Hillsboro School District presents expanded prevention plan and middle-school screening; staffing cuts offset with internship help

The Hillsboro School District on a first reading presented its 2025–26 drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention and intervention plan, highlighting expanded middle-school screening and stronger referral pathways to community care.

District mental and behavioral health coordinator Jenny Kerry told the board the plan emphasizes a continuum of supports — universal prevention, early identification, brief intervention and connection to treatment — and ties curriculum and procedures to Division 22 and district policy. Kerry said the district has integrated opioid-prevention lