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Nineteen vacant mental health positions were eliminated this week by the School Board of Lee County.
Faced with a money crunch, the board approved an amendment of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, ESSER II during its meeting Tuesday, which will eliminate a total of 23 positions the district has been unable to fill.
The grant amendment removes positions for one assistant director, one budget analyst, one learning resource specialist, 18 licensed mental health professionals, one teacher and one mental health prevention specialist. If awarded, the grant will provide $16,494,080.12 for program costs.
Grants and Program Development Director Teri Cannady this is an ESSER II amendment that the committee looked at in regards to what they are doing and what changes the district needed to make.
"We made a change to cover the increase in insurance cost and cover the bonuses and those kinds of things with ESSER II funds. We removed 23 positions. Those positions were removed, 18 of them were LMHP," she said of license mental health professionals. "The reason they were removed is we currently have 27-plus in the district and we are advertising continuously in the district to get more. It has been a workforce issue in getting additional people. (District staff) does have some funding to continue to try to fill those positions, but we had a lot of vacancies, so we took those out in order to cover the other expenses."
School Counseling and Mental Health Services Director Lori Brooks said under the mental health allocation they added the position of license mental health professional three years ago for their most intense needs.
"These are students that through the mental health team, through their screening with parental consent and discussion around the identified need and intensity of that mental health need. Our school counselors, social workers, psychologist all serve mental health needs. Our LMHP are there for our students that need near clinical level service, or need clinical level and their parents are unable to access those services," Brooks said of the tiered approach for mental health in the schools.
Under the mental health allocation, the district continues to look for staff, as the district is not yet near full capacity. Brooks said they do anticipate being at full capacity hopefully throughout the summer, as they tend to get the bulk of their applicants in April through August as people look to transition at the start of the school year.
"With licensed mental health we have had a human capital shortage across the state and country," she said. "With the 18 we tried to put into ESSER we did that cautiously knowing we may not be able to staff them. At that point it was a matter of really having to reallocate and kick those funds to other needs that were just as critical across the district's leadership team."
Brooks said that does not mean the district will not go back to trying to expand, but once they fill the openings under the mental health allocation it would then be a fair time to access other funding streams and continue to grow that part of the district's mental health services.
She said the district has about 3,900 open cases, which does not mean they have been able to identify all the kids in need, nor have parents always consented to those mental health services.
"We have over 800 cases that are considered intensive need," Brooks said. "There are a couple other thousand students being served at the mild to moderate level and, of course, that takes the work of everyone on the team."
In addition, there also is a shortage of school counselors across the country, state and the district also has openings. Brooks said they continue to recruit from outside and within the district.
"A lot of our best school counselors are teachers pursing their masters degree. We recruit across the country and state as well. We encourage and we will continue to do so, our schools to make sure how students understand how to access a counselor and mechanism to use," Brooks said. "While we have high ratios in social work, school counseling, psychology and even our LMHPs, we want to be responsive to every student. We are still trying to find more efficient and effective ways to make sure every child knows how to access a school counselor."
Addressing suicidal ideation, self-harm
The board also discussed the pre-briefing of Policy 4.222, Mental Health and Well-being, during its Tuesday afternoon workshop, which is very specific to a student expressing suicidal ideation, self harm, or to harm others. The board made a unanimous consensus to move it to first reading.
Board chair Debbie Jordan asked for clarification of what reasonable attempt meant and who is being held accountable if it is not being done.
Brooks said they are required to report to the Department of Education each of these attempts and what methodology was used. They will be responsible for recording every action taken to the students that they vet for suicide ideation.
"The Department of Education indicated that the required reporting will be done student by student, so they have access to each case," Brooks said.
Student health professionals use a screener when a student is presenting suicidal ideation. The screener the district uses is the Columbia Suicide Severity Risk Assessment.
Brooks said based on that screener the district's next steps are determined by the level of ideation determined in that screener. The score, which is shown on the screener, determines what the district's next steps will be.
"If the student scores a level one or two, we call the parent, guardian and ask them to come to the school. We meet with them to talk through the concerns and also the safety mechanisms that they can put in place and also access the Mobile Crisis number. In other words, what to do if the child escalates at home," Brooks said. "If the student scores three through six that is a call to the Mobile Crisis Response team. Senate Bill 590 now requires school districts to make a call to the Mobile Crisis Response team. We are calling the parent, guardian at the same time."
The bill also requires that parents are called before a student is transferred for an involuntary hospitalization. The district calls earlier than that, she said.
"We are not going to put a child on a bus to go home without taking action to assess and ensure the next level of response. If the Mobile Crisis team is unable to get to the school that is when the principal can involve and legally meet the threshold of the next person, the SRO, to assess the student for potential involuntary hospitalization under the Baker Act," Brooks said.
This could also be for a student who has expressed intent to harm another individual in their home, or peer group, which goes through the district's threat assessment team.
"If we can't reach either of them we have to move to the emergency contact, that is new in this statute, so that is something that we added to the protocols," Brooks said.
If the Mobile Crisis team is unable to report within an hour, or the end of the school day is imminent, then the next person granted authority in the Baker Act statute is law enforcement officers and because the district has SROs in their school, they take the next step.
Jordan that is not happening so she has an issue with the whole policy.
"I personally know that is not the case," she said, adding that she does not want words to be put down that the district is not applying or holding itself to.
Board Attorney Kathy Dupuy-Bruno said if this is not happening at the school site then this is when Brooks and her team come in and correct those actions that have not been done appropriately.
Required training was offered for all principals, assistant principals, mental health team members and SROs through multiple sessions and recordings to listen later.
School board member Cathleen O'Daniel Morgan said it seems to her that there needs to be something in protocol in respect to when someone is evaluated, a determination is made that every obligation they had for training has been met. She said it would be the supervisor's responsibility to ensure that the training is taking place and they are in compliance with board policy.