Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994                   TAG: 9410310047
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: VIRGINIA   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                 LENGTH: Medium

BOARD OF EDUCATION REJECTS ALLEN'S COUNSELING PLAN

The Allen plan, pushed by Superintendent William Bosher, would have changed dramatically the way most schools offer guidance services.

The route chosen by the board guarantees more parental involvement than typically exists but still allows schools to maintain their practice of offering classroom and emergency counseling sessions without a parent's written approval.

Under the board's proposed rules, which will go to public hearing before final approval, schools would have to notify parents about the purpose and types of guidance programs offered. Parents also would have a chance to help determine counseling needs at their children's schools and select guidance materials used.

``I think the board has taken a giant step by assuring effective parental notification and parental involvement that should have been in place all along,'' said board vice president Darrel L. Mason, who offered the alternative plan.

Mason's compromise plan requires parental permission before an individual child or a group of children can take part in ``structured'' counseling involving personal issues, such as dealing with parents who are getting a divorce or are alcoholics.

Classroom counseling dealing with such issues as conflict resolution between students or peer mediation would not require parental consent.

While disappointed, Bosher said the board's action ``moves in the direction of resolving the concerns.'' The centerpiece of Bosher's plan was a provision called ``opt in,'' which would require parents to give permission before their children received counseling. Currently, parents can ``opt out'' of counseling for their children.

Bosher said his plan would have ensured parental rights over their children. By rejecting it, the board missed an opportunity ``to reaffirm that home is the first and last contact,'' he said.

``It's not that there's pervasive harm going on, it's just that it is inherently the right of the family to participate,'' he said.

Board member Michelle Easton, one of two Allen appointees on the nine-member board, cast the sole vote against the alternative plan. She backed Bosher's plan.

``I think it supports the basic underlying premise that no one cares for a child like a mom or dad,'' Easton said. ``The notion that parents who opt out are under suspicion is offensive to me.''

Critics of Bosher's plan worried that disadvantaged children who most needed adult counseling might not be able to get it if parental permission was required in all cases.