By Eric Stirgus
The nation’s top education official visited metro Atlanta on Thursday to announce $70 million will be distributed in the coming months to public schools and colleges in Georgia and other parts of the country to provide more mental health services for students.
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona made a stop at Five Forks Middle School in Gwinnett County to discuss the funding. Gwinnett is one of four Georgia school districts receiving federal School-Based Mental Health Services Grants. The others are Bibb, Fulton and Muscogee. Gwinnett and Augusta University are receiving Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration Grants.
Gwinnett, the state’s largest school district, is receiving about $19 million over five years for two mental health initiatives. One is designed to provide more clinical support and telehealth services to students. Gwinnett also will work with several colleges and universities in Georgia to create a pipeline that develops more school counselors, social workers and psychologists, said Jewelle Harmon, the district’s chief accountability officer.
“You earned this,” Cardona said during a meeting school leaders, students and district officials. “I can’t wait to see what you do with it.”
U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, whose district includes the school and joined Cardona at Five Forks, called the grants the “tangible results” of meetings she, Cardona and others had with school counselors and educators about providing more federal funds to address the issue.
The demands for more school-based mental health services, particularly counselors, has increased in recent years. The American School Counselor Association has suggested one counselor for every 250 students. The national average during the 2022-23 school year was one counselor to 385 students, the association says. In Georgia, the average was one to 450.
Cardona said mental health has become a bigger challenge for schools since the COVID-19 pandemic as many students felt alone or grappled with depression. One study found nearly 300,000 U.S. children had lost a primary or secondary caregiver in connection with the pandemic by the end of June 2022, 11,725 of them in Georgia.
Another issue, Cardona said, has been the impact of social media. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently suggested a warning label on social media platforms noting research that shows adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms.
During Cardona’s meeting at Five Forks, students and staff talked about how they use social and emotional learning to develop conflict resolution skills. Tinisha Parker, Gwinnett’s executive director of student services, said some students come to school with unaddressed needs that result in disputes with classmates. Empathy is important, officials said. Students agreed.
“It feels that we are actually cared about and staff try to do the very best for us to have a safe, caring environment,” Alex Matveev, a sixth grader, said in response to a question from Cardona about what does it mean to have a school that cares about mental health.
Gwinnett Superintendent Calvin Watts noted in an interview that some question the effectiveness of social and emotional learning through restorative practices. He faced criticism from those who thought Gwinnett should focus more on tougher disciplinary practices. Watts believes the district’s approach, which includes talking to students about slights that can develop into beefs, is working.
“At the end of the day, we’re here to talk about how we can restore relationships that might be damaged,” he said.