2022 EDUCATION EDITION
CONSTANT COUNSELOR GROWTH In addition to investing in safety and security, Conroe ISD has invested more in school counselors to meet increasing guidance needs.
NUMBER OF COUNSELORS
COUNSELOR SALARY ALLOTMENT
MENTAL HEALTH IN THE STUDENT BODY
$13M $12M $11M $10M
$12.7M
$11.7M
$10.7M
$10M
Experts said mental health issues have been exacerbated by national events such as school shootings and the pandemic. 37% of high school students had poor mental health throughout the pandemic. 1 in 3 high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2019, a 40% increase from 2009. 1 in 6 youths reported making a suicide plan in 2019, a 40% increase from 2009. SOURCE: CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER SAFETY HOTLINES KidChat Hotline Anonymously report suspicious activity around CISD by calling 1-888-543-2428 Anonymous Alerts App Download the Anonymous Alerts app and use conroeisd at login to receive and report activity.
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SOURCE: TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Access to mental health services With an increased need to create a safe, secure school environment comes additional mental health stress, o cials said. In an e ort to increase the mental health service o erings for students and sta , CISD has partnered with Tri-County Behavioral Health with four clinics in the Caney Creek and Conroe feeder zones. The district has also added to its school counselors each year. In 2018-19 the district had 142 school counselors at a cost of $10 million total for base pay; that number increased to 169 counselors for 2021-22 at a cost of $12.7 million, according to CISD. Kim Earthman, CISD director of student support services, said there are 180 counselors on sta in 2022-23, including two crisis intervention spe- cialists, a mental health specialist, a college and career readiness supervi- sor and a coordinator of guidance and counseling. According to information from the district, counseling services encompass academic as well as social and emotional needs. Roberson said students have been struggling with anxiety, depression and trauma, and he is expecting to see more general anxiety from students about going into a classroom following
have changed, ... so we have the most secure environment.” In The Woodlands area, College Park High School, Glen Loch Elemen- tary School, Oak Ridge High School and The Woodlands High School are among the campuses that will see improvements, including upgraded security cameras, extended radio signal ampli ers, limited access to doors and the addition of emergency generators. The Woodlands High School will see $1.87 million in improvements; College Park High School is slated for $1.37 mil- lion in improvements; and Oak Ridge High School, including the ninth-grade campus, is slated for $1.82 million in upgrades. A total of $30 million of the $44.5 million of bond funds for safety and security projects is earmarked for annual projects until 2024. The school district is in its third phase of completing updates from the bond, and according to a March meeting of the CISD safety and secu- rity committee, the current phase will continue through the end of 2022. The fourth and nal phase is anticipated to start in early 2023, according to infor- mation presented at the Aug. 2 school board meeting.
Uvalde. According to a March report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37% of high school students reported poor mental health in 2021, and 44% reported they felt sad or hopeless during the year. “They are still trying to gure out how to manage appropriately,” Rob- erson said. “We have been very busy for years. During my tenure as execu- tive director, we have quadrupled the number of kids we see on a monthly basis, and the only reason we have not done more than that is that I have a hard time nding the stu to do it all, but the demand is very high.” Roberson said the Texas Legisla- ture put funding into creating the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine program in 2019. Part of the program includes training more child psychiatrists, and TCBH is working to bring residential rota- tions for local training, although the planned fall timeline is anticipated to be missed as of July 29. However, Roberson added there have been di culties in lling vacancies at TCBH with 27% of posi- tions being open as of July 29. Roberson said he believes CISD has taken a deliberate approach to keep- ing the school system safe.
SOURCE: CONROE ISD COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
“They are always working to improve their plan,” he said. “But it is di cult, probably impossible, to eliminate all risk.”
For more information, visit communityimpact.com .
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THE WOODLANDS EDITION • AUGUST 2022
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