Saugus Union School District Parents Alarmed by Increase in Bullying and Aggressive Behavior on Campus
The Consequences of Eliminating Comprehensive Counseling Programs for Students' Social-Emotional Learning and Mental Health Support
Several parents in the Saugus Union School District have expressed concern about the increase in bullying and aggressive behavior on campus, which they believe is not being addressed by school administrators. During a recent public meeting, two parents of kindergarten students spoke out about their children's experiences with bullying and intimidation in the classroom.
According to one parent, Carissa Hyde, multiple students in her daughter's class "could lead a master class in intimidating their peers." Hyde says she has heard about bullying in the classroom from her daughter and has even witnessed it herself. Another parent, Elena Will, says she noticed uncomfortable behavior in her son's kindergarten class.
These concerns come amid the district's decision to eliminate all seven site counselors, which the Saugus Union School District board approved early last year. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued that this decision would harm students' social-emotional learning, especially after two years of COVID-19. The ACLU has also stated that the district would violate California law by eliminating the counselor positions.
In response to a letter from the ACLU, the district has stated that officials do not believe that the termination of the counseling positions will result in student service gaps. Yet, we now see a year later that clearly isn't the case! Back then, the district, or should I say Colleen Hawkins argued that there is no federal or state requirement for comprehensive counseling programs and that they could enlist the services of outside counselors, interns, and state-licensed individuals as long as they were supervised by someone holding a "pupil personnel services" credential.
However, some parents believe that the district's decision to eliminate the counseling positions is likely the culprit of the increase in campus problems, including bullying and aggressive behavior. They argue that counselors play a crucial role in helping students with social-emotional learning and providing mental health support to students.
The concerns these parents and the ACLU raise highlight a more significant issue in the Saugus Union School District: the need for comprehensive counseling programs to support student's mental health and social-emotional learning. Yet, unfortunately, the district moved forward with its decision and ignored the thoughtful objections showing the arrogance of the Saugus Union School District administration.
One would think after two years of fighting parents and pushing distant learning, masking, and nearly forcing all kids to get mRNA gene therapy despite there being more risk than reward for elementary school children. Then, there would be a little humility because anyone paying attention now knows we were lied to and our kids suffered. But, nope, let's get rid of the school counselors. What is the worst that could happen?
The administrators of Saugus Union are the classic example of the phenomenon called the Dunning-Kruger effect; this is where a person is incompetent but unaware of it and thus has an inflated sense of their abilities. No one is allowed to question Hawkins because she has a doctorate, so she knows what your child needs more than you do. Now sit down and shut up while we decide what gender your child will be tomorrow.