By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Guidance counseling services could be restructured in the near future at Union Grove High School.
But, after recently fielding concerns that citizens raised about programs for at-risk students, district officials emphasize that no firm decisions have been made.
District Administrator Al Mollerskov said a review of the high school’s services comes after examining what neighboring high schools in the Southern Lakes Conference are doing through a document known as the Wisconsin Comprehensive School Counseling Model.
“The issue here is equity,” Mollerskov said. “We have one counselor with as many as 400 counselees, while we have others with less. We were looking at balancing it out.”
Union Grove High School currently employs three guidance counselors, although one does double-duty as a student assistant coordinator, with responsibilities that include assisting with the school’s alternative education GOAL program.
Last week, the high school board discussed the future of guidance counselor staffing at a meeting attended by about 60 district residents.
Mollerskov acknowledged that concerns about at-risk services were voiced amid the large-scale review of staffing responsibilities.
“People shared their concerns with the board,” Mollerskov said. “We said we’d go back and look at this further.”
Mollerskov said high school Principal Tom Hermann will be looking more closely at how the guidance office works in the month ahead. A number of possibilities are on the table, including the prospect of increasing counselor staffing.
“We heard people and their concerns,” Mollerskov said. “We understand that the at-risk program is important to a lot of people, so we’ll be looking into possible modifications.”
Mollerskov said the issue will be revisited at the next regularly scheduled School Board meeting in April.
“We’ll come up with a plan that meets the needs of the students and the staff,” Mollerskov said.
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