District committee recommends CharacterStrong and Panorama; board hears plan to expand mental-health supports and join state CYBHI

At the Mountain View Whisman School District board meeting on May 8, staff presented committee recommendations to adopt CharacterStrong as the district's primary social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum and to use Panorama for SEL data management. Director Jimbo (presenter) told the board the committee wants 30–45 minutes protected monthly for explicit SEL instruction and asked teachers to embed at least one SEL practice or strategy weekly.

The nut of the committee's recommendation is combining a researched SEL curriculum (CharacterStrong), a district-developed simplified screener for early grades, and a data platform (Panorama) for progress monitoring and counselor caseload tracking. "The committee recommendation is to adopt CharacterStrong paired with Panorama for our data management," staff said. The plan includes screening, brief interventions, and automatic referral pathways to clinical care when screeners indicate a need.

Why it matters: staff said the change would let the district screen students, monitor intervention progress, and better coordinate referrals to mental-health treatment. The presentation also laid out expected reductions in external grant support next year: county-funded intensive grants will shrink (Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Services SLS grant dropping from five schools to two, and a county Office of Education grant reducing a mental-health specialist to half time), leaving the district to cover some services.

Board members asked how the district will replace lost grant funds. Director Jimbo said the district will hire an in-house mental-health specialist, pursue interns and agency contracts, and use a mix of general fund and other sources to cover gaps. "Based on the data from this year... our pursuit of a mental health specialist, our interns that we're looking to bring on, as well as any contracted mental health services will cover that gap," Jimbo said.

Trustees pressed on screening and privacy. Trustee Henry asked whether Panorama had been used before and how the new screener would protect student privacy. Jimbo said the district would design brief, skills-level screeners (not clinical instruments) and noted parents and students could opt out; triggers would route through a school counselor for intake before any therapeutic referral.

Parents and former trustees raised operational concerns in public comment. A parent speaker asked how counseling coverage would be provided at Graham Middle School after a counselor took leave; another asked how many Securly alerts for suicide ideation the district had processed this year. In response, staff said the district continues to contract with therapeutic providers (Pacific Clinics), is hiring a mental-health specialist, and will use interns to increase on‑site coverage.

Next steps: staff said the board will be asked to act on the SEL/mental-health plan on May 29. The district is also continuing its CYBHI application and anticipates RFP results for an electronic health record vendor in mid‑June.

Ending: The board did not vote on the SEL recommendation at the May 8 meeting; trustees thanked staff for the presentation and signaled a desire for continued community engagement and detailed implementation plans before formal approval.