Syosset schools outline multi-tier plan to build student belonging and expand mental-health supports

Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services Erin Goldthwait and district administrator Mr. Steinberg told the Syosset Board of Education on Wednesday evening that the district has expanded a multi-tiered approach to build students’ sense of belonging across middle and high schools. The presentation covered schoolwide culture work, targeted small-group interventions, lunchtime “nooks” and an increase in psychologists, social workers and other mental-health staff.

Why it matters: administrators said adolescent students are especially vulnerable during identity formation and unstructured parts of the day, and that a stronger sense of belonging is linked to academic engagement, resilience and improved social-emotional outcomes. The district presented the effort as aligned with recent board goals on inclusive culture and student well-being.

Goldthwait said the district is embedding social-emotional learning into schedules, including elementary SEL blocks and tiered MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) work at the secondary level. “By directly and indirectly modeling and teaching social emotional supports for students, they’re able to create healthy identities, manage their own emotions, achieve personal and collective goals, display empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions,” she said.

Mr. Steinberg described “pride” as a long-standing district framework that creates a common language for belonging. He noted the breadth of curricular and extracurricular options — more than 300 high-school course offerings, more than 60 middle-school course options and roughly 200 clubs across the middle and high schools — and said those choices give students “voice” and chances to form peer relationships.

When schoolwide offerings aren’t enough, Goldthwait said the district deploys targeted supports: wellness rooms, supervised lunchtime nooks, short-term (typically six- to eight-week) MTSS small groups led by psychologists, social workers or counselors for issues such as executive functioning, test-taking or friendship skills, and new-entrant groups to connect students who move into the district.

The presenters credited growing mental-health capacity to board-supported staffing increases. “Every single year that I have been here, we have added staff members to these areas,” Goldthwait said, adding the district had added behavior consultants, “upwards of seven” social workers since her arrival, additional guidance counselors and increased psychologist capacity.

The district also highlighted inclusive-sports programs — Challenger at the middle school and Unified at the high school — and other peer-mentoring and buddy programs. Student-government representative Nikhil said student leaders are organizing board games and similar activities in the high-school cafeteria to provide device-free social options during lunch.

Board members asked how students learn about lunchtime nooks and targeted groups. Goldthwait said the work is coordinated by building administrators, shared via advisory and guidance channels and varies by period and building as available spaces change. “If you’re not sure what’s available, ask — reach out to building administration or your guidance counselor,” she said, and described advisory as a regular place where such opportunities are publicized.

Administrators described partnerships with community providers — notably Northwell Health, Central Nassau Guidance and Counseling Services, and SPOA — that can provide training, crisis support and external referrals when families need services beyond the district’s capacity.

The presentation closed with the district’s framing: these offerings are intended to make clear that “all students belong.”

What’s next: board members encouraged continued exploration of structured lunchtime activities that help students find peers and requested follow-up details about publicity and logistics for lunch nooks and peer programs.