Some North Carolina legislators studying school safety improvements agreed Monday to back mandates for schools to formally identify troubled youth needing help and for programs that let young people mentor classmates.
A subcommittee of a House school safety panel on student health issues also agreed more people needed to be hired to fill gaps and vacancies for school counselors, nurses, social workers and psychologists. The subcommittee didn’t identify exact increases in employment or spending levels. Reaching staff-student ratio standards set by national organizations likely would take years to complete.
The recommendations and related legislation have a long way if they are to become law. They must work their way through the full panel meeting next month, then get approved by both chambers of the General Assembly before going to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk. The legislature reconvenes May 16.
The Democratic governor announced last week a $130 million school safety plan he’ll put in his impending budget proposal that contains some ideas Republicans in charge of the legislature would appear likely to support or recommend. Cooper quantified his personnel funding request. The emphasis on school safety rose in response to the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting that left 17 dead in February.
The subcommittee proposed legislation requiring the creation of “threat assessment teams” covering every school in the state. Such teams of counselors, administrators and law enforcement agents would help educate students, teacher and staff how to recognize threatening behavior by a student. The teams also would identify students who may pose a safety threat, contact school system leaders and parents and work to get them behavioral help.
The measure also would direct the creation of “peer to peer” student counseling programs in middle and high schools and provide $1 million in grants to help create them or expand them.
Hiring enough additional school counselors, psychologists, social workers and nurses to reach the optimum staff-student ratios would cost more than $500 million annually, the subcommittee heard. That’s according to a document provided to subcommittee members and compiled by General Assembly staff and the Department of Public Instruction.
Some legislators suggested the short-term focus be on hiring more school nurses. Meeting a ratio of one nurse for every 750 students would cost an additional $57 million annually, the document said.
“School nurses are on the very front lines of identifying and coordinating help for students with challenges — not just medical challenges but emotional challenges,” said Rep. Craig Horn, a Union County Republican. “School nurses could go a long way and help us to get out in front of the mental health needs of our kids for minimal cost.”
Cooper’s plan would spend another $40 million annually to hire at least 500 more nurses, counselors, psychologists and social workers.
The student health subcommittee also recommended:
— legislation directing the State Board of Education to accept someone’s certification through the National Association of School Psychologists to receive a school psychologist license in North Carolina. There are several dozen school psychologist vacancies in the state.
— the possible expansion of a mobile phone app that allows students to report anonymously potential safety threats to authorities. A pilot program for the app is wrapping up.
A subcommittee of the school safety panel examining school safety and security, including expansion of on-site police officers, meets next week. Cooper’s budget will have $65 million for building improvements and $10 million for hiring more school officers.
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