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Residents press North Babylon board on mental-health staffing, behavior supports and pay for emergency closures
Summary
Public commenters asked the board why the district has only two elementary-level behavior specialists, urged redirecting coordinator funding toward direct student supports, sought data on unmet student requests for mental-health services, and questioned snow-day pay practices compared with COVID-era payments.
Several residents raised questions about mental-health staffing, behavioral supports and district transparency during the public-participation portion of the meeting.
Glenn Edwards asked how many elementary‑level behavior specialists the district employs and whether money proposed to create a coordinator of pupil personnel services would be better spent hiring more specialists. Administration answered that the district currently has two elementary-level behavior specialists and that the budget includes expanded behavioral and mental-health contractual services next year. "Currently we have two behavior specialists that work in the district... we're going to be expanding the amount of behavioral supports next year," Melish said.
Natalie Edwards requested that the district begin tracking how often students seek but are unable to see counselors, social workers or psychologists, arguing that such data are necessary for evidence-based staffing decisions and crisis planning. She also asked whether a certified mental-health professional is required to be physically present in every building bell-to-bell and requested the district’s contingency procedures for coverage during absences; the board said it would respond to emailed questions and follow up.
A separate public commenter asked why some support staff were not paid for a snow closure day; district counsel Greg Gillan explained that COVID-era executive orders required payment for furloughed staff in that specific emergency but that snow-day pay is governed by collective bargaining agreements and not an identical executive order.
The board acknowledged the concerns and indicated administrators and counsel would continue to review staffing, data collection and contractual obligations and reply to the individuals who submitted written questions.
