Fox Chapel Area school board approves needs assessment to bolster district mental health services
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Fox Chapel Area School District officials have taken another step this year to address mental health issues.
The board unanimously voted Monday night to have a University of Pittsburgh professor do a school mental health needs assessment of prevention and intervention services and resources.
Cost of the assessment is expected to be no more than $19,000 and paid for through American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds.
“The whole country is seeing children and adults having trouble coping with the changes that have occurred the last two years, and we want to make sure we’re serving our students the best way we can,” board president Marybeth Dadd.
The assessment involves discussions with staff and administrators as well as a review of policies, procedures and parent/student materials.
Work will be done by Mary Margaret Kerr, Pitt professor of health and human development and professor of psychiatry.
Her background includes teaching courses about mental health, behavioral assessment and support, school safety, and school law to those working in K-12 schools.
Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac said having a needs assessment arose from discussions with educators and administrators on how to spend federal covid relief funds.
She said the district needs to spend at least 10% of American Rescue Plan and the school emergency relief funds on professional development to support the mental health and academic needs of students.
The district is expected to get a little more than $3.13 million in pandemic-related support.
“This will engage in a facilitated process and result in school-level and district-level reports,” Reljac said. “The goal is to pinpoint some areas for action. That will help us to tailor professional development specifically for school or age-group needs.”
The assessment is expected to start in March and conclude in October. It is unclear how much assessment information would be available to the public once a final report is made.
“I am excited by the opportunity for our district to get real feedback about the structures that we have in place, and how they’re supporting our students and our staff and how we can really address mental health in our schools,” said board member Vanessa Lynch.
The district has about 350 employees and 4,150 students.
Information about the needs assessment is available on the district’s website via the meeting agendas, minutes, documents, and broadcasts link in the school board section of the “About Us” tab.
First step
Authorizing the assessment is the second action the board has taken in as many months to address mental health needs of students.
District officials in January approved a nearly $20,000 contract with California-based Care Solace to provide a web-based navigation system to help connect families and staff to mental health professionals. Care Solace is not an emergency response service or mental health services provider.
Reljac said her team recommended Care Solace after researching mental health-related organizations. She said administration was impressed with what Care Solace has to offer.
Its services come at no cost to district families. The contract is being paid for through federal relief funds.
People can use the service in conjunction with the school district or independently and anonymously.
The organization’s website states that it serves 3 million students, 150,000 school staff members and 12 million parents and families. It is headquartered in North San Diego County.
Chad Castruita, founder and CEO of Care Solace, said in January said it has team of care companions, who are available around the clock, including holidays and weekends, “which is incredibly important since one-third of our calls for help occur outside of school hours”.
District staff and families can assess Care Solace services in three ways.
Parents/guardians can call 888-515-0595 at any time. Support is available in more than 200 languages. A care companion will help callers to research options, secure appointments and follow up.
People can do an anonymous search through caresolace.com/foxchapel and answer a few questions to get matched with an extensive list of care providers.
A district staffer can also refer a students, with parent/guardian permission, to Care Solace via the school’s counseling office.
Families in need of more information can contact their child’s school counselor or email district director of special education and pupil services Timothy Mahoney at timothy_mahoney@fcasd.edu.