Most frustrating, Chavez-Palmer said, is the difficulty in getting students and parents to follow through on her recommendations for tutoring and other services. At a recent meeting, only 20 parents showed up.
There is little Chavez-Palmer and the other counselors can do to compel middle school students to work harder. A district policy requiring principals to hold back eighth-grade students who fail to meet minimal standards in English and math is largely ignored, said Collins, the chief instructional officer.
The small piece of leverage counselors do have over failing students — threatening to ban them from informal graduation ceremonies schools hold for eighth-graders — often does little to sway students.
“As long as I go on to the ninth grade,” a 14-year-old boy shrugged when Diane-Chavez raised the prospect.
“You didn’t pass the majority of your classes in seventh grade and went on to eighth. The same will happen this year,” the blunt-talking counselor replied. “But what’s going to happen next year? How many times do you think Huntington Park High School is going to allow you to do this?”