Antietam School District looking to expand mental health support for students

Apr. 18—Antietam School District officials are exploring additional mental health resources for students, including hiring a therapeutic services provider to offer aid in schools.

At a school board meeting Monday, Dr. Heidi Rochlin, superintendent, said the district aims to create a comprehensive strategy to address student mental health challenges.

"We have had attendance concerns because of behavioral or mental health issues," Rochlin said.

She said the district has heard horror stories from families put on monthslong waitlists for mental health services.

"It's a full-time job for a lot of parents seeking help for their students," Rochlin said. "A lot of families and students feel a lack of support and guidance. So we are hoping to build in those supports within the school district, within the school day."

Current district resources include school counselors, a mental health counselor to serve kindergarten through 12th grades, a safety and security coordinator, and a school resource officer.

Rochlin said the district plans to hire an assistant principal for grades nine through 12 who will also serve to lead the district's safety, security and mental health team.

The district is also looking to hire Effective School Solutions, N.J., to offer therapeutic programming to students in school.

The company partners with school districts to help implement culturally inclusive mental health and behavioral support programs that address trauma and improve outcomes.

Part of the goal is to maintain students in-district, instead of having them placed at an out-of-district facility, said Melanie Shaver-Durham, director of district partnerships with Effective School Solutions.

Antietam has 42 students in outplacement programs, officials said.

"A lot of times schools bring us in because they seek to lessen the number of outplacements that they have," Shaver-Durham said. "Sometimes schools bring us in because they are having a lot of challenging behaviors that are a result of student mental health issues."

Effective School Solutions works with about 130 districts across 12 states, Shaver-Durham said.

The company would bring in two full-time mental health clinicians who would serve the district as well as a risk management specialist and clinical director to oversee the treatment and programs.

Teachers also are offered professional development opportunities and support via the program, Shaver-Durham noted.

Effective School Solutions would provide its highest service to the high school, which offers a rigorous level of clinical supervision, including therapy sessions throughout the full school year, in-classroom support, urgent interventions, biweekly family therapy, a monthly parent support group and a newsletter for school staff.

"A lot of kids who have mental health challenges have a lot of externalizing their challenging behaviors," Shaver-Durham said. "So we're going to start to help them do less of that...using a level system to encourage them to stay regulated. We will respond if a student becomes dysregulated and help them to re-regulate using the therapies they're learning."

Student progress will be logged and tracked, and the data will be shared with administrators throughout the year.

"This is a comprehensive approach to mental health treatment, providing a symphony of interventions to kids who've shown they need that level of support," Shaver-Durham said.

The middle school will receive a lower tier of support aimed at addressing mild to moderate mental health challenges because most of the district's outplacements are at the high school, officials noted, although the support level could change if needed.

Partnering with Effective School Solutions would cost the district $310,000 annually from the 2024-25 school year until 2026-27.

Rochlin noted the district has applied for state grants to cover that cost.