As student suicide screenings rise, Fresno schools plan major mental health investment
Fresno Unified is considering investing approximately $38 million in mental health staffing and resources for students next year, pending the school board’s approval of the 2022/23 budget. That would represent a budgetary increase of around $33 million over the past 10 years, district leaders said.
The money would go toward hiring 10 additional clinical social workers for the district’s foster and unhoused youth, a new high school counselor, and other full-time employees, increasing mental health staffing from around 50 to over 200 in the same 10-year span, according to FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson.
Fresno Unified has not been spared from the mental health crisis young people are experiencing around the country. This investment is part of how the district hopes to “treat the needs of the whole child,” Nelson said.
“Are you really serious about the change, and how do you show you’re serious about it?” he said.
Nelson was joined at a news conference Wednesday by Rita Baharian, acting director of the district’s Department of Prevention and Intervention. Board trustees Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas, Veva Islas, and Valerie F. Davis were also present and attested to the urgent situation among students.
“Our families are struggling,” Islas said. “Our children have been experiencing adverse childhood experiences through this pandemic. So these investments are what care looks like. These investments are what love looks like. These investments is what prevention looks like.”
A mental health crisis
Across the district, students are reporting increased feelings of isolation, stress, and grief and are being screened for suicide risk at higher numbers, Baharian said Wednesday.
Schools are also seeing more behavioral issues among students as they struggle with transitioning between remote and in-person learning, including escalated fights between students.
The district’s proposed response to these issues centers around “social emotional learning.”
The term, sometimes abbreviated as SEL, refers to the development of the skills needed to manage one’s emotions, build healthy relationships, set and reach goals and make decisions.
District leaders said that by investing in social emotional support staff and resources, they’re also making an investment in students all-around well-being.
“We know that SEL is a powerful lever for creating very inclusive and healthy schools that support all young people in reaching their greatest potential across race, ethnicity, family income levels, learning abilities, home language and other factors,” Baharian said.
What these investments could look like
The proposed budget for 2022/23 includes adding several support staff that work with the district’s most marginalized populations, such as foster and unhoused students.
Another priority in the budget is early intervention, including via behavior intervention specialists who will work with younger students up through sixth grade.
The district plans to measure the outcomes of these investments by looking at suspension and expulsion rates, according to Nelson. They will also take a look at annual culture surveys that students complete.
At the end of the day, district leaders hope these social emotional investments will improve academic outcomes as well.
“I’m more than happy to support these investments because we know that a kid can’t learn if they’re not feeling okay,” Jonasson Rosas said.
The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.
This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
