Edolphus Towns: “I rise today in support of H Res. 932, Honoring National School Counseling Week. First, I'd like to thank my colleague…”

“I rise today in support of H Res. 932, Honoring National School Counseling Week. First, I'd like to thank my colleague, Representative Linda Sanchez, for introducing this important resolution. As a social worker, I recognize the invaluable role that guidance counselors and other social services personnel play in our schools. These dedicated men and women devote their lives to ensuring the bright futures of our Nation's children, supporting them both academically and socially, and assisting them on the great journey towards higher education and a successful career. Guidance counselors also play a vital role in our efforts to increase high school graduation and college enrollment rates. However, despite our reliance on these important individuals for doing the crucial work of preparing our Nation's youth for entry into college and the real world, we often fail to give school counselors the support they need to do their jobs effectively. Many of our schools are under-staffed with guidance counselors, and these hardworking individuals are tasked with serving an overwhelming number of students with a limited amount of resources. The average counselor-to-student ratio in our Nation's public schools is 1 to 436. We must acknowledge this reality, and direct our efforts in Congress toward increasing both our support and recognition of these hardworking men and women in our schools.”