FISHERS, Ind. — Parents in the Hamilton Southeastern School District are concerned after a school board work session on mental health funding.
The district was awarded a $5.7 million federal grant that will be used to recruit, hire and train school-based mental health professionals. Those include school counselors, school psychologists and school social workers over the next five years.
"They made it seem like it was a financial issue, but by the end of the night, it was very clear that they are actually concerned about the word diversity being in the application," said Stephanie Hunt, a mother of four biracial children.
During the meeting, board member Ben Orr said he has no issue with diversity and should hire whomever the best applicant may be for the job.
Orr said he has concerns over specific wording in the grant.
"It specifically goes into some detail about how we're going to recruit and retain specific diversity throughout this grant," Orr said.
For example, Orr expressed concerns about the district trying to recruit at job fairs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
"I have real ethical and, honestly, legal questions about specifically hiring and recruiting and hiring based on essentially, what it appears to me, race. I don't like that as a policy," Orr said.
Other parents are concerned that not having the grant would force teachers to leave the district.
"They are being asked to fill too many roles. I want them to have the resources available to them to be able to support their students with counselors in the school to assist with the mental health issues that happen so they can focus on their primary role, which is educator," Rachna Greulach said.
Parent Bill McLellan said he's unclear why some board members questioned the grant.
"Mental health is education and, most urgently, it is taking care of our kids who are struggling right now so they can get a good education," McLellan said.
Others addressed the benefits of having a counselor at a school.
"I was bullied in high school. I almost dropped out of high school. But I had the privilege to get mental health care. I had the support of family. We had health insurance. I was taken out of school to go see a counselor during the day," parent Sarah Renfro said. "This grant would provide the opportunity for students not to miss class time, but to have it right there."
Board member Suzanne Thomas said medical services should be left to professionals and not schools.
"All of the things that were talked about last night by several board members as the role of school versus the role of medical care. This is not medical care. This is health care," Renfro said.
That's something these parents say they want for their children in school.
"This is just going to help our kids in the long run be healthy and be happy and isn't that what we want — safety, healthy and happiness — which is ultimately what this grant is going to provide," Hunt said.
While HSE school officials have no concerns accepting the grant, board members want time to review its language.
Friday morning, the Board of School Trustees released the following statement in support of the grant:
On behalf of the HSE Board of School Trustees, I want first to express my gratitude to members of our school community who took the time in recent days to give feedback and information about the mental health grant that our school administration secured on behalf of district students.
We all agree that supporting the mental health needs of our 21,000 students is critical to providing an exceptional educational experience that prepares them for future success. We all are proud of the work already produced by the City of Fishers and key community partners through the Stigma Free Fishers mental health initiative.
To that end, we want to voice our strong support for acceptance of this five-year grant. We look forward to working with Brooke Lawson and her mental health and school counseling team members to successfully implement the program. Moreover, our board wellness committee will support Dr. Stokes and her administration by ensuring alignment on any issues that arise and identifying potential gaps to be addressed throughout the life of the grant.
Budget oversight is a key responsibility of the board. Our fiduciary responsibility to the HSE Schools community is to ensure that financial commitments made now in acceptance of this grant are affordable five years from now. After meeting with the administration following Wednesday’s board meeting, we accept their commitment in working with the board to ensure that HSE’s budget is sound, and will adjust when necessary at the conclusion of this grant.
Wednesday night's public work session and board meeting gave all board members an opportunity to seek greater understanding by asking questions about the proposed grant program. It also allowed us to provide open engagement and transparency, which is our goal with any topic that comes before the board. We were thoroughly impressed by the professionalism of HSE administrative staff during their presentation and public comments from interested parties.
This is a dynamic time for HSE Schools. Our partnership with the City of Fishers is strengthened by the opportunities we seek to provide our students. In fact, we look forward to announcing another project in the coming weeks that we believe will give our students a life-changing, new path to pursue their own success.
Thank you again for your support of HSE Schools!