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District expands behavior supports and mental-health services; pilots Choose Love at elementary campuses
Summary
Officials described expansion of tiered behavior supports, the Choose Love elementary pilot, a mental-health coordinator's campus interventions and district counseling services and wraparound referrals.
District staff briefed trustees on student behavior and mental-health initiatives, including a broader rollout of the Choose Love curriculum at elementary campuses, targeted behavior-intervention support and in-district counseling services.
A district representative said Choose Love, piloted at Clift and Dunaway last year, is now a tier-1 positive behavior support across elementary campuses. The district hosted a kickoff in August with program founder Scarlett Lewis to train Pre‑K and elementary staff on implementation protocols.
The district also described recent investments in mental-health personnel. The district’s coordinator of mental health and counseling — described as a general-education behavior interventionist — worked with 50 on 57 cases at elementary campuses during 2024–25 and conducted about 104 classroom observations and interventions for Tier 2 and Tier 3 students, staff reported. The coordinator logged more than 160 hours on a single high-needs campus during the first semester, district staff said.
Counseling services: District-employed licensed counselors provided school-based therapy at no cost to families. For 2024–25 the district reported the counselors served 442 students and recorded 3,294 sessions across K–12 campuses.
Intensive supports and Care Solace: The district operates Mind Above Matter, an after‑school intensive treatment program; staff reported five students currently in the clinic and one in assessment, and noted 31 successful discharges during the 2024–25 cycle (including summer operations). Care Solace, a wraparound referral service for students, staff and families, handled 68 total cases last year, assisted 147 individuals, generated 3,856 communications and made 51 provider matches, district staff said.
Board members asked specifically about needs at Clift (Clift Elementary). Staff presented comparative discipline counts showing a decline from 326 incidents in 2022–23 to 204 in 2023–24 and said that placing a full-time behavior interventionist at a targeted campus can reduce incident counts and free administrators to focus on instruction.
No board action was required; trustees discussed the staffing trade-offs and training timelines and asked staff to consider behavioral specialist placements where needs are greatest.
