Council Saves Vital Crisis Programs at Walnut Creek Schools

There's no question that this has been an emotionally difficult year for Walnut Creek's teens.  Students at both Northgate and Las Lomas high schools feel the impact  of the economic downturn, with a parent losing a job or budget cuts at schools causing them to lose beloved school and extracurricular programs.

Las Lomas students, still mourning the deaths of juniors Matt Miller and Gavin Powell in a February rafting accident, are now reeling from last week's loss of two popular former students in a car accident. 

The world for today's teens, especially in an affluent, high-achieving area like ours, has become more competitive and stressful, less caring and more cutthroat.  

So described the up to 20 Las Lomas High students and Northgate High parent leaders who spoke at Tuesday's City Council meeting, asking the city to continue providing a matching $80,000 grant to Walnut Creek schools to hire campus crisis counselors. 

The council was scheduled to reduce funding for the counseling program in the 2011-12 year to $30,000. But city council members decided to continue to support the $80,000 after hearing the eloquent and passionate pleas from students and parents Tuesday.

Both students and parent leaders described how crisis counselors at both high schools have provided emotional lifelines for hundreds of students in recent years. These counselors have become an integral part of the culture at both schools.

They organize programs that educate students, as well as parents, teachers and staff, on mental health issues. They lead programs that champion tolerance and diversity, and they hold group sessions for students dealing with grief, such as the weekly sessions Las Lomas High's Merritt Rollins holds for students still coping with the deaths of Miller and Powell. 

Junior Leslie Howard was one of the Las Lomas students who took an evening off from studying for finals to attend the council meeting. She was close friends with both Miller and Powell and doesn't think she could have gotten through the rest of this school year without Rollins' grief group.

"The stresses of getting through the junior year of high school are difficult enough," she said. "It increases with the loss of two friends."

Junior Wesley Cohen said being able to go to Rollins office and talk things out has been "absolutely crucial" to her and other students. Students lost their good friends when the two athletic, adventurous juniors tried rafting along one of Walnut Creek's waterways during a February rain storm.

Last week, the high school was hit with another tragedy when that Maurice Waters II, 20--the older brother of the Knights' star varsity running back, Marquis Waters--and Christian Bishop, 18, who attended Las Lomas as a freshman and sophomore, had been among three people killed in a car accident outside Sacramento. 

Students said more of them would have  come to speak at Tuesday's meeting but they were either studying for finals or attending a candlelight vigil for Waters and Bishop, scheduled to take place Tuesday night in Shell Ridge Open Space. 

Teens throughout Walnut Creek also are said to have been deeply affected by the suicide of Allison Bayliss, a 15-year-old from San Ramon Valley Highfrom the Golden Gate Bridge on May 23. Walnut Creek students crossed paths with Bayliss, a member of her school's varsity swim team, through the society of East Bay youth swim teams. 

Aside from these devastating events, Cohen said teenagers are not yet old enough to have the coping skills to deal with what adults might view as minor life setbacks: "We're at an age when a bad test grade or a bad hair day is a life-ending event," she said.

The City of Walnut Creek has provided $80,000 to both the Walnut Creek  and Mt. Diablo Unified school districts to fund crisis counselors at their Walnut Creek campuses since 2002. The idea to cut back on that amount originally came up last spring when the city was facing a $20 million budget shortfall for its two-year 2010-12 budget cycle. While staff recommended reducing funding for the program last year to $55,000, council members voted to keep the amount at $80,000.  

For this coming 2011-12 school year, staff suggested the idea of cutting the amount back to $30,000. 

Monica Fitzgerald, president of Northgate High School's Parent-Faculty Club, said parents at her school contribute $20,000 to the school district's match for the $80,000 that the city provides.  This $20,000 helps pay for a crisis counselor at Northgate, a program that sees 400 students per year and has changed the campus environment.  "A lot of families are struggling," Fitzgerald said. "There has been an cultural shift and a real emphasis on schools providing emotional support for children."

Before the City Council voted to maintain the city's contribution to the program, council member Kish Rajan said the crisis counselors and the crossing guard programs (see below) provide provide necessary services during difficult times. "We're talking about nothing short of our kids' safety, health and well being," he said. 

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At Tuesday's meeting, council members also agreed to join with Concord to provide crossing guard services at intersections near schools in both towns. 

Whether or not to fund the crossing guard program has been a thorny issue for Walnut Creek city leaders. Some, like council member Gary Skrel, wonder if providing crossing guards should be the sole responsibility of the city--or whether the Walnut Creek and Mt. Diablo Unified school districts, or parent organizations, should pitch in. 

In any event, the question comes has been coming to the council every spring. In June 2010, when the city was trying to close that multi-million budget gap,  council members chose to allocate $110,000 for the 2010-11 school year to post crossing guards at 10 intersections around the city to help students safely get to school. But the then-council also directed staff to find ways to partner with nearby cities and see if such partnerships would result in cost savings. 

Only Concord was interested, Assistant City Manager Lorie Tinfow reported Tuesday. Still, a partnership with Concord to bid on crossing guard services could lead to a $35,000 annual cost savings for Walnut Creek.  When council member Kish Rajan was referring to protecting the safety, health and well being of Walnut Creek's kids, he wasn't just talking about the city maintaining crisis counselors at Walnut Creek campuses, he was also talking about keeping crossing guards in place. 

The council Tuesday agreed to allocate the $75,000 to maintain crossing guards at Walnut Creek school campuses in the coming year. But the council is also eager to find more long-lasting to fund this program--perhaps to make it an item in the city's general fund. 

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After Mayor Cindy Silva described the Walnut Creek Festival parade as an essential annual event in the city's social and historical fabric, the council voted to provide $7,500 to the Walnut Festival Association.  

For the past 70 years, the association has produced this parade, which is usually held at twilight on a mid-September Saturday and attracts participants from schools and community groups from Walnut Creek and beyond.  As Silva explained, the parade down Main Street brings in huge crowds of people who end up shopping or dinning in Walnut Creek before and after the event. 

City support for the parade has been dwindling in recent years from $10,000 in the 2006-08 budget to the $1,750 recommended by city staff for the coming year. Festival association representatives told the city they might have to cancel the event without more support from the city.  So, the city council Tuesday night decided to reinstate funding to as much as $7,500.