Garfield High Funds Student Support Group

A popular peer group at Garfield High School that counsels teenagers with severe personal problems was funded Wednesday, relieving some students’ fears that it might be eliminated.

Focus is a 16-year-old program instituted by one of the school’s psychologists, Richard Selby. For years, it has welcomed students who are victims of rape, have attempted suicide or have other problems.

This year, Garfield’s principal cut the program from the school’s regular budget. Throughout last week, some students and a couple of parents held protests in front of the school.

But this week the program was funded through the school’s Shared Decision-Making Council, an 18-member panel composed of the principal, teachers and their union representative, and parents that administers certain public funds.