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American School Counselor Association. (2019a). ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs (4th ed.). Alexandria, VA: Author.

American School Counselor Association. (n.d.). Template for developing a school counseling program goal in SMART-goal format. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/asca/media/asca/ASCA%20Na tional%20Model%20Templates/SMART-Goal.p

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/8/21284538/police-security-guards-schools-black-white-students-racism

https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors/professional-development/learn-more/coronavirus-resources

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List of Stakeholders

Teachers

School Counselors

Community leaders

Administrators

Parents

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Mindset for Students [ as written by the ASCA (2019)]

Sense of belonging in the school environment

Belief in development of whole self, including healthy balance of mental, social/emotional and physical well-being.

Positive attitude towards work and learning

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SMART FORMAT
The main goal for this program is heal our black male students with services to help accommodate their needs. To have mental health workers and counselors ready to help these students faces their fears and push them to be the best they can be.The specific of the program is geared towards the mental well being of our young black male students. For them to unlearn the trauma from campus police so that they can strive throughout their high school career. By doing that we will hope to see a raise in attendance and behaviors at school. Ways I would measure is one having the 9th and 10 grades black male students to take serveries on how safe they feel at school and how to make them feel safe to want to come to school and learn. As well as set up an afternoon meeting with the parents and children to voice their opinions and concerns. As well as to my own research of the demographics and data on my own to make sure it coincide with my students so they do not feel not seen. I believe this program is very attainable. I know with the help of the students, parents, teachers, administrators and outside community leaders we can make this more than attainable for our black male youth. With it being attainable it is also realistic as well. With everything, it takes time and I know that I will not have this program the first year of me school counseling I am giving myself a 3-5 goal to make this program happen with the support of all the stakeholders. That will give me plenty of time to gather my data reach out to administrators and students. I do not want to rush on a program that is ensuring our black male students safety at school.

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The targeted grade level will be high school (grades 9th- 12th grade). The program will focus primary on grades 9th and 10th ( freshmen and sophomore).

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Program Description
This is a great achievement for our school district and for our young black males. With the times we are in right now, I am not sure when the schools will open back up. But when they do open back up we will be ready for them. Or we may be able to it virtually as well. It will be important for counselors and all other stakeholders to support and encourage socioemotional health of our black male students. Too many of our black youth are traumatized by the police presence on campus, and will need help from all stakeholders to help unlearn that trauma. The American School Counselor Assocation (ASCA,2019) mentions that systemic issues may need to be address in order for change to happen, and that is what is needed for this program. There was an survey conducted by Tulane University during the 2018-2019 school year. The results of that were that 69% of white students felt safer with police presence while only 40% of black students said the same (Chalkbeat,2020).The main focus for this program is to heal and undo that damage and trauma that the campus police has causes our black boys. For them to see themselves as leaders and bosses and not prisoners in their own skin or school. This will help the freshman and sophomores have more confidence in their selves as they do through the rest of their high school career.

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Teachers, school counselors, community leaders, administrators and parents all play a vital role in the success of the black male youth in our schools.  For one just by them showing up for the students is a plus all in its own. The teachers are there to help educate the students and make their learning environment safe and learnable. The  school counselors are there to help redirect and give students different resources of help. The community leaders are there to let the students know there is outside help too if need it and also willing to come to the schools as well. The administrators are there to make sure everything is running smoothly and that all the technical issues are handled, and to ensure the students that they are in a safe learning space. The parents are there to help motivate the student everyday to be the best student they can before they walk through the school doors. As well as show up for the students for any meetings or conferences that benefit the student. All stakeholders play a vital role, without them our students would not have the support they need to be successful.

