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Laguna Beach Unified highlights declines in student sadness and suicidal ideation as counseling staff expands
Summary
Director of Social Emotional Wellness Dr. Keller told the board the district has boosted counseling staff and programs and reported a drop in several risk indicators for high‑school students: chronic sadness among 11th graders fell from about 38% to 23%, and reported suicidal ideation fell by 62% in the most recent California Healthy Kids Survey.
Laguna Beach Unified School District’s director of social‑emotional wellness, Dr. Kelly Keller, told the board the district has moved from a crisis‑driven model to an early‑intervention system that has added personnel and evidence‑based programs across all grade levels.
Keller said district counseling staff grew from seven to nine counselors serving four school sites and that the district’s student‑to‑counselor ratio is now roughly 1:254, significantly lower than the California average of 1:385. She credited partnerships — including work with School Power and a long‑standing partnership with Challenge Success at Stanford Graduate School of Education — for program design and data collection.
"Even more encouraging, we’ve seen a 62 percent reduction in that suicidal ideation," Keller said, citing the district’s most recent California Healthy Kids Survey results for 11th‑grade respondents. Keller also said chronic sadness among 11th graders decreased from about 38 percent historically to 23 percent in the most recent survey, and 94 percent of 11th graders reported feeling safe or very safe on campus in the latest cycle.
The presentation covered multiple supports and staffing expansions: added student support specialists (four on the team, two licensed clinical social workers), school nurses, school psychologists and a Family Resource Center with a coordinator and community liaison. Keller described monitoring and crisis procedures — including a 24/7 WeTip reporting system, device‑monitoring on district networks, and coordinated response with Laguna Beach Police Department when after‑hours emergencies are reported.
The report included descriptions of school‑level programs and pilots. Thurston Middle School Principal Joe Vidal described school practices that contributed to a 63 percent reduction in behavior referrals while noting a 7.5 percent suspension rate the site intends to reduce to under 5 percent this year. Vidal highlighted a newly remodeled wellness space opening Nov. 1, digital student portfolio pilots, and changes to tutorial/intervention structures to separate assignment completion supports from content reteaching.
Two counselors from Laguna Beach High School, Alexis Meeley and student support specialist Megan Humphreys, described daily counseling work, freshman conferences, the Student Support Collective (30+ peer mentors trained in mental‑health awareness and suicide prevention), and the LBHS WellSpace drop‑in supports. Humphreys said she currently meets with 23 students weekly or biweekly for ongoing support and provides case management and referrals to third‑party providers when needed.
Board members praised the longitudinal approach and data runway presented and asked follow‑up questions about grade‑level differences, after‑hours availability and geographic access to services. Keller said the district offers after‑hours licensed mental‑health services through partner programs (up to 7 p.m. by referral) and that Family Resource Center sites will expand availability for families as scheduling demand emerges.
The presentation concluded with staff noting that while the district cannot eliminate all risks, investments in prevention, screening and layered supports have produced measurable improvements and the district will continue monitoring and targeting remaining gaps.
