CUSD reports counseling, social work and Hope Institute activity; board questions third-party campus services

Natasha Davis, director of counseling and social services for Chandler Unified School District, briefed the governing board Dec. 11 on counseling and social-work staffing, prevention programs, crisis response and partnerships that provide on-campus or near-campus behavioral health services.

Davis said the district employs 122 school counselors and social workers and that the district has at least one counselor or social worker at every campus. The presentation framed services on a prevention—intervention—postvention continuum and described classroom lessons, districtwide Teen Mental Health First Aid training for 11th graders and partnerships that deliver clinical services on campus under memoranda of understanding.

District prevention staff described use of a statewide youth survey administered locally to inform programming. Dr. Robert Ramos, prevention coordinator, summarized the Arizona survey participation by grade and said the district used the data to design programming and K——9 bullying lessons.

Davis and her team described Teen Mental Health First Aid training that the district is rolling out at all high schools. The program uses a five-step action plan (Look, Ask, Listen, Connect, and Friendship) and aims to teach students how to identify peers at risk and connect them with trusted adults; presenters said parent preview sessions were offered before school implementation.

Lindsay Taylor, clinical director of the Hope Institute (the community clinical partner on the Perry High School campus), reported that since the Hope Institute opened in September the center has received nearly 300 referrals for students experiencing suicidal ideation and that the program's completion rate has been about 90% for students who received services. Taylor said recidivism (students returning for further services) over a year was under 10% and that within 90 days the rate was approximately 4% in the district data she cited.

The presentation included operational counts the department tracks: districtwide suicide assessments were presented as 640 in 2022——23 and 858 in 2023——24; the current school year had logged 297 suicide assessments to date. Districtwide threat-assessment counts were listed as 145 in 2023——24 and 82 so far this year. Presenters noted that some students are assessed more than once in a year.

District staff also highlighted partnerships that provide on-campus or near-campus clinical services through memoranda of understanding (MOUs). Presenters said clinical partnerships have allowed approximately 431 students to receive ongoing therapeutic counseling who otherwise might lack access.

Board member Rohrs strongly challenged one aspect of the briefing, saying: "I am dead set against having third parties located on their campuses with their own perspectives, with their own agendas, and their own advocacy." Superintendent and other board members responded that the use of MOUs and community partners is an established district practice intended to expand access to services and to relieve classroom staff of work outside their core instruction duties.

Presenters described additional community outreach and direct-service events, including a district career and postsecondary planning portfolio (ECAP), a Build for Tomorrow expo featuring colleges and apprenticeships, a district college fair with more than 100 institutions represented, and holiday support events via partnerships in the community. Davis and staff also described trainings delivered for grief-sensitive schools and cited a MetLife grant used to provide grief-response materials and training.

Because of time constraints the board deferred further questions; presenters offered to supply additional data on trends on request. Quotes and figures in this article come from the district—s Dec. 11, 2024 study session presentation and the Hope Institute report shown to the board.