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Elementary school counselors also are in danger of being eliminated because of budget constraints, and emotions ran high Monday as parents and teachers pleaded with the Warsaw school board not to do away with the counselors.
Warsaw superintendent Dr. David McGuire said that by eliminating the elementary counseling program, which includes five people, the school corporation would save $237,670 per year.
But teachers said that without the counselors, the teachers could not concentrate on academics as they should.
Students today, a teacher said, deal with horrific situations, such as parents who are in jail, parents who take or deal drugs, sexual or physical abuse and neglect.
"We deal with students who have siblings with terminal illnesses, who have parents who go away and leave them, parents who make their kids watch pornography, kids who witness inappropriate sexual behavior, kids who are scared about world affairs. When a child is consumed mentally and emotionally with adult problems, they can't learn," she said.
Sharon Gosnell, whose daughter was killed in a church van accident, said the elementary counselors were a "lifeline" at the time of the accident, and beyond. The counselors immediately responded, she said, meeting with children and parents regularly, helping the students in classes.
Gosnell, who also works for WCS, said there are five counselors for 3,624 students in 10 elementary schools.
"That's more than half of our children (in the school system), and you're getting rid of their counselors?" she asked the board.
Jane Miller, a school volunteer, said she sees the problems the students have, and "to think of taking a lifeline away from those students is just unthinkable."
One of the elementary counselors, Jan Hammaker, said, "The reason we're there is so children's primary pathway to the brain, their emotions, can be cleared so they can learn. ... It's not an easy world out there for kids. It's not an easy world."
The school board will vote on the elementary counselor issue at the board's March 17 meeting.
