The parents, teachers, administration and board of school directors at New Hope-Solebury understand the gravity of the “new pandemic” — our nationwide mental health crisis.
As the president of the New Hope-Solebury School Board, I am involved in a constant dialogue about how to best address our students’ needs.
Our entire district is currently 1,277 students. With eight full-time mental health staff, our current high school ratio is 220:1 and our district ratio 255:1, well-ahead of most Bucks districts.
As my fellow board members have stated “We don’t care where we are within the county, we care where our students are.”
Our district mental health status is more than a number. This reported metric does not include private mental health contractors we have engaged to support our students, one-on-one. Or The Cook Institute, with which we have aligned in order to provide resources, parenting classes and a continuing mental health series, the most recent being “Social Media and Mental Health.” Cook also provides our district families with virtual therapists to support them and their students in the privacy of their own homes. Because as mainstream as we want issues around mental health to be, bias is still there. Even our own internal biases.
In addition to therapy dogs and student assemblies, we have used grant money to engage an outside mental health organization to collect data to support additional needs moving forward. We are also providing professional development education for our teachers to better meet our students where they are in a social-emotional way. I understand these are not measurable data points, but they are significant as we address our staff, students, and their family’s needs.
I encourage our district families to attend our general board meetings where our superintendent and student services team discuss interventions with the board. Or attend our Special Education Advisory Committee and be part of the discussion. Your input is valuable. And lastly, to our NHS district families: the Cook Institute resources are available to help meet your needs or answer your questions.
Judy M. Finn is president of the New Hope-Solebury Board of School Directors. She is also a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Legal Nurse Consultant.
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