ELDRED, NY — The impact of outside influences on academic performance was the dominant topic at the October 14 meeting of the Eldred Central School District, as board members and administrators discussed the new K-12 Comprehensive Counseling Plan and possible drug testing.

High school principal Scott Krebs said the counseling program was “yet another unfunded state mandated program,” and then outlined what it entailed.

“Our counselors are traditionally guidance counselors, but they are drained, and help is needed with things happening in the schools,” he said. There’s a shift from guidance to a comprehensive program providing academic, career, personal and social development counseling.

“With that, we had to come up with a plan that was consistent with issues in Eldred,” he added. The plan includes charts about the kinds of issues that are arising, and the plan can be changed every year.

Krebs said drug and alcohol awareness is one issue that’s come up a lot at board meetings. He said that already the counselors are going to classrooms to address it, and a seventh-grade mentoring program is in place. He said the plan is similar to those in other districts.

Board member Brian Siegel raised questions about the role of the state in schools, and said some of the things in the plan may not be the best for the district. He read from the plan, which said Common Core requirements are placing different, increasing demands on both staff and students, and asked about the role of counseling in this context.

“If there’s one place that should be sacred, it’s counseling. It should be separate from academics, and the issues can be nothing to do with academics,” he said. He said there are emotional, home-life, drug and self-awareness issues for which students may not have any other support.

Board member Carol Bliefernich said it’s not the role of school to provide counseling for academics only, but to “help students within the larger issues of their lives.” But, she added, “It’s never been the role of the school to be the true mental health professional.”

Siegel again expressed concern over what he feels is state interference with how local schools are run.

Superintendent Robert Dufour said the plan is a road map of sorts. He said the counselors have been doing a lot of the work on the program already, and the plan is required by the governor.

Addressing a different issue, Dufour said to the board, “You asked me to look into the feasibility of drug testing.” He said he sent queries asking if any school in the state was doing testing, and received no answers.

He was, however, able to learn about the drug testing program in Delaware Valley (DV) School District in Pennsylvania.

“They had to go to court to start it. The judge ruled that if the parents did not give permission, that [counts as] a positive result for the test,” Dufour said, and a positive result leads to a drug counseling program and the requirement that the student be tested until found negative for several consecutive weeks.

He said, “But in New York, we cannot penalize a student if a parent says ‘no.’”

Another issue at DV is confidentiality. If a student going to the counseling program is on any prescription drugs, they may not want to divulge the fact, but it may come up in drug testing.

Dufour said there’s research showing many students value extracurricular activities most highly and that drug testing in that arena would be effective, but, “Our focus should be on prevention. From a legal and financial point, focus on prevention, education.”

Regarding Common Core, it was determined that Dufour would give a presentation about the program at a future meeting.