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District reports rise in Baker Acts, 85% of staff trained in youth mental‑health first aid
Summary
Safe Schools coordinator Judy Tatum told the Columbia County School Board the district has trained about 85% of staff in youth mental‑health first aid; Baker Acts are slightly higher year‑to‑date and threat assessments have increased.
Judy Tatum, the district’s Safe Schools coordinator, told the Columbia County School Board on Jan. 28 that the district has trained roughly 85% of staff in youth mental‑health first aid and that some indicators of student crisis have increased.
Tatum said the district held a youth mental‑health first aid training on Feb. 14 and “that has put our numbers at about 85% of our staff and faculty that are trained, which is great, meeting well exceeding our, state compliance.” She told the board that school‑based Baker Acts have increased from 28 last year to 31 this year and that the district is tracking about 200 mental‑health referrals.
Tatum described the district’s threat management process, saying her office has logged 70 threat management cases this year across low, medium and high levels; six of those were classified as high level. For high‑level cases she said the district follows a 365‑day monitoring process that involves parents, school resource deputies and other staff.
Tatum said the Safe Schools Office has completed most compliance checks and that the Florida Department of Education conducted onsite reviews at four schools with no compliance deficiencies found. She told the board three schools remain to be checked this year and that DOE found no compliance issues at the schools it inspected.
Board members asked for clarification about the roughly 200 referrals and whether delays occur getting students into counseling. Tatum replied that the main difficulty is obtaining required parental paperwork and permissions after an initial crisis and that the district must have parent permission to proceed with counseling or outside services.
Tatum said the district has five trainers and also partners with the Northeast Florida Educational Consortium (NEFEC) to train staff; she noted NEFEC provides stipend funding for training when sessions occur outside regular work days.
The presentation was informational; no formal board action was taken during the Safe Schools report portion of the meeting.
