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North Penn outlines pilot for in-house mental health supports; students propose college-mentor idea
Summary
The Safe Schools Committee heard a proposal to pilot internal mental‑health supports for crisis response and follow-up, and student representative Grace proposed recruiting college psychology students for supervised counseling and parent-education sessions.
North Penn officials presented a proposed pilot to add in-house mental-health supports for students in crisis and for post-crisis follow-up, and a student representative outlined several student‑led ideas for peer-adjacent supports.
Mister Roan described a demo model that would repurpose internal staff with flexible schedules and qualified training to provide immediate crisis support and follow-up check-ins. “We are looking to deploy a demo ... where we have folks internally who have necessary and qualified training to be able to support our students in crisis and also do some follow-up,” he said.
Student proposals: Grace, the student representative and co-chair of the Montgomery County Mental Health Committee, said students have developed practical ideas the group would like to pilot. “One of which was to get ... college psychology students or students in college looking to be therapists ... to come and help mentor and counsel students in high school under the guidance of, you know, certified individuals,” Grace said, describing the model as mutually beneficial and noting logistics still need work.
Funding and logistics: Committee members pressed on how the district would identify qualified external partners and whether money is available to test the model. Mister Roan said district student-services leaders (he named Dr. Kukler and Dr. Bolden) are advising selection of partners and that a currently available ‘‘PCC school safety and mental health’’ grant appears to meet the program’s aims; staff indicated the district can pursue that grant immediately to test the pilot.
Participation and access: Doctor Bauer and others described efforts to collect student feedback across secondary schools and to ensure students who do not take lunch (and others with schedule constraints) receive opportunities to engage—through before-school, after-school or other times—so feedback and participation are broadly representative.
What the committee asked for: Members sought clarity on advisor roles, whether external clinicians could engage directly with students (with parental consent), and how compensation for internal resources would be handled. Staff said these questions are being worked on and that no implementation steps will be taken until the pilot’s logistics and feedback from students are collected.
Next steps: Student leaders will continue work (Grace said the student group will meet Feb. 2 to refine plans) and staff will pursue grant opportunities and identify partners in consultation with student-services leadership.
No formal motion was taken on the pilot during the meeting.
