Counselors Face Huge Caseloads

In the wake of the tragedy in Littleton, Colo., public schools in Ventura County and throughout California are taking a closer look at the shortage of counselors, who often face overwhelming caseloads of as many as 600 students.

Because of large student-to-counselor ratios, counselors say they don’t have time to identify and help troubled students. And they fear that some students are slipping through the cracks.

“Unfortunately, it takes something like Colorado for people to realize that kids need somebody to talk to,” said Martha Aggazzotti, a counselor at Westlake High School. “There just aren’t enough of us, and we just can’t reach all of these kids.”

Ray Campos, head counselor at Channel Islands High School, said his job is “like shoveling sand. You’re in too many places at once. Something’s got to give, and many times it’s the students.”

Although the American School Counselor Assn. recommends that the student-to-counselor ratio be 300 to 1, most counselors work with 500 to 600 high school students. Ratios vary across Ventura County high schools, from about 350 to 1 in Ventura to 475 to 1 in Moorpark to 550 to 1 in Oxnard.

In the Conejo Valley Unified School District, the ratio is about 480 to 1.

Newbury Park High School, for instance, has two counselors for 1,600 students, and Thousand Oaks High has five counselors for 2,300 students. Some of the middle and elementary schools have counselors, but the ratios are even larger.

In Moorpark, there is one full-time and one part-time counselor for 770 students at Chaparral Middle School. And in Fillmore, one counselor works with 1,900 students at the district’s three elementary schools.

Statewide, the ratios are 530 to 1 in high school, 860 to 1 in middle school and 2,400 to 1 in elementary school--for districts that have counselors.

“When you have one counselor for 1,900 students, you know you are only working with the most at-risk kids and the kids that really stand out,” Fillmore Assistant Supt. Jane Kampbell said.

But educators say the children who don’t stand out and don’t get in trouble may be the ones who need the most help. If counselors had more time and could see every child, they said, perhaps more at-risk youths could be identified and treated.

Karen Senesac, principal of Loma Vista School in Ventura, said problems may show up as early as elementary school. So teachers and administrators take on the role of counselors to help children cope. But they are not trained in dealing with emotionally troubled youths and may not meet the children’s needs.

The number of school counselors began to decline in the early 1980s after Proposition 13 rolled back property taxes in California. Counselors, along with nurses, librarians, and art and music teachers, were the first targeted for budget cuts. Since then, growing demands for smaller class sizes, new textbooks and computers have prevented districts from restoring those cutbacks.

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Now, educators and politicians are reevaluating the role of counselors and trying to increase funding for them. State legislators are considering a bill to add counselors in elementary schools and reduce the ratio at all levels to 450 to 1.

Locally, Oxnard Union High School District Supt. Bill Studt is lobbying to spend class-size reduction money on more counselors.

“When we look at what happened in Colorado and what is happening nationwide, maybe this money is better spent providing more support services to our students,” he said. “A lot of these kids come from homes that are pretty dysfunctional and they have nobody to talk to.”

Aggazzotti arrives at Westlake High School at 6:45 a.m., works through lunch and leaves about 3:30 p.m. During her 12 years counseling there, she has never taken a sick day. On Wednesday, she had 16 parent phone calls to return and dozens of students to see. Often, the 580 students in Aggazzotti’s section of the alphabet have to schedule appointments three days ahead of time. One after another, students came in for appointments--to adjust their schedules, review grades and talk about behavior. A ninth-grader had to finalize her fall schedule and decide whether to go to summer school. An 11th-grader was having problems with a teacher.

“You’ve come too far,” Aggazzotti told the 11th-grader, who slouched in his chair and answered several questions with grunts. “Don’t let this get in the way.”

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He nodded, letting his long blond hair fall in front of his face. “But I can’t be the most model student,” he said. “I don’t have the motivation for that.”

“You can do this,” she said. “There are only six weeks left and then you have the summer off.”

Aggazzotti said she and the other counselors occasionally drop everything if a student has a crisis. But if a teacher or parent doesn’t alert them to a child’s problems, then they could go undetected and untreated.

With responsibilities and time restraints, counselors spend a small portion of their time helping students with social and emotional problems. Sometimes, they have to limit the number of times they see students or refer them to outside agencies for help.

Their other responsibilities include registering new students, scheduling classes, doing career counseling, administering statewide tests, helping students apply for college and working with students who are failing.

Some schools also have psychologists, but they are often busy testing students for the special education program and don’t spend much time doing direct counseling.

Campos, of Channel Islands High, sees between 35 and 40 students per day. He called his job a “wild ride” because there is never a dull moment from the time he arrives at 7:30 a.m. until he leaves at 4:30 p.m.

Campos said he limits his time with students to five or 10 minutes because he is bogged down with paperwork and doesn’t want to neglect other students. And he often rushes around and loses contact with students because he has 550 to handle.

“You have 50 to 75 students requesting to see you and it’s a madhouse,” he said. “Do I have time to do my job? No.”

Research shows that counseling programs have a significant influence on reducing discipline problems, according to the state Department of Education. So without enough counselors, educators say students don’t talk out their problems. Instead, they find their own solutions, which can include violence.

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Paul Gussman, who works in the department’s career development office, said the limited number of counselors also affects a school’s ability to target students involved in drugs, alcohol or gangs.

“Counselors can help parents and teachers and kids to reduce that at-risk behavior,” he said. “If they are not there, who does it?”

Although Jack Bannon, associate director of special education for Conejo Valley schools, said districts could use additional counselors, he doesn’t think that doubling or tripling the number would necessarily prevent school shootings like Littleton.

“There would still be no way to avert that kind of disaster,” he said. “It’s very difficult to identify which student is going to erupt.”