Once again the kids lose!

The Superintendent of the DISD (Dallas County Independent School District), Michael Hinojosa, has recommend that the district handle the budget shortfall by cutting HALF of the Counselor positions! 

Now, I know that School Counselors don’t get to do much real counseling as it is, given the administrative work they have been assigned, but this is a often child’s only hope for an adult to reach out to if they are in trouble.  What kind of future will the kids of DISD have if there are not enough counselors for them to turn to? 

What School Counselors Do

School counselors help make plans for kids with all kinds of problems, emotional, educational and vocational.  Without them to help kids find their path, who is going to take up the slack? The teachers? The administrators? I don’t think so!!

I want to get angry and blame the school district.  I know they have had their share of corruption and the normal bureaucracy struggles. But this is absurd.  Cut back on football for God’s sake.  Now, don’t get me wrong I think sports are important, especially team sports, but to build huge stadiums like we do here in Texas when they are laying off counselors to make up for the slake is absurd.  I don’t know that they are doing that in DISD but I do know there are BOUND to be more humane things to do to solve this problem than to kick out the Counselors. 

Who is a kid to turn to???

When my kids needed help with anything in school, they turned to their counselors to help with career choices, to deal with teachers or administrators they had clashes with, etc.  But for kids with no real home life, school Counselors become their only real refuge.  They help them find all kinds of resources they could not find otherwise. Does the superintendent not get it that he will suddenly see a spike in drug use, in suicide, in violence and school drop out rates if he does this ridiculous thing?  The violence rate in Dallas County will undoubtedly go up, the truancy rate will go up, and our courts will have to deal with the kids the School Counselors could have helped long, long before the courts got involved. 

Where is our humanity???

If you live in Dallas County it is in your best interest whether you have children or not to weigh in on this issue.  Call the board and complain, send a barrage of emails, go down there in person and tell them to get their head out of their rear end and do something different about the budget crisis. 

Weigh in with me, too. 

I’d like to hear if you are going to do something! Comment below.

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