AN ACT Relating to school counseling and guidance development; adding a new section to chapter 28A.58 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that:

(1) The public school of today is not protected and isolated from society's problems and concerns. Rather, it has become a setting where the early symptoms of these problems are displayed;

(2) School children are, therefore, increasingly vulnerable to these external pressures as they attempt to acquire academic, personal, and social skills;

(3) Societal changes in the family unit including a high divorce rate, high mobility, high single parent ratio, the disappearance of the extended family, increasing incidences of child abuse, and domestic violence interfere with many students' ability to learn;

(4) Without early and appropriate intervention, these pressures are manifested as suicide, juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, school vandalism, failure, and the loss to society of fully functioning and competent adults;

(5) In no other setting is the establishment of a foundation for self-discipline and positive mental health more critical. It is in childhood that an individual's attitudes toward self, work, authority, law, and morality are formulated;

(6) Never have high school students faced a more complex, fast-changing, highly technical labor market. This fact underscores the importance of reliable, continuing vocational and career guidance as part of our secondary school curriculum;

(7) Positive learning environments for all students require a comprehensive, coordinated effort of the school, the home, and the community.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 28A.58 RCW to read as follows:

(1) Each school district shall develop a comprehensive counseling and guidance plan.

(2) The plan shall contain the following elements:

(a) A district-wide needs assessment to:

(i) Identify problems and needs that students experience at each grade level;

(ii) Identify special needs of multiple populations including gifted students, learning impaired and handicapped students, minority students, migrant students, and students speaking English as their second language; and

(iii) Seek input from parents, teachers, and students;

(b) Counseling and guidance goals based on identified needs shall be established for each grade level in kindergarten through twelfth grade;

(c) The development of specific counseling and guidance activities for each grade level to help correct social and emotional problems that interfere with students' learning;

(d) Vocational and career guidance programs as an integral part of all secondary counseling programs;

(e) The priority of parent involvement and support;

(f) The establishment of a consistent, workable counseling and guidance ratio of staff to students for each grade level;

(g) The development of a job description or task analysis indicating the various duties of counseling and guidance personnel at each grade level including the percentage of time to be spent at each task;

(h) Requiring an ethical practices position statement or code of ethics for counseling and guidance staff working with students; and

(i) Implementation of an appropriate evaluation process to determine if established goals and objectives are being met.

(3) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall coordinate and lend technical advice to school districts.

(4) Each school district shall submit its comprehensive plan to the office of the superintendent of public instruction no later than November thirtieth of each year.

(5) The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall periodically summarize the collected counseling and guidance data from the school districts, and disseminate information on innovative and successful counseling programs.