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High school students tell Senate panel schools need more mental health supports and transportation
Summary
Students from Meadowdale Career Technology Center testified to the Senate Health Committee about mental health, addiction, domestic violence and the stressors driving youth crisis. They asked lawmakers to fund prevention, peer supports and alternatives to incarceration for youth with substance use and trauma histories.
Kevin O'Donnell introduced a group of Meadowdale Career Technology Center students who read prepared testimony to the Senate Health Committee about youth mental health, addiction, domestic violence and school safety.
"These young people behind me have a more stressful day than I ever had when I was in high school," O'Donnell said, and he highlighted transportation cuts that force students to take multiple buses and transfers.
Students described personal experience with depression, bullying and traumatic home environments and urged more funding for mental health services and alternatives to incarceration. Student testimony included:
- Maya France: described experiencing bullying and depression and urged funding for supports in schools.
- Rhianna Moreland: said drug addiction “starts as young as middle school age” and called for funding for correctional therapy rather than placing youth in correctional facilities.
- Joshua Thomas: cited statistics about domestic violence and urged more funding for hotlines and services.
Another student asked senators to "take mental health more seriously" and proposed peer-support groups and expanded rehab and counseling services.
Kevin O'Donnell and the students asked the committee to consider workforce and transportation impacts that leave students vulnerable, and they requested state funding to expand prevention, peer support and counseling that can reduce emergency and justice-system contacts for young people.
No committee action was taken during the testimony; the appearances were offered during the hearing as part of public witness testimony on the budget.
