Publication Date: Friday, December 19, 2003
Teachers doubling as student counselors
Teachers doubling as student counselors
(December 19, 2003) Teens tell board more peers comfortable confiding in faculty
by Rachel Metz
Palo Alto teens eschew official school counseling and get help in other ways, a group of Palo Alto and Gunn High School students said early this week.
While munching on burritos and tacos at a special student-school board meeting Tuesday night, several Paly and Gunn students told board members they confided in school staff members about problems, bypassing counseling services offered on campus.
For school board members and administrators the student insights were promising indications that teacher efforts to reach out to teens may be succeeding. School counseling budgets were chopped by $222,000 last spring, a casualty of $3.5 million in school district budget cuts. While both schools have counselors available through the school and through local nonprofit Adolescent Counseling Services (ACS), only Paly has a teacher advisor system where students are assigned to certain teachers for continual advising.
Several of the students said they used ACS, but eventually stopped for a variety of reasons. One student felt he no longer needed ACS help, but another declined the service after being placed in a counseling group with other students, "which I really didn't care for at all," she said.
Instead, the student finds support in talking to her cheerleading coach, Paly's Leigh Cambra.
"She really cares," she said.
Maria Vargas and another Gunn classmate find similar solace in a Gunn teacher, whom they said would drop anything just to help her students.
"To hear them speak so passionately about how their teacher reached out to them was so inspiring," board member Camille Townsend said.
ACS representatives couldn't be reached for comment, however Paly Principal Sandra Pearson said the news was positive.
"I made a big push at the beginning of the year to all teachers, encouraging them to make even more of an effort than they usually do to get to know all of their students well," Pearson said.
Pearson said students' revelations may mean the school's intentions do in fact make a difference. She said in light of "incidents" in the last couple of years -- such as the suicides of two Paly students -- the school may be making more of a conscious effort to connect with students.
Gunn Principal Scott Laurence said he's happy to hear students feel they can talk with staff members, but it's no surprise.
"I think the piece we need to work on is the students that don't identify, don't feel they have the connection," he said.
Paly junior Angelina Bena would agree. Shy students may have a harder time talking with somebody, she said.
Also, she thinks a lot of teachers get so caught up in curriculum they forget students have lives outside of school.
Students can help others, however, by alerting a teacher if a student is having a problem, she said.
"I think when you do tell a teacher, that they will be more responsive," Bena said.
Rachel Metz can be e-mailed at rmetz@paweekly.com
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