Janae Sutton, director of Health and Family Services for Hardin County Schools, told the Hardin County Board of Education that the district has expanded school-linked health, mental-health and family-stability services and emphasized housing instability and attendance as priorities.

Sutton said the district operates Family Resource and Youth Service Centers (FRYSCs) and family resource centers across the county, partners with Cumberland Family Medical for school nursing and mental-health services, runs Cradle Schools through a First Connections/United Way grant, and recently added supports for students experiencing homelessness and housing instability.

The update described staffing and caseloads: Sutton said the FRYSC program has 20 coordinators, with 12 serving elementary schools; Cumberland Family Medical’s school nursing staff increased from 22 to 23 nurses with one vacancy at Radcliffe Elementary; and Jessica Durrance, a board-funded master of social work, was working a caseload of 38 students in the family-stability program.

Sutton described a recent family-stability success: a student who was doubled up after a physical altercation completed a benefits assessment, secured Section 8 housing and SNAP benefits, and "has been living successfully independently since November," with direct support from Jessica Durrance. Sutton said the board-approved salary covers Durrance but that the day-to-day assistance for families often comes from community donations.

Sutton outlined services provided through the Cumberland Family Medical partnership, saying the district and Cumberland share costs for 23 school nurses while Cumberland provides nurse practitioners and regional management at no cost to the district. She said Cumberland bills insurance, including Medicaid and TRICARE, and that its clinics use sliding-scale fees when families cannot pay. "They meet the families where they're at," Sutton said.

Districtwide service counts Sutton reported included about 28,000 school nurse visits, nearly 3,000 nurse-practitioner visits and roughly 100 telehealth encounters. She said the after-school program has seen nearly a 9% increase in participating students and Cradle School enrollment has risen more than 26% year over year. Holiday assistance efforts provided items to nearly 3,000 children, the presentation said.

Sutton described program changes and new initiatives. Wellness Night has been expanded into a districtwide wellness week in February, partnering with the American Heart Association; topics will include mental well-being, nutrition, physical activity, sleep and a day teaching chest-compression-only CPR. The district has also increased automated external defibrillator (AED) coverage to 63 devices across campuses, added two AEDs per high school and added one device at the contracted bowling facility.

She identified attendance as a central concern, noting the district serves about 15,000 students and that previous wellness events drew roughly 1,200 attendees. "If you can't get them in the chair, you can't teach them," Sutton said.

Sutton also described First Connections Cradle Schools, a United Way–supported early-learning effort the district operates at multiple sites, and a child-care services program that provides birth-to-5 care for staff and students; she noted school-age child care runs roughly 2:00–5:30 p.m. and costs about $12 a day.

Sutton invited board members to visit FRYSCs and Cradle School classrooms, and noted a tentative March 18 date for district overdose simulations and panels hosted with Baptist Health and other community partners. The simulations include survivor and family testimony and a question-and-answer panel with local first responders and the coroner.

The presentation and Q&A occurred during the board's departmental-update agenda item; board members asked clarifying questions about insurance billing, program partners and the potential for expanding services.

The update included a link to the McKinney-Vento Act as background for supports for students experiencing homelessness and stressed that many supports come from community donations and partner agencies rather than direct district operating funds.

Sutton closed by urging board members to review the detailed presentation slides and offering to arrange site visits.