LBUSD counselors, parents and students seek more counselors across the district 

Despite having spent over a decade in Long Beach Unified, it wasn’t until Kayla Wilson’s senior year at Woodrow Wilson High School that she developed a relationship with her counselor. 

Wilson remembers feeling overwhelmed and experiencing a jarring culture shock her freshman year. Wilson said she wishes she had been better aware of how counselors could have helped her during the time. As she moves on to college, Wilson said she will make sure to prioritize her mental health.  

LBUSD student board member Frania Lopez had a similar experience. Lopez said she didn’t develop a close relationship with her counselor until her junior year. 

“If it wasn’t for my counselor I probably wouldn’t have done a lot of things that I’m doing now,” Lopez said, adding that her counselor helped her to be on top of her assignments and taught    her about scholarships and activities.  

The American School Counselor Association recommends a student-to-counselor ratio of 250-to-1. 

While the student-to-counselor ratio in LBUSD varies among schools, it is typically around three to five times the 250-to-1 ratio, according to the 2022 Reimaging School Counseling report by the Teacher’s Association of Long Beach School Counselors Organizing Committee. 

“I find myself prioritizing which needs to meet all day. I’m constantly putting out fires instead of doing preventative work because I have no time and I’m only one person.”

Rima Hosn, counselor at Jackie Robinson Academy

Wilson, alongside counselors and parents, took to public comment at LBUSD’s April 17 board meeting to advocate for a comprehensive school counseling program and for hiring more counselors. 

“The research is clear, in schools where counselors have appropriate duties and responsibilities along with sufficient student-to-counselor ratios, students have higher academics, better attendance, lower suspension and expulsion rates and better overall mental health,” said Abigail Kubert, a mother of two LBUSD students.

Kubert emphasized that school counselors are often assigned responsibilities that don’t align with their specialized training. These clerical and other duties are what kept Rima Hosn, a counselor at Jackie Robinson Academy, from completing a suicide assessment for a student for almost two hours. 

“I find myself prioritizing which needs to meet all day,” Hosn said. “I’m constantly putting out fires instead of doing preventative work because I have no time and I’m only one person.”

Parents also highlighted the effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on students’ mental health and how counselor support is necessary now more than ever. 

Jessie Colmer, a parent of three LBUSD students, said that the lack of counselor support has affected student behavior, which in turn impacts a teacher’s ability to teach effectively. 

“Increasing the amount of counselors to assist students within LBUSD campuses is the only viable solution I can think of to better address the increasing need for mental health services in LBUSD,” Colmer said.

While board members were unable to respond to public comment since it was on an item not on the agenda, the importance of school counselors came up during a presentation on student A-G academic achievement. 

According to data presented by superintendent of research Chris Brown, students in the classes of 2023-26 consistently had a lower average of students on track than those in the classes of 2019-22. 

“The key to a lot of these outcomes has to do with the lack of access many of our kids have to counselors,” board member Maria Isabel Lopez said. “So I too think that this should be a priority for us, to ensure that kids have more counselors and access to them.”

Board member Erik Miller reflected on his experience struggling academically when he was a student and how it was his counselor who helped him get back on track. 

“If we are going to talk about how we change this narrative in regards to having our students focus on career development and academic achievement, [then] the [counselor] support system… is a necessity,” Miller said.