Why school “support staff” isn’t optional

Think “support staff” is just a fancy way for schools to pad their budgets? Think again, writes Hanna Brooks Olsen in a recent story in the South Seattle Emerald. “It’s not just the teachers who are on strike,” Olsen points out. “Office professionals, nurses, substitutes, speech and language pathologists, special educators, and counselors are also represented by the Seattle Education Association — and these specialists are often on the front lines of poverty.” She makes a particularly strong case for academic counselors, who can help “first-generation” students, whose parents did not attend college, navigate the educational system and find funding for tuition. “Going to college is important for getting out of poverty — but graduating and being able to survive life after school (read: heaped student loan debt) is even more important. High school counselors are an essential link to that," writes Olsen, a co-founding editor of Seattlish. "For students whose parents didn’t go to college themselves ... having an adult in their life who can help them not only get into school, but prepare for its reality, is paramount."