The counseling staff will be reduced to three counselors, as the Class of 2028 counselor, Natalee Johnson plans to retire from Paso High, after 35 years. Counselors at PRHS and at other high schools in the U.S. have been known to accommodate students with academic issues like schedule changes, college planning, or career guidance. Though these resources may benefit numerous students, the future of counseling for PRHS students may undergo significant changes as staff change and accommodations occur.
On a larger scale, the school board made the decision to reduce staff positions across PRJUSD, due to the $4.9 million budget cut across the PRJUSD school district. The Paso Robles Press stated that with this decision, staff positions will be cut such as an English, Math, Science and History teacher, along with one middle and high school counselor.
After Johnson takes her leave, the school board will not replace her position. When asked about her thoughts on the resolution, Johnson said, “I know that there are reductions across the board with some of our state funding cuts. It’s unfortunate that a whole position will need to be absorbed by the rest of our counseling stand and or that some student services will be reduced because my position will not be replaced.”
Having one less counselor on campus could potentially result in negative outcomes such as having more disciplinary issues, obtaining the resource help needed for students, or less access to seeing a counselor. When asked about their thoughts on the counselor reduction, an anonymous student shared their concerns for how this event will impact their younger sibling going into PRHS, “I worry that my sibling won’t receive similar social or academic support that I or my older friends in the upper grade levels had access to in their four years. It makes me question if my sibling will still get help with things like grades, high school & future planning, and so on.”
An article found, “the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), recommends that for every 250 students there is at least one counselor. However, according to recent research by ASCA, the national average ratio is 385-to-1,” Nea.org. Another source from 2022 ranked California as the 5th state with more students than counselors; about 6 million students, and nearly 11,000 school counselors, Charliehealth.com.
While the student ratio outnumbers the counselor ratio, and students may share concerns, PRHS may not have issues with balancing the students and 3 counselors. In regard to managing students or if there’s an alternate plan, Principal Megan Fletcher expressed, “We actually have many more than that. Sadie Pedrin works with Dual Enrollment, Jessica Shatwell works with College and Career, Zenaida Mejia-Lowell works in Well Space, Fernanda Munoz works with international students.” Fletcher as well remarked on how there is yet to be a plan released on how the three counselors will manage each grade.
In spite of the counseling reduction, individual counseling will still be attainable through the mental health counselor and wellspace counselor where support will continue to be available. At the moment, it is unknown when updates will be available, but information is reported to go out to students and families by the summer of 2025.
