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District and teachers warn loss of federal mental‑health grant will reduce services; leaders outline mitigation steps
Summary
Teachers and social‑work staff told the board that a federal grant supporting mental‑health fellows and interns was canceled, leaving fewer social workers and higher caseloads. District leaders said some positions remain this fall (including 10 university interns) but that the reduction will be significant and they are seeking local partnerships.
Teachers, a union representative and parents told the Poudre School District board that the loss of a federal mental‑health fellows grant will reduce school‑based supports and increase caseloads for remaining staff.
Why it matters: Speakers said social‑work fellows and interns funded by the grant provided prevention, crisis intervention and case management that kept students in school and helped some avoid expulsions. District leaders said the federal program’s discontinuation reduced funding previously used to staff dozens of school‑based positions.
Rocky Mountain High School social‑studies teacher Wendy Bergman told the board that the grant funded social‑work fellows at 23 schools and called the cut “a devastating blow” to the district’s ability to meet student mental‑health needs and to the community’s mental‑health capacity.
“The loss of the social work fellows and interns on this grant is a devastating blow not only to our district's ability to meet students mental health needs but our community's capacity for mental health care,” Bergman said. She related a case in which a fellow intervened during an expulsion process and, with continued support, enabled a student to pass required graduation classes.
District leaders said the loss resulted from federal funding changes and described a partial mitigation plan. Senior staff said the program had been funded through a multi‑year federal grant; the district previously used that funding to employ fellows and interns. District senior director Liz Davis told the board that the district will retain some funded positions this fall and that the fellowship had supported about 22 schools; she said the district will have roughly 10 university interns this year who are paid as classified staff through the remainder of the grant’s funding period.
Superintendent Brian Kingsley and staff said the district had received multiple years of funding and that the rescission of federal funds left a shortfall. Kingsley told the board the district had been “very upset” by the federal reduction but that it would pursue partnerships with local health systems and community groups and attempt to preserve internship opportunities for students in training.
What the district said it can do now: Leaders said the district will (a) retain university interns this school year where possible, (b) explore local partnerships and short‑term funding sources, and (c) continue to prioritize mental‑health and SEL work through MTSS and school‑based teams. The district also said it will continue to provide universal SEL instruction and to deploy coaching/MTSS supports at the school level.
Speakers urged the board to pursue options to preserve services and to support staff training, and they requested clear public reporting about what positions will remain and how caseloads will change.
