External review finds consistent mental‑health demand in Albany schools; recommends targeted investments in FACT and data alignment

The board received a needs analysis of district mental‑health supports from Joe Lykem, a licensed clinical social worker and director of Oregon State University’s applied mental‑health program.

Lykem told the board he used a mixed‑methods evaluation that combined district administrative data, additional survey questions added to last year’s staff Tell survey, and qualitative interviews with roughly 20 staff members selected from a longer list provided by HR. He said staff participation in interviews and surveys provided a strong base for the review.

Findings and themes: - Strengths: The Families and Communities Together (FACT) team is a highly regarded, outcome‑driven component of district supports and is the usual escalation point staff use when cases require community coordination. Several community nonprofits — cited specifically in presentation as Jackson Street Youth Shelter and Ophelia’s Place — provide important wraparound supports. - Barriers: Lykem identified inconsistent access to community partners across cases and lengthy waits for external care (reportedly sometimes up to six months). He also flagged economic drivers — housing instability and food insecurity — as exacerbating student distress. - Prevalence: Using district data and survey results, Lykem estimated a minimum of about 25% of students experienced some level of mental‑health need during the year and that roughly 40% of staff showed some level of struggle, though he cautioned about measurement limitations and episodic need across the school year.

Recommendations Lykem emphasized to the board included: expanding and enriching school‑based mental‑health and social supports (with FACT identified as a strategic place for modest investment), aligning and standardizing district data systems and reporting for student services, and board advocacy to amplify staff needs and partner coordination. He also suggested pursuing Medicaid‑funded services where feasible and noted the state’s low ranking on youth mental‑health measures.

Board members asked for the written report; Lykem said the document is in the board packet and offered follow‑up. Trustees thanked staff and the FACT team for their work.

Provenance: Joe Lykem presented the evaluation and took board questions about standardization, Medicaid billing opportunities and recommended investments.