Schools
Parents Oppose Elimination of Counseling Service from BOE Budget
The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education ends its contract with the Resolve Community Counseling Center, and parents speak out.
Parents spoke-out last week against the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Board of Education's decision to eliminate a counseling service from its 2010 budget.
At the board's meeting at Evergreen Elementary School on Thursday night, they called for the board to reinstate its contract with Resolve Community Counseling Center. The center, based in Scotch Plains, provided counseling, intervention, and anti-bullying services to students in the district's elementary schools. It also aided students coping with death, divorce, and other family crises.
"If [students] are worried and stressed, they're going to have a harder time in school," said Christine Mahoney, a Resolve counselor, Fanwood resident, and mother of two in the school district. "They're going to be harder to handle and they're not going to be happy."
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Superintendent Margaret Hayes responded that if the board had reinstated the contract, it would have required the board to cuts other areas of the budget, such as by laying-off more teachers.
The conversations occurred during a 15-minute public hearing held at the end of the board's regular meeting. The board conducted most of its meeting Thursday night in executive session, as it discussed personnel, hiring and similar issues.
