ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603040036
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
WHETHER IT'S ABOUT FIGHTS WITH FRIENDS, arguments with parents or even the death of someone close to them, students are turning to their guidance departments for an increasing number of reasons.
When teen-age girls are having fights with their boyfriends, they sometimes go to their school guidance counselors for advice.
If students are grieving over the death of a relative or close friend, they can turn to counselors for comfort.
And if students are having problems with their parents, school counselors will try to help them deal with them.
"Often, we are sounding boards for kids who have concerns about a lot of things," said Dale Johnson, guidance coordinator at Roanoke's Patrick Henry High School.
"Sometimes, it can be a Band-Aid approach. We try to provide immediate help in a crisis," he said.
School counselors still do traditional guidance work with students on academic issues - advising them on courses, college applications and career planning.
But they spend a lot of time counseling young people on personal, social and other nonacademic issues.
Johnson estimates that nearly 40 percent of his time is spent on nonacademic issues.
Some middle school counselors say they spend almost as much time with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders on personal and social issues as on academic matters.
"During these transition years, the kids are learning social skills and developing relationships," said Amy Barnhart, guidance coordinator at Cave Spring Junior High School in Roanoke County.
John Stone, guidance coordinator at Northside Middle School In Roanoke County, said middle school students have a special need for counseling services because of their ages.
"At this level, things happen so quickly. At one moment, everything is fine, but the student is in a crisis in the next minute," Stone said.
Counseling students on nonacademic issues is at the heart of the debate over parental notification and permission that recently prompted a shift to local control of guidance and counseling programs in Virginia.
The state Board of Education voted to allow local school boards to develop their own policies on whether parents should first give permission to schools before their children can talk to counselors about nonacademic issues.
Under current state policy, students have easy access to counselors. They can participate in individual, small-group or classroom counseling sessions unless their parents take the initiative and sign a form asking that they not be involved - an "opt-out" policy.
Gov. George Allen and Republican state legislators have tried unsuccessfully to get the General Assembly to mandate an "opt-in" policy. Under this procedure, parents would have to give specific written permission for their children to participate in guidance and counseling.
But the legislature has rejected the opt-in proposal. And the education board's majority has decided to shift control of guidance to localities rather than adopt the restrictive policy advocated by Allen's appointees.
Now, school systems must develop their own policies on guidance and counseling by July 1.
In a typical day, counselors say, they deal with many students on issues that could be affected by a change in the opt-out policy.
Sue Brewer, guidance coordinator at Hidden Valley Junior High School in Roanoke County, said an opt-in policy could cause administrative and enforcement nightmares.
"If a child was crying in a classroom or bathroom over a personal problem, and you had an opt-in policy, you'd have to tell them that you had to go and check a list to see whether you could talk to them," Brewer said.
If the parents had not signed an opt-in form, the counselor would probably call them to see if it would be permissible to talk with the child, she said. But some parents might not want to be called and could become upset, she said.
In the meantime, counselors couldn't do anything for the crying child, and the problem could get worse, Brewer said.
Barnhart recalled a case at Cave Spring Junior High when an opt-in policy might have left some children without counseling while they were grieving over the death of a classmate.
A student died, but classmates did not know about the death until they arrived at school the next morning. The children became upset, and counselors helped them work through their grief.
Under an opt-in policy, if the parents of a child in the class had not given permission ahead of time for counseling, Barnhart said, the child would have been excluded. If the school had tried to reach the parents by phone to seek permission and had been unable to reach them, the child still could not have been counseled, she said.
Barnhart said an opt-in policy could prohibit abused children from receiving counseling. If children are being abused, it is unlikely the parents would give permission for them to see counselors, she said.
Brewer estimates that nearly half of all middle school students will talk with a counselor at some point during their school years about personal and social issues such as relationships with classmates, friends or parents.
"We deal with a lot of developmental things that parents don't realize are that important to the children," she said. "Most young people at this level are more concerned about their social standing than" with academic issues.
Some members of the state Board of Education said some children might fall through the cracks if an opt-in policy were adopted.
Board member Rayford Harris said he feared that many kids, especially from poor, inner-city neighborhoods, would be denied guidance and counseling services with an opt-in system.
In high school, counselors also work with some students with more serious problems, such as alcohol and drug abuse, teen-age pregnancy and excessive truancy.
In some cases, Johnson said, it's impossible to provide guidance on academic issues without becoming involved with personal and social areas of students' lives.
"If a student is having difficulty with his parents, that might affect his school performance," he said. "You can't always separate things and compartmentalize them. You are not dealing with students in isolation."
Changes in economic conditions, family structure, lifestyles and other factors have increased pressures on students and caused more to seek out counselors on personal and social issues in recent years, Johnson said.
Some students live in single-parent families and have experienced bitter divorces by their parents. Others come from families where both parents have minimum-wage jobs and struggle to make ends meet.
"Today, many kids face scary situations. They wonder if they can make it financially when they get out of school," said Johnson, a counselor for 22 years. "There is more fear of the unknown among students today."
At Northside Middle, Stone said, students have a greater need today for counseling services than ever before because of the breakdown in families and societal changes.
"It would be tragic if you had to get permission from parents to talk to a child in crisis," Stone said. "If I had to collect permission slips from parents for every child before I talked to them, it would take time away from the services that are needed."
School counselors said they don't try to deal with serious psychological problems, but refer students to professional counselors or other agencies.
"We don't hesitate to make a referral if we believe a child needs professional help," Brewer said. Counselors notify parents if they believe a child has a serious psychological problem.
All school counselors in Virginia are required to have master's degrees in guidance and counseling. Some are also licensed professional counselors.
Gary Kelly, director of guidance and staff development for Roanoke County, said school counselors don't have time to deal with students' serious psychological problems.
"We're an educational institution. We're not a therapeutic institution," Kelly said. "We handle child developmental issues, not psychological problems."
Few parents have opted their children out of guidance and counseling services in Roanoke and Roanoke County schools.
Only three or four parents a year notify county schools they don't want their children to have access to counselors, Kelly said.
During Barnhart's 18 years as a counselor at Cave Spring Junior High, she said, only one student has opted out of guidance and counseling services.
The county has guidance committees at all schools that review the counseling program and materials.
Parents serve on the committees. If parents have concerns about guidance and counseling services, they are often asked to serve on the committees, Kelly said.
Johnson said Roanoke schools also seek parents' views on the guidance program - and try to get them involved if counselors believe their child has a problem.
"We're not trying to usurp the parents," he said. "We want to bring them in as much as possible."
LENGTH: Long : 169 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. ROGER HART/Staff Dale Johnson (center), guidanceby CNBcoordinator at Patrick Henry High School, talks with James Haskins
(right), a ninth-grader who is transferring from William Fleming
High School. Haskins' mother, Rose Kamara (left), listens to the
schedule of classes he will be attending. Fellow guidance counselor
Michelle Gaither assists in the matter. color
2. Dale Johnson listens to concerns of Metal Technology instructor
Sandy Johnston about class scheduling. color
3. ROGER HART/Staff Guidance Coordinator Dale Johnson advises senior
Donnie Smith on the American College Test schedule at Patrick
Henry High School's career center.