Kennedy Dixon is a veteran school counselor in the Long Beach Unified School District and a former assistant principal and student support services administrator. He serves on the Government Relations Committee for the California Association of School Counselors (CASC), contributing to statewide policy, legislation and implementation guidance. He is a leading advocate for districtwide counseling standards and comprehensive TK–12 frameworks that ensure equitable access to academic, social-emotional and postsecondary support for all LBUSD students.
Long Beach Unified is entering a new era of leadership. That creates a rare opportunity — not simply to talk about equity, achievement, student wellness, attendance and college and career readiness, but to build the systems that make those promises real for students.
One of the most important places to start is school counseling.
At the June 25 Board meeting announcing the selection of Long Beach Unified School District’s (LBUSD) next superintendent, several Board members spoke directly to the moment the district is facing. Board Member Maria Isabel López spoke about moving the district in a new direction.
Board Member Juan Benitez emphasized the need to improve opportunities for students the system has not yet fully served, including students with disabilities, foster youth, low-income students, Black students, multilingual learners, LGBTQ+ students and others who continue to face barriers. Vice President Erik Miller reminded the community that some of LBUSD’s greatest progress emerged from difficult moments and bold leadership, specifically referencing the work of former superintendent Dr. Carl Cohn.
Those comments matter.
They outlined the work ahead: a new direction, a renewed focus on underserved students and the kind of structural change that has helped move LBUSD forward in the past.
Incoming Superintendent David Zaid echoed that theme, stating that the district must “align resources with our values.” That principle should guide every conversation about student success moving forward. If equity, student wellness, attendance, college and career readiness and belonging are truly among the district’s core values, then the systems and resources supporting those outcomes must reflect that commitment.
School counseling standards provide one way to ensure that alignment exists not just in words but in practice.
When district leaders talk about equity, attendance, student wellness, academic achievement and preparing students for life after graduation, they are describing outcomes that comprehensive school counseling programs help make possible every day — when counselors are provided the structure, leadership, role clarity and resources necessary to do their work effectively.
From elementary through high school, school counselors help students build belonging, stay engaged in school, navigate academic requirements, explore careers, access college opportunities and prepare for life after graduation.
Yet, access to that support remains too inconsistent across LBUSD.
After more than three decades serving students and families in Long Beach schools — as a school counselor, assistant principal and district support staff member — I have seen students thrive when meaningful counseling support is available and struggle when it is not. Time and again, the difference has had less to do with their potential than whether the system was designed to ensure that support was there when they needed it.
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This is not a criticism of LBUSD’s counselors. Across the district, counselors work tirelessly on behalf of students and families. The problem is not commitment. The problem is structure. Even the most dedicated professionals cannot consistently serve students when the system itself creates barriers to access.
The Reimagining School Counseling in LBUSD report, which I authored in 2022 on behalf of the Teachers’ Association of Long Beach School Counselors Organizing Committee, documented many of these challenges. In a districtwide survey, 85.7% of counselors reported they did not have sufficient time to meet with students, while 68.3% reported they did not have sufficient time to build meaningful relationships with students.
Those findings should concern every parent, educator, community member and district leader because they point to a systemic issue, not an individual one.
The same survey found that counselors are frequently pulled away from direct student support. More than 82% reported being assigned supervision duties. More than 84% reported testing-related responsibilities. Nearly 64% reported scheduling duties.
Those tasks may need to happen somewhere within a school system. But when they consume the time of professionals specifically trained to support students, students pay the price.
No student’s access to counseling should depend on whether their counselor is supervising a lunch area, coordinating state testing, covering another assignment, responding to multiple crises or managing a caseload too large to provide meaningful access.
When access to support depends on those circumstances, that is not equity.
That is chance.
And chance is not a strategy.
LBUSD has not yet fully implemented a districtwide counseling framework that guarantees every student access to academic advising, social-emotional support, college and career planning, prevention services, intervention supports, family engagement and crisis response. As a result, counseling services can vary significantly from one campus to another.
Many counselor caseloads also remain far above the nationally recommended ratio of 250 students per counselor, with some elementary and K-8 settings serving two, three or even more times that number.
This is more than an operational issue. It is an equity and student access issue that directly affects families across the district.
Parents should not have to hope their child happens to attend the right school, with the right staffing, the right site conditions and enough counselor availability to receive timely support. Families should be able to count on a consistent system regardless of which LBUSD school their child attends.
When counseling is treated as a supplemental service rather than essential educational infrastructure, the consequences eventually show up elsewhere — in chronic absenteeism, lower engagement, discipline concerns, missed college and career opportunities, unmet mental health needs and families struggling to access support.
That is why standards matter.
School counseling standards are not a slogan. They establish what students should have access to, what counselors are trained to provide and what responsibilities pull counselors away from the work students actually need.
Fortunately, California has already provided a pathway forward. The California Association of School Counselors has developed standards, implementation tools, guidance documents and technical support for districts seeking to align counseling programs with research and best practice.
These standards are not based on opinion. They are grounded in decades of research and evidence demonstrating that comprehensive school counseling programs improve attendance, academic achievement, school engagement, graduation rates, college enrollment and students’ sense of belonging. In fact, a growing body of research suggests that access to school counseling is among the strongest school-based predictors of long-term student success outside classroom instruction.
Long Beach has spent years talking about equity, student wellness, attendance and college and career readiness. Those goals matter. But goals alone do not help students navigate challenges or plan for their futures.
People do that.
School counselors do that.
Systems ensure those people are available when students need them.
That is the missing piece.
As LBUSD welcomes new leadership, the district has a rare opportunity to address a longstanding opportunity gap. The Board has already identified the need for a new direction. It has acknowledged the need to better serve students who have too often been left behind. It has reminded the community that LBUSD has faced challenging moments before and responded with bold action.
This is one of those moments.
The district can continue operating with a patchwork system in which access to counseling depends too heavily on campus conditions, or it can build a districtwide framework that makes support predictable, consistent and available to every student.
School counseling standards are, in many ways, the common denominator between excellence and equity — ensuring that every student has access to the support necessary to reach their potential.
In many ways, that is exactly what it means to align resources with values.
A comprehensive school counseling framework may not be flashy. But it could become one of the most consequential investments LBUSD makes in its students’ future.
When counselors help students stay connected to school, navigate challenges and prepare for life after graduation, they are helping transform opportunity into outcomes.
The Board has called for a new direction.
School counseling standards offer one clear place to begin.
The opportunity is here to replace chance with equity. The question is whether LBUSD will seize it.
