Parents, teachers say ‘not enough’ mental health resources in Beaufort Co. schools
Parents, teachers, principals and board members across Beaufort County expressed concern about a shortage of mental health professionals in schools last week, with many asking the board for a bigger mental health budget.
Lady’s Island representative David Striebinger said Tuesday that the board was generally in agreement to increase funding for mental health resources, and that the district was setting “not qualified” teachers and school counselors “up for failure” to deal with mental health issues under current circumstances.
“We know there’s discipline issues, and we know that mental health is the cause of those issues,” he said. “... I believe we should take action when the budget comes through.”
The district uses a combination of state-funded therapists, school counselors and social workers to cover the mental health needs of students.
At a Dec. 5 meeting between school improvement teams and the board, Burton representative Richard Geier presented concerns for the district’s Battery Creek and Whale Branch clusters, where he said one therapist served five schools.
“And she just quit,” he said.
South Carolina mandates one school counselor for every 300 students in grades 6-12, and one for every 800 students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
But these numbers, which are both higher than the 1:250 ratio recommended by the American School Counselor Association, are inadequate in the eyes of many community members.
“Two counselors for 950 students is not enough,” one Bluffton parent said, using Okatie Elementary School as an example.
Another parent referenced the board’s October decision to hire armed security guards for all the district’s elementary schools for an estimated $734,000. She said she would have preferred to see that money go toward “proactive” resources instead of the “reactive” security measure.
“A lot of students went through trauma to get here,” another added, “and so many more have mental illness symptoms.”
As of Oct. 25, 24 district schools were being serviced by five therapists from Coastal Empire Mental Health, a part of the state’s Department of Mental Health.
In 2018-19, those therapists serviced 224 school clients, ranging from parents to students.
They make between $35,000 and $42,000, according to Coastal Empire executive director Natashia Smith, $25,000 of which is funded by the state.
In October, Smith said her agency was working “diligently” toward the state’s goal to have a therapist in every school by 2022, in part by adding a sixth district therapist to service three schools south of the Broad River in November.
But that work will require “in-kind dollars” from all the districts the agency serves, Smith said.
In the meantime, Striebinger said, the board will need to look at hiring more staff, unless inadequate pay for the district’s current mental health professionals hinders that goal.
“The minimum, probably, is more positions,” he said.