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The Student Centered Challenge
Right now the world is going crazy, literally. Covid-19 has basically stopped everything here in the United States. We are going through another civil rights wars with the all protest that are happening in the United States. Everyone is hurting one way or another. Our children have been out of school since at least March. Before all this craziness our students were having their own challenges and issues. Recently on July 1, 2020 LAUSD defunded the school police by 25 million dollars. This is a student centered challenge because the Police were a harm or threat to the black students on campuses. With them now not being on campus anymore we must find new ways to reach out to our black students so that they feel safe at school. It is said that the district plans to implement mental health services to the schools. The challenge is what do those services provide and look like. Defunding the Police was just the first step. Our black males should feel safe so that they want to come to school and learn with a positive attitude.

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Protestors rallying at L.A. Unified School District's downtown headquarters during a demonstration calling for the district to defund the L.A. School Police. (Chava Sanchez/ LAist)

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The growing chorus of calls to defund or outright dismantle the Los Angeles School Police have reignited a debate over a long-simmering question: Are police on school campuses a detriment to learning?

Advocates have been arguing that point for years. They point to research showing Black students can feel targeted by school discipline and law enforcement, and looking at how much money is spent on school police in comparison to for vulnerable students.

Experts say these experiences can affect students' ability to learn.

"When kids are under stress, they don't perform as well," said Pedro Noguera, most recently Distinguished Professor of Education at UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and the incoming dean of the USC's Rossier's School of Education. "When kids are taken out of the classroom to be punished or to be processed in some way, they're not in school learning."

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School police officials and their supporters say forces like the L.A. School Police are specially trained to de-escalate conflicts and that officers generally have good relationships with students. But the social movements surrounding police violence and racism have drawn renewed attention to the issue.

William Etue, the vice president of the Los Angeles School Police Association, the union representing the officers, acknowledges "some tragic incidents throughout the history of law enforcement," but claims the most recent wave of scrutiny is a "knee-jerk reaction going with current trends." He specifically cited the leadership of LAUSD teachers' union, United Teachers Los Angeles, which recently joined other labor unions in support of a broader Black Lives Matter campaign to shift funding for police departments toward other social service programs.

But advocates like Amir Whitaker, a policy attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, say the conversation about law enforcement at schools is much longer in the making.

"Positions and supports for students that we envision in a traditional school have been sacrificed at the expense of police," he said.

Protestors hold up signs at a June 16, 2020 march calling on LAUSD to defund its school police force. (Chava Sanchez/ LAist)

When doing graduate work in Texas, Weisburst - a researcher with a focus in labor economics, criminal justice policy, and education - looked at the relationship between grants to fund police in schools and educational outcomes for students at those schools.

"We are devoting a lot of resources to police in schools, and there can be protective benefits to that, potentially," she explained. "But there are also really big potential costs that I think we need to be concerned about."

But why would the presence of law enforcement have an effect on learning?

Noguera said that is because the culture of a school - and how safe and supported students feel there - are all crucial for learning, and that the presence of police "can detract from that."

"If they are present - and there probably are schools where they need to be present - they should be predicting the perimeter of schools to make sure that no one can come and hurt children," Noguera said. "They should not be there to address issues in school. That's what we hire educators for."

But Etue of the L.A. School Police union says those criticisms don't reflect his 15 years with the department.

"My experience is that kids really have a great relationship with us," Etue said.

In a conversation that mirrors the calls for police reform outside of the classroom, the LAUSD school board and administration now have to figure out what the future of that relationship will be.

"If our department was reduced or eliminated," Etue said, "the vulnerabilities would only increase and I would be highly concerned for how our students would feel at the school sites, knowing that there's not somebody there to protect them."

Unlike many other districts, which contract with local police and law enforcement agencies, LAUSD operates its own police department. It's one of the largest of its kind in the country, and according to the district, they are called more than 100,000 times a school year.

A Los Angeles School Police vehicle parked outside of Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts on the first day of school, August 20, 2019. (Carla Javier/KPCC)

In a Monday update to the school community, LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner urged caution in moving forward with growing calls to dismantle the force. He noted that "school staff of all types have been victims of assault at schools," and that while "Black students are disproportionately represented in arrests ... they are also disproportionately the victims of crimes in schools."

