WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The clear majority of public school counselors are overwhelmed and outnumbered according to national data reviewed by WUSA 9 and a team of TEGNA journalists around the country.
The American School Counselor Association recommends no more than 250 students to one counselor. But according to newly released federal data, nearly 85 percent of schools missed that mark across the country in 2015-2016, the most recent year numbers were available.
That leaves many school counselors overworked and outnumbered by the very students they are trying to help. And it comes as no shock to Erin Hurley, a school counselor at Cherry Run Elementary School in Burke, Virginia.
“I am running constantly,” Hurley said. “I sometimes say I need a fire hat and a hose because I feel like I am constantly putting out fires left and right.”
She helps students in her Fairfax County public school deal with just about everything under the sun – from adjusting to life at a new school to dealing with bullies.
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Hurley’s prized pupil is 10-year-old Jack Doan, who came to her almost two years ago. Although privacy concerns prevent counselors from discussing students specific issues, Jack's mother told WUSA 9 her son suffered from trouble controlling his emotions before he started working with Hurley.
Jack now uses the techniques Hurley taught him, including drawing pictures, to practice coping skills.
The fifth grader says he doesn’t know what he would do, or where he would be, without Hurley’s help.
“Oh, that would be bad. That would be so bad,” Jack said. “I would be a mess. I would be a mess without her.”
Jack is one of 475 students at Cherry Run Elementary School. Hurley, a Virginia School Counselor of the Year award winner, admits there are times even she can’t help all of them.
“I try my best, but I also tell the kids, you know, there’s one of me and there’s 475 of you.”
The ASCA says the 250-to-one ratio is meant to ensure every student receives the attention they need, and that no child slips through the cracks. But tens of thousands of schools are falling short of that standard nationwide including many in DC, Maryland and Virginia.
One Virginia school reported just a single counselor for more than one thousand students. Another in Maryland, with one counselor for more than 1300 students.
Even more troubling, the data shows one in four schools nationwide don’t have any counselors at all.
And nearly one in five school districts don’t have any district wide. Many are not required to. In 19 states mandating high school counselors is not the law.
“I certainly hope we’re not failing our kids,” said ASCA assistant director Jill Cook. “But I think we could look at it and say certainly we can do better.”
To understand why this matters so much, look no further than the case of Aaron Stark.
“I was planning to do the most terrible thing in the world,” Stark said from his home in Colorado. “I had a plan to get a gun. I'd asked for one that would shoot as many bullets as possible.”
Stark was describing how he planned to carry out an armed attack on his Denver area high school in the 90’s.
“I had a plan go to in through the big glass doors of the school in the food court area and shoot as many people as I could right away,” Stark said. “I wasn't planning to make it out.”
Stark said his school counselor was simply stretched too thin to try and help him.
“If I would've had someone who would've listened to me I would've ran in there and told them everything,” Stark said. “I never felt like I could be heard.”
Stark never got his hands on a gun and the attack never happened. Stark later dropped out of school due to mental health issues.
In fact, despite estimates one in five teens suffer from mental health problems, 12,500 schools nationwide reported zero mental health professionals on site. That’s no counselors, psychologists or social workers.
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Cook says that lack of support for a troubled student could be catastrophic. She chokes up when asked if it will take another school shooting for more to be done.
“That question makes me so sad,” Cook said. “I’m sad we have to say that, after each school shooting we revisit these questions and revisit this issue.”
Virginia is doing just that. Right now, state lawmakers are debating whether to spend 85 million dollars to bring all Virginia schools down to that 250 to one student to counselor ratio.
Southern Fairfax County Delegate Mark Sickles saying that decision will come down to a question of priorities.
“We have basic educational needs. We have schools that don’t have kindergarten for all the kids yet,” Sickles said. “I don’t know if we can afford it instantly. We’ve got to do it over time.”
Time, the one thing most school counselors, just don’t have enough of right now.
“What if there’s a kid that’s having a really tough time? He doesn't really have anyone to talk to,” Jack wondered out loud. “They need a counselor. Those schools need a counselor.”
The US Department of Education did not respond to multiple requests for an interview although in general most school funding comes at the state level, making this a question of priorities for each individual school system and district.
