Youth mental health is in crisis. Are schools doing enough?

By JOCELYN GECKER and DYLAN LOVAN, Associated Press CECILIA, Ky. — For fourth-grader Leah Rainey, the school day now begins with what her teacher calls an"emotional check-in."

People are also reading… In some ways, this year's back-to-school season will restore a degree of pre-pandemic normalcy: Most districts have lifted mask mandates, dropped COVID vaccine requirements and ended rules on social distancing and quarantines. But at schools like Lakewood, educators say helping students manage emotions and stress will benefit them in the classroom and throughout life.

"We are finally beginning to recognize that school is more than just teaching the kids reading, writing and arithmetic," said Dan Domenech, executive director of the national School Superintendents Association. Just as free lunch programs are based on the idea that a hungry child can't learn, more and more schools are embracing the idea that a cluttered or troubled mind cannot focus on schoolwork, he said.

"Social-emotional well-being has become an excuse to intervene in the lives of children in the most intimate of ways that are both dangerous and irresponsible," Nomani said,"because they're in the hands of people who are not trained professionals." Also in Indiana, the School City of Hammond won a grant to hire clinical therapists at all 17 of its schools but has not been able to fill most of the new jobs, said Superintendent Scott Miller."Schools are stealing from other schools. There just aren't enough workers to go around." And despite more funding, school salaries can't compete with private counseling practices, which are also overwhelmed and trying to hire more staff.

Grant-funding helped Houston build relaxation rooms, known as Thinkeries, at 10 schools last year, costing about $5,000 each. District data show campuses with Thinkeries, which sport bean bag chairs and warmly colored walls, saw a 62% decrease in calls to a crisis line last year, Ricks said. The district is building more this year.

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