Thurston Looks to Add Counselor, Improve Arts Programs

As the Westwood School Committee reviews the district's recommended budget for Fiscal Year 2013, officials will be looking at adding a few new positions at Thurston Middle School. 

Thurston Principal Allison Borchers has requested the addition of an Adjustment Counselor at the school, a role that would help magnify counseling for students who have difficulty making a transition from the classroom to home life, and vice versa.

"I think within education, it's a relatively new title that's come about," said Borchers, who elaborated on how the role differs from a traditional guidance counselor during the Westwood School Committee's most recent meeting on Thursday, Feb. 16.

"Essentially what the difference is, is it's somebody who is trained and has more clinical experience in their background," she said. "They're able to do some interface when necessary, so that what's going on within school is consistent with their counselors outside of school. There are problems that involve trying to change the structures of what's going on at home in the morning." 

The full-time position, however, would not replace any role of the guidance counselors at the school, but simply add to the staff. 

"Our guidance counselors, they are critical," Borchers said. "They take the lead in terms of developing plans and helping teams implement them. They do a lot of work with outside service providers. An adjustment counselor can do anything that a guidance counselor can do. How we adjust the position really depends on need."

Meanwhile, Borchers has also requested the addition of an arts instructor position, one that would not be a full-time role but would serve a variety of functions at different levels. 

"It's going to do something nice for art itself," Borchers said. "There's this growing raft of research about the importance of visual arts in education as a place where creative thinking can help in many fields."

The additional role would allow the school to move away from the current curriculum - which, for Grade 6, is a semester long, while only half a semester long for Grades 7 and 8 - to a new curriculum based in trimesters of drama, art and a wellness class at all grade levels. 

The requested positions are included within Superintendent John Antonucci's recommended budget for FY13, which includes an increase of 3.32 percent. 

While the proposed budget, set at $34,837,805, marks an increase of $1,120,217 over FY12, it does not include cuts to programs or services.  

Moreover, Gov. Deval Patrick's recently released proposed budget calls for an estimated $4,190,166 to go to Westwood Public Schools as part of Chapter 70, which provides state aid to public elementary and secondary schools throughout the Commonwealth.

Antonucci said he doesn't expect there to be much debate on the actual numbers of his recommended budget, which he anticipates will be voted on at the School Committee's meeting in March. 

"From what the town can provide and what the state is going to be given to us, we're expecting our budget to be fully funded," Antonucci said.