In response to “The Failures of ‘Be the One’

The Bowie Counseling staff wishes to provide an alternate view of the Guidance department in response to the opinions shared in the February issue.  Since counselor duties are often unknown and misrepresented, we see this as an opportunity to educate and inform about the role of the modern school counselor.

For approximately 3,000 students, Bowie employs seven school counselors: two for freshmen, five for 10th through 12th grade students, and each with a caseload of 400+ students.  However, the American School Counselor Association recommends a 250:1 student to counselor ratio.  With caseloads nearly double, we strive to do our best while serving a campus with many needs.  However, counselors may get a bad rap because our role is misunderstood.  As 21st century educators, one of our goals is to teach necessary skills to make it in the “real world”.  Therefore, oftentimes, our counseling services are viewed as unpopular because we offer appropriate, but uncomfortable advice.

Nonetheless, as seasoned professionals, we must guide students towards success while also aligning with Bowie policies.  Thus, if we provide an undesirable response, sometimes students view their guidance experiences as unhelpful or negative.

Furthermore, we redirect students who come into guidance with matters outside our realm.  For example, did you know that counselors don’t handle attendance?  APs do.  Although students look to us as a first stop, we don’t manage all school issues.  That doesn’t mean we don’t care.  We merely refer students to the proper personnel who can address the problems that counselors cannot.

Counselors spend their work hours on a variety of tasks, both seen and unseen.  Mental health crises are our primary concern and may last for several hours.  Students looking for their counselor may often find our doors closed because we are undergoing confidential services.  Next come responsibilities from Bowie and AISD. These include, but are not limited to: credit checks; four-year plans; scheduling; letters of recommendation; monitoring student in danger of failing or not graduating; referring students to outside resources and alternative learning programs; working with Child Study Teams; communicating with parents, teachers, and outside agencies; attending 504 and ARD meetings, etc.  Counselors simply don’t have as much time as is presumed.

We agree that there is a mental health crisis, which is why we initiated the Be The One program.  And we don’t believe that it was a failure; we were encouraged by the increase in student awareness about depression and suicide.  In an additional effort to reach out to students, we also instituted Social Emotional Learning FIT sessions, which were open to all students.  Even with large caseloads and responsibilities, we still go the extra mile to try to mitigate this ever-growing crisis.  Please support your counselors in an overtasked role instead of unfairly judging our motivations, personalities and availability.  We thank you for “being the one” to spread the word about depression, and for being the one who appreciates the challenging role of the modern school counselor.