I had a guidance counselor who insisted I go to community college and then think about whether to apply elsewhere. I was in all honors classes and graduated with honors! Ultimately went to local 4 yr private college, then top 5 law school.

WTF he was thinking with community college is beyond me. Harvard was sending me application invitation materials. What an ass that guy was!

I was mentoring a DCPS high school student and her counselor told her not to apply for a scholarship because she was not eligible. I read the instructions and it was not clear to me if she was or not--it was ambiguous. I told her to apply and she won thousands and thousands of dollars.

This same counselor literally laughed at her when she said where she hoped to go to school. It was true it was out of her reach, but she did not know any better, and she was basically just told to try for UDC. I helped her apply to various schools and she got into a good one with a huge amount of financial aid awarded to her.

I can't even imagine what it would be like if a counselor was giving other kinds of advice. I don't know what a parents' rights are in this situation and I would be really interested to know.

Anonymous wrote:My kid's guidance counselor kept pushing him to apply to Rutgers and discouraging him from applying to Ivies. After his second meeting with her and a phone call I made, my son was told to work around her rather than with her. He went to Stanford.

Ew Rutgers.

My kid's guidance counselor kept pushing him to apply to Rutgers and discouraging him from applying to Ivies. After his second meeting with her and a phone call I made, my son was told to work around her rather than with her. He went to Stanford.

Totally depends on what the advice is about, OP. We need more details.

Is the advice counter to your beliefs or values? Or do you just have a different plan for DC?

In some school systems you can have a written designation of "academic only" counseling. However, the school will disregard it for serious health/mental health issues, or unfortunately, sometimes just routinely disregard it.

This is so vague I'm not even sure how to respond.

How old is your child? If your child is talking to the counselor on their own free will, I don't know how you would forbid the counselor from doing their job.

Make an appointment to go in and have a reasonable discussion with the counselor.

OP, this is so vague that it is hard to give advice. You can make any request you want, and the school may choose to honor it, but the short answer is no, you don't have a legal right to dictate what a school staff member does or doesn't say to your child.

Why dont you make an appointment to talk to the counselor and hear all of the information? You can absolutely override any advice given to your child in public or private school. Good luck convincing your teenager to listen to your advice though.

My child's counselor (Wilson) gives her academics advice, but it's mainly from recommendations from her teachers.

What is "this issue?"
Are you just hearing one side of things? Have you only heard from your child? If so, you need to speak with the counselor in person. But you'll have to wait until the end of August because school is over.

Public school, right?

Is it academic or personal advice? How old is DC?

What school are you in? Isn't school out for the summer?

Can I forbid the counseling staff to interfere with respect to this issue? Anyone able to point me in the right direction so I can understand my rights as a parent?