We’re putting our noses where they shouldn’t be and have created a problem instead of solving one.”

Trustee James Fearns moved to approve the program, but it failed for lack of a second.

Under the program, which was paid for entirely by state substance-abuse-prevention funds, local nonprofit agencies send graduate students working toward degrees in family counseling into 30 of the district’s 37 schools.

Last fall, district administrators decided not to renew the program because the conservative majority on the school board had made clear their disdain for it, saying counseling properly belongs in the home.

The trustees backed off on that decision after an outpouring from students, parents and professionals in the field and allowed the program to continue through the end of the school year. But they warned that the issue would be reviewed again.

A group of about 30 conservative parents said they agreed with the board and did not want counselors dealing with their children.

“I am here to support a no-vote to have people come in and work on our kids,” said parent Niki Bouck. “I don’t want my kids’ minds to be messed with. I want them to be educated.”

For some trustees on the fractious school board, the question is philosophical.

“It goes back to the same argument we’ve been hassling over for a year now,” said school board President Martin Jacobson. “Schools are for academics. If you open the door to other services, where do you close the door? We’ll be feeding kids, clothing kids, giving them medical service. . . . Some people think [the schools] should be a one-stop shop.”

Trustees Bill Lewis and Maureen Aschoff, each of whom has provided a swing vote on the issue, said they were not opposed to providing some service for children at risk, but it could not be one-on-one counseling.

“There are a lot of things we can do for at-risk kids in this community,” Aschoff said. “This program presented here tonight is not the program to do that.”

Administrators said they will look at alternative programs that could be presented in the classroom.

“I think all of you would agree the problem is there,” Superintendent Robert L. French said. “We need to address it.” But, he added, “There’s nothing we can do about dysfunctional families; it’s beyond our control.”