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BOE approves mental-health agency contracts to improve school services

Georgetown News-Graphic
Aug 23, 2016

The Scott County Board of Education approved a number of contracts Thursday with agencies that can provide mental-health counseling to students.

But more important, the school district has improved its system of making sure mental-health counselors are available, district Student Services Director Lynne Switzer said.

"We're making sure we have enough folks" available to counsel students at individual schools, Switzer said Friday.

Working with the agencies, Switzer said district officials have mapped a plan that allows as many as three counselors to be available weekly at each school.

And, she said, principals, guidance counselors, teachers and parents are being made aware that the services are available.

"We shouldn't be underserved (this year)," Switzer said.

The agencies are Hospice of the Bluegrass, Bluegrass.org, KVC Kentucky and Counseling Association of Lexington Inc.

The board also approved a contract for clinical services to be provided at the Kentucky Children's Hospital at UKHealthCare under its Beautiful Mind Initiative.

The board became aware of the need for mental-health counselors for students last fall after principals at the Ninth Grade School and Royal Spring Middle School detailed issues their teachers and staffs were facing.

Then-RSMS interim Principal Keith Griesser noted in January that some students showed symptoms of schizophrenia as well as self-harming behaviors.

Two months earlier, Ninth Grade School Principal Jonda Tippins cited students with depression, bipolar and chemical imbalances who weren't receiving adequate attention.

At the time, the district had contracts with Bluegrass.org and KVC to provide counseling services. School guidance counselors who were not adequately qualified to deal with the issues.

Griesser also had insisted a "really big" number of elementary students also have mental health issues. Switzer said part of the problem last year was that the agency counselors were not assigned to particular schools. They would travel between schools and likely did not make clear their services were available.

"We had fingertips on resources in the past, and were not very organized... We were missing any kind of systematic way" to get needed services to the schools and students, Switzer said.

"This year, we're doing a bit better job organizationally," Switzer said.

Dan Adkins can be reached at dadkins@news-graphic.com.

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