RIH BOE Rejects Mental Health Services, Leaving Students Vulnerable as School Year Nears
- Kathie Schwartz
- Jul 24, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 14, 2024
Breaking News - Tonight's surprise at the RIH BOE meeting: the Board voted down several mental health programs & services for students and training for staff (Agenda items E7, E8 and E11).
Board members who voted against these services: Judy Sullivan, Kim Ansh, Doreen Mariani and Marianna Emmolo.
Superintendent Dionisio was blindsided when the programs did not pass (Board members did not give him the courtesy of an indication in advance), and he indicated extreme concern about how to provide critical services for students for the start of school in September.
The BOE will not meet again until August 28, approximately one week before the school year begins.
More to come on this concerning situation.
Update:
A community member asked on my Facebook page: "Are some of these new services that were proposed but not approved? Or are they all previously available services that were not renewed? If so, were any alternative programs suggested?"
Here's my response:
There were 3 resolutions on the agenda that were not approved. E7 and E8 were for Thrive, a program that has been in place in the district for 13 or 14 years. E11 was for Care Solace, an online tool providing access to mental health treatment providers for school district staff, students and parents. The cost for Care Solace was approximately $8.4k.
The vote to not approve Thrive eliminates the program effectively immediately. The students in that program, which Dr. Dionisio said was at least 50, are immediately impacted. There is no alternative program. Therefore for many of those students it will mean out of district placements. Many of these students have mental health built into their IEP. We are still required to provide them those services. This means without the in-district option the only other option is out of district which he estimated could cost in upwards of $100k per student. Cost aside, it is best practice to have children in a least restrictive environment which is what they get when in-district.
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