by Megan Schiffres
CLARAVILLE—During a meeting of the Northumberland school board Monday, counselor Beverly Donovan urged members to consider hiring an additional counselor to support the elementary and middle schools.
“The mental health needs of our students is increasing over the past few years,” said Donovan, who works as a part-time counselor at both the elementary and middle schools by splitting her work week between the two buildings.
She indicated students seeking emotional or academic support require consistency and that the part-time nature of her position at both schools makes it difficult for her to sustain meaningful progress with students at either school.
“Building rapport with many of those students is difficult, many of them have trust issues and they want somebody there all the time, consistent with them and….