He issued a warning on proceeding "before one rushes to judgment on this issue."

"Those who want to abolish school police ... need to explain to those who are in favor of school police why campuses will be safer in their absence," Beutner said in the recorded video. "And those who think it's just fine the way things are must provide a reasoned answer to students who feel the stigma of an armed presence on campus."

The L.A. School Police Association agrees with this change, Etue said - though he thinks there should be further discussion about Beutner's other recommendation, to get rid of pepper spray. According to the district's police department, it was used four times this school year, and 11 times in the 2018-19 school year.

While the UTLA leadership came out in support of defunding the school police and reallocating its $70 million to mental health support and counselors, unions representing other district employees, including Associated Administrators Los Angeles, have signed a letter in support of keeping the school police around.

In it, they emphasize that school police in LAUSD, by design, aren't supposed to be like other cops - that they're trained to get to know, work with, and protect young people from dangers, not discipline them.

But even Etue acknowledges that difference might not be immediately obvious to students. Even at first glance, L.A. School Police uniforms look a lot like LAPD uniforms.

"We've also considered uniform changes and other things to make us more approachable to students," Etue said.

Far short of chants to defund school police, t he district instead announced on Monday the formation of a nine-member task force including educators, former public defenders and prosecutors, and public policy experts has been convened to assess "the training, practices, policies and budget of the Los Angeles School Police." The panel will meet twice a week and is expected to deliver preliminary recommendations by August and a full report by the end of the year.

In his weekly update, Beutner said he's asked the task force to look into shifting 10% of the $70 million school police budget to bringing "experienced community counselors to campuses to help mentor students and influence potential incidents before they escalate."

Other reforms put forth by the LAUSD board members in their resolutions include:

Only hiring officers who haven't worked in other law enforcement agencies

Moving L.A. School Police to the perimeter of schools, to protect campuses from outside threats

Creating focus groups/task forces to look closely at current L.A. School Police practices.

Board member Mónica García 's resolution is the closest to the demands of advocates. It calls for reducing the school police budget - first by 50%, then 75%, then 90% - and redirecting funds to supports for Black students .

"It's actually shocking to me that elected officials would take that step," Etue said of defunding the department.

The school police union instead supports board member George McKenna's resolution, to form a committee of parents, students, and experts to look more closely at school police practices.

But for advocates like Whitaker from the ACLU of Southern California, the question is: Do reforms short of defunding go far enough?

"Even in LAUSD where they say, 'Oh, well, officers have special training,' it's like putting a pillow in front of a hammer. It's still a hammer, right?"
KPCC's Chava Sanchez also contributed reporting to this story. READ MORE:

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Why Advocates Want Police Out Of LAUSD Schools

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Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters . To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now. The growing chorus of calls to defund or outright dismantle the Los Angeles School Police have reignited a debate over a long-simmering question: Are police on school campuses a detriment to learning?

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The LAUSD board voted on Tuesday night to cut $25 million from the school police budget. That's a 35% decrease to a department that employs more than 450 officers.

LAUSD students and community activists have accused school officers of over-policing Black and Brown students, and have called for LAUSD to allocate that money to programs instead of police.

KCRW speaks with Elianny Edwards , a researcher at the Black Male Institute at UCLA, and an author of " Keeping Students Safe in Los Angeles ," a report on incidents within LAUSD; plus Sonali Kohli , education reporter at The LA Times.
KCRW: How contentious was the decision to cut funding from the school police?
Last week, [board member] Monica Garcia introduced a resolution that would by 2023-24 defund the school police budget by 90%. That failed. She brought back a different motion this week, which was a budget amendment for a 50% cut. That did not have enough support, but the fourth board member, really kind of the swing vote, suggested $25 million plus some other changes. And so that's what the compromise ended up being."
Twenty-five million is a fraction of the LAUSD's multi-billion dollar budget, right?
It is, however, a big percentage of the school police budget. School police have a $70 million budget. So $25 million is a pretty big chunk of that. It will have big impacts on what police can do in the district."
How does this affect what the police will do?
So one of the things we focused on with our report was really highlighting the need for increased mental health providers. And that was something that really came out in the discussion of the resolution yesterday. So what we're hoping is to see some more mental health care providers, some more counselors, some more community organizations going into schools, and helping fill those gaps that quite frankly, police are just not able to do."
Will the $25 million go toward having more mental health care providers, counselors, and community organizations at schools?
And it's supposed to go toward schools with the highest concentration of African American students first."
One approved provision puts the officers out of uniforms. Why is that a big deal?
I think a lot of times, the conversation was happening as if school police was [sic] an isolation of the community. And the reality is that students are seeing and encountering and interacting with police on their way to school - to then only continuously be policed while they're in school.

So I think taking them out of uniform is something that will hopefully help reduce some of the intimidation that comes with it, and helps to create ... more of a comforting environment for students."
Why are there police officers on campuses at all? The school board members who voted against cutting the money, what did they say about the need for police on campuses?
... The thing that everyone is most afraid of (right?) is mass shootings or school shootings. Those are very rare, but they do happen, and they're worried about them. And then general safety issues both involving students and not involving students.

So the police chief also spoke during the meeting, and talked about the types of things that police would not be able to respond to now that they won't be working after school hours, mostly. So things like fires on campus, or a burglary that's on a student, or someone affiliated with the school ... breaking in. Things like that."
If you cut school police, would there be more calls to LAPD, and those officers might arrive on campus and escalate a situation?
The second one was injury [sic], and it was very ambiguous. So we're not sure if that was something like someone tripped and fell down the stairs and sprained their ankle, which is something that would require then a school nurse or some type of medical staff.

And then the third was incidents of fighting and physical aggression, which you actually see happening more at the elementary and middle school level than at the high school level, which then would also suggest that it's possible for someone who's an administrative staff member to handle that situation.

What the research is showing is that the incidents that are happening at schools don't necessarily need police intervention, that there are other people who are equipped and better suited to handle these situations."
Are you concerned that school administrators might just call the LAPD instead?
I don't think that many administrators will call LAPD. I think it will ... shift the protocol. Police intervention will happen because police are there. If police are not there, folks are going to find other ways to mitigate some of the problems coming up at school, that in reality might not even be as big as they seem when the police are called."
Is this the end of the discussion about defunding school police? Or will board members bring it up again?
So the people who voted against this resolution said, 'Wait for the task force to come back.' So people who voted for it said no.

The task force though is still going to come up with recommendations that will really inform the decision making and the month to come."
- Written by Amy Ta, produced by Angie Perrin

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LAUSD board cuts $25 million from school police, puts it toward hiring mental health workers

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The LAUSD board voted on Tuesday night to cut $25 million from the school police budget. That's a 35% decrease to a department that employs more than 450 officers. LAUSD students and community activists have accused school officers of over-policing Black and Brown students, and have called for LAUSD to allocate that money to programs instead of police.

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SMART FORMAT

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Behaviors for Students to Demonstrate [as written by the ASCA (2019)]

Create relationship with adults that support success

Demonstrate ability to assume responsibility

Demonstrate creativity.

Apply self-motivation and self-direction to learning.

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Behaviors for School Counselors to Demonstrate [ as written by the ASCA (2019)]

Identify gaps in achievement, attendance, discipline, opportunity and resources

Assess and reports to the school community.

Consult to support student achievement and success.

Demonstrate advocacy in a comprehensive school counseling session.

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Mindsets School Counselors believe [as written by the ASCA (2019)]

Every student can learn, and every student can succeed.

Every student should have access to and opportunity for a high-quality education

School counseling programs promote and enhance student academic,career and social/ emotional outcomes

Effective school counseling is a collaborative process involving school counselors, students,families,teachers, administrators and education stakeholders.