Monroe County public schools fall slightly behind a national recommendation for the number of students per guidance counselor.
The American School Counselor Association recommends one counselor for every 250 students in grades K-12. At Monroe County’s two public school districts, the Monroe County Community School Corp. and the Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corp., the ratio is higher.
• Bloomington High School North and Bloomington High School South each has five school counselors that manage around 350 students apiece. Two counselors oversee each of MCCSC’s three middle schools, managing between 250 and 300 students each, according to district enrollment numbers.
• Edgewood High School is closer to the national recommended ratio, with three counselors for 815 students — about one per 271 — and two counselors for 640 junior high students, according to Rod Hite, assistant superintendent at R-BB.
Neither school district in Monroe County has school counselors serving elementary school students.
While Indiana does not require counselors at the elementary level, ASCA assistant director Jill Cook said elementary school counselors are essential for a district’s counseling program.
In the MCCSC, student services director Becky Rose said, school social workers also function as counselors. Most schools in the district have one full-time social worker, serving between 340 and 550 students. Marlin and Unionville elementary schools have smaller enrollments, and each has one part-time social worker.
“The term ‘counselor’ is used very loosely, oftentimes, and sometimes interchangeably,” Rose said.
Cook disagreed, saying the two positions are not interchangeable and that the counselor ratio should apply to elementary schools as well.