District asks board to expand school-day telehealth counseling with $84,000 grant-funded purchase
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Summary
Glynn County Schools asked the board to approve the purchase of clinical telehealth counseling services from ESE Telehealth Services to expand daytime school counseling. The district said the state mental-health grant provides roughly $20,000 for each middle and high school and that the requested $84,000 would come from that grant.
Ms. Haywood asked the board to consider approving an $84,000 purchase to expand clinical telehealth counseling for students through ESE Telehealth Services, saying the expenditure would be covered by the state mental-health grant that provides about $20,000 for each middle and high school.
She told the board Glynn County Schools has worked with ESE since 2022 and was among the early districts in Georgia to use school-day telehealth. The district plans to expand access so services are available to all students under the grant funds.
Ms. Haywood described the program-management model: the district'level mental-health coordinator coordinates scheduling and works with school-based mental-health counselors; parents must give consent for a child to participate; sessions are scheduled during non-instructional times; the vendor supplies encrypted devices for school use; and licensed clinicians provide live sessions (not automated or AI-only). For urgent needs, the school counselor coordinates tier-3 or emergency access to a clinician, Ms. Haywood said.
Ms. Haywood said services would be free to students under the grant; previously there had been insurance- or sliding-scale arrangements for some families. The transcript records questions from board members about emergency access, management and staffing; staff answered that emergency coordination is handled by school counselors and that licensed clinicians staff ESE telehealth sessions. The transcript does not record a board vote on the purchase request.