“They didn’t ask us!” School Counselor Perception of Involvement in Superintendent Decision Making During Crisis Schooling

Abstract

Mental health and social-emotional development are fundamental to positive developmental outcomes. Students faced with the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting rapid closure of school buildings in the spring of 2020 encountered unprecedented challenges to their physical and mental health. Structural barriers, coupled with a disproportionate shortfall of mental health professionals in rural settings, meant that rural students were at heightened risk of suffering negative psychological consequences. School districts emerged as a high-leverage source of institutional support, providing a variety of services to sustain the well-being of students and families. Superintendents were charged with reimagining the role of their schools in providing for these needs. This study used crisis decision theory as a framework to understand superintendent decision-making around mental health and social-emotional learning (SEL). Given their high degree of expertise around students’ mental health and social-emotional needs, school counselors might have been expected to serve as expert resources for superintendents during crisis decision-making around psychological needs. This statewide quantitative study sought to understand the role Maine school counselors played in the district-level response to crisis schooling as it pertained to students’ mental health and social-emotional development across geospatial contexts. Our data shows that school counselors’ perception of their involvement in superintendent decision-making was lowest where it was needed most: in rural school districts. This points toward inequitable opportunities for rural students to obtain the mental health and SEL support they needed during crisis schooling, threatening their future well-being and positive psychological development.