Plum School District is expanding its guidance counselor program into the elementary schools.
The plan eliminates the social worker program at the elementary level -- a move that worries some parents.
Plum Assistant Superintendent Don Teti said that two elementary guidance counselors will join the district's school-based intervention team, which consists of the student's counselor, principal, teacher and, in some cases, a special-education teacher.
Teti said the district is adding "a piece of academia" with the introduction of the guidance counselor program.
Plum, which has five elementary schools, already has guidance counselors in Oblock Junior High and Plum High School.
Teti said the job description for the elementary guidance counselors is "completely different" from that of social workers. Guidance counselors will step in when a child is not performing well academically, determine the root of the problem and work to solve it, he explained.
"Technically, we're laying off three social workers and making two reassignments," Teti said.
Two of the current social workers are certified as guidance counselors, Teti said. One will be reassigned as an elementary guidance counselor, while another will go to the high school.
One of the social workers, Martha M. Laux, sued the district in 2001, claiming officials repeatedly passed her over for a high school guidance counselor position. The case was settled out of court, and Zan Ivan Hodzic, Laux's attorney, said the terms are confidential. Teti declined to say if Laux's reassignment as elementary guidance counselor was part of the lawsuit settlement.
Social worker Kerry Plesco is being reassigned to the high school, Teti said, and the district plans to hire a second elementary guidance counselor this month.
Each of the elementary buildings will continue to have an instructional support teacher, who provides learning support as well as emotional and social support to youngsters.
The district's decision to institute the guidance counselor program and eliminate the social worker program has some parents worried.
"Is the guidance counselor able to deal not just with the academics, but the emotional and psychological things children encounter?" asked Joe Ruffing, whose daughter, Julia, 6, will enter first grade this fall at Regency Park Elementary School.
"They aren't addressing the needs of the school and the children," Ruffing said. "They are addressing the needs of the budget."
Khris Traficanti, president of the Plum Council of PTA, said she is reserving judgment about the new program until she sees how it works out. But Traficanti said she also has concerns about the elimination of the social worker program.
"Some kids need the social workers," Traficanti said.
Officials in other school districts said the elementary guidance counselor program has worked well.
Ron Korenich, Fox Chapel Area School District's coordinator of elementary education and instruction, said elementary guidance counselors oversee the registration and screening of new students, facilitate testing and work with children, their families and teachers.
"Chiefly, they look at academics and look at the affective issues such as children having a tough time adjusting to school," Korenich said. "And they are a support system for the teachers -- giving them an objective third eye."
