Dallas SD 2 hears report on school-based mental health: extra visits, fewer crisis calls

District staff and Polk County partners presented the annual report on school-based mental health and service integration, describing program reach, referral sources, funding, and outcomes.

Dana Goodale, who supervises the school-based mental health program, said the program served students across four districts including Dallas and cited an extra 627 visits in May–June as staff closed out the year: "in May and June, we saw an extra 627 visits with students". She highlighted referral sources (primarily school staff and also parents and student self-referrals), use of the Securly monitoring tool to flag concerning online behavior, and that staff prioritize connecting students with resources before summer.

Goodale noted a two-year wellness grant of $99,880 that will not flow into the general fund but will support incentives and staff-managed programming. She also said higher-level crisis calls to Polk County decreased compared with the prior year: Level 2 crisis calls were 7 this year versus 17 last year, and Level 1 screening conversations also trended lower.

Abby Warren (Polk County family/community outreach) and Carol presented Dallas-area service integration data: the Dallas team handled 41 funded requests this year and served just over 1,200 people; the team began the year with roughly $12,700 and leveraged $27,144 in partner contributions. They noted a typical request cap of $400 and described partnering with other agencies to bridge gaps for larger needs.

Board members thanked staff for program work and community partnerships and posed no substantive policy changes at the meeting.