PEABODY – The School Committee on Tuesday voted to hire a part-time adjustment counselor instead of the previously decided two counselors, due to financial concerns.”The desire and need is still there for two (counselors) but in order to fulfill the Individualized Education Plans, we can do it with a .5 (part timer),” said Superintendent Milton Burnett. “We’ve discussed many different options for this and it is certainly an intricate matter.”After budget cuts, the district lost 4.5 adjustment counselors, bringing the amount to 6.9 counselors in the district, bringing compliance with state education mandates into question.With the bare minimum addition of a part-time counselor, the number will rise to 7.4.That still wouldn’t cover the number of counselors needed to assist in a crisis situation, but Burnett said crisis teams are already in place at each school, negating the need for added counselors.At last month’s meeting, committee members voted to rehire two of the counselors who had been laid off, but Burnett said because of an anticipated $200,000 loss in circuit breaker reimbursement funds, that move would be all but impossible to do.That explanation confused committee member Brandi Carpenter, who questioned how the need for two counselors would be solved by only adding a part-time counselor.”I think this is getting to be the most ridiculous conversation that’s going on week after week,” she said. “I don’t understand and I don’t know who to believe anymore.”The question of whether a guidance counselor can cover the tasks of an adjustment counselor is also still on the table.Correspondence from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) states that the district has the right to decide if a guidance counselor can take the place of an adjustment counselor, which committee member David McGeney called a “classic case of passing the buck.””We have to look at savings without costing services to our students,” he said. “It’s just a matter of interpretation. To say that only one person can supply those needs – I don’t agree with that.”Carpenter and committee members Edward Nizwantowski and Michael Moutsoulas voted against the motion to add a part-time counselor.School Committee Chairman Mayor Michael Bonfanti, who voted in favor of the move, said the district would have to make do with a part-time counselor for the time being and make modifications and adjustments in the future.Funds to cover the part-time counselor have yet to be identified and Burnett said the DESE would determine if the district is out of compliance during a site visit scheduled for January 2010.