Down one employee after a resignation at the end of 2021-22 school year, Jim Thorpe Area School District’s guidance team told members of the school board Monday night that interaction with students is being sacrificed in order to fulfill state-mandated clerical duties.

Ashley Rully, a Penn Kidder Campus counselor, resigned effective June 30 and the position was not filled to start this school year. The departure dropped the district from six guidance counselors, two at each building, to five, meaning some employees have to split their days between schools.

Matthew Shaffer, for example, spends Monday, Wednesday and half of Friday at L.B. Morris, while he spends Tuesday, Thursday and the other half of Friday at Penn Kidder.

“We’re asked to be the center focus of student development and it goes beyond academics,” Stacie Gula, a Penn Kidder counselor told the board during a committee meeting. “We help students socially and emotionally as well. Splitting time between buildings, I don’t know that we’re adequately meeting the needs of students, staff and the community.”

When the district had a full compliment of counselors, Gula said, there was more time for personal interaction with students. Now, more paperwork falls on less people, she said.

“Most of our time is focused on clerical duties driven by state requirements, where I would love to be in the classroom working with students,” Gula said. “We were working with kids every other week, and they would remember what we talked about. We connected with kids and they need that connection.”

Gula said that, like many districts, Jim Thorpe is seeing a rise in the number of homeless families and a big change in family dynamics. More students have guardians who are not their biological parents, and the district’s poverty level is increasing to near 50%.

“Drug and alcohol abuse are things seriously impacting our students,” Gula said. “Whether it’s family members at home or someone else, it is a daily topic we have with students. We receive training about adverse childhood experiences and how trauma impacts the children in the classroom. How can a student learn properly if they are dealing with some of these things at home? We need to be there for them when they need someone to talk to.”

Music pitch

Guidance wasn’t the only position discussed Monday night as Jim Thorpe’s director of bands, Eric Flowers, campaigned for a full-time music employee at the high school.

Flowers said with an increased interest in music by elementary students, his availability for time to be spent at the high school has greatly decreased.

“We had an estimate for 80 kids for next year to sign up for an instrument between Penn Kidder and L.B. Morris, but we’re already there now,” Flowers said. “We had 53 beginners sign up and they are still coming in. Every day, I’m at Penn Kidder until lunch and then at L.B. in the afternoon.”

Flowers told the board he’s looking for a full-time person to take over the band at the high school and bring chorus back. The high school hasn’t had a chorus, he said, in two years.

“In the second semester, you could add the music theory and music appreciation classes we had here when I started in 2006,” Flowers said. “I had a football player who was doing four-part choral writing in music theory class and he was really good. These classes aren’t just for band members, it can be anyone who wants a new elective in music.”

Board President Scott Pompa said he strongly supports moving forward with the request.

“We did try to fill the chorus position for the last two years and the fact that it was part-time was the killer,” Pompa said. “We had someone and they backed out.”