Counselors Seek to Avert New Decline in Services : Education: Conejo Valley Unified district employees say students are suffering in the wake of staff reductions.

Thousand Oaks school counselors, who are negotiating a new contract with school district officials, said Tuesday they are willing to take a pay cut and work longer hours to ensure that student-to-counselor ratios are not increased.

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Under the existing contract, the ratio of students to counselors is recommended at 400-to-1. But that number has swelled to more than 600-to-1 in recent years as counseling positions have been eliminated, district officials said.

The result, counselors say, is fewer opportunities for students to meet with their advisers at a time when counseling is critical for many youths.

“The services to kids are suffering--that’s the bottom line,” said Richard Intlekofer, a counselor at Newbury Park High School. “Because the ratio is so large, we don’t get to see the kids as often.”

Student-to-counselor ratios at other Ventura County school districts vary. In Ventura Unified, for example, the ratio is about 400-to-1, while in Oak Park it is 680-to-1, school officials said. In neighboring Simi Valley Unified, the ratio is 576-to-1.

Since 1992, the Conejo Valley Unified School District has cut four counseling positions, leaving 14 counselors at the junior high and high school levels, district officials said.

Those counselors, and the district’s nine school psychologists, want the district to guarantee that no more positions will be cut or student-to-counselor ratios increased.

“We’re not asking for money, we aren’t asking for fringe benefits, we’re not asking for extra pay,” said David Holmboe, a counselor at Los Cerritos Intermediate School. “We want a guarantee not to cut back services.”

But because Conejo Valley Unified’s financial future is uncertain, district officials said they are wary of making promises.

“The district is not willing to guarantee anything,” Assistant Supt. Leean Nemeroff said. “We have lost 40 to 60 teaching positions. . . . Everyone is feeling the burden. There isn’t an area that hasn’t been hit.”

But counselors contend that they have already fallen victim to the budget ax and are afraid of what could happen if their services are not protected.

“We are seeing a lot of violence because we can’t nip things in the bud like we used to,” said Carole Krieger, a part-time counselor at Newbury Park High. “There are just too many people to deal with and we are spreading ourselves too thin.”

Last year, two Westlake High School students received minor injuries when they were shot during an after-school melee at a nearby park. The brawl resulted from an ongoing dispute involving two other Westlake High students.

High school students said they have noticed changes in counseling services, such as fewer opportunities to see counselors and more mishaps in school scheduling.

“It’s slower and there are lots more mistakes,” said Theresa Nguyen, 16, a senior at Newbury Park High. “But they are doing the best they can.”

Sixteen-year-old Jayme Berlin said she wishes the district would recognize the important role counselors play.

“They need to wake up and realize that the students need counseling,” she said.

Although the most visible task counselors perform is registering new students and providing college and career counseling, they also perform a host of services behind closed doors, such as helping with personal or family problems.

“We need to take care of our students in every way,” Intlekofer said. “Sometimes, they’re just looking for someone to listen.”

But because of increasing student-to-counselor ratios, counselors at Newbury Park High have limited student conferences to 15 minutes, Intlekofer said.

“You are not going to tell a student who is in crisis that you have to stop because he’s out of time,” Intlekofer said. Consequently, counselors often work longer hours.

Their heavy workload has not gone unnoticed, however.

“They have way too much to do,” Jayme said. “They must all be having nervous breakdowns. But no matter what, they always try to help.”