Washington (AP) – Some schools in New York rural schools have more than 1,100 pupils for each mental health service provider. In a distant region with few public transport, several school consultants are often the only mental health professionals available to students.
Hennessey Lustica has overseen grants funded by the efforts to teach and hire more schools in the region of psychologists, consultants and social workers in the Lakes, but these efforts may soon end-the short administration’s decision to withdraw school mental health grants across the country.
“By reducing this funding, it will simply destroy children,” said the cooperation director of the Lustica, Seneca Falls Central School, wellness Workforce. “The workforce we create, only in my 21 school districts, will have more than 20,000 children who will affect and have no need for mental health.”
The $ 1 billion scholarship schools for mental health programs was part of a large draft law on the Gun’s Violence, which Signed by President Joe Biden in response to school shooting in Uvile, Texas. Grants were intended to help schools hire more psychologists, consultants and other mental health workers, especially in rural areas.
Under the Biden Administration, the Department preferred applicants to show how the number of providers from various layers, or communities directly served in the school district. However, Presidential Donald Trump’s administration considered aspects of grant programs that touch the race, saying they are harmful to students.
“We owe American families to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars support evidence-based practices that are actually focused on improving student mental health,” said Madi Biedermann, a spokesman for the Education Department.
School districts around the US interrupted training and maintenance programs
Lustica learned about her grant cancellation in April. A two -page letter from the Department of Education stating that the Government found that its work had violated civil rights laws. It did not specify how.
Lustica plans to appeal against a decision. She rejected the letter of the letter about her work, saying that she and her colleagues adhere to the Code of Ethics, which honor each person’s individuality, despite race, gender or identity.
“Rhetoric is just wrong,” Lustica said. “I don’t know how to say it differently. I think if you look at these programs and look at the impact of these programs in our rural school districts, and stories that children will tell about mental health professionals who are in their schools, helped them because of this program.”
Grants supported programs in districts across the country. In California, the West Contra Costa Unified school district will lose almost $ 4 million in funding. In Alabama, it was reported that she would not receive the remaining $ 15 million grant in Birmingham city schools, which she used to train, hire and maintain mental health workers.
The Wisconsic State Public Training Department will lose $ 8 million for the next four years. The state has used money to increase maintenance and expand programs that encourage higher students to pursue a career in the school -based mental health.
“At a time when communities are urgently asking for help satisfying mental health needs, this decision is unjustified,” said Jill Ull Under State Superintendent.
At the latest meetings of the Chamber and Senate, Democrats pressed the Education Secretary Linda McMahon for the end of grants and impact on students. McMahon told them that mental health is a priority and grants will be revived and re -release.
“Anyone working or spending time with children knows that these grants were funded by much needed access to mental health care services,” the American Teachers’ Federation said Weyngarten. “Recalling funding is now a cruel, reckless act that poses a risk to millions of children.”
The grant programs in schools have provided more mental health professionals
In many rural schools youth mental health strains.
In one state of New York, half of the students had to move because of economic difficulties that create instability that could affect their mental health, Lustica said. In a survey of sixth to 12th grade students in one county, almost half reported that they usually feel sad or depressed; One of the three claimed that their lives lacked a clear purpose or meaning.
“We have a huge amount of depression, great anxiety, a lot of trauma and insufficient providers,” Lustica said. “The school is the place where children get a lot of services they need.”
Some families in the region are unable to afford private consultations or cannot attract their children to meetings, according to the challenges of transportation, Danielle Legg, a graduate student who was a school social worker funding from a grant program at an internship.
“Their ability to use mental health care is certainly limited to learning, and there is a provider who can see them, and it is vital,” Legg said.
Over the past three years, 176 students completed their mental health training through the Lustica program, and 85% of them were hired to shortage, she said.
The program that offered training for school graduate students helped me to meet the needs of the staff and inspired many to pursue a career in the education environment, said Susan McGowan, a school social worker who overseen graduate students in the Geneva City School district.
“It just looks really catastrophic to me,” McGowan said of the removal of the grant. “These duties are difficult to fill, so when you attract students who want to work with other professionals in your building, you actually strengthen your capabilities as much as it goes and you support teachers.”
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