The kids are not alright: Schools in Fresno and beyond work to address student mental health
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Good morning! It’s Tuesday, July 5. This is Rob, the Ed Lab editor. Hope you had a happy and safe Fourth of July weekend.
This is a special edition of the Ed Lab newsletter. For more than a year, The Bee’s Ed Lab has collaborated with other education labs and reporters from across the United States.
Last week, this reporting collaborative which includes AL.com, The Dallas Morning News, The Post & Courier, and the Seattle Times, partnered with The Christian Science Monitor, The Hechinger Report, and Solutions Journalism Network to produce a series of solutions-oriented stories focused on how schools are working to help students with mental health and social-emotional needs.
Let us know what you think of the series! Email me anytime at rparsons@fresnobee.com.
“Supporting Students: What’s Next for Mental Health”
The kids are not alright.
Even before the pandemic began, more than one in three high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. In many communities, those numbers have skyrocketed. But in some places, educators and others are experimenting with new ways to address students’ mental health needs — or reinvent old strategies.
The Ed Lab’s Julianna Morano interviewed students and teachers about Fresno’s Yosemite Middle School and its “Bear Cave,” the campus’ social-emotional hub.
The Bear Cave uses a “multi-tiered system of support” to identify and address various emotional, mental, and social challenges students face. It offers a range of resources to help students process trauma, build healthy coping skills, and resolve conflicts in ways that avoid disciplinary action like suspension that separates them from their peers.
You can read Julianna’s full story here.
This Fresno school opened safe space for students 12 years ago. Now the idea is spreading
The project also asks the question: Should mental health concerns be handled by schools? The Christian Science Monitor’s Chelsea Sheasley explores why many experts say “yes.” Read her piece below.
Mental health: Is that a job for schools?
In 2020, Alabama created a new “mental health service coordinator,” who helps oversee and coordinate district-level school mental and behavioral health programs. Then the pandemic hit.
AL.com’s Trisha Powell Crain explores what the last two years have been like for Alabama MHSCs, and whether the program could be a model for other states, particularly those dealing with large rural and low-income populations who might not have good access to other mental health services?
New Alabama school counselor role ‘important’ for improving schools, student mental health
Rural schools really struggle to get enough counselors for students. The Post and Courier’s Sara Gregory shows how a South Carolina school district turned to private providers to help.
How one rural SC school district is tackling the in-school therapist shortage
After a mental health leave of absence, college students have few programs to help them return to campus, according to The Hechinger Reports’ Olivia Sanchez.
As schools and communities scramble to find more ways to support the well-being of youth amid a pandemic-fueled mental health crisis, some think part of the answer lies with students helping other students. The Seattle Times’ Jeanie Lindsay explains.
Can peer mental health programs bridge access gaps for youth? Experts say it’s complicated
Paul Quinn, a historically Black college in southern Dallas, realized addressing students’ mental welfare — such as helping them manage trauma, stress, guilt and depression — was the missing link to their success, reports The Dallas Morning News’ Eva-Marie Ayala.
Supporting students: What’s next for mental health?
And now, here’s the latest in Fresno-area education news
Central Unified schools in Fresno will add more armed police officers to campuses.
The school board voted last week to rename James K. Polk Elementary School after a yearlong debate and months of school renaming committee meetings.
Central Unified also added more armed police officers to campuses beginning next school year. Here’s the latest.
And, finally, a new proposal at Bullard High School would essentially ban student cellphones on campus, requiring teens to lock their phones away. The idea comes on the heels of a racist photo taken in May in the Bullard weight room, though the school’s principal says there’s no connection.
Bullard High School considering banning student cellphones next year. What to know
