ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: JON GLASS LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
Virginia's Board of Education voted 5-4 Thursday to relinquish control of school guidance and counseling programs and allow local school boards to develop their own policies.
Under regulations adopted by the board, every school in Virginia still will be required to offer guidance and counseling services.
But, for the first time, local officials will be able to decide the politically charged issue that launched a statewide debate: whether parents should first give permission to schools before their children talk to school counselors about personal, social or other non-academic areas of their lives.
Board members called the vote a compromise between existing state policy that provides easy access to counselors and a more restrictive proposal that would have imposed a statewide mandate to require written parental permission.
The board majority said local school boards are in the best position to decide the matter, especially since more than two-thirds are now elected and directly accountable to voters in their districts.
"A one-size-fits-all prescription from Richmond is not what we need," said James P. Jones, board president. "The best thing we could do is to adopt regulations that say, in essence, `Local folks know best.' It solves a problem that is intensely local in a way that is fair and equitable."
Conservative allies of Gov. George Allen, as well as representatives of school counselors, were unhappy with the outcome - but for opposite reasons.
Conservatives had defined the issue in terms of parental rights, saying parents were entitled to decide whether their child saw a counselor.
Counselors said they worried that kids' well-being could be compromised, because some districts may opt to require parental permission. Currently, children can participate in classroom, small-group or individual counseling sessions unless their parents take the initiative and sign a form asking that they not be involved.
In a typical day, counselors say, they help kids work through a multitude of concerns ranging from self-esteem and conflicts with other students to family crises.
"I have some real concerns with equity throughout the state," said Paul Galvin, a middle school counselor in Fairfax County and president of the Virginia School Counselor Association. "What I think we've done is transfer the battle from the state board to local boards. I think there's some real possibilities of children in Virginia losing out on this."
Board member Rayford Harris, of Richmond, was the only Allen appointee to the board to vote in favor of the compromise. Harris said he feared that many kids, especially from poor, inner-city neighborhoods, would be denied services if the Allen administration's plan was adopted.
Harris said he preferred the existing system, calling the compromise "the lesser of two evils."
GOP state legislators failed last year in an attempt to move a bill through the General Assembly that would have mandated parental permission.
Ken Stroupe, spokesman for Allen, said the governor viewed the board's action as "a step in the right direction. It's not everything we had hoped for, but it's better than what we had."
William C. Bosher Jr., Allen's state schools chief and an architect of the administration's guidance plan, said he could accept the state board's compromise because he supports local option.
"If they duke it out before a local school board and reach a decision that's right for their community, I don't feel we should strike out from Richmond and try to change that," Bosher said.
Even though local school boards will have autonomy, they still must follow certain regulations, including an annual written notification to parents about the types of guidance services available to their children.
And for school districts that decide to require parental permission, provisions must be made for children in need whose parents fail to respond.
Local school boards will be required to adopt a guidance and counseling policy by July 1.
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