K-12 Counseling Plan

The K-12 School Counseling Department Comprehensive Guidance Plan and Social, Emotional Learning

At the March 11, 2023 school board meeting, the school board voted on the K-12 School Comprehensive Guidance Plan presented by the Pine-Richland School Counselors. The Pennsylvania Department of Education requires that the plan be reviewed and approved by the board every 5 years. The plan must be sent to the PDE by March 31st. The Counseling Department not only used the State Standards for Counseling Curriculum, PA School Code Chapter 339, but also guidance from the American School Counselors Association (“ASCA”) to create their Guidance Plan. See link to ASCA Document provided in the Plan:

(https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-Behaviors.pdf)


The Guidance plan covers three areas: Academic, Career, and Social/Emotional Learning.

In the chart provided, we can see that Pine-Richland has heavily invested time and resources into SEL, taking time and resources away from Academic and Career. The goal for this coming year, according to the administration, would be to even out the use of time in all three areas.

Based on the plan, time would be allotted out of the school year for counselors to go into the classroom and present “curriculum” in one of these three areas. The plan does not give any scope on how much time a week, a month or a quarter this would be. Currently, MTSS provides small group or one on one counseling for students that are recommended for extra attention for Social Emotional Learning or Academic learning. This new plan will move SEL to all students universally.

The first question to ask is: does Chapter 339 of the school code “mandate” a “comprehensive plan” that includes in-class instruction by counselors and social-emotional learning? Let’s take a look.


§ 339 of the PA Code

“There shall be a written plan on file, approved by the local board of school directors, for the development and implementation of a comprehensive, sequential program of guidance services for kindergarten through 12th grade. The plan must include procedures to provide for guidance services to AVTSs. Upon request, the plan shall be submitted to the Secretary.”

It is in Section 339.32, however, that you find the required content of the plan:

  1. The plan must ensure that counselors do not influence or encourage a particular student towards one career choice or another, or measure a student’s prospective success based on race, color, sex, disability, etc. The counselors should assist students in selecting occupational curricula that meets students' need and interests.

  2. Counselors should help vocational students in making career plans, both in high school and thereafter, and tailor their counseling advice through assessments.

  3. Counselors should make occupational and educational information available to assist students, parents and teachers in making realistic career plans.

  4. Counselors shall maintain cumulative records and provide for their release in accordance with applicable regulations.

  5. Counselors shall provide orientation procedures for vocational students.

  6. Counselors shall provide developmental placement services to facilitate the transition from school to work.

  7. Counselors shall formally and informally consult with teachers, admins and other school staff.

  8. Counselors shall put in place a "school-initiated system of parental involvement."

  9. Counselors shall liaise with community agencies.

  10. Counselors shall follow up with students to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum.

Simply put, Section 339.32 IS the ‘curriculum” and it does NOT call for counselors in the classroom, nor does it call for 339.31 to be implemented to any students other than vocational students. It is NOT a mandate to broadly develop separate counselor curriculum and instill it in grades K-12. This reliance by the administration on chapter 339 is misguided.

Because the school code does not provide support for the district’s plan content, it must be relying on the ASCA for guidance in expanding the scope of the counselors’ role. Since many of the board’s and public’s questions around the Plan have centered around SEL, it would be beneficial to understand a little bit about its origins.

WHAT IS SEL?

Historically SEL was used to as an intervention tool with troubled learners, those with a bad homelife, who struggled with material needs, or struggled socially. They would work with these students in a small group or one on one setting. While CASEL states that they introduced SEL two decades ago, our school counselors say that it has been around as long as six decades and some experts in the field now state that its roots go as far back as Plato and Aristotle. It began as an experiment in inner city schools on minority students. Later it was co-opted by CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning). Under their Mission and Framework, CASEL states that it “has been a leader of the SEL movement since first introducing the term more than two decades ago.” The 5 pillars of CASEL are Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Building and Responsible Decision Making. Unfortunately, even in the plethora of words they offer up, we still do not have a clear understanding of what SEL actually is. More importantly, “Will it help my child?”

Currently, there is no real data that proves that it has any real impact academically or otherwise to benefit your child. Early on “successes” were highly dependent on the enthusiasm of both the student and the teacher during these small group or one on one SEL sessions. Most studies that tout the benefits of the CASEL Framework are published by CASEL themselves. The overarching mindset in SEL is that to reach the student's highest potential academically we need to reach them first emotionally. As one caller from the last board meeting put it “You can’t add when you're mad.” But isn’t that exactly what we want from our students? That even if they are stressed, or under pressure, they could still perform and not simply stop everything and focus on their feelings. Resiliency used to be the buzz word of Pine-Richland, to encourage students to work hard and bounce back even when things are tough. The old adage that working hard and performing well builds confidence is being turned on its head and now the focus is being put first on your child’s emotional state and hoping that that will in turn affect their academic performance. Are we at risk of creating the next generation of adults that will not be able to through stress in a day?

It is in this context that the ASCA’s influence on PR’s plan needs to be examined. The Mindset-Behaviors Section of the K-12 Guidance Plan Presentation links to the ASCA Student Standards: Mindsets & Behaviors for Student Success Document (https://www.schoolcounselor.org/getmedia/7428a787-a452-4abb-afec-d78ec77870cd/Mindsets-Behaviors.pdf,) Within this document you see the heavy emphasis on both the 5 core pillars of CASEL as well as Social Justice and Equity.

The district currently pays dues to the ASCA and presumably all PR counselors are members. The ASCA is not your typical professional organization providing ongoing education. Somewhere along the way, its mission was hijacked such that today, it has taken on a deliberate ideological agenda intent on radicalizing the school counselors that are its members. The question is: Should PR be using tax dollars to fund an organization such as this?

One only has to visit the website and review the ASCA's position statements to understand its agenda for our kids, and we urge you to do so. http://www.schoolcounselor.org. In addition, below are quotes from the 2022 ASCA convention where, among other things, the following messaging was delivered and certain counselor actions were advocated:

  • It is an “expectation, not the exception” for school counselors to integrate multiculturalism and social justice perspectives into their work as advocates and leaders.

  • "SCHOOL COUNSELORS ARE THE BEST MASTER MANIPULATORS" and are uniquely positioned to help us change the system of “white privilege and white oppression.”

  • "Our kids are being erased by laws like parents bill of rights." "Learn the rules so that you learn how to break them." (Quote from the past President and Ethics Chair of ASCA).

  • "We have to acknowledge the system of oppression in which we work... and which our students are expected to learn.” “Racism is embedded in the system." "We have to understand multi-tier systems of support and how ‘anti-racist practices’ can be implemented amongst all the tiers."

  • Encouraging counselors to take minors to a clinic for contraceptives when parents won't permit the child to have them.

Suffice to say, there are plenty of parents, and likely counselors themselves, not in alignment with the ASCA’s goals or ideology. And to be clear, NOWHERE in the PA Code is it REQUIRED for your child to take or be offered Social/Emotional Education.

The vote on March 11, 2023 approved only Guidance Curriculum that is required by the state, Career Readiness and Vocational Skills. SEL was not approved for all students for in classroom instruction by the counselors. This will enable the counselors to meet the needs of those who are flagged either by a teacher or a parents as needing extra support. This vote did not take any counseling away from any students who are using them now or may need them in the future.



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