Hampton School Board favors adding elementary guidance counselor

Members of Hampton Township School Board are in favor of adding a guidance counselor for the district’s elementary schools.

The question now is how to fit the new hiring into the district’s 2023-24 budget.

During the board’s January work session, Jay Thornton, district psychologist and director of student services, gave a needs presentation that received a positive response.

“I think it’s necessary in today’s environment. You just hear too many things that you never would think of happening,” Larry Vasko, the board’s finance chairman, said. “I think we need to afford it, but there has to be some cut, maybe, of something else then.”

The estimated cost was not specified. But also during the work session, Jeff Kline, director of administrative services/transportation, projected a real estate tax increase of .72 mills to balance revenues against expenditures in next school year’s budget.

Superintendent Michael Loughead advised making a budgetary decision expediently.

“If we don’t start advertising until June, we may be too late to get some of the best counselors,” he said. “To be competitive in the job market now is more important than ever.”

Thornton explained that the district has two full-time counselors serving its three elementary schools. A counselor regularly is present four days a week at Central, which has 441 students, and three days each at Wyland, 361 students, and Poff, 313.

“We have two days a week at Wyland and Poff that go uncovered with school counseling,” Thornton said. “If something happens, they’re traveling. They’re getting there within 15 minutes and are helping out.”

A third counselor would work at Poff, which does not have one based in the building. Melissa Maley is at Central and Amy Kinney at Wyland.

Thornton credited them with doing an “excellent job,” particularly considering the logistics of the current setup. “But I think it’s really catching up with the program.”

The American School Counselor Association recommends a 250-to-1 ratio of students to school counselors. According to the support organization, the national average was 408 to 1 for the 2021-2022, with a 343-t0-1 ratio in Pennsylvania.

“Our current ratio is one to 557 at the elementary level, and the PA average is one to 382,” Thornton said.

To bolster his recommendation, he outlined some mental health trends among young people:

• About one in four children experienced “distress” during the covid-19 pandemic.

• Depression and anxiety have proved to be the most common mental health issues, but behavior and attention problems have increased in younger children.

• Pandemic-related social isolation, economic instability and family stress all contributed to students’ stress burden.

• Suicide has become the second-leading cause of death for children ages 10 to 14, the third most common cause for ages 15 to 24, and the 10th-leading cause for ages 5 to 9, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Not to be doom and gloom,” Thornton said, “but just to let you know what happens at these grades, K through 5, has such an impact on the kids and their development.”