The dismantling of the MCHS counseling department

Showcase of counseling department staff (Silvio Potosme/ The Puma Prensa)

By Chase Soylu Chee, staff writer

As students, faculty, and parents rally against the recent layoffs and transfers of beloved administrators and teachers, the dismantling of our school counseling department took a massive hit: effectively turning our counseling department upside down.

The District’s problems, which stemmed from the massive budget deficit and school closures situation, effectively allowed for the mass-firing of faculty and staff with the most hardest hit: the MCHS counseling department. 

The Maria Carrillo High School counseling department is going through changes. Ellisa Beamish and Veronica Cordero will stay, while College and Career counselor Kimberly Handel becomes a regular counselor. Unfortunately, Jennifer Green and Lauren Davis do not have positions as counselors at MCHS anymore, while Chris Nicolaou has scored a counseling position at Rancho Cotate High School. 

In addition to these changes, MCHS will see three new counselors from Montgomery High School and Hidden Valley Elementary School, while a part-time college and career counselor from Elsie Allen High School visits three days a week. 

While most students see counselors once in a blue moon, at the start of the fall and spring semesters. Besides switching classes or registering for employment, counselors are rarely seen outside these circumstances. 

However, few know that the counseling department runs the school's core systems, such as managing grades, monitoring credits and graduation requirements, presenting opportunities and services to students, and overseeing the whole student body. 

Grappling with presentations and scheduling meetings with frustrated parents, counselors were shocked to hear that they were on the chopping block with the District. 

“Looking at the agenda for an upcoming forward meeting, [the counseling department dismantlement]  was sort of buried… they were talking about cuts to staff, and they said that they were planning to cut up to 22 secondary counselors,” said Handel.

Handel, who has been counseling students at our District for seven years, was fortunately the only counselor spared from the wave of pink slips that the whole department received, and sees this as a huge threat to the whole school due to the weight that counselors carry.

“If we lose four or five of our counselors, that is going to be hard for kids who have established good relationships with them and feel comfortable going and talking to them…I think that it would be very detrimental because it’s the counselors right now [who] have high caseloads already,” said Handel.

As it is not her first rodeo, chair of the counseling department, Beamish, was cut from Analy High School due to District budget cuts, and now faces the same situation at MCHS.

“We all care about our staff. And you know, to lose a job that you love, it’s just disheartening. Especially because we didn't know what was going to happen,” said Beamish.

Looking back at the school closures, both Handel and Beamish know the District needs to cut employees, but not at Maria Carrillo High School. They feel counselors could be overlooked for their contributions to schools due to a wide variety of parents and students who do not know what counselors do. 

“It is very saddening because we lost our whole team, and [barely] have anyone here… We have a great team [who] really cares about the kids and just don't have that….. It’s just sad," said Beamish.

“All the counselors, not just the college and career counselors, are supporting and helping students plan for college and career, just like personal support… counselors are really supposed to be kind of the first level, the first one that students and parents go to help with, like such a wide variety of issues,” said Handel.

One of the overlooked things that Handel said that would affect students was relationships. “We have good, strong counselors who have established strong relationships with students and families… there’s students who have had like four different counselors, or at least three different counselors. So I think that’s really damaging,” said Handel.

Similarly to Handel, Beamish looks forward to the District helping mend the issues in the upcoming years. “I just hope that [the District] continues to try to find a way to make that a priority for kids because it is such an important issue these days for students,” said Beamish.

Though surviving the purge, the mass firing disrupted the development of presentations for all grade levels and stumped next year’s schedule for the counseling department. She acknowledged that the loss of counselors will not be noticed until they are direly needed, especially at the start of the fall semester.

Beamish hopes for the best, ensuring the District can mend the situation next year. “Just having continuity is so important, and I know whoever they get in here will do [a] fantastic job. But I just hope they continue to develop relationships with those students,” said Beamish.

Luckily, Beamish has been hired back as a 0.5, meaning she will be a counselor for half the time. Including that change, her other placement is up for grabs, meaning she could be sent to any school around the District. 

Unfortunately, without counselors, students lose more than help with college and career; they lose trusted adults who guide them through academic and personal challenges. While this impact may not be immediate, their absence will be deeply felt. After all, a school is only as strong as the people who care for its students.