California School Counselor - Summer 2008 - (Page 4)

presidential perspectives By George Montgomery CASC President 2007-2008 Tough Times Require Extraordinary Efforts In the past 30 years, school counselors have experienced a multitude of situations that have impacted their performance, their professional status and their working relationships with school administrators and fellow educators. School counselors have become prepared for adversity and by the nature of their work have become competent and capable of dealing with change as true professionals. With the collapse of the housing market due to a record number of foreclosures, the increased cost for transportation due to high gas prices and the possibility of a recession reﬂected by an inﬂ ationary trend in the stock market, families are having more diﬃculty meeting their ﬁnancial responsibilities. Likewise, school counselors are confronted with the potential of a reduction in their staﬀ due to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s announcement that there will be a 10 percent across-the-board reduction to the state’s budget proposal for 2008. To show no partisanship, budget cutting will aﬀect all governmental programs. What appeared to be a godsend for school counselors by receiving $200 million as a result of the passage of AB 1802 in July of 2006 now appears to be the possibility of losing counselors and other classiﬁed and certiﬁcated personnel by the is4 suance of “pink slips” statewide. It is unfortunate that school counselors have had little time to implement programs and begin collecting data to determine the eﬀects of their increased programs and services before facing a possible reduction in staﬀ. At this point in time, it is unclear how many school counselors will be affected until the May revised budget; however, we must remain focused and optimistic in our mission to provide the best possible services to students, parents and to the community. in their school counseling staﬀ. It is important to continue to develop comprehensive school counseling and guidance programs, to speak out to legislators when the time is right and remain committed that school counselors make a diﬀerence to the academic achievement of students. Regardless of the amount of money allocated to the counseling program, our mission remains the same, which is to uphold the highest ethical standards of professional conduct, to support student-centered advocacy We must remain focused and optimistic in our mission to provide the best possible services to students, parents and to the community. Tough times require extraordinary eﬀorts to reduce or prevent any unnecessary fallout from this change in the economic climate. According to Joshua Brady at the CDE, counseling will receive an approximate 7 percent reduction or less based upon last year’s allocation of $209 million and the potential allocation of $195 million. Obviously, this is not good news; however, for most school districts this does not mean the loss of a school counseling program, but rather the reduction for academic excellence that is data driven (results-based) and to provide equity and access for ALL students. With your support, we will go to the Capitol and advocate for the continuation of the Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling Program without further modiﬁcations so that school counselors can help our communities through this diﬃcult economic time and provide the vision and the voice that promote academically proﬁcient and career-competent young citizens. ■ The California School Counselor | summer 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of California School Counselor - Summer 2008

California School Counselor - Summer 2008 Contents Presidential Perspectives Jackie’s Jottings Executive Director’s Report Cyberbullying and Equal Access Northern California Conference Highlights Book Review Making a Difference One Family at a Time An AB 1802 Success Story Legislative Update CASC Members Honor Assemblywoman Linda Sanchez Pics, Clicks and Technics Calendar Index to Advertisers

California School Counselor - Summer 2008

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