Our schools need your best counsel

Coeur d’Alene and likely other school districts in North Idaho are facing a quiet crisis.

Community, they need your guidance.

Untold numbers of students, especially at the middle school level, cut themselves or exhibit other horribly unhealthy signs of anguish and depression. Talk of suicide is common; attempts are made more than the public is ever made aware.

While we agree parents should be responsible for their children’s mental and physical health, the sad fact is many are not. Some otherwise good parents are oblivious to their children’s deep-seated problems. Unless you’re intimately connected to various social networks, where it seems everything personal is shared, you might not know what your child is really thinking or doing. And even then, social networks can reflect how a youngster wants to be perceived, rather than what’s real.

That’s why such enormous burdens fall on school counselors. And that’s why The Press published a story Thursday outlining some of those challenges and possible solutions.

With finite resources, Coeur d’Alene School District is grappling with what appears a clear need for more counselors or at the very least, a serious examination of how those counselors’ time is being used. For example, while kids are cutting themselves or instant messaging suicidal thoughts, some of these counselors are in the gym, proctoring days of testing. Is that the best use of their time and skills?

The Idaho Legislature, through $5 million funding in the 2016 session, is enabling schools to add college and career counselors. These positions, however, are intended to help students better chart their academic and career paths. In the long run these advisers will be worth their weight in gold, we believe. But in the meantime, we’ve got a crisis with kids inside and outside the classroom.

Coeur d’Alene School District officials who want to hire more counselors are held in check because taxpayers have been promised teachers will be hired to reduce classroom sizes. We appreciate the honesty and transparency behind that approach, but wonder: Is hiring 12 more teachers the very best use of those taxpayer dollars?

We would argue that hiring more counselors should be a higher priority, or that perhaps the funding could be used for more teachers and counselors. But we can’t speak for the general public. You, however, can.

While the district is negotiating contracts for the coming year, now is the time to express your thoughts on spending priorities. We encourage you to write letters to the editor or simply email Coeur d’Alene School Board Chair Christa Hazel at chazel@cdaschools.org. Please help guide our school officials to make not just the best spending decisions, but the best humanitarian moves.