Support for social worker in District 30

Two Shaw Avenue School students came out against a plan to cut District 30’s lone social worker next year. In the tentative 2012-13 budget being considered by the Board of Education, the position would be eliminated to save about $135,000 in salary and benefits.

Fifth-graders Victoria Dunn and Safiyah Seelochan said they do not want to lose social worker Laurie Buelvas-Kritas. Safiyah said that she had benefited from the peer mediation program that Buelvas-Kritas runs, and it has helped her improve her social skills.

“We really would like her to stay,” Safiyah said. “If she leaves, what would happen with all of the students that she works with?”

Victoria read Buelvas-Kritas’s responses from a interview the two students did with the social worker. They talked about the social worker’s responsibilities, ranging from counseling to Spanish translation, and how she serves at least 50 children in the district.

The students also presented the Board of Education with a petition in favor of keeping the social worker, signed by several students, as well as letters of support. Board of Education President Elise Antonelli said the proposed cut is not a reflection on Buelvas-Kritas, but a financial decision. She said the board will consider the girls’ thoughts.

Victoria and Safiyah aren’t the first two people to speak up in favor of keeping the social worker. At a community budget forum on Feb. 1, several parents said they did not want the position to be eliminated, and talked about the value the position has for both children and families.

At the Board of Education’s work session on Feb. 13, trustees discussed ways of funding the position for next year without further increasing taxes. Already, the tentative tax levy increase for next year is 1.69 percent, under the district’s allowable increase of 1.78 percent under the new tax cap law.