Ratio of social workers to students 1 per 4,570
by Joy Brewington
November, 2007
CLEVELAND - In the wake of the Oct. 10 shooting rampage at SuccessTech, the School Board voted to approve $403,000 to hire six new social workers, bringing the district total to 11 full-time workers. But just weeks before, the district was content to hire only five, after having no social workers on staff for three years.
The new hires will bring the ratio to one social worker for every 4,570 students. The School Social Work Association of America recommends a one to 400 ratio. The federal No Child Left Behind law recommends one to 800.
Even if 14-year-old student Asa Coon had sought help to deal with anger and a violent home life, the district had no social workers on staff to help him.
All 28 social workers had been laid off, along with hundreds of teachers during the 2004 budget crisis. That left the district, which has 80 percent low-income students, with no full-time social workers for three years—the time of Coon’s troubled middle-school career.
As a substitute, the district developed partnerships with Cuyahoga County mental health and other services to help students. “Important” and helpful, says Eugenia Cash, director of district Youth and Support Services, but no replacement for social workers who take more “ownership, and do a better job of identifying and supporting students who need help.
“You’ve got to have a catalyst, someone who will help coordinate and facilitate,” says Cash. “If you don’t have all the pieces in place and continuity, you can’t do it.”
When school started in September, weeks before the shooting, the district rehired only five of the social workers previously laid off, Cash explains. Two others were rehired as “resource coordinators,” similar to social workers but paid $25,000 less.
At a state-wide conference for school social workers held a few days prior to the shooting, state achievement gap adviser C.J. Prentiss expressed outrage upon learning Cleveland had only one social worker per 10,000 students.
Those ratios show that social workers are often a low priority in district staffing decisions, asserts Cash. She notes that although social workers are represented by the Cleveland Teachers Union, limited advocacy on their behalf has left their jobs vulnerable.
In addition, the district is now implementing changes made to state policy in 1998, which means many social workers who were laid off won’t qualify for the six positions the Board just approved, even though some have up to 20 years experience in the district, Cash explains.
The social workers rehired in September, as well as the six new hires have to meet the state requirements. Resource coordinators do not have to meet them.
The state standards no longer recognize general social workers, once categorized as “visiting teachers.” To qualify, they must now obtain an additional “school” social worker credential, from programs certified by the state and the Ohio Counselor and Social Worker Board. The approved masters of social work programs require “somewhere between three to five more classes in school social work, depending on the program,” explains Jennifer Kanga, the Associate Director of Education Licensure at the Ohio Department of Education. But the programs are only available at University of Cincinnati, The Ohio State University and Case Western Reserve University, which has partnered with Baldwin Wallace College for the course.
A district official said that the district has rehired all of the social workers that it can and has posted the new positions externally.
Still, Cash and others remain hopeful that the social workers who know the district and its students well will be allowed to return.
Currently, the five school social workers handle 60 percent of the district’s 111 schools, each managing up to 17 schools; each is assigned three high schools. Those with the fewest schools have responsibilities, such as crisis coordinators and special education liaisons.
The lesser-paid resource coordinators handle the remaining 40 percent of schools. Their salaries are funded by a state grant, explains Ron Moss, head of district alternative grant programs. “We’ve had the grant for the last five or six years, but it’s an annual grant, up for renewal again in fiscal year 2009.”
CORRECTION APPENDED:
This article incorrectly attributed statements about union advocacy for social workers to Eugenia Cash, director of district Youth and Support Services. Cash said the statements were made by district social workers at an October statewide conference for school social workers. The social workers were not identified by a
Catalyst reporter.