But just because we鈥檙e always worrying doesn鈥檛 mean that we鈥檙e always wrong. Children today are struggling with their mental health 鈥� struggling to maintain a semblance of hope about the future they鈥檙e inheriting. 鈥� report feeling so discouraged that it interferes with their daily lives. 

This youth mental health crisis has been with us for a moment. In 2018, in response to the horrifying Parkland, Florida, school shooting, President Donald Trump鈥檚 using federal School Safety funding for investments to 鈥渆xpand the pipeline of school-based mental health services providers.鈥� The ensuing began in 2019, near the end of Trump鈥檚 first term. 

And yet, despite the issue鈥檚 ongoing urgency, the second Trump administration . Among the schools that felt that loss was the Multicultural Learning Center, a public charter school on the outskirts of Los Angeles County. As the administration鈥檚 decision works its way through the courts, it鈥檚 worth considering what might be lost if we stop investing in supporting children鈥檚 mental health. 

A $4.6M grant for students鈥� well-being

Winter is sunny in Canoga Park, where the Multicultural Learning Center鈥檚 campus is cloudless, ice-free and pushing 70 degrees. The air鈥檚 crisp on a dry December Thursday in the school鈥檚 courtyard garden, which hosts a series of green, thriving native plants and a sign that outlines the school鈥檚 goals for its learners: 鈥淐aring, Respectful, Responsible, Safe, Tolerant.鈥� 

The dual language immersion charter school opened in after California voters approved a statewide mandate largely banning bilingual education. Its status as a charter allowed it flexibility from that decision, which it used to pursue a child-focused pedagogy in both English and Spanish. Co-founder and executive director Gayle Nadler says that these elements serve the goal of 鈥渓earner agency. We want our students to be ready to advocate for themselves.鈥�

This focus on students鈥� social skills and well-being sharpened as the school reopened after the pandemic. This tracked national鈥攁nd international鈥攖rends. A of the pandemic鈥檚 impact on children found that they 鈥渃onsistently point[ed] to a decline in child wellbeing globally.鈥� At the Multicultural Learning Center, school leaders now estimate that they had capacity to support only one-quarter of their children who needed services. 

In 2022, seeking to grow that capacity, the school applied with several other charters for one of . They were awarded nearly $4.6 million over five years, which launched at the beginning of 2023. Simultaneously, the school secured funding from to construct a small 鈥淲ellness Center鈥� where students could receive the mental health support they needed. 

That $4.6 million made it possible for the school to staff the center with two full-time therapists and a rotating group of graduate interns preparing for careers in social work or therapy. 鈥淭he funds get used to partner with universities to have master鈥檚-level students do their fieldwork with us,鈥� Nadler says, 鈥渢o hire recently graduated candidates from those same universities to work on our staff.鈥� 

The program at Multicultural Learning Center modeled the twin purposes of the grant: create more demand in the job market for school-based mental health therapists by funding those positions while making the schools a training ground for future therapists.

When the administration zeroed out the grants last April, it blocked MLC from accessing the last $1.9 million originally budgeted for the project.

The sudden loss of funds left grantees like Nadler in a lurch. She estimates that her school鈥檚 share of the money raised their mental health services capacity to a level that they were meeting the needs of at least 95% of students who needed support. To try to recover the resources they鈥檇 been expecting, the school joined a lawsuit headed by Washington state. 

The federal government technically ended the grants by denying their renewal, arguing that they were no longer aligned with the president鈥檚 second term priorities. While federal grants are subject to regular reviews to ensure that grantees are meeting expectations, the Multicultural Learning Center and their co-plaintiffs countered that the administration had made the choice to cancel their grants without any substantive consideration of the work being done. 

In December, , and ordered the administration to undertake an appropriate review of the grants by the end of the month. The administration then disbursed small 鈥渋nterim鈥� grants 鈥� $90,000 in the Multicultural Learning Center鈥檚 case 鈥� while individual reviews took place. As the deadline for these reviews neared, the Education Department requested an extension from the court while it prepared an appeal.聽

On Feb. 24, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused, ruling that the administration appeared unlikely to convince the courts that it had provided grantees adequate reason for canceling their funding. 

In the meantime, the ruling meant that the department had to release the originally promised 2026 funds for the mental health grants for recipients like the Multicultural Learning Center.

The saga is far from over. As the Education Department plans its appeal, it released six months of the promised 2026 funding. In a letter sent to grantees, the department explained that the remaining half may be made available after it conducts an 鈥渦pdated performance and budget report,鈥� depending on how the lawsuit is ultimately settled.

For now, the school is muddling through, staffing the Wellness Center through the end of this school year with the half-year of funding they were able to pry loose through the courts. Nadler says it鈥檚 a priority to maintain these services, but isn鈥檛 sure where she鈥檒l find the funds to replace the federal resources if the Trump administration ultimately succeeds in blocking the rest of the 2026 money they鈥檇 budgeted for. 

Taking care of the kids still No. 1

Almost anything can become normal if we let it. Remember traveling without a phone in your pocket? Remember when school shootings were so rare that, when they occurred, we expected our political leaders to act to make them even less likely?

Humans can get used to most anything. But that doesn鈥檛 mean that we can navigate any particular new normal with an equal degree of ease. This is particularly true for children, who are less practiced at accommodation than their parents and caregivers. You might have grown used to bloodstained classrooms and brazen public corruption, but your 11-year-old鈥檚 gonna have questions when they first see these sorts of things. 

As I鈥檝e written many times now, this is the key to understanding the United States鈥檚 youth mental health crisis. The various tech boogeymen haunting public discourse 鈥� smartphones, social media, screens more generally 鈥� are real problems, but insufficient for understanding the depth of the problem. No, today鈥檚 kids are gloomy because they are clearsighted: we have dealt them a genuinely terrible hand. 

To dig them (and ourselves) out of this hole, we need to 1) make actual, effective steps towards a safer, stabler and more dignified world worthy of our children鈥檚 dreams; and 2) provide mental health services to help repair the damage we鈥檝e done to their well-being. 

鈥淭he number one thing you can do to prevent school violence,鈥� Nadler says, 鈥渋s mental health counseling, build[ing] relationships, taking care of the kids. That鈥檚 the number one thing. It鈥檚 not metal detectors, it鈥檚 not active shooter drills, it鈥檚 not armed guards, none of that.鈥� 

鈥淚 just can鈥檛 imagine a world,鈥� she added, 鈥渨here we don鈥檛 take care of people 鈥� and it starts with children.鈥�

Just weeks after approving limits on screen time for preschoolers, Alabama lawmakers are mounting a last minute push to set screen time limits for all public school students. 

The House Education Policy Committee Thursday approved , sponsored by Rep. Jeana Ross, R-Guntersville and filed on March 5.  The bill is an extension of the signed by Gov. Kay Ivey earlier this month. 

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 hoping this will accomplish is that these two acts will work together to create a continuous research based framework for developmentally appropriate technology you see from from early childhood to 12th grade,鈥� Ross said in an interview Friday.

Among other features, 搁辞蝉蝉鈥� bill would limit total screen time instruction in schools to two hours a day and mandate regular vision breaks after screen use.

搁辞蝉蝉鈥� limited screen time for children from birth until kindergarten in licensed child-care facilities, public kindergarten classrooms and specific Pre-K classes. Under the law, the Department of Early Childhood Education, Alabama State Department of Education and Department of Human Resources would collaborate on creative guidelines for appropriate screen time usage.

During committee, Reps. Alan Baker, R-Brewton, and Marcus Paramore, R-Troy, brought extending the limit to 12th grade and requiring students to follow the 鈥�20-20-20 rule鈥� during scheduled screen breaks. The 20-20-20 rule states every 20 minutes students must look at an object at least 20 feet away from them for at least 20 seconds. The method has been recommended by the to reduce and prevent eye strain.

Mark Dixon, president of A+ Education Partnership, a education nonprofit, said in an interview Friday the organization supported the bill. 

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen the benefits of the cell phone ban that legislature and Gov. Ivey passed last year; we were already seeing the benefits in classes this year, and A+ is support of limiting screen time in an age-appropriate manner,鈥� he said.

Messages seeking comment were left with School Superintendents of Alabama and Alabama Association of School Boards Friday.

During the meeting, Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, who chairs the committee, said Rep. Chris Blackshear, R-Smiths Station, brought the idea of expanding the limit to 12th grade. Attempts to reach Blackshear were not immediately successful.

Under HB 584, a 17-member task force composed of educators; vision specialists and national experts in child development, digital media research or cognitive science will work in collaboration with the Alabama State Department of Education to develop guidelines for best practices for screen-based instruction.

鈥淲e want it to be high quality and to be used intentionally, again, just avoiding that passive use of technology, just like with the birth to age five kindergarten, but on up through 12th grade, our technology is intentional,鈥� Ross said.

Ross said after her original bill passed she heard concerns from parents about whether or not the bill would dictate what goes on in their homes. She said both bills only relate to instructional time in classrooms.

鈥淚t has nothing to do with what parents choose to do in their homes, but all to do with what happens in public schools and in places that receive public funds,鈥� she said.

The bill was not on Tuesday鈥檚 House agenda as of Friday afternoon. There are seven legislative days left in the 2026 regular session. 

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com.

Before the school day begins, hundreds of thousands of students across North Carolina eat school breakfast 鈥� in the cafeteria, in the classroom, from grab-and-go kiosks, and more.

In the , the most recent available data, more than 73 million school breakfasts were served to roughly 470,000 students across the state. The majority of them were provided for free.

that eating school breakfast is associated with a variety of positive outcomes for students, including improved and better .

鈥淪chool breakfast offers a peace of mind to these students that do not get food at home,鈥� said Keli McNeill, a parent in Richmond County, during a meeting ahead of . 鈥淭hey can come into school knowing, 鈥業 might be hungry right now, but in another 10 minutes, I鈥檓 not going to be hungry anymore, because I鈥檓 going to have food, and I鈥檓 going to be able to make it through my day.鈥� It鈥檚 about so much more than food.鈥�

Yet traditional school breakfast approaches, which often require students to arrive before class begins and eat in the cafeteria, can limit access to these important meals.

To increase participation in school breakfast, districts across the state are implementing innovative breakfast models, including breakfast served in the classroom, grab-and-go kiosks, and second chance breakfast, often served after first period.

In 2024, then-Gov. Roy Cooper in NC Innovative School Breakfast Grants to help 42 school districts and charter schools implement innovative school breakfast models and expand student participation.

Districts are also increasingly offering free breakfast to all students under the federal (CEP), available to high-poverty schools.

Advocates in North Carolina, including the coalition, have called for school breakfast to be provided to all students at no cost. In March 2025, Gov. Josh Stein for all public school students in his state budget proposal.

Then, in April, a 鈥溾�� bill was introduced in the General Assembly, sponsored by four Republican House members. Although the bill did not move forward, it garnered support from both Democrats and Republicans, with more than 50 sponsors.

鈥淚f we really want to change our education system, one way is to start by giving every student a nice, nutritious start to the day,鈥� said Tami Poland, principal of Swift Creek Elementary in Johnston County, during the School Meals for All NC meeting.

Innovative breakfast models increase participation in Mitchell County Schools

Heather Calhoun has worked in , located in the mountains of western North Carolina, for 27 years. Calhoun considers herself a big advocate for school breakfast and said she has seen the benefits that eating breakfast provides to students firsthand.

鈥淲e know hungry kids are not going to learn 鈥� they鈥檙e not going to do well on tests,鈥� she said, adding that skipping breakfast can also lead to malnutrition and poor behavior.

Today, the roughly in Mitchell County Schools are served free breakfast and lunch through CEP. But according to Calhoun, the district offered free breakfast to all students even before CEP was in place. Soon after, participation in school meals increased as the stigma associated with identifying students by their free, reduced, or paid meals status was gone.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the things I think has really been great for our county and our students 鈥� making sure that they have a good breakfast every day,鈥� she said.

The district has also implemented two innovative models to increase participation: breakfast in the classroom and second chance breakfast.

For K-8 students, a cart in the hallway allows them to pick up breakfast and eat it in their homeroom while morning announcements and other activities begin. Calhoun said these breakfast carts have been the most effective approach in increasing breakfast participation, and that students participate at much higher rates compared to serving breakfast in the cafeteria.

鈥淚f you say, 鈥極K, come into the lunchroom and come through the line and get it,鈥� they don鈥檛 do it,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e tried that one time 鈥� and half the kids didn鈥檛 eat.鈥�

For high school students, a second chance breakfast is provided in addition to traditional breakfast in the cafeteria. After the first class block, a cart circles around the hallways, offering a chance for students to eat who may have missed breakfast before the first bell.

鈥淎 lot of kids at the high school, they鈥檙e not going to get there 30 minutes before class, or they want to go hang out with their friends,鈥� said Calhoun. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to stop by the cafeteria.鈥�

Students鈥� favorite breakfast items include chicken biscuits, sausage biscuits, and a cheese stick with yogurt or whole grain crackers.

Calhoun said she would like to serve more protein-rich and less grain-focused items, but that those products can often be more expensive, making it difficult to serve them within current federal reimbursement rates. For each free school breakfast served, school districts receive roughly , which has to cover the costs of food, labor, equipment, and more.

Even if an affordable item is identified, other barriers can stand in the way of sourcing new products. There may be manufacturing or procurement challenges, or the product might not be available in bulk, requiring more staff capacity to individually wrap each item before it goes on the breakfast cart.

鈥淚t鈥檚 like a Rubik鈥檚 Cube 鈥� I always say that about school nutrition,鈥� said Calhoun. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like that puzzle, where you have to fit all the pieces together.鈥�

Free breakfast for all makes a difference at Dillard Academy

Located in Goldsboro, is a K-8 public charter school that opened in 1998 with the goal of providing more personalized instruction for local students. That鈥檚 according to Danielle Baptiste, the school鈥檚 executive director and daughter of the school鈥檚 founder, .

In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of Dillard Academy, Baptiste also serves as the school nutrition director, ensuring roughly have access to meals each day.

鈥淲e鈥檙e a very small school, and so you end up having to be that jack-of-all-trades,鈥� she said.

Through CEP, all students receive free meals at Dillard Academy. When students get off of the bus, they have the opportunity to go into the cafeteria and eat, with about 60% of students participating in breakfast each morning. If students get dropped off late, breakfast service continues until 9 a.m.

鈥淲e really want to make sure that our students are fed and have that basic level of need met when they go into the classroom so they can maximize their instruction, their learning,鈥� said Baptiste.

As a small charter school, Baptiste said being able to provide free meals to all students has provided multiple benefits. It serves as a draw for parents, who have the peace of mind that there will always been food available for their student. For the school鈥檚 small staff, it has reduced the administrative burden of providing meals, as they do not have to collect meal applications or verify eligibility for free or reduced-price meals.

鈥淚t鈥檚 super simple 鈥� every child with a lunch number gets a free lunch and a free breakfast and a free snack,鈥� said Baptiste.

She has also seen a reduction in the stigma associated with participating in school meals, especially among older students.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not necessarily cool to eat in the cafeteria 鈥� but if they see something they really like, they can make that decision right there on the spot,鈥� she said.

Baptiste said her mother鈥檚 decision to offer school breakfast and lunch from the very first day the charter school opened reflects a strong belief in the importance of meeting students鈥� basic needs.

鈥淚n education, we don鈥檛 always think about how important it is to make sure our students are well fed 鈥� and that really feeds their brain for the rest of the day,鈥� said Baptiste.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

The students at Circle City Prep aren鈥檛 big fans of squash 鈥� no matter which type their school chef makes. But they do like brussels sprouts.

Tracey Couillard, lead chef at the school, leans on her days working in Indianapolis restaurants to come up with ways to cook with vegetables and fruits that might be new to the students.

It鈥檚 all about 鈥渕aking sure we are intentional about what we are offering, and not just throwing spaghetti at a wall to make it stick,鈥� said Couillard, who started her job a year ago.

The school鈥檚 kitchen is a , a nonprofit formerly known as the Patachou Foundation which aims to make sure all students have access to good food. The organization partners with schools to have cafeterias that serve fresh and scratch-made foods. At Circle City Prep, Couillard leads a kitchen team of six other people to prepare scratch-made food for breakfast and lunch for more than 430 students that include fresh vegetables and fruits as well as daily salads.

What students are eating is also getting attention at the statehouse where house lawmakers from public schools that participate in a 鈥渇ederally funded or assisted meal program.鈥� The bill also requires schools to post a menu and ingredients online.

At Circle City Prep, Couillard said the fresh foods help students build healthy habits both inside and outside of school. And it鈥檚 led her to build relationships with students too.

鈥淪ometimes kids will be in a sad spot and ask if I can have lunch with them, so then I sit with them and let them talk and let them share their feelings because there are a lot of big feelings between kindergarten and eighth grade,鈥� she said.

Chalkbeat talked to Couillard about her daily routine, what makes her cafeteria special, and the biggest thing she鈥檚 learned on the job.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What led you to become the lead chef at Circle City Prep?

I was in the Army National Guard for 20 years, and after I retired from the guard, I started working in restaurants around Indianapolis and did that for about 12 years.

This opportunity popped up at a time when I needed a change, and I honestly didn鈥檛 know if it was going to be for me. Working in restaurants with adults is very different than working in a school kitchen with kids from kindergarten to eighth grade as your primary customers

But the kids are the best part. I鈥檝e got kids that come into my office when they are having a bad day, and they build Legos while I鈥檓 working on something. I鈥檝e got a couple of kids who come in after school and do extra practice on their reading.

I get a lot of joy and feel like I鈥檓 actually doing something helpful and making a positive difference in kids鈥� days.

Tell me about the meals you make at the school.

It鈥檚 mostly all from scratch and we do a lot of our own sauces. We鈥檙e very mindful of sodium, fat, and sugar to make sure we are serving good healthy foods for the kids to eat. Students have fresh vegetables and fruit. Every day they have a different salad option.

I started a program at the beginning of the school year to introduce them to new fresh fruits and new fresh vegetables, just trying to broaden their horizons.

At first, they were apprehensive because it鈥檚 something new but now, the kids get really excited about it, they are really invested in it.

How has the food made an impact on students?

They eat more vegetables now when they are coming through lunch, and that鈥檚 just good fuel for their bodies and their minds. They鈥檙e more willing to try something new too. It鈥檚 shocking to me how many kids I see with salads compared to last year because it鈥檚 just different exposure.

When they ask their people at home to cook something we had at school and it doesn鈥檛 taste the same, they鈥檒l ask if I can share a recipe with their parents on how we do it so it tastes like it does here, which is really cool.

What does a typical day look like for you?

My day starts between 6:30 and 7 a.m. I check out the breakfast stations and make sure they are set, and oftentimes I鈥檒l be walking the halls while the kids are coming in, touching base with them and making sure they are getting their breakfast.

I sit in on late breakfast. There are kids that come in late almost every day so they are already a little behind the curve. I sit down with them, make sure they have a good breakfast and their mind is set to jump in and go to class. I鈥檓 trying to be a positive touchpoint for them when they are starting their day.

In between breakfast and lunch, we are prepping. And at lunch, I鈥檓 helping kids move through the line, making sure that they have all the items they need on their tray to have a good meal.

What do you want people to know about what it鈥檚 like to have a cafeteria that emphasizes fresh foods?

They have to look at the kids as they are an investment. We are able to run a fully staffed kitchen and feed breakfast and lunch to more than 430 kids a day, and we are operating a scratch-based kitchen in the black.

You can run a successful school kitchen without using all of the processed foods, it takes practice, and it takes a certain amount of skill that maybe you wouldn鈥檛 expect from a school cafeteria.

But it鈥檚 an investment in the future. You are building healthy food habits and eating habits and trying to develop healthy relationships for kids with food. I鈥檓 teaching kids that good food can taste good.

What do you want to do next?

I would love to have a hydroponic garden in the cafeteria space. I would love to have a little green space where we can grow veggies and fruits and things like that. Because we serve salads every day, so how cool would it be to have lettuce growing in our cafeteria? The kids could see this is what is actually nourishing our bodies and this is how it grows to develop more of that connection of where does the food come from and how does it get to our plate.

What have you learned doing this job?

You don鈥檛 understand how much of an impact you can have on somebody else鈥檚 day. And you don鈥檛 always see that impact with adults, but it鈥檚 really easy to see that with kids. You can see their whole day shift with just a 鈥淗ey, how are ya? You good?鈥�

You give them two minutes and those little time investments make a difference. That鈥檚 the biggest thing I鈥檝e learned because it鈥檚 not hard to make somebody smile and share a little joy.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

In April, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. turned the focus of his聽聽movement toward school food,聽聽鈥渕ajor, dramatic changes鈥� in school nutrition programs, which serve nearly聽聽across the country each year.

鈥淪chool lunch programs have deteriorated where about 70% of the food that our children eat is ultraprocessed food, which is killing them,鈥� Kennedy . 鈥淲e need to stop poisoning our kids and making sure that Americans are once again the healthiest kids on the planet.鈥�

The federal government is working to develop a of ultraprocessed foods, but they are to be industrially produced, ready-to-eat foods that contain high levels of sugar, salt, or additives, such as chips, soft drinks, and frozen meals.

Global consumption of ultraprocessed foods has in recent years. published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August, youth ages 18 and under consumed more than 60% of their daily calories from ultraprocessed foods.

Now, there is a associating ultraprocessed foods with negative health outcomes. In November, a found evidence that increased consumption of ultraprocessed food is a 鈥渒ey driver鈥� of escalating rates of diet-related chronic disease. The series authors to reduce the consumption of ultraprocessed foods, including by restricting ultraprocessed foods in school meals.

Federal efforts to of school meals have largely focused on implementing , which regulate nutrients like added sugars and sodium. However, these regulations don鈥檛 necessarily result in less ultraprocessed food 鈥� instead, manufacturers often to meet new thresholds. School nutrition programs, faced with tight budgets and limited staff capacity, often rely on ultraprocessed products like frozen pizzas, packaged sandwiches, and packaged breakfast pastries.

As the federal government and other entities work to reduce the consumption of ultraprocessed food, what will it actually take for schools to stop serving them?

鈥淥ur government right now has 鈥� more of a 鈥榯akeaway鈥� mentality,鈥� said Jayme Robertson, school nutrition director for and schools, regarding federal school nutrition standards. 鈥淚f you change that and instead focus on more fresh, more local, more raw ingredients, more scratch cooking, then that鈥檚 where the real impact is going to happen.鈥�

Robertson and other believe a paradigm shift is needed for schools to reduce ultraprocessed food and implement more scratch cooking, which involves preparing meals with whole, raw, or minimally processed ingredients. While data on the prevalence of scratch cooking is limited, the latest found that most school nutrition programs make less than 25% of meals from scratch.

鈥淲e need to stop penny pinching and start looking at the long-term outcomes of what serving less processed food in schools would produce. And we need to make sure our school districts have the resources they need to actually do this,鈥� said Mara Fleishman, CEO of the . 鈥淚f we want Americans to stop eating ultraprocessed food, let鈥檚 start in kindergarten.鈥�

The technical challenges of scratch cooking

Before scratch cooking can begin, school nutrition programs have to secure necessary equipment, hire staff with culinary expertise, purchase ingredients, and plan menus that meet federal requirements.

Equipment

鈥淲hen you go into schools that don鈥檛 have running water, don鈥檛 tell me to scratch cook,鈥� said Dr. Katie Wilson, executive director of the .

Many school nutrition programs cannot scratch cook due to limited or outdated kitchen facilities that prevent the storage, processing, or cooking of whole ingredients 鈥� such as a lack of coolers or freezers to store fresh ingredients.

Buying new equipment or renovating facilities can pose a major cost. School nutrition programs operate financially independently of school districts as self-sustaining, nonprofit enterprises. The roughly $4.60 per lunch provided by must be used to cover the cost of food, supplies, labor, equipment, and overhead costs, often leaving little room in the budget for large capital investments.

Even if a district can afford the upgrades needed to scratch cook, there may be additional hurdles to installing and using that equipment, particularly in older school buildings. For example, Wilson recalled speaking to a school nutrition director who spent $500,000 on equipment that hasn鈥檛 been used yet because there isn鈥檛 enough power in the school building to plug it in.

Staffing

School nutrition programs often face聽聽staff. In a聽聽of school nutrition directors conducted by the School Nutrition Association (SNA) in 2024, nearly 89% of respondents reported challenges with staff shortages, and the overall vacancy rate was 8.7%.

To scratch cook, school nutrition programs not only need sufficient staffing levels 鈥� they also need to hire staff with the skills necessary to cook using whole ingredients, including knowledge of specific culinary skills, food safety, and equipment use. According to Wilson, the majority of school nutrition employees are not paid to attend training, making it difficult for them to build the skills needed to scratch cook.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about valuing food 鈥� valuing what they contribute to the school day and to the students鈥� life. We don鈥檛 value them, and that鈥檚 why they鈥檙e many times the lowest paid,鈥� said Wilson of school nutrition professionals compared to other school employees.

Ingredients

School nutrition programs often need to purchase more fresh, whole ingredients to scratch cook, which may involve developing new vendor relationships and executing new contracts. But this is not as simple as finding a local farmer to purchase meat and vegetables from, according to school nutrition leaders.

As recipients of federal funding, school nutrition departments must adhere to a variety of , which dictate what procurement techniques can be used based on the purchase amount.

According to Wilson, varying interpretations of federal procurement rules are one of the biggest challenges facing school food purchasing. This challenge is further compounded by the fact that, if a state or locality has different purchasing thresholds than the federal government, the more restrictive threshold must be followed.

鈥淚f everybody would get on the same page and just follow the federal standard rules, we could work at changing some of those federal rules to make them better for fresh, whole food,鈥� she said.

Menu plans

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulates the nutritional quality of school meals through , which dictate each required component of the meal 鈥� such as how many cups of different types of vegetables must be included 鈥� and place limits on calories, saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium.

Scratch cooking involves preparing recipes that rely on whole ingredients but still adhere to these requirements, which takes more planning and results in greater variation than purchasing pre-made, ultraprocessed items that already meet all requirements. If schools deviate from the meal pattern, they risk not receiving federal reimbursement.

鈥淲e have forced, particularly small districts 鈥� where they don鈥檛 have the money or the team to hire chefs or all these other people to help them with this 鈥� we鈥檝e forced them to buy pre-packaged, formulated food, because it guarantees they meet the meal pattern,鈥� said Wilson.

Wilson recalled that, during her time as a school nutrition director, scratch-made zucchini muffins were less than 0.1 ounces away from the required weight, disqualifying the muffins from counting as a meal component that day.

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 do scratch cooking if that鈥檚 what you鈥檙e under when it comes to the micromanagement of the meal pattern,鈥� she said.

The adaptive challenges of scratch cooking

Beyond the technical challenges facing scratch cooking, shifting away from ultraprocessed food and toward preparing meals from scratch requires change management. This presents a series of , or those related to shifting mindsets, values, and culture.

Through her work at the Chef Ann Foundation, which supports schools in implementing scratch cooking, Fleishman has seen that a strong commitment from school nutrition leaders is crucial to success 鈥� because scratch cooking isn鈥檛 easy.

鈥淚n many ways, it鈥檚 easier to pull a frozen chicken nugget out of the freezer,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen you start building a scratch cook program, there is a lot of uplifting that has to be done. So you really need to be in it, you have to see the value of it, you have to believe in it, you have to be in it for the long term.鈥�

The Chef Ann Foundation 鈥渟ees the transition to scratch cooking as a continuum of gradual progress rather than an all-or-nothing approach,鈥� according to its , with a five-step continuum that ranges from ready-to-eat meals to scratch-made meals. 

Fleishman said that moving along this continuum takes time, and schools often have to start small and introduce new scratch-made menu items gradually as they secure new equipment.

As Yadkin County and Elkin City schools transitioned to scratch cooking over the last five years, Robertson said she has worked intentionally to build trust and buy-in with her school nutrition team. In her first year as school nutrition director, she worked in school kitchens to build relationships, learn about the speed-scratch approach, and understand equipment and staffing levels.

鈥淚t really made sense for me to use that first year to observe, to learn, to really immerse myself in how the program was operating, instead of coming in and just making drastic changes,鈥� said Robertson.

Using lessons from that experience, she then created a menu committee and a managers council to ensure 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥� voices informed the district鈥檚 approach to scratch cooking. She said this created a structured way to gather feedback and troubleshoot plans before they were implemented.

鈥淚t gave everybody a voice at the table, and it got everybody on the same page in terms of the direction we were moving,鈥� she said.

School nutrition staff then participated in professional development where they watched new scratch-made recipes be prepared, providing them with a visual, step-by-step explanation of how to cook each component. Just like cooking at home, Robertson said that as staff cooked new recipes repeatedly, their comfort level grew.

Fleishman echoed how important creating buy-in with school nutrition professionals is for the success of scratch cooking efforts.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e able to build a culture of professionalism and value within school food and help your team understand why cooking from scratch is so important and what the impact of their work will be, then you don鈥檛 necessarily get some of the pushback that you see,鈥� she said.

Then, once scratch-cooked items are available, there鈥檚 still work needed to shift students鈥� preferences away from the ultraprocessed foods they may be accustomed to eating. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not like they鈥檙e serving packaged, processed french toast sticks, and then you put the scratch-cooked french toast casserole on the menu and everyone鈥檚 like, 鈥榊eah I like this so much better,鈥欌�� said Fleishman. 鈥淯ltraprocessed food is highly addictive. So there is a period of transition.鈥�

Marketing to students and families that explains what scratch cooking is, why the school nutrition program is doing it, and why scratch-made items are healthier can help encourage students to try new items.

For example, Robertson shares new recipes through newsletters and on social media, highlighting which ingredients are locally sourced and tagging farmers. She also uses taste tests with students to ensure scratch-made items are things they enjoy eating.

The financial equation

While there鈥檚 a common perception that scratch cooking is more expensive than serving processed food, according to Fleishman, it doesn鈥檛 necessarily have to cost more. Although equipment purchases can pose a major cost, when comparing a scratch-made item directly with a processed counterpart, the scratch-made item may be less expensive or cost the same, depending on what ingredients are used.

鈥淚n reality, it could cost more 鈥� you could buy all organic, regenerative ingredients. But it doesn鈥檛 have to. You can scratch cook within the federal reimbursement rate,鈥� said Fleishman, adding that it鈥檚 crucial for school nutrition directors to have strong financial management skills in order to manage a sustainable scratch cooking program.

For example, in Yadkin County and Elkin City schools, Robertson said it costs roughly $1.10 per serving of the pre-made spaghetti sauce the district previously purchased, and it now costs $0.95 per serving to prepare a scratch-made sauce. In an of four school districts that participated in the Chef Ann Foundation鈥檚 Get Schools Cooking program, the 鈥渙verall financial health鈥� of school food programs increased after transitioning to scratch cooking.

Robertson has also leveraged strategic menu planning to purchase a core set of ingredients and cut down on unnecessary inventory. For example, she now purchases raw ground beef as a base protein for multiple scratch-made items 鈥� including spaghetti, tacos, and hamburgers 鈥� replacing several processed items.

What鈥檚 needed to support more scratch cooking?

Robertson compares trying to implement scratch cooking in the current policy and regulatory environment as 鈥減utting together a Jenga puzzle and hoping it doesn鈥檛 fall.鈥�

鈥淵ou鈥檙e asking employees that you鈥檙e not paying hardly anything to, to see these regulations through and provide an enjoyable experience. I feel like it鈥檚 just becoming harder and harder. It鈥檚 almost like you鈥檙e being asked to do more with less every single year,鈥� she said.

As more schools work to reduce ultraprocessed foods in school meals and implement scratch cooking, experts point to a variety of possible solutions.

Higher school meal reimbursement rates

As the costs of and continue to rise, many school nutrition programs find it difficult to provide school meals within the per-meal , which is roughly $4.60 for each free school lunch and $2.46 for each free school breakfast, with lower reimbursements for reduced-price and paid meals.

鈥淚 do not feel like students thrive on mini powdered donuts 鈥� but I know the mini powdered donut is more cost-effective, and it takes me less labor in the morning, and I don鈥檛 have the money to put into it,鈥� said Robertson.

In the of school nutrition directors nationwide, nearly all respondents cited challenges with the cost of food (97.9%), labor (94.9%), and equipment (91.4%), and only 20.5% reported the reimbursement rate is sufficient to cover the cost of producing a meal.

Low reimbursement rates can also make it difficult for school nutrition programs to recruit and retain staff. This is particularly true in areas with a higher cost of living where other food service jobs may pay employees a higher wage, making it difficult for school nutrition programs to offer a competitive wage.

Introduced in Congress in October, the would permanently increase the federal reimbursement rate for school meals, adding an additional 45 cents for each lunch served and an additional 28 centers for each breakfast served.

鈥淗igh costs and insufficient funds are hampering efforts to expand scratch cooking and reduce added sugar and sodium in school meals,鈥� said SNA President Stephanie Dillard in a about the bill. 鈥淪chool meal programs desperately need increased reimbursements to invest in staff and training, upgrade kitchen equipment, and purchase more fresh and local produce.鈥�

Funding for school kitchen equipment

Because school nutrition programs operate financially independently, local school districts often aren鈥檛 able to fund equipment for school kitchens. This means state or federal investments are needed to ensure schools have the equipment needed to scratch cook.

In previous years, the USDA has offered , but funds can only be used to cover the cost of the equipment and not the corresponding increase in energy or other utilities needed to use it, which Wilson said poses a challenge.

At the state level, California has allocated from the state鈥檚 general fund to provide funding for infrastructure upgrades and equipment in school kitchens, along with staff training, with the goal of helping more schools offer scratch-made items.

Investments in the school nutrition workforce

Investments are also needed to better recruit and train culinary professionals to work in school nutrition programs, school nutrition leaders said.

鈥淯nless we are able to fundamentally look at developing the greater workforce in school food, then a lot of the work that we鈥檙e all doing is kind of pushing this boulder up a hill, and it might come back down,鈥� said Fleishman.

To help meet these workforce needs, the Chef Ann Foundation developed the nation鈥檚 first for scratch-cooked school meals, currently available in Colorado, Virginia, and California, with more states to come. The apprenticeship programs provide aspiring and beginning school food professionals with the skills needed to create and manage scratch-cook school meal programs.

Adopting universal free school meals

Serving free meals to all students in school meals 鈥� along with 鈥� providing school nutrition programs with more federal reimbursement funds and giving them a better opportunity to enhance the food they are serving, including through scratch cooking. 

Currently, 鈥� California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont 鈥� have passed permanent legislation that provides free school meals to all students. Dozens of other states, including North Carolina, have introduced bills that would do the same.

Funding for local food purchases

Given that scratch cooking requires school nutrition programs to use whole, raw, or minimally processed ingredients, funds to purchase local food for school meals can help offset the costs of scratch cooking while keeping school food spending in the local economy.

However, in March 2025, the USDA canceled $660 million for the . Started in 2021, the program provided funding to states to purchase local foods for use in schools, helping farmers sell more of their products to schools and expanding local and regional food markets.

Without this funding, schools face even greater , reducing the amount spent in the local agricultural economy and relying instead on large national wholesalers or distributors.

Looking ahead

Despite the challenges of implementing scratch cooking, Robertson said the shift to preparing more items from scratch has generated strong support from the local community, which has been fulfilling for her staff.

鈥淪taff members will get stopped in grocery stores, by parents or teachers, and they鈥檒l rave about a particular menu item they heard their child talk about,鈥� she said.

Robertson鈥檚 mom worked in public education, and she remembers a time when students enjoyed the food they were served in the school cafeteria. They would even ask for recipes. 

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure when that stopped, but that鈥檚 kind of my ultimate goal 鈥� to get back to that and build those relationships,鈥� she said.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

As President Donald Trump reportedly mulls an executive order to eliminate the Education Department, the federal government鈥檚 role could shift from ensuring children have equal educational opportunities to making it easier to deport them. 

One closely watched avenue where that could happen is allowing immigration enforcement in schools. Trump last month barring federal agents from conducting raids in sensitive locations like churches, hospitals and schools. 

A protest Thursday against the administration targeting schools in its mass deportation pledge was sparked in part by claims that last month was precipitated by rampant classroom bullying, with the student鈥檚 peers claiming the Texas girl’s family was undocumented and would get deported.

鈥淭he presence of immigration enforcement in our classrooms will not make schools safer, it will actually do the opposite,鈥� Alejandra Gonzalez Rizo, an eighth-grade teacher in Washington, D.C., and a former DACA recipient, said during a Thursday press call organized by two advocacy groups, United We Dream Action and The Immigration Hub. 鈥淚t will create chaos and fear, forcing students and teachers to look over their shoulders instead of focusing on learning.鈥� 

The big picture: To date, I鈥檓 not aware of any cases during Trump鈥檚 second term where immigration officials carried out enforcement actions inside a school. Advocates warned of a greater fallout to come. 

• School police in Texas have opened an investigation into Jocelynn’s death. |
• Now you see it, now you don鈥檛: The Trump administration implemented 鈥� then walked back just days later 鈥� an order that sidelined a federal program that allows nonprofits to provide legal representation to undocumented children who are in the country without their parents. |
  • The young migrants, called unaccompanied minors, have become a central target in Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown. |
  • Prohibiting ICE activities at or near schools or bus stops 鈥渃ould significantly limit immigration enforcement in Denver,鈥� the Trump administration said in response to a lawsuit from the city鈥檚 school district seeking to prevent an end to the sensitive locations policy. |
  • In February, a federal judge blocked immigration officials from conducting raids and arrests at a handful of churches and places of worship that sued to halt the policy shift. Trump鈥檚 directive, the judge ordered, likely denied religious freedoms protected by the First Amendment. |

Emboldened states: Decades ago, the Supreme Court ruled that all children in the U.S. are entitled to a free public education regardless of their immigration status. Conservative state officials want that to change 鈥� with lawmakers in Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana and Texas introducing bills to bar undocumented kids from classrooms. |

The Pinellas County, Florida, police department has reportedly applied for a federal program that deputizes local officers with immigration enforcement powers. |

• On Thursday, Pinellas school officials said they would cooperate with ICE but would stop short of instructing its officers to work alongside federal immigration agents. |

Departing gifts: From soccer balls to handwritten letters, educators across the country have been giving heartfelt mementos to multilingual learners whose families have chosen to leave their schools and their homes rather than risk scrutiny from immigration agents. | 社区黑料

In the news

R.I.P. ED? Trump is expected to sign an executive order as early as today calling for an end to the Department of Education, throwing into uncertainty an agency that enforces federal civil rights laws and distributes financial support to low-income schools and students with disabilities. But here鈥檚 the thing: The department was created by Congress 鈥� and bringing down a federal agency will take a lot more than a few scribbles on a piece of paper. |

Now you see it, now you don鈥檛 (again): The department appeared to walk back a controversial order that threatened to strip federal funding from schools with diversity, equity and inclusion policies. | 社区黑料

• In response to the original order, some educators said they had no intention of playing along. In Long Beach, California, for example, school officials moved forward with plans to open the Center of Black Student Excellence despite federal pressure. | 社区黑料
  
• In a lawsuit Wednesday, the ACLU and the nation鈥檚 largest teachers union alleged Trump鈥檚 anti-DEI order stifled educators鈥� free speech rights. |

In a first-in-the-nation move, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed a law that strips state anti-discrimination protections from transgender and nonbinary students. |

A lawsuit has accused a former security guard at a Milwaukee private school of secretly recording underage girls in a campus locker room. |

• More from Milwaukee: City officials approved a $1.6 million plan to station police officers in public schools 鈥� more than 400 days after a state law went into effect requiring cops on campuses. |

The Senate failed to pass legislation that sought to bar transgender students from participating in school athletics programs consistent with their gender identity. | 社区黑料

Free from gun-free zones: A new Wyoming law has banned 鈥済un-free zones鈥� in schools and other public spaces. |

Kept in the Dark

For a recent investigation for 社区黑料 and Wired, I fell down a dark web rabbit hole and chronicled more than 300 school cyberattacks in the last five years 鈥� and revealed the degree to which school leaders in virtually every state repeatedly provide false assurances to students, parents and staff about the security of their sensitive information. 

This week, I highlighted my investigation into a ransomware attack on the Providence, Rhode Island, school district 鈥� where educators denied a massive student data breach in plain sight. 

As a result of that 18-month-long investigation, I was interviewed last week on KARE 11, the NBC affiliate in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Public records I obtained from Minneapolis Public Schools uncovered sharp disparities in what district leaders told the FBI after a 2023 data breach and what it communicated to the public. You can watch the newscast .

ICYMI @The74

• To Make Ed Tech More Secure, Software Companies Need to Step Up
  
• AI Chatbots Can Cushion the High School Counselor Shortage 鈥� But Are They Bad for Students?
  
• 1st Confirmed Death in Texas Measles Outbreak Is Unvaccinated, School-Aged Child

Emotional support

Oh hey, springtime, is that you? 社区黑料 editor Andrew Brownstein鈥檚 pup Sagan is already out in the yard waiting for longer, warmer days. 

In an effort to address rising incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia, New York City鈥檚 Education Department launched an anti-hate hotline, officials said Monday.

The goal is to streamline related to hate, harassment, and discrimination, adding another avenue on top of a four-year-old online portal for all bullying complaints.

The hotline (718-935-2889), staffed with Education Department employees, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday. Callers can remain anonymous, but the pre-recorded greeting suggests having your student鈥檚 ID number or your staff ID number to 鈥渆xpedite your call.鈥�

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鈥淭here is zero tolerance for hate in our schools,鈥� incoming Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said in a statement, 鈥渁nd this new hotline will help ensure incidents are reported and addressed.鈥�

The announcement was part of a suite of initiatives the Education Department highlighted as the city commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas on Israel, which killed more than 1,200 people. More than 250 people were taken hostage and Israel鈥檚 subsequent attack on Gaza has killed , including many children, and has led to a.

Prior to the new hotline, students and staff members could report incidents with their school or through a bullying portal the department launched in 2020 in response to a

From September to January last school year, the city saw roughly 440 school reports about incidents related to ethnicity or national origin, up about 30% from the same time the year before, . There were nearly 290 reports related to religion, up nearly 78% from the year before.

, according to the annual school surveys. About 40% of the middle and high school students who responded to the survey reported seeing harassment based on race, ethnicity, religion, or immigration status, up from 30% in 2019.

Many people had been asking the Education Department to create a hotline or dedicated way to specifically report hate-rated incidents, including , who faced a raucous student protest over her support of Israel in the aftermath of the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

Marder recently sued the city for failing to protect her before students began marching in the hallways, calling for her ouster. She has, however, remained at the school 鈥� she now helps oversee student discipline as one of the school鈥檚 deans 鈥� and has been heartened that the new school year has started off relatively calm under a new principal. She spent much of the past year calling on outgoing schools Chancellor David Banks to create a hotline like the one that was just launched.

鈥淚鈥檓 very happy they are finally doing this though it shouldn鈥檛 have taken a year,鈥� she told Chalkbeat.

As , the Education Department鈥檚 Office of Safety and Prevention Partnerships expected to deploy additional staffers to public schools on Monday, officials said. And ahead of Oct. 7, Education Department officials sent reminders to principals about the role of schools to create safe spaces for students to engage with current events 鈥� but in ways that ensure schools don鈥檛 take political stances, officials said. Students have previously complained that

Additionally, the Education Department this fall is offering new anti-discrimination staff training with a specific focus on antisemitism and Islamophobia. The city鈥檚 Hidden Voices curriculum 鈥� which focuses on historical figures whose stories seldom get told 鈥� is expected to release installments by the end of the school year on Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans, and the city is encouraging of different cultures and their histories. The school system鈥檚 is continuing to meet this year, as a way to demonstrate to students how to build bridges across different groups.

This story was originally published by . Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at . 

A few years ago, Dr. Steven Rogers, a physician in the emergency department at Connecticut Children鈥檚 Medical Center, started a new initiative. He wanted to screen every child age 10 and up who passed through the department for suicide risk. That鈥檚 around 15,000 kids a year. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 lots of stigma around this question,鈥� Rogers said. 鈥淚鈥檇 rather be able to identify kids who are low risk and need help versus when they鈥檙e an imminent risk or have already made an attempt.鈥�  

In Connecticut, 11 children have died by suicide so far this year, nine of those in the past few months. To put that in perspective, just six children 17 and younger died by suicide in all of 2023. 

鈥淚 hope this isn鈥檛 a canary in the coal mine,鈥� said Gov. Ned Lamont in late August at a roundtable event on youth suicide. 

There were no clusters of deaths, according to the Office of the Child Advocate, and deaths were distributed across the state, as well as among races and genders. The children were between the ages of 13 and 17. 

鈥淲e have a problem,鈥� Sarah Eagan, Connecticut鈥檚 child advocate, said during the roundtable. She said most children who die by suicide in Connecticut die by asphyxiation, and in recent years, the age of those children is skewing younger. 

鈥淲e have work to do,鈥� Eagan said, 鈥渁nd that work is not done until no child is bereft and alone, not knowing where to call, and there is no parent who 鈥� can鈥檛 sleep not knowing if they鈥檙e doing the right thing for their child.鈥� 

For Rogers, the summer鈥檚 high numbers were especially hard to take in.

鈥淚t feels like a failure, especially for somebody who has committed a good part of their career to identifying kids at risk,鈥� he said. 

Connecticut Children鈥檚 effort is just one example of a broadened push to respond to the youth mental health crisis in the state, one that has become increasingly urgent since the COVID pandemic. But even before the pandemic, Rogers was adamant that the screening tool was needed. Suicide is the No. 2 cause of death in children 10 and older, trailing unintentional injuries. 

And so, since August 2019, clinicians have been screening children 10 and older in the emergency department at Connecticut Children鈥檚 in Hartford, asking them a series of questions to assess their suicide risk, after their parent or caregiver is asked to leave the room. The process takes less than a minute, Rogers said. 

鈥淥nce you screen a kid positive that you didn鈥檛 suspect would be positive 鈥� I don鈥檛 want to be too dramatic and say it鈥檚 life-changing, but it is an eye-opener.鈥�

Kids who do screen positive are directed toward appropriate mental health services. For some high-risk children, that might be an inpatient program. For others who are not in immediate danger of self harm, a counseling session or further evaluation might be scheduled in the comfort of their home. 

Of the 75,000 children that the hospital has screened in the past five years, 18% were positive for risk of suicide. That鈥檚 nearly 1 in 5 children. Most of those children came to the emergency department for a behavioral health issue in the first place. But an extraordinary number 鈥� around 6,000 children 鈥� initially came in for a medical issue like an asthma attack or a broken bone and ended up screening positive for suicide risk.

Rogers says he is fighting a perception that simply discussing suicide with children might plant a seed of suicidal ideation. But according to Rogers, this is a misnomer.

鈥淚t plants the seeds of hope,鈥� he said.

In fact, he said, the screening tool can at the very least inform children that there is a place they can go that will ask them if they are considering suicide, a place where they can also get help. Because, he said, all too often, caregivers never have these conversations with children at all.

Rogers often thinks about the story of an 11-year-old girl who came to the hospital for a medical issue. To the clinician鈥檚 surprise, and to her mother鈥檚, she screened positive for suicide risk. The mom asked her daughter 鈥� weren鈥檛 they best friends? They were, the girl told her mother. But, the mother said, didn鈥檛 best friends tell each other everything? 鈥淎nd she turned to her mother and just said, 鈥榃ell, you never asked.鈥� “

Owen Driscoll, a 17-year-old senior at Rufus King International High School in Milwaukee, was skeptical about starting school after Labor Day this year, three weeks later than before. But he is beginning to see the advantages.

鈥淟ast year when we were on the old schedule, we had a few heat days [off in August] because it was so unbearable,鈥� he said, noting that few classrooms are air-conditioned. That made it hard to get into the rhythm of school, he said.

By delaying the start date and extending the school year into June, heat days are more likely at the end of the year, Driscoll acknowledged. But by then, he said, students are ready to be done and appreciate the unscheduled time off.

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Higher summer temperatures, driven by climate change, are pushing more school districts around the country to start the school year later. It鈥檚 contrary to a decades-long trend toward moving up start dates. In addition to the change at some schools in Milwaukee, school officials in Philadelphia and in Billings, Montana, also have cited heat as a reason to push back their start dates.

鈥淲e see examples all over the country,鈥� said Karen White, deputy executive director of the National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 only gotten worse,鈥� White said. 鈥淲e are at a point in time [in the school year when] parents and educators and students should be excited. It鈥檚 difficult when you are sending your kid to a classroom that鈥檚 more like a hot yoga class.鈥�

White said climate change has led some teachers to demand air conditioning in collective bargaining. She pointed to an in Columbus, Ohio, that called for climate-controlled classrooms by the 2025-26 school year.

In Philadelphia, district spokesperson Christina Clark said that beginning school after Labor Day will minimize the number of heat-related school closures, 鈥渨hich exacerbate inequities between schools that have air conditioning and those that do not.鈥�

鈥淗ot temperatures during the first few days of school leads to headaches, lack of attention and general frustration,鈥� Clark wrote in an email to Stateline.

In Billings, Montana, Superintendent Erwin Garcia noted that one of the district鈥檚 oldest high schools has no air conditioning and the other has it in only half the building.

鈥淚 noticed classrooms can be 90 degrees, 95 degrees, almost 100 degrees. And our students and teachers have to go through that process for two to three weeks,鈥� Garcia last December, when the district was discussing changes. The school board voted to push back this year鈥檚 start date to Sept. 3. The 2023-24 school year began on Aug. 22.

He estimated that fully air-conditioning the two oldest high schools would cost $24 million 鈥� and that the district would have to ask taxpayers for the money, according to KTVQ.

A lawmaker in Texas, where most schools started the week of Aug. 12, plans to file a bill in the next legislative session to delay school openings as a way to reduce stress on the state鈥檚 power grid.

鈥淲ith 1,100 new residents daily and an ever-expanding economy, opening schools before Labor Day is an awfully wasteful stress on our power grid. Cooling thousands of buildings 鈥� often the largest buildings in a community 鈥� during the hottest months of the year makes no sense,鈥� Texas Republican state Rep. Jared Patterson .

鈥淪chools should be completely closed during July & August, saving taxpayer dollars on cooling expenses and our grid at the same time,鈥� he wrote last month.

In general, schools in the Northeast start later, schools in the Deep South, earlier. In places that are hot for much of the year, such as Arizona, Florida and Texas, the heat is less of a concern because nearly all schools are fully air conditioned. In the six New England states, however, almost no students go back before the end of August, while in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, about three-quarters of students don鈥檛 return until after Labor Day, according to a .

Contrary to popular belief, the school calendar has little to do with the agrarian economy, . If it did, spring planting and fall harvesting seasons would be days off school for farm kids.

What is true is that in recent years, historically hot summers have forced many schools 鈥� no matter when their start dates 鈥� to temporarily close. Last month, for example, some schools in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin all closed or dismissed students early because of excessive heat.

And last year, schools in nine states 鈥� Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin 鈥� during the first week of September either closed or let kids out before scheduled dismissal, according to a by CBS News.

Climate change will 鈥減robably hasten a push back to a September start in places that have somewhat temperate Junes,鈥� said Joshua Graff Zivin, an economist and director of the Cowhey Center on Global Transformation at the University of California San Diego.

Zivin said more schools should invest in air conditioning, but even with it, a hot commute to school or home temperatures too high to get a good night鈥檚 sleep affect students鈥� performance and might lead to calls for later school start dates.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office in 2020 found 41% of school districts across the country need to update or replace heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning  systems in at least half of their schools, amounting to about 36,000 schools.

The federal agency didn鈥檛 measure how many schools have no air conditioning at all, according to Jackie Nowicki, a director in GAO鈥檚 team that focuses on education.

In Milwaukee, Adria Maddaleni, chief human resources officer for the Milwaukee Public Schools, said the later start was partially the result of a parent survey. Only about a quarter of classrooms in the district have air conditioning.

鈥淚 thank the Lord we did not have early start this session,鈥� Maddaleni said in an interview, 鈥渁nd we didn鈥檛 have to worry about canceling school.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org. Follow Stateline on and .

As the pandemic came to an end and students returned to in-person learning, the national sentiment around school safety and security grew dire. 

After more than a year of learning from home and away from their friends, frenemies and rivals, educators reported that children brought back to school with them newfound behavioral challenges. 

But new federal data 鈥� including on-campus assaults, bullying and thefts 鈥� complicate that narrative. Even as students鈥� mental health needs surged, the numbers suggest that school crime continued a downward trend that鈥檚 been ongoing for more than a decade. 

These 10 charts explain how schools have grown less violent since COVID. 

In the news

• Benched: A district court judge in Detroit has been temporarily barred from hearing cases after he ordered a teenager visiting his courtroom to be handcuffed after he caught her sleeping. Turns out, the girl struggled to stay awake during the field trip because she lacked a permanent home. |

• A California student privacy law approved in 2022, which prohibits social media companies from using children鈥檚 personal information, likely violates the First Amendment, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled. |

• Not liable: A Texas jury found the parents of the gunman who carried out the 2018 school shooting in Santa Fe, which killed 10 and injured 13 others, could not be held legally responsible for the mayhem. Victims鈥� families alleged the parents acted negligently when they failed to prevent the attack. The shooter was found mentally unfit to stand trial and remains hospitalized. |

• A failure by the San Diego school district to protect kids from sexual harassment and abuse led to “serial perpetration,鈥� a federal civil rights investigation found. |

• 鈥�Juvenile Crime, Adult Time鈥�: Florida children charged as adults for felony crimes get longer sentences on average than older, adult offenders, a Miami Herald investigation found. |

• ZeroEyes, an AI-powered gun detection company, announced a partnership with the New York Boards of Cooperative Educational Services that gives school districts across the state access to 鈥減re-negotiated, discounted prices.鈥�  |

• Calendar invite: The National Center for Youth Law will host an Aug. 27 webinar on youth voting rights, where experts will 鈥渟hare their insights into empowering 16 and 17 year olds to participate in our democracy.鈥� |

• In Las Vegas, a weapons detection system caused substantial delays at a high school football game, frustrating dozens of students and parents who were left waiting away from the field well past kickoff. |

• Gaggle, a surveillance tool that monitors students鈥� online communications, has been rolled out in Ohio鈥檚 biggest school district. |
  • Read my Gaggle investigation: Meet the Gatekeepers of Students鈥� Private Lives 

• A new Tennessee law lets teachers carry guns to class, but so far there haven鈥檛 been any takers. |

• Google Classroom 鈥渦ndermines children鈥檚 privacy and data protection, potentially infringing children’s other rights,鈥� according to new research. |

• The Department of Homeland Security is out with a new guide designed to help educators spot the warning signs of online child sexual exploitation and abuse. |

• Between 2020 and 2022, the number of youth locked up in juvenile justice facilities fell by a staggering 75%. |

• Hooray for heroes: A Colorado school bus driver is being credited with saving the lives of more than a dozen kids after the bus went up in flames during the commute home. |

ICYMI @The74

• My colleague Amanda Geduld caught up with teen activist Rhea Maniar to discuss how abortion could prompt a surge in youth voter turnout.

• The Supreme Court won鈥檛 stop states that refuse to enforce new Biden administration Title IX rules that sought to protect LGBTQ+ youth from school-based discrimination.

Who Wrote Texas鈥檚 Million Dollar, Bible-Infused Curriculum? The State Won鈥檛 Say.

Opinion: Fifty years after the passage of FERPA,  the primary federal student privacy law needs a refresh for the AI era.

Emotional support

I hope you find my roundup on the latest school crime stats to be stimulating. 

Matilda did not. 

When the Dalio Foundation released a report last October about  it said it was just the start of the work to come.

Months later, the , a 15-person group made up mainly of town mayors tasked with coming up with strategies to tackle the problem, is still developing a strategy 鈥� and doesn鈥檛 have a cost estimate for its efforts.

Still, the group says its 鈥淣orth Star鈥� goal is to get 60,000 at-risk and disconnected youth back on track within the next 10 years.

The first step was bringing awareness to the issue of the growing number of Connecticut youth, from ages 14 to 26, who were judged to be disconnected or at risk of being disconnected from school or employment, based on factors such as chronic absenteeism, behavioral issues, and leaving school without a degree or other path to employment.

The 119K Commission said it plans to release a detailed strategy in October but did not provide further details at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

鈥淭his is a process that you have to really get your arms around the scope to make sure that the strategy that you put out will truly move the needle and answer that question of, 鈥榃hat would it look like to reduce this population by 60,000?’鈥� Joe DeLong, a commission co-chair and executive director and CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, told The Connecticut Mirror. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such an important measure because there are probably going to be a series of things that we would really like to happen to this strategy that ultimately may not make the cut because, as you put it through those filters, it doesn鈥檛 meet that goal.鈥�

DeLong said some initiatives 鈥� such as partnerships to work on curriculum changes to keep students better engaged, more community centers for extracurricular programs or more organizations offering wraparound services for struggling students 鈥� are being analyzed, but there wasn鈥檛 anything set in stone yet.

鈥淭he one concept I think that the whole commission has coalesced around from the beginning is that we have to create this young-person, student-centered model in terms of their needs,鈥� DeLong said.

That effort has begun with a listening tour with months of roundtables with youth from Waterbury, Stamford and Bridgeport so far.

Two more meetings are planned in Stratford and Hartford, which would total 200 youth involved in 鈥渞epresenting a mix of young people from at risk, to modernly disconnected, to severely disconnected, different ages, genders and race,鈥� and their perspectives, said Josh Brown, a co-chairperson from , a Stamford-based nonprofit that works with disconnected and disengaged youth.

鈥淭here are many insights, but there鈥檚 six big lessons that we have learned from our young people. One [is that] these young people have dreams, just like all young people. Some of them want to be doctors, real estate professionals, lawyers, entrepreneurs, photographers, police officers and even educators,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淭wo [is that] charting a path to achieve their goals and dreams is often based on Google. If they鈥檙e lucky enough, they鈥檒l have a family friend or somebody that also has experience and go to them as well, but with that being said, in most cases, these young people have to be very self sufficient.鈥�

Students also said youth programs and resources are hard to navigate and that high school can feel like an obstacle when they can鈥檛 find transportation to campus, may have to take care of siblings or curriculum may not fit their interests.

鈥淥ne thing is clear and common: we all heard they鈥檙e bored,鈥� Brown said.

Young people lack a sense of community and 鈥渢here鈥檚 scarce access to recreation,鈥� Brown added. 鈥淭hey have cited a wide range of wishes, ranging from questions on how to access nature walks, going to the library on the weekend, or common comments that are limited opportunities 鈥� either because they don鈥檛 have the money, or 鈥� they just don鈥檛 know about it,鈥� including weekend activities or sport leagues.

The insight from the community so far has led to four 鈥渆merging strategic pillars鈥�: coalition, coordination, conditions and capacity, said Andrew Ferguson, a co-chairperson for Dalio Education, a grant foundation that engages with public school communities and provides funding to several nonprofits.

鈥淭hese four things are building on some existing efforts in Connecticut, but they鈥檙e also helping to build out a lot that doesn鈥檛 exist yet,鈥� Ferguson said.

DeLong said more 鈥渞eally deep dives鈥� are needed in the next three months as they finalize their strategic plan.

鈥淭here鈥檚 areas that we all think are really, really important, but they they need to wait to be explored at a later time, because they won鈥檛 be part of this initial strategy that meets the mission,鈥� DeLong said. 鈥淸There鈥檚] such a wide and important variety of areas [youth need help in] that go from housing and homelessness to food insecurity to trauma. 鈥� We need something that defines actions going forward.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 Note: The CT Mirror is a grantee of the Dalio Foundation.

Illinois public schools wishing to teach their students about the dangers of overdoses and substance use disorder now have a blueprint to do so from the state.

The Illinois State Board of Education published the resource guides in accordance with a law passed in 2023. While a school鈥檚 use of any of the state鈥檚  is voluntary, some public health advocates consider the creation of the guides a step in the right direction. Administrators and educators can download age-appropriate presentations, lesson plans or fact sheets.

Various courses developed by  nonprofits and federal agencies provide options for curricula about what prescription drugs are, the science of drug interactions, harm reduction, and how to manage medication alongside mental health struggles. Complexity increases with age; high school resources include lessons on different classes of drugs.

Some links connect to materials or videos from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a 鈥渧irtual field trip鈥� produced by the .

One resource referenced multiple times in the guides, , was developed in part by Cardinal Health, a pharmaceutical distributor who paid out part of a  with 45 states, , in 2022.

Overdose remains a leading cause of accidental death in the state and across the country, something not lost on the various public health organizations that supported the legislation to create the guides. The Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition, an advocacy network of organizations and individuals dedicated to , released a statement praising ISBE and the Department of Human Services for their work but said there was a 鈥渓ack of opportunities鈥� for more involvement from community members.

During 2022 鈥� the most recent year with comparable data 鈥� more than  people died of an overdose in Illinois, while almost  were killed by firearms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, more than  people in Illinois died due to a traffic accident, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The law requiring the guides  the House and the Senate unanimously. It鈥檚 known as Louie鈥檚 Law in honor of Louie Miceli, who died of an overdose in 2012 at 24 years old.

Felicia Miceli, Louie鈥檚 mother, said he was first exposed to opioids at age 17 following a high school football injury.

鈥淲e know this guidance will equip communities with vital information, tools, and resources,鈥� Miceli said in a . 鈥淏ut only if they know about it and have an implementation plan.鈥�

The Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition and the LTM Heroin Awareness and Support Foundation 鈥� which Miceli started in honor of her son 鈥� released a statement celebrating the 鈥渇irst-of-its-kind鈥� guides but also said the process could have benefitted from including more perspectives while crafting various guides.

鈥淭he organizations are concerned about the lack of opportunities for broader stakeholder involvement in the guidelines鈥� development, including the primary target audiences (and) marginalized groups,鈥� the release reads.

Last year, 30 teenagers in Cook County died due to drug toxicity, according to the .

 is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

The bowls of Caesar salad, spaghetti and chicken piccata are all made with fresh ingredients. And each bowl has tongs for the half dozen students and a teacher at each table to serve themselves as they rotate the wheel. 

Two students at the Ohio school step to the front of the cafeteria to present what the school鈥檚 founding principal A.J. Stich calls the school鈥檚 鈥済race鈥� 鈥� its goals for each student when they become adults.

One of the two students reads each line aloud, then pauses for the 102 kindergarten through fourth grade students in the cafeteria to repeat it: 

Each day, I will work to achieve our Age 27 goals:

Being physically and mentally healthy,

Demonstrating character and integrity,

Preparing for a career and for financial independence,

And living my own definition of success.

May this food help our bodies;

We are thankful for the hands that made it and for the friends we share it with.

Family-style meals and the daily repetition of goals for their adult lives are one of several ways the Greater Dayton School sets itself apart from a typical school. 

A private school that only accepts low income students, Greater Dayton is designed to help them with more than academics. Its goal is to let students set their own course in life and be financially independent and healthy as adults, not just graduate from high school or go to college. 

Launched in the fall of 2022, the Greater Dayton School has income limits for all students, other than children of staff who may also attend. The school has a health clinic for students, extended school days until 5 p.m, two teachers in every classroom, individualized learning plans, and even schoolwide toothbrushing times.

Initially housed in a former Salvation Army administration building, the school hopes to grow to about 400 students from preschool to eighth grade. It鈥檚 still an experiment that鈥檚 too young to show a track record of success, but it already has a buzz around the city and drew Ohio鈥檚 Lt. governor to the grand opening of its new, much larger $50 million building this spring

鈥淚t’s really about the whole child, not just about academics,鈥� said Larry Connor, a Dayton real estate developer whose and foundation is funding most of the school. 鈥淢ake no mistake, academics is important. But their physical health and their mental health is integral in obtaining good academic outcomes.鈥�

Though the school is partially funded by state tuition vouchers of $6,165 per student, Greater Dayton spends $30,000 a year or more per student, with Connor and his company鈥檚 foundation covering the gap.

鈥淥ur objective is to build a model that can be replicated in cities throughout the United States,鈥� Connor said. 鈥淲e’re trying to take a really long term view, because every community in America has this type of need.鈥�

Stich and other school leaders consulted successful schools across the country such as Meeting Street Academy in Charleston, S.C., Christina Seix Academy in Trenton, N.J., and the Waterside School in Stamford, Conn. as they built their plan to offer all the supports research says low-income kids need.

The school creates personal education plans for each student and lets them set much of their plan for each day 鈥� what the school calls their playlist 鈥� to give them ownership of their learning. 

It limits classes to 20 students, then places two full-time teachers in each class. Students do much of their work online at their own pace, using programs from Zearn or Lexia while the teachers work with students individually or in small groups. 

Students are grouped with a few grades in each classroom to intentionally mix ages. Eventually, after it adds grades, the school will group students in classrooms of Prek, K-2, 3-5 and 6-8.

鈥淔rom an academic standpoint, I think it’s wonderful,鈥� said Brittany Wylie, who teaches grades 2-4 as the school grows. 鈥淎nd it’s effective. In years past, if I had a fifth grade classroom, the actual academic level of those students could range anywhere from kindergarten through sixth grade, but I was expected to teach them all just fifth grade curriculum, whether they actually grasp it or not. Here, I feel like I’m actually seeing students understand and digest and then be able to move on.鈥�

Greater Dayton also supports students and families with after school activities until 5 p.m. The extra time solves child care needs of working parents, while also helping close the gap between what suburban and affluent students receive in enrichment activities and what lower income families can afford.

While some students build models of rockets or the Taj Mahal with Legos, others run a store where others buy items with 鈥渕oney鈥� they earn by meeting school goals. Mark Kreider, the school鈥檚 financial literacy teacher, oversees the store after spending the day teaching even the youngest students the basics of business and savings.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no such thing as too early,鈥� Kreider said. 鈥淚 really think that this idea of building wealth, versus just surviving is such a critical concept for our kids,鈥� said Kreider. 鈥淲e talk about financial independence鈥ecause if you’re in this cycle of paycheck to paycheck, drowning in debt, your options are just incredibly narrow.鈥�

鈥淚 don’t know what our kids are going to do when they get older,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ut I just want them to have options. Will they all own a small business? Probably not. But they should at least know how and know how to think about it. It’s almost like a worldview, a perspective. Hey, that’s the dream.鈥�

Students also earn freedom with good behavior, earning the right to work outside the classroom, often on the giant open staircase and terrace with couches that overlook the cafeteria.

Student health is a major part of the school鈥檚 mission. Students have more than an hour of physical education each day. Meals are at least 80 percent whole foods, with minimal processing or sugar, other than a dessert only on Fridays.

The school also has created a medical and dental office in the school, run by Dayton Children鈥檚 Hospital, so students can receive care as part of the school day, without parents having to take them out of school. Because Medicaid eligibility is a requirement for most students to enroll, the care is already covered.

鈥淲hen it’s time for kids to go to the doctor, go to the dentist, they walk downstairs, and then they go back to class,鈥� Stitch said.

The school even makes brushing teeth a daily habit by having all students head to the bathrooms at scheduled times to brush, as teachers watch to be sure they do it right.

Mental health is also a priority, particularly since students can come from families facing financial and other challenges. The school has a mental health counselor now for its 102 students and plans to add another as the school grows. 

How much impact the school is having is still unclear. Like other Ohio private schools, its students don鈥檛 take Ohio鈥檚 state tests. Using NWEA diagnostic test scores and NWEA鈥檚 own model for comparing scores to Ohio state tests, the school estimates that students are gaining academically faster than state averages and that 72 percent of its students score as proficient, compared to 45 percent of low-income students in Dayton鈥檚 county.

Wylie, who previously taught in the high-poverty Youngstown schools, said the school setting high standards and then rewarding students who meet them creates an atmosphere of accountability and trust that shows students how to thrive.

鈥淲e really believe that they can do anything they set their mind to, that they will be successful, and that they are valuable,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y personal belief is that students from any background, if they haven’t had an example modeled for them, they don’t know any better. They just need the opportunity to be shown.鈥�

The state dragged its sex education guidelines into a new millennium last year, updating health frameworks for pre-K through 12th grade students to include modern language on sexuality and consent. But a growing coalition that has pushed for the better part of a decade to keep sex ed in step with the times says there鈥檚 still more work to be done 鈥� if only the House of Representatives will get on board.

Supporters of the are taking a fifth swing at passing the legislation, which has made it through the state Senate four times only to fizzle in the House. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill next week, and proponents believe the tide is finally turning in their favor in both chambers.

鈥淚 just think that the time is now,鈥� said bill sponsor Sen. Sal DiDomenico, of Everett, who has pushed for the Healthy Youth Act for the past decade along with House sponsor Rep. Jim O鈥橠ay, of West Boylston. 鈥淚 think there’s momentum built up behind the bill,鈥� DiDomenico said. 鈥淭he coalition has been working very hard, getting support and just showing people that we don’t have time to wait 鈥� these are kids who are still making decisions every single day and still talking about this every single day in their own little groups, and we need to get that information in their hands so they can make the decisions going forward.鈥�

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Though the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education last year its sex and health education guidelines for the , with support from Gov. Maura Healey, the Healthy Youth Act has 鈥渢eeth鈥� that the framework does not, DiDomenico said.

Broadly, the act would require that state standards for sex and health education be inclusive, reflective of current science, and updated at least every 10 years. Cities and towns would be required to describe their sexual education curricula to the department each year, as well as report the number of students receiving that education.

The new DESE framework 鈥渋s a good suggestion,鈥� DiDomenico said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a floor, but not really digging deep into the curriculum standards.鈥� For instance, he said, it still allows schools to choose to provide abstinence-only sex education. Under the Healthy Youth Act, any educational institution that offers a sex ed course has to provide 鈥渕edically accurate, age-appropriate, comprehensive sexual health education.鈥�

Under the act, health curriculum guidelines would cover human anatomy, reproductive and sexual activity, preventing sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS, effective use of contraceptives, discussing safe sexual activity and healthy relationships, and age-appropriate education on gender identity and sexual orientation that affirms a variety of gender and sexual identities.

The act would not override or change Massachusetts state law allowing schools to decide whether to offer sexual health courses and parents to opt their children out of that health segment. Parents and guardians would be informed by letter about the comprehensive sex education curriculum and informed of the opt-out option.

But the act would prevent the molasses-like evolution of sex ed frameworks that鈥檚 marked the last quarter-century. It isn鈥檛 enough, DiDomenico said, to bank on a sympathetic governor with an interest in inclusive health policy.

鈥淲e don’t know what the future brings us and who will be in that seat,鈥� he said. “So if we do not have a regular updating process, then it’s up to the will of the people who are in charge at that particular moment in time and if they decide to kick the can down the road, or they decide not to address it, or they decide to just ignore it and hope that someone else will take it up at a later date.鈥�

Gearing up for yet another tilt at the windmill, supporters have said this cycle that momentum is on their side 鈥� around 80 representatives and senators have signed on to versions of , including members of House leadership. This push coincided last year with a wave of anxiety about reproductive choices and support for LGBTQ+ people.

Speaker Ron Mariano, who stood alongside elected leaders and reproductive health organizations to for protecting access to medication abortion, said at the time about the sex ed bill that he was 鈥済oing through the details and having conversations with members.鈥� His office did not respond to requests for comment.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday approved a a voucher-like program for schools after a debate lasting over four hours.

, sponsored by Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville and known as the CHOOSE Act, passed the House on a 69-34 vote. Six Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the bill.

Supporters of the bill said it would give opportunities to students in struggling schools to find better education.

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鈥淭he CHOOSE Act will provide an opportunity for students to learn and thrive in an environment that best meets their needs, which could be a public school,鈥� said Garrett during the debate Tuesday.

Opposition to the bill came mostly from Democrats, who said that the bill would destroy public education in Alabama. Some likened the bill to a form of modern-day segregation.

Rep. Curtis Travis, D-Tuscaloosa, cited his experience during desegregation of schools in Hale County in the late 1960鈥檚 and early 1970鈥檚, when private schools serving mostly white students were built in response to federal desegregation orders. He said he was worried that the Legislature would be using tax dollars 鈥渢o create separation.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not that history tends to repeat itself, but that people tend to repeat history,鈥� Travis said.

The legislation would allow households with school-age children to claim up to $7,000 in tax credits to be spent on certain education-related expenses, including private school tuition, tutoring or education services for children with disabilities.

The Legislature must appropriate at least $100 million for the program each year. The first 500 spots are reserved for students with special needs, defined by individualized education plans (IEP) or 504 plans.

The program will initially be limited to families making less than 300% of the federal poverty line, or around $75,000 for a family of three, but it would give priority to households with lower incomes. The funds would eventually be made available to all households. The special needs-reserved spots are not limited to the income level.

While Democrats have always opposed voucher and voucher-like legislation, Republicans from rural areas have also tended to be wary of voucher bills out of fear it would divert resources from their local schools.

Reps. Alan Baker, R-Brewton; Tracy Estes, R-Winfield; Chris Sells, R-Greenville; Randall Shedd, R-Fairview; David Standridge, R-Hayden and Tim Wadsworth, R-Arley voted with Democrats against the bill.

House Education Policy Committee Chair Terri Collins, R-Decatur, who introduced the legislation on the House floor, said the bill had 鈥渁 lot guardrails鈥� that protect public schools, such as allowing parents to judge school performance by comparing students鈥� results with those of students around the nation.

鈥淚 like accountability. I see that in this bill,鈥� Collins said.

Democrats remained skeptical. Rep. Sam Jones, D-Mobile, echoed Travis and said that the legislation could promote segregation.

鈥淲hat we have here, as I said earlier, is a real experiment, and for the sake of the kids in this state, I hope it works,鈥� Jones said.

Garrett rejected the argument that the legislation could promote segregation, at one point saying that 鈥渨e need to move past that.鈥�

Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, said that 鈥渁ccountability and transparency is not equal in this bill.鈥� Private and public schools are governed by different rules, Drummond said.

鈥淭he same rules ought to apply to both public and private school, so we鈥檒l have apples and apples. Right now, this legislation doesn鈥檛 do that,鈥� Drummond said, adding that they don鈥檛 know if teachers in the private schools will be certified.

Garrett also blocked attempts by more conservative lawmakers to expand the program.

Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Hills, said he was concerned the legislation does not give parents enough choice and offered an amendment that would have provided that education service providers do not have to be approved by the Alabama Department of Revenue. The amendment was tabled 85-11.

鈥淥pening this up to all children would be an amazing thing for this state,鈥� Mooney said, adding that the amendment would allow any child to 鈥渃ompete鈥� for the educational savings account.

Rep. Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, offered another amendment that would have allowed the funds to be used for 鈥渕icro鈥� or hybrid schools. That amendment was tabled 82-9.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 really important that we stand for the heart of what this bill is trying to accomplish,鈥� Yarbrough said.

Rep. Ben Harrison, R-Elkmont, offered an amendment that would have expanded the allowed use of the funds in the educational savings account. The amendment would have allowed the money to be used for vocational or GED training; purchasing computer hardware and school uniforms, and transportation. It was also tabled 82-7.

鈥淣o two students, no two children are alike. They have different needs and different aptitude,鈥� Robinson said.

Amy Marlowe, executive director of the Alabama Education Association, said in a statement Tuesday that while the association has worked with 鈥渙thers in a good faith way to fashion a bill that does not hurt Alabama schools,鈥� a majority of Alabamians across the political spectrum oppose 鈥渦nlimited funding being diverted from the Education Trust Fund for this program.鈥�

鈥淲e want to continue to work to find common ground on this proposal as the bill moves to the Senate, but a cap must be included in the bill to protect the future of our local schools, or it should not pass,鈥� she said in the statement.

The bill moves to the Senate.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alabama Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Brian Lyman for questions: info@alabamareflector.com. Follow Alabama Reflector on and .

With more Missouri school districts switching to four-day weeks 鈥� including some of the largest 鈥� education leaders and state legislators are raising concerns.

Four-day weeks have been an option for Missouri schools since 2011, and now over 30% of the state鈥檚 districts have adopted this shortened week 鈥� serving around 11% of the state鈥檚 students. Many of the districts are in rural parts of the state.

Some state lawmakers, concerned with the shortened schedule, are pushing bills to reign in the practice. And on Tuesday, the State Board of Education was originally scheduled to review a study on the four-day school week, though that has been delayed due to possible inclement weather.

The study concludes that, overall, the four-day schedule had 鈥渘o statistically significant effect on either academic achievement or building growth.鈥� Academic achievement looks at one year of scores whereas building growth compares students scores over time.

Schools that adopted a four-day school week both before and after the pandemic were included in the study. Data is limited on recent adopters like the Independence School District, , but the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is seeing trends.

Districts that switched before the pandemic were more likely to be rural, whereas districts embracing four-day weeks now are likely to be in towns, have multiracial populations and have more foster students, according to the report.

Jon Turner, an associate professor at Missouri State University who researches the four-day school week, was not surprised that the department found little to no effect on academic achievement.

鈥淚t is pretty consistent nationwide,鈥� he told The Independent. 鈥淎s you protect instructional hours, there is a minimal if any negative academic impact.鈥�

The research he has studied has shown that the four-day week does not diminish academics so long as the instructional hours remain constant. Currently, state law requires 1,044 hours in school.

Legislation

Three bills have already been filed this legislative session that focus on the length of school weeks, coming from both sides of the aisle.

Sen. Doug Beck, an Affton Democrat, got an amendment approved in the Senate last year that would have required a local vote to authorize a four-day school week. This year, Beck has a bill that would allow towns with fewer than 30,000 residents to adopt a four-day school week by a vote of the school board, as is law now, but larger cities would have to seek voter approval.

鈥淚鈥檝e talked to my colleagues, and they said in the rural area, they didn鈥檛 want to have the five-day part,鈥� Beck told The Independent. 鈥淭his would still allow them to do that. But if you鈥檙e in (larger areas), you still could go four days. You just have to get the vote of the people.鈥�

Republican Rep. Aaron McMullen and Democratic Rep. Robert Sauls 鈥� both from Independence, where the school district 鈥� filed similar bills.

McMullen is worried for the families in his city coordinating daycare and other services with an extra day off.

鈥淢y main concern is the economic impact that it has on the city,鈥� he told The Independent. 鈥淓ssentially, we鈥檙e giving less services but still charging the same amount of tax.鈥�

Turner said that while there is not a negative academic outcome, the effect on families varies situationally. Schools providing special education are required to keep the hours of intervention specified in students鈥� individualized learning plan, which is a document that outlines accommodations and goals. But some students receiving these services may miss the fifth day.

鈥淚 do believe that we should get involved,鈥� McMullen said. 鈥淏ut we should be able to give the ability for people to actually have the final say on it. We鈥檙e trying to empower the people that live in the school district to have the final say on whether or not they should go to four days.鈥�

McMullen鈥檚 bill mirrors Beck鈥檚 by only requiring a public vote in larger localities.

But Beck鈥檚 and Sauls鈥� bills would provide incentives for districts that choose a five-day week. Districts with at least 175 school days can choose their school year鈥檚 start date, an option not available since the 2020-21 school year.

Their legislation also calls for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to pay districts with at least 169 school days a two percent bonus, calculated by the previous year鈥檚 state aid, to go toward boosting teacher salaries.

Beck said this provision gets to the heart of the issue: Recruiting and retaining teachers.

鈥淭he main reason why we have school districts going four days is not because of children learning better or any study that they鈥檝e done,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he original thing was they couldn鈥檛 keep teachers, and this was to bring teachers in.鈥�

When the Independence School District announced its switch, Superintendent Dale Herl said in an introductory video that the four-day week was to maintain a workforce.

The cause

Turner, who also serves on the board of the Missouri Association of Rural Education, told The Independent the four-day week is born from the educator hiring struggles Missouri districts are facing, particularly in rural areas.

鈥淣ever when I met any of those superintendents when I said, 鈥榃hy did you do this?鈥� Not one said we wanted to do this. This was a part of a bigger vision,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is a symptom of what schools are having to do to keep educators in classrooms teaching.鈥�

In December, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education told the state board that are the teacher of record for their classroom 鈥� meaning the class doesn鈥檛 have a certified teacher overseeing that student.

Turner said salaries for experienced teachers can vary greatly within a 30-mile radius, incentivizing educators to drive out of their rural town of residence and teach where they are better compensated.

To compete, the rural districts can utilize a four-day school week as an incentive for their workforce to stay.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got wealthier, typically suburban, larger school districts that are able to out-compete in the job marketplace for your applicants, so you have this constant turnover in the small rural schools,鈥� Turner said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what this four-day week is showing is that it is really the only arrow that rural school districts have in their quiver to fight the higher paying salaries.鈥�

School districts on Missouri鈥檚 border face competition across state lines, Turner said. Arkansas increased its minimum teacher salary to $50,000 beginning last July.

Missouri lawmakers have proposed hikes to teacher wages , though last year.

McMullen, though he didn鈥檛 include the teacher-wage incentive in his bill, said he is in favor of increasing teacher pay.

鈥溾�嬧�媁e need to allocate more money to public schools but have that actually go to teacher salaries and not to administration,鈥� he said.

Beck hopes the legislature will discuss issues like teacher wages, like a bill that would increase the base teacher salary. He thinks there is enough interest to get the legislation through, though it may have to be an amendment to a larger bill.

鈥淚 truly have some really good bipartisan support on this bill, maybe more on the Republican side,鈥� he said.

McMullen feels similarly, saying it is difficult to pass a standalone bill through the Senate.

鈥淲e have a very, very good chance of getting this bill and some aspects passed this year.鈥�

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on and .

Kids and teens across El Paso have found that small cylindrical and flash drive-looking devices containing THC 鈥� the psychoactive component in marijuana that produces a high 鈥� are easily tucked away in pockets and under sleeves, allowing them to inconspicuously take a drag wherever they go.

As a result, the number of juveniles facing criminal charges for possession of THC concentrates 鈥� a felony in Texas 鈥� has skyrocketed in recent months.

With arrests continuing to mount, there have been some efforts in turning the tide.

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In the last of a four-part series about the rise of vaping THC among minors, El Paso Matters examined some of the emerging research on youth cannabis use prevention; how health organizations have tried to stop kids from using the drug before they can get in trouble; and the recent attempts to change the laws and penalties that come with possession of THC concentrates 鈥� which some experts say may be doing more harm than good.

鈥淥nce you have a kid involved in the criminal legal system, it stays with them forever,鈥� Andreea Matei, a policy associate with the Urban Institute鈥檚 Justice Policy Center told El Paso Matters. 鈥淚t impacts employment, it can impact access to funding and support during education and secondary education. It impacts their ability to find housing sometimes. So it really sets them up in a way for failure.鈥�

The is a Washington, D.C.鈥揵ased policy research think-tank that has conducted several studies on juvenile justice reform.

鈥淧unitive measures are not effective,鈥� added Dr. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. 鈥淭he best method is to support them into not using again. Support them in not becoming addicted and getting off of that cannabis. 鈥� So don’t bust them. Don’t put them in jail.鈥�

Studies on adolescent development have found that some of the strict methods used in the juvenile justice field for decades, such as probation or juvenile detention, have failed to stop minors from reoffending.

In response, Matei said there has been a call to change these methods to focus on treatment, education and behavior change 鈥渞ather than punitive measures for the sake of accountability鈥� through community resources and services.

In El Paso, local lawmakers have already made some efforts to reduce the punishments that come with marijuana and THC possession charges.

In May 2020, the El Paso City Council approved a cite-and-release program, which allows police officers to give a ticket instead of arresting someone who is caught with marijuana. The program does not apply to THC concentrates like those commonly found in vaping devices.

Then in late 2022, the El Paso County Commissioners Court also created a specialized diversion program for minors charged with possessing THC for the first time. The program connects juveniles with resources from local organizations, including , a local mental health and addiction treatment organization, and, a children鈥檚 health center.

It also allows them to get their records sealed after completing counseling sessions and passing a drug test.

Research shows that these types of programs may be successful in lowering recidivism rates among youth.

looking at the outcomes of 73 diversion programs in the U.S., Australia and Canada found that minors who took part in a diversion program were 24% less likely to get in trouble with the law again in the future.

In Florida, a statewide data analysis found that youth who were issued civil citations as part of a diversion program instead of being arrested had a 4% recidivism rate, while their peers who were arrested had a 9% recidivism rate.

Still, diversion programs can have varied methods and outcomes, and local drug-use prevention advocates say it is too early to tell if the program in El Paso will be successful in lowering THC-related arrests among minors.

Though these efforts have lessened some of the punishments that come with marijuana charges or THC possession in El Paso, some of the long-term consequences that come with a criminal record may remain. If left unsealed, a felony can affect a person鈥檚 ability to get certain jobs, qualify for financial aid and apply for housing. Sealed records can also be accessed in some rare cases if the person is charged with a serious crime again in the future.

It would be up to the state to change the law and lower the severity of the charges 鈥搒omething one state lawmaker attempted to do during the 2023 legislative session.

Texas state Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, introduced , which would have reduced the penalties for possession of small amounts of THC concentrate from a felony to a Class C misdemeanor, among other changes. The bill would have also required law enforcement to issue citations instead of making arrests for marijuana possession, and allowed first offenders to have their charges expunged, essentially destroying any record it ever happened.

The bill passed through the House but was never scheduled for a hearing once it reached the Senate State Affairs Committee. Lawmakers will likely have to wait until the next legislative session in 2025 before another similar law can be introduced.

Legislators in New Mexico, where marijuana is legal for adults 21 and over, have already gone even further to limit penalties for minors caught with the drug.

In 2021, the governor of New Mexico signed a that eliminated fines for juvenile offenders convicted of marijuana possession, which lawmakers say hurt economically disadvantaged families. Now in New Mexico, if a minor is caught with a THC vape pen, they would only be required to complete community service.

鈥淭hese fees are disproportionately painful for lower-income families,鈥� said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in a at the time of signing the bill. 鈥淣ickel-and-diming New Mexico families doesn鈥檛 solve anything. On the contrary, it can create a vicious cycle of fee collection and license revocation, all of which serves only to entrap too many New Mexicans in the criminal justice system. Instead, we need to be looking at ways to reduce the administrative burden on families and reduce the potential for recidivism.鈥�

Preventing THC Use: No Silver Bullet

As vaping has become one of the most popular ways for young people to consume marijuana, some local drug prevention organizations have been trying to stop them from using THC before they get a chance to get into legal trouble.

This includes groups like the Paso del Norte Health Foundation and the El Paso Advocates for Prevention Coalition, which consists of parents and representatives from various sectors like law enforcement and schools.

These groups have put on presentations and attended community events to reach out to parents, teachers and youth, with the primary focus on educating them about the harms of marijuana use and vaping.

While studies show that using factual information about cannabis use can help prevent cannabis use among minors, some experts have suggested that just focusing on just the negative side of marijuana use can be ineffective.

鈥淎dults are using cannabis to fall asleep, to be happy 鈥� they’re using it for some perceived benefit,鈥� Halpern-Felsher said. 鈥淚f you only talk to teens about the bad, teens don’t listen. 鈥� And the problem is you lose your audience, you lose your voice if you don’t give a balanced perspective.鈥�

Halpern-Felsher founded the in 2019 to provide resources for educators, parents and community organizations meant to prevent middle and high school students from using marijuana. The program was modeled on the nationally recognized and uses similar strategies while addressing some of the complexities around marijuana use as laws and research around the drug are constantly evolving.

In some cases, these types of prevention programs are being directed to minors who have already tried marijuana at least once and may not be as receptive as their peers.

鈥淲hen you’re teaching cannabis or tobacco or drug prevention in the classroom, you’re going to have anywhere from 10% to 40% of the class who have already used some form of drug,鈥� Halpern-Felsher said. 鈥淚f you tell teens, 鈥楴ever use it, it’s bad and if you do, this is what’s going to happen,鈥� students in the class who have used also shut down.鈥�

One Florida-based program, , has opted to focus on promoting a healthy lifestyle and educating young people on how marijuana and drug use can affect that.

鈥淭he program focuses on positive images,鈥� said the organization鈥檚 founder Dr. Chudley Werch. 鈥淲e set aspirational goals to get a little bit more physical activity or eat a piece of fruit or get another 30 minutes of sleep while also pledging to avoid substance use, which is counterproductive to a healthy lifestyle.鈥�

With all the complexities that come with marijuana, some said it may take a multifaceted approach to stopping kids from using it.

鈥淭here’s no silver bullet,鈥� Werch said. 鈥淥ur program will work for many youth but not all, and that goes with any kind of a prevention strategy.鈥�

Other organizations have begun trying to understand why young people use marijuana to develop new approaches on how to stop them from using it.

In one on adolescent cannabis use, researchers observed that some of the main reasons young people use marijuana are to bond with peers, deal with social isolation and cope with mental health issues 鈥� factors that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

鈥淪ome of our participants really did talk a lot about how the COVID-19 pandemic had just exacerbated challenges to their daily routines. It has increased feelings of isolation, and really they’ve seen a negative impact on themselves,鈥� said Shiloh Beckerley, vice president of research and evaluation for Rescue Agency, during a presentation on the study in 2022. 鈥淥ne tween stated to me, 鈥楨very day was literally the same. I couldn’t do anything. We were doing school on Zoom. I just stayed in my bed all day.鈥� So you can imagine that there could really increase that sense of social isolation.鈥�

The study, which involved interviews and focus groups with youth and parents, was conducted by a marketing company that creates public health campaigns, on behalf of the California Department of Public Health.

These researchers found that many teens who already used marijuana said they began using more during the pandemic and believed it helped them deal with anxiety and depression, though research suggests it may actually exacerbate it.

The study also examined young people’s receptiveness toward different types of cannabis prevention messages.

Youth told researchers they wanted to hear in-depth and scientific information about why cannabis impacts the brain from a credible and trustworthy source. Teens often identified peers with personal experience with cannabis as trustworthy sources, according to the study. Older teens also said they wanted to hear non颅judgmental information and were turned off by ads they felt were talking down on those who use marijuana.

Many also said they were concerned about potential changes to their brain and personality, and cited this as the main reason they have either never tried or want to stop using marijuana.

This is the last in a four-part series on THC vaping among minors. Find the first story , the second and the third .

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The kids are not all right, and they aren鈥檛 afraid to tell you that.

On college campuses in Virginia and nationwide, students are increasingly reporting struggles with mental health. after has shown rising cases of anxiety, depression and other forms of psychological distress among students aged 18 to 25 鈥� trends that predate but were exacerbated by the isolation and disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

鈥淭he complexity of the mental health challenges that students are facing and when they come for the first time in the clinic are growing,鈥� said Kevin Hughes, vice president of student affairs and dean of students at Christopher Newport University in Newport News. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the volume, but it鈥檚 how complex the issue is that they鈥檙e dealing with.鈥�

Another thing the kids aren鈥檛 afraid to do? Ask for help. 

鈥淣one of us have it together by the time we鈥檙e 25,鈥� said Courtney Hairston, a counselor-in-residence at Christopher Newport鈥檚 Office of Counseling Services. But today, she said, 鈥渢he stigma, I think, is gone.鈥� 

鈥淭his generation is like, 鈥楬ey, we need help. Help us,鈥欌�� she said. 

Compared to a decade ago, the number of students seeking mental health services on college campuses has skyrocketed. An from Penn State University鈥檚 Center for Collegiate Mental Health found that during the 2021-22 school year, almost 191,000 students at roughly 180 higher education institutions in the U.S. sought mental health treatment at campus counseling centers. In 2011-12, by comparison, that figure was just over 97,000. 

The same trend can be seen on Virginia campuses, say numerous people working in education and health in the state. 

At Radford University, roughly 45 minutes southwest of Roanoke, . But despite that, 鈥渨e鈥檙e seeing an uptick in the percentage of students we鈥檙e seeing in the counseling center,鈥� said Brian Lusk, the school鈥檚 director of student counseling services. 

鈥淭he younger generation of students are coming in more in tune with their mental health needs and more willing to seek out treatment,鈥� said Lusk. And while he said it鈥檚 encouraging to see students being proactive about their needs, 鈥渋t really puts a strain on our counseling centers.鈥�

鈥淢ost of our counseling centers are staffed reasonably well, but they鈥檙e not staffed well enough to handle the kind of need we鈥檙e seeing now,鈥� he said. 

Now, Virginia is trying to harness campuses鈥� soaring demand for mental health services to meet another goal: get more young professionals in the pipeline to provide them. In 2022, lawmakers added $1 million to the state鈥檚 two-year budget for a pilot program that would pay salaries and benefits for counseling and social work graduates pursuing state licensure to work at campus student health and counseling centers.

A May 30 from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), as well as interviews with participating universities and other people involved in the effort, indicate that nearly a year after the General Assembly signed off on the initiative, it鈥檚 showing promising results. 

Most of our counseling centers are staffed reasonably well, but they鈥檙e not staffed well enough to handle the kind of need we鈥檙e seeing now.

鈥淧articipating institutions are already seeing tangible impacts,鈥� SCHEV wrote in the May report. Among the takeaways: Five residents employed through the program have provided over 740 hours of direct clinical services to 220 students on Virginia campuses while racking up over 1,000 hours of supervised practice needed for their licensure.

鈥淎dding this professional colleague has bolstered morale and bandwidth and prevented burnout and turnover of clinicians,鈥� wrote one supervisor in anonymous comments on the pilot included in the report. 鈥淚n sum, this hire has stabilized the counseling center and our services to the university.鈥� 

At Christopher Newport, 鈥渢hey have hit the ground running,鈥� said Bill Ritchey, executive director of counseling and health services. 鈥淢y most pressing question is: How do we keep it going?鈥�

Rising demand, looming provider shortages

 Among nearly all age groups, there鈥檚 a rising demand for mental health services nationwide. In Virginia, policy discussions have mainly centered on the state鈥檚 troubled , the network of community services boards and state-run facilities that provide treatment to people who are in crisis or experiencing the most severe mental health challenges. 

But while the overburdened public system deserves attention, said Deborah Oswalt, executive director of the Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF), the majority of Virginians who seek mental health treatment are in search of more 鈥渂asic鈥� services. Those include treatment for conditions such as depression, anxiety and panic disorder, as well as help dealing with difficult circumstances like a death or traumas linked to situations like abuse. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 really not been much of a state focus on that end of the continuum,鈥� said Oswalt.

Even as demand has risen, the number of professionals available to meet that demand has fallen in Virginia, with data showing it could shrink ever further as a wave of behavioral health providers prepare to retire.

鈥淭he need and demand for behavioral health services far exceeds the available capacity to meet them,鈥� found a . 鈥淸Behavioral health] professionals throughout the Commonwealth are overwhelmed and Virginians are waiting months for help.鈥� 

VHCF鈥檚 data paint a stark portrait. Of Virginia鈥檚 133 localities, the organization found, 93 are considered by federal standards to have a shortage of mental health professionals. At the time the report was issued, two localities 鈥� Craig County near the West Virginia border and Surry County just west of Newport News 鈥� had no licensed behavioral health professionals of any kind. Forty-eight localities had one or fewer full-time clinical psychologists, while 11 had one or fewer full-time social workers and 16 had one or fewer licensed professional counselors.

The workforce was also nearing what the VHCF called a 鈥減rovider cliff鈥�: Among psychiatrists, 61% of providers were aged 55 and older, as were 36% of licensed clinical psychologists, 37% of licensed clinical social workers and 32% of licensed professional counselors. Furthermore, the majority of providers were white, . 

鈥淎s more people get comfortable with seeking out mental health treatment there鈥檚 not going to be enough providers,鈥� said Lusk. 鈥淚n reality, pretty much all of us could use someone to talk to at some point in our lives.鈥�

鈥淟ife is full of challenges,鈥� he continued. 鈥淎nd trying to suck it up and rub some dirt on it or whatever you want to say, those southern sayings, and push through it, it doesn鈥檛 work well for everyone.鈥� 

A long road to licensure

Despite the aging workforce, getting new professionals into the field has been difficult because of the steep requirements many graduates face to achieve licensure in Virginia. 

The largest sectors of Virginia鈥檚 behavioral health professions are clinical social workers and professional counselors, who in 2021 made up almost three-quarters of the workforce, according to VHCF data. While roughly 4,000 of the 12,000 current professionals in those fields are nearing retirement age, colleges and universities in the commonwealth are only producing approximately 400 graduates per year 鈥� not enough to offset the exits. 

More crucially, those graduates still lack licensure. While both professional counseling and clinical social work require graduate-level degrees, licensure requires graduates to undergo thousands of hours of clinical and supervised practice. Professional counselors must undergo 3,400 hours of clinical work experience, of which 2,000 must be direct client contact and 200 must be supervised. For clinical social workers, the requirement is 3,000 hours of experience, including 1,380 clinical hours and 100 supervised hours. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the big hurdles a lot of [licensed professional counselors] have,鈥� said Ritchey. 鈥淚 think there鈥檚 a lot of people who want to be in higher education who are LPCs that the doors need to be opened to.鈥�  

Supervised hours are particularly tricky for graduates, as most are forced to pay experienced practitioners an average rate of $100 per hour for the supervision. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a lot of money,鈥� said Lusk. 鈥淚f someone鈥檚 charging you $100, $150 an hour, that adds up fast.鈥�  

Hairston, the counselor-in-residence at Christopher Newport, said supervision posed a barrier for many of her fellow students.

鈥淵ou have some private practice members who are willing to work with you, some who are not,鈥� she said. 

The state鈥檚 steep licensure requirements, in the absence of other mechanisms to offset the burdens, may also be weeding out candidates with graduate degrees in their field but without the resources to navigate a prolonged and expensive process. 

鈥淕iven the low salaries available to these pre-licensees ($42,000 鈥� $47,000/year) and the high student debt load they carry, many cannot run the financial gauntlet of paying for the required supervision hours,鈥� the VHCF report found. 

Virginia has 鈥渟ome of the strictest and highest standards to get licensure,鈥� said Lusk. 鈥淲e have to be gatekeepers of our profession, right? But sometimes we have such high standards in Virginia, it really puts a barrier up.鈥� 

鈥楨xactly what we鈥檝e been trying to do for such a long time鈥�

Over the past few years, Virginia has become increasingly interested in putting state support toward licensure of counseling and clinical social work graduates. VHCF鈥檚 , which aims to speed up the licensure of 200 behavioral health professionals by paying for their required supervision hours, has received funding from the General Assembly and Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. 

Then, in 2022, conversations between the foundation and SCHEV led to a new idea: Why not marry the need for licensure with growing college campus needs for mental health services?

鈥淥bviously the pandemic really brought to light a lot of issues related to student mental health,鈥� said Emily Salmon, a senior associate with the state council. 

Colleges and universities were immediately enthusiastic. With the General Assembly allocating $500,000 in each of the fiscal years 2023 and 2024 to the pilot, the schools scrambled to apply. 

鈥淭his is literally something I鈥檝e been looking for for honestly almost my whole career,鈥� said Ritchey. 鈥淭his is exactly what we鈥檝e been trying to do for such a long time.鈥�

Of the 10 colleges and universities that applied for funding, six were chosen. Their awards ranged from $66,810 for Longwood to $100,000 for Christopher Newport, which chose to cover resident benefits with university funds in order to add two graduates to its counseling center. 

鈥淭he interest and submission of proposals exceeded the amount of funding that was available,鈥� said Salmon.

For Oswalt, the rush of interest from schools made it clear the pilot was filling an urgent need.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 a problem that somebody made up or something,鈥� she said. 鈥淯niversities can be pretty slow sometimes in the way they do things, but I think it鈥檚 telling that a good chunk of grantees really made an effort to advertise and get someone on board quickly so they could get the whole thing started.鈥� 

Five months in, Lusk at Radford and Ritchey and Hughes, the dean of students, at Christopher Newport said the benefits of the initiative were already clear 鈥� not just among the residents offering care, but among the students receiving it.鈥� 

鈥淚t鈥檚 a real critical juncture in life,鈥� said Ritchey. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the first time in life when a person is out of the parents鈥� home but they鈥檙e not set so much that they have the encumbrances that a lot of us adults have, so it鈥檚 a real prime time for some heavy lifting in terms of self-exploration and personal development.鈥�

鈥淢y hope is that we lose the word 鈥榩ilot,鈥� and then it just becomes a program,鈥� said Hughes.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on and .

The lion鈥檚 share of Hoosier schools that qualify for don鈥檛 take advantage of it, according to a new national report.

Across the country, 6,419 school districts 鈥� 67.5 percent of those eligible 鈥� adopted the U.S. Department of Agriculture鈥檚 Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in one or more schools for the 2022鈥� 2023 school year, the (FRAC) reported in a .

But in Indiana, only 40.6% of eligible school districts 鈥� and 51.7% of eligible schools overall 鈥�  adopted CEP in the most recent academic year.

Although Indiana was among the 39 states that saw an increase in the number of schools adopting community eligibility, the Hoosier state still ranks 47th in the nation for CEP participation.

The program allows schools with high poverty rates to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students, regardless of their economic status. Child health advocates and education experts laud the federal provision as a benefit to both students and school administrators.

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No Kid Hungry, a non-profit organization that focuses on increasing access to healthy meals for children and alleviating childhood hunger, emphasized that kids are more attentive in class, have better attendance and are less likely to have disciplinary problems when their nutritional needs are met.

With CEP, families with tight food budgets are also ensured that their child is getting two balanced meals at school, reducing financial strain at home.

The program works for schools, as well, by eliminating school meals applications and unpaid meal charges that often create administrative burdens.

Some schools have recently adopted CEP as a way to continue offering healthy meals to all students 鈥� free of charge 鈥� after the expiration of the pandemic child nutrition waivers last year, according to FRAC.

But researchers said that many schools, including some in Indiana, choose not to participate out of fear that losing data from school meal applications may also result in the loss of Title 1 funding.

Indiana schools and districts have until June 30 to submit a CEP application for the 2023-24 school year. It鈥檚 not clear how many new applications have been submitted so far.

By the numbers

During the 2022鈥�23 school year, there was a significant increase in the number of schools and districts nationwide participating in community eligibility, according to FRAC鈥檚 latest report.

While the number of participating schools in Indiana increased, too, the take-up rate among eligible schools overall decreased slightly.

Of the 1,148 schools eligible for CEP in the last school year, 593 participated, according to federal data collected by FARC. That鈥檚 up from 506 participating schools in the 2021-22 academic year, when 957 schools qualified.

Among those to join were in Indianapolis, which serves nearly 11,000 students.

Of the 469 eligible Indiana schools where more than 60% of students qualify as high-need under CEP guidelines, 311 participated in the federal program in the 2022-23 school year 鈥� a 66.3% adoption rate.

About 52% of Hoosier schools with 50-60% high-need students 鈥� 200 of the 356 eligible schools 鈥� signed up. Participation dropped to 24.5% for those schools with high-need student enrollment at or below 50%; of the 323 schools that were eligible, only 77 took advantage of the program.

The Indiana Department of Education estimates that at least 1,100 schools will qualify for CEP in the 2023-24 academic year.

How CEP works 鈥� and why it helps

Families are not required to submit an application for the community provision like they would for the free and reduced meals program. That guarantees free breakfast and lunch for any student at a participating school.

Indianapolis Public Schools, as well as the surrounding Perry, Warren and Wayne school districts, are continuing to offer free meals 鈥� both lunches and breakfasts 鈥� to students through CEP for the 2023-24 school year. Certain MSD of Lawrence Township schools are also participating in CEP to provide free meals.

Thousands of students at other Indianapolis-area schools 鈥� in the Decatur, Franklin, Speedway and Washington school districts 鈥� will not automatically get free food, though.

Some district officials they do not participate in CEP because of the federal program鈥檚 鈥渃omplexity,鈥� while others noted that their schools do not qualify for complete meal reimbursement, meaning districts have to pay out-of-pocket to cover the rest.

For a school to qualify for the CEP, at least 40% of the individual school鈥檚 enrolled population must already participate in another means-tested program or are part of a protected group, such as students experiencing homelessness, in foster care, or migrant students.

Schools that meet the minimum threshold to qualify for the community provision receive reimbursement for 62.5% of meals served, according to federal guidelines. Schools with enrolled populations over 62.5%, where nearly two-thirds of students fall into the above categories, get fully reimbursed for students鈥� meals.

Schools with higher numbers of students in need receive a near or total reimbursement for meals, which makes community eligibility a more financially viable option. That also makes them more likely to participate in community eligibility, according to FRAC.

While any school with an enrolled population of 40% or more can participate, many schools on the lower end of the scale 鈥渇ear participating鈥� because the level of reimbursement from the federal government would not fully cover the cost of all meals served to students, said Allyson P茅rez, a child nutrition policy analyst with FRAC.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Indiana Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Niki Kelly for questions: info@indianacapitalchronicle.com. Follow Indiana Capital Chronicle on and .

Darek Perez knows the benefits of a good night鈥檚 sleep. The freshman psychology major at the University of Texas at El Paso researched the topic and presented the results during his 鈥淚ntroduction to Psychology鈥� course last fall, but knowing the benefits of sleep and doing are two different things.

Perez was among a handful of UTEP undergraduates who said they went to bed around midnight only to wake up five, six or seven hours later to start their day. Most admitted to feeling drowsy and unfocused at some point in the afternoon. A cup of coffee or a nap often helped them get through the day.

College students often take pride in their ability to overextend themselves to accommodate their academics, outside jobs, personal responsibilities and time with friends, but researchers have found that burning the candle at both ends eventually will lead to burnout or worse. Common symptoms of sleep deprivation include fatigue, depression, anxiety and irritability. Severe symptoms could include hallucinations and impaired judgment.

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The the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and the Sleep Research Society recommend that college students get seven to nine hours of sleep. Studies have shown that college students average about seven hours of sleep, but about 60% of them have poor quality sleep. That means they wake up tired and feel sleepy during the day.

鈥淚 know what I need to do, but I have not progressed to the point of putting more sleep into my schedule,鈥� said Perez, who balances a full class schedule with an on-campus job. 鈥淚鈥檓 too busy.鈥�

Students such as Perez are the reason that UTEP鈥檚 Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) developed several workshops that focus on how students can prepare for a restful sleep, and the many benefits of sleep. CAPS generally offers these programs once per semester, but it also makes these presentations at the request of faculty and departments with student workers, said Brian Sneed, CAPS director and a staff psychologist.

As college students prepare for their finals in early May, many of them will be stressed, and sleep deprived as they cram for exams. Sneed said the better suggestion to succeed academically around finals 鈥� and throughout the semester 鈥� is to get a good night鈥檚 sleep.

One of the more popular CAPS programs on this topic is 鈥淭he ABC鈥檚 of Z鈥檚,鈥� where counselors emphasize the importance of having a routine before bedtime to train the body for sleep. He also recommends students refrain from caffeinated drinks later in the day and create a cooler sleeping environment.

Sneed said his counselors work with many students with newfound independence who have developed bad habits that hinder their ability to sleep well. He said that some students have mental battles between their priorities of academics and socializing and the workshops help students to refocus.

鈥淎 consistent eight hours of sleep is going to maximize your learning potential,鈥� Sneed said during an interview in his CAPS office on the second floor of Union Building West. 鈥淪ome people don鈥檛 prioritize that.鈥�

The psychologist said science has shown that trying to catch up on sleep during weekends and late-night cram sessions before a test do not work. He said lack of sleep disrupts the ability for people to file short-term information in their long-term memory.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 get enough sleep, it鈥檚 as if you鈥檙e crumpling (information) up and throwing it in a filing cabinet and then hoping at some point you can pull the right one out during the test,鈥� Sneed said.

The NSF reported that a person taking a final exam after pulling an all-night study session has the same effect as taking a test with a blood alcohol level of 0.05%.

Researchers recently published the results of a sleep study of first-year college students at three different institutions. The findings in in the peer-reviewed journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) included that every lost hour of nightly sleep equated to a 0.07 drop in end-of-term GPA.

Dana Garcia, a freshman microbiology major, said that she usually goes to bed at midnight and wakes up seven hours later. Her pre-sleep routine is to brush her teeth, take a natural sleep supplement, and do a final check of her phone or laptop computer.

She said she gets tired by late afternoon, and usually rests after she returns to her Horizon City home.

鈥淚f I don鈥檛 get my seven hours of sleep, I have trouble waking up,鈥� Garcia said. 鈥淚t affects my school day.鈥�

At workshops, CAPS representatives suggest self-awareness techniques that students can use to relieve stress, relax mind and body, and take care of the real issues that affect them as they prepare for sleep.

Sneed said one method is to combine thought and touch. Students use their thumb to touch their fingertips one at a time and contemplate a positive thought for each finger such as a good thing that happened that day, something that made them feel good that day, a happy memory, and something that makes them proud of themselves. This technique moves the mind from a stressful place of deadlines and assignments to a more positive plane.

Sleep is not an issue for Christian Sierra, a senior mechanical engineering major. He said he usually goes to bed at midnight and wakes up six hours later. He said that he drinks a cup of coffee in the afternoon to get through his classes.

鈥淚 stay up late because that鈥檚 when I can get things done,鈥� Sierra said.

Before bed, he takes a shower, brushes his teeth and turns on his desk fan, which cools his room and produces a soft hum.

鈥淚f it鈥檚 too quiet or too warm, I know I forgot to turn on my fan,鈥� Sierra said.

In serious cases of sleep deficiency, counselors work with students to learn if problems such as insomnia are brought on by stress, anxiety and depression, or vice versa, to offer the right treatment. Chronic sleep deprivation could build into psychosis, a mental disorder where the mind disconnects from reality.

If students come to CAPS with sleep-related issues, counselors initially will suggest the students rule out physical or biological issues. If the problem persists, CAPS will try to address it because they understand the value of sleep.

As Thomas Roth, former editor-in-chief of the journal Sleep, said, 鈥淪leep is an investment in the energy you need to be effective tomorrow.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

WASHINGTON 鈥� Every public school kid in the United States was eligible for free school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of family income, thanks to the federal government.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com. Follow New Jersey Monitor on and .

KYLE, Texas 鈥� The hallways of Lehman High School looked like any other on a recent fall day. Its 2,100 students talked and laughed as they hurried to their next classes, moving past walls covered with flyers that advertised homecoming events, clubs, and football games. Next to those flyers, though, were posters with a grim message warning students that fentanyl is extremely deadly.

Those posters weren鈥檛 there last school year.

Right before this school year started, the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, which includes Lehman, announced that two students had died after taking fentanyl-laced pills. They were the first recorded student deaths tied to the synthetic opioid in this Central Texas school district, which has high school campuses in Kyle and Buda, a nearby town. Within the first month of school, two more fatalities were confirmed.

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The reaction from school officials, employees, students, and parents has been intense, mixing heartbreak and terror with anger and action. The community, it seems, is ready to fight back. The school system has prioritized its existing anti-drug educational campaign. Students are wrestling with their risky behaviors and peer pressure. And parents are trying to start difficult conversations about drugs with their children.

They are 鈥渢aking the bull by the horns,鈥� said Tim Savoy, the school district鈥檚 chief communications officer.

But there are also questions about whether those efforts will be enough.

The overdose problem facing the district, which is just south of Austin and about an hour northeast of San Antonio, mimics . More than 107,000 people in the U.S. died of drug overdoses in 2021, , a record. Most of those deaths 鈥� 71,238 of them 鈥� involved fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. The Drug Enforcement Administration that fentanyl is increasingly finding its way into 鈥渇ake prescription pills鈥� that are 鈥渆asily accessible and often sold on social media and e-commerce platforms.鈥�

The police chief in Kyle, Jeff Barnett, said that鈥檚 a problem in his area. 鈥淵ou could probably find a fentanyl-laced pill within five minutes on social media and probably arrange a meeting within the hour鈥� with a dealer, Barnett said.

The fentanyl threat has made high schoolers more susceptible to getting ahold of the lethal pills. They might believe they are using party drugs that, though illegal, are not 鈥� on their own 鈥� nearly as deadly as fentanyl.

The kids are 鈥渘ot intentionally buying fentanyl,鈥� , a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UT Health San Antonio, said in testimony during a before the Texas House of Representatives. They don鈥檛 know that it鈥檚 in the pills they buy, she added, describing the problem as the 鈥渢hird wave of the overdose crisis.鈥�

Seventeen-year-old Kevin McConville, a Lehman student who died in August, appears to be one of this wave鈥檚 victims. In the district produced, Kevin鈥檚 parents explain with grief heavy in their eyes that after their son鈥檚 death, they learned from his friends that he was struggling to sleep. After taking pills he thought were Percocet and Xanax, he didn鈥檛 wake up, his parents said.

Stories like that have led the school district to issue the following warning on : 鈥淔entanyl is here. We need to talk about fentanyl. And fentanyl is deadly.鈥� It鈥檚 100 times as potent as morphine and 50 times as potent as heroin, according to , and 2 milligrams is .

The district launched a 鈥淔ighting Fentanyl鈥� campaign 鈥� which enlists city police and emergency medical services personnel. There鈥檚 a 鈥溾�� to which students can anonymously send information about classmates who may be taking illicit drugs. Starting in sixth grade, students are required to watch a 13-minute video that underscores how dangerous and deadly fentanyl is and explains how to identify when a classmate may be overdosing.

鈥淲e鈥檙e recruiting students to help us be the eyes and ears if they鈥檙e at a party or at a friend鈥檚 house,鈥� Savoy said.

The school system also hopes to raise students鈥� awareness of the risks they face. Any pill 鈥� no matter what it is 鈥� that didn鈥檛 come from a pharmacy cannot be trusted: 鈥淚t鈥檚 like playing Russian roulette,鈥� Savoy said.

The message may be resonating. Sara Hutson, a Lehman High senior, said sharing over-the-counter pills such as Tylenol and Motrin used to be common, but she no longer considers it safe. Her trust is gone.

But other students aren鈥檛 as cautious. Lisa Peralta shared in a Facebook post in September that her daughter, who is in seventh grade, admitted to eating an 鈥渁nxiety gummy鈥� her friend gave her. 鈥淚鈥檓 scared because my daughter is a follower,鈥� the Kyle resident wrote. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 trust that she won鈥檛 do it again if she feels pressured.鈥�

No matter how clear the district and parents make their messages, Savoy worries they may never be enough because students are so adventurous. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just the teenage mindset,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey think, 鈥榃e鈥檙e invincible; it鈥檚 not going to happen to me.鈥� But it is happening to us in our community.鈥�

Still, the feelings of unease and grief are sometimes palpable. Students have been fighting more at school, said Jacob Valdez, a Lehman sophomore who knew two of the students who died. That might be happening, he added, because 鈥渆veryone is just angsty.鈥�

The tension is not limited to middle and high school students. It鈥檚 also become very real for parents of elementary school kids, since the DEA warned the public in August about fentanyl-laced pills that . The Hays school district is also hanging warning posters geared toward younger students.

Jillien Brown of Kyle said she is worried about her daughters, 5-year-old Vivian and 7-year-old Scarlett. 鈥淲e told them that there鈥檚 some scary things going on, that people are getting very sick and they鈥檙e dying from taking what they think is candy or medicine,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淲e use the word 鈥榩oison,鈥� so like when Snow White bit the apple.鈥�

But the conversation must be ongoing, Brown said, because the day after she talked to her daughters, 鈥渟ome little kid on the bus gave them a candy and they ate it.鈥�

Similarly, Kyle resident April Munson, a former elementary school teacher, considers it all 鈥済ut-wrenching.鈥� She showed her 9-year-old son, Ethan, pictures of the multicolored 鈥渞ainbow fentanyl鈥� pills. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a hard conversation to have, but hard conversations are often the most important ones,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd, really, you can鈥檛 afford to have elephants in the room.鈥�

And even as parents and the school officials attempt to prevent fentanyl from striking again, another reality check comes.

Last year, the school district started stocking in every school a supply of the overdose reversal drug naloxone, also known as Narcan. So far this semester, despite all the community has gone through, it has been used to save four more students, Savoy said. In one case, Savoy said, first responders had to use three doses to revive a student 鈥� the fentanyl 鈥渨as that strong,鈥� he said.

(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

These challenges and inequities are exacerbated when schools do not fully recognize the social-emotional needs of students and the critical interdependence between these needs and academic success. Many students don鈥檛 feel a sense of belonging in their own classrooms and school communities. This is a particular problem among low-income children of color who often don鈥檛 feel reflected in the curriculum or seen by their teachers. And when students don鈥檛 feel seen, heard and valued, they are less likely to show up to school and stay engaged in the classroom. 

The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of balancing a drive toward academic outcomes with self-care. So it was heartening to hear Schools Chancellor David Banks and appoint Dr. Jawana Johnson, chief of school culture, climate and well-being, to lead this work. Now more than ever, developing a strong sense of community and belonging at school is crucial.

One way to do this is to develop school communities where students can show up each day as themselves, knowing they are valued, listened to and cared for. It鈥檚 in these safe and supportive environments that students learn, grow and fail safely. Only then can they connect in deep, meaningful ways with their classmates and teachers, grapple with challenges and work collaboratively to solve issues that affect their lives and communities. 

At NYC Outward Bound schools and the schools in our national partner EL Education鈥檚 network, we call this space Crew 鈥� borrowed from the phrase, 鈥淲e are crew, not passengers鈥� coined by Outward Bound founder Kurt Hahn. Crew is an advisory structure through which eight to 16 students meet together regularly with the guidance and individualized support of an adult adviser, or Crew leader, to foster a collective sense of belonging, engagement and compassion for one another. This creates an ethos of community that permeates the whole school. What does this look like day to day? Crews of students discuss current events, go on field trips, work on college applications and celebrate both big and small wins together. During the pandemic, when students couldn鈥檛 physically be together, Crew emerged as a particularly important lifeline and social-emotional support system over Zoom. 

In my first two months as CEO of NYC Outward Bound Schools, I鈥檝e visited Crews in action at our 14 network schools and 49 new partner schools, seeing firsthand the learning that takes place and the love that extends beyond historical lines of division 鈥� race, culture, gender, economic status. In one particular Crew lesson, I witnessed middle school students lead discussions on race and equity, supported by an activity that had the kids choose a colored pencil that they thought best represented themselves and then see the beautiful multi-colored patchwork they created together.

Crew leads to more vibrant and connected school communities where students鈥� identities are affirmed and valued. But beyond anecdotal evidence, it鈥檚 important to examine two key student-level indicators 鈥� attendance and sense of belonging 鈥� that correlate strongly with academic outcomes and success. Research shows that students who report a stronger sense of community in their school are than those who don’t, and that kids who believe they have a voice in their school are seven times than those who do not feel that way.

Attendance is the most prescient indicator of 鈥� and in a , Crew was shown to have a statistically significant impact on attendance specifically resulting in a decrease in chronic absenteeism. There were half as many chronically absent students among the NYC Outward Bound Schools group than among the comparison group 鈥� 5.3% vs. 11.4%. Based on responses obtained from focus group interviews, overall perceptions of Crew were positive. Students and educators cited many benefits of Crew, including stronger relationships and community, academic and moral support, and family-school connections. Seventy-eight percent of students felt that their Crew leader cared about them.聽

In a post-lockdown world, New York City schools 鈥� and school communities everywhere 鈥� can鈥檛 afford to go back to old ways that were not serving students. There is one way forward, and that鈥檚 to prioritize students’ social-emotional needs. Building strong school communities centered around belonging is essential to ensuring children don鈥檛 slip through the cracks and have the support they need to thrive academically, socially and emotionally.

Vanessa Rodriguez joined NYC Outward Bound Schools as CEO in January 2022. She has worked in education for more than 25 years, serving students in public, charter and alternative schools across the country. She started her career as a teacher in the Bronx.