Laying off guidance specialists, taking admins to a resort? How’s that help students? | Opinion
When I hear the Tacoma School District’s assurances that eliminate all Career Guidance Specialists across the district will not have a negative impact on students, I’m struck by a feeling of déjà vu.
Six years ago, as I worked closely with high school students, I realized that they received little to no post-high school guidance. Many of these students missed application deadlines, limited themselves by applying to just one school, and rolled the dice with admissions and financial aid packages.
I knew we could solve this problem to better support our students and strengthen our communities. To fill this education gap, I worked with our administration to create a Career Guidance Specialist position at three of our specialty high schools to fill this education gap.
That year, we helped as many students as we could, but by the end of the 2017-18 school year, all seven Career Guidance Specialists across the district were notified that they would either be laid off or reassigned.
Except – they weren’t. Turns out, the work we did was, and still is, very much needed. Our highly specialized skill set was best utilized supporting students with finding their path beyond high school. Four of us continued to guide students at the district’s largest high schools, while three of us (myself included) were reassigned to other roles.
This spring, central administrators once again made the harmful decision to eliminate career guidance specialists. Students packed school board meetings to protest the change.
Mount Tahoma graduate Angel Roman shared his story: “As a first generation student coming from immigrant parents, we knew little about the steps to pursue higher education. Not everyone has a mentor to guide them through opportunities outside of high school, but my career counselor, Ms. Philips, is the reason I’m in a private university today. She was there every step of the way with me, helping with my college applications, FAFSA, scholarships and internships….with her help I’m fortunate to not have paid [anything] so far for college. This would have never been the case if Ms. Philips was not there. It’s hard to imagine the school without her….this will strip away a lot of already limited opportunities for our students.”
This is just one of many compelling student success stories told at the last few board meetings, representing the experiences of thousands of our graduates.
Why are these cuts happening?
We are told, “The budget must be balanced.” We have watched district-level administrators receive 31-55% raises between 2018 and 2023, while cutting student services and programs to restore the financial health of the district. Superintendent Garcia assured the school board at their May 23 meeting that “as things change for us, we will continue to try to live into your guiding principles moving forward.”
As I write, our district cabinet consisting of eight of the highest-paid administrators in the region, has recently returned from an overnight retreat in the mountains, at the Suncadia resort in Central Washington. Thousands of dollars have been spent on this full-service luxury getaway so our district leaders can contemplate the challenges of serving our students in a time of fiscal austerity.
Who will support our students when the Career Centers are gone? Students come to them for help with everything from navigating the process of joining the pipe fitters’ union to comparing financial aid offers. They will no longer have a centralized place to get this information or a professional educator to guide them through these often complicated processes.
This work will be distributed among various other staff members, who are grossly overworked as it is. In short, no one is ready for this and our kids will be largely on their own.
Our district’s motto is “Every Student… Every Day.” We should hold our leaders accountable for honoring that commitment by restoring this life-changing resource now, before our students fall through the cracks.