Burbank middle school counselors take issue with roles as lunchtime supervisors
Counselors who advise students in academics or assist them with personal challenges at Burbank’s three middle schools made a plea to Burbank Unified officials recently when they asked to be relieved of also supervising students during lunch.
The dual role that middle school counselors carry has led some to take on disciplinarian roles they do not want because it could stifle their relationships with students, according to Luther Burbank Middle School Counselor Traci Fellman.
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Fellman spoke on behalf of several counselors during a March 17 school board meeting, asking that middle school counselors no longer oversee students during lunch.
“Much of our time during supervision is spent correcting behavior, disciplining students, pestering them to clean up after themselves, and teenagers do not view adults who constantly harp on their behavior as a safe harbor when times are tough,” she said.
“The adolescent brain just does not work that way,” she added. “Being viewed as disciplinarians by our students actually hampers the development of caring, nurturing, supportive relationships that we attempt to foster with our students during their time in middle school.”
Instead, students could visit a counselor in their office during lunch, and parents could also drop by during the lunch break, Fellman said. Currently, students must visit counselors during their class times.
Unlike counselors at middle schools, high school counselors are not required to do lunch supervision, according to an agreement in their contract which was reached a few years ago, said Les Cohen, a Burroughs High School counselor.
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When high school counselors first became available to meet with students during lunch, Cohen said he doubted many would stop by his office during that time, but he said he keeps busy during lunch because students do drop in to talk to him.
“Really, I was skeptical about it in the beginning. I didn’t think kids were going to come in at lunch,” he said. “I have found that a lot of kids come in at lunch time. Some of those kids fall into a particular niche where they’re kids who are either high achieving who don’t want to miss a class to come in, and they’re busy; they have to leave right after school. Or, they are at-risk kids who are embarrassed to ask a teacher to come in during class time... If I send for them during class, they won’t show up, because they don’t want to stand out, and they come in at lunch.”
Social studies teacher Barry Sarna, who is also the middle school director for the Burbank Teachers Assn., said he has been advocating for middle school counselors to be relieved of lunch supervision for a year, in part because he said that in meeting with middle school counselors, they “unanimously said that no counseling seems to happen at lunch time during supervision.”
He estimated that the cost to hire two part-time campus aides to supervise students during lunch at each of the three middle schools would be about $6,400 per year.
After hearing several counselors and teachers discuss the issue, Burbank Unified Supt. Matt Hill said he was sure the school district could address their concerns.
“I heard loud and clear the need of the counselors and the other teachers supporting the counselors tonight — can we find a solution to resolve that for our middle schools? There is a financial impact, but I’m very confident that we can work through that,” he said.
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Kelly Corrigan, [email protected]
Twitter: @kellymcorrigan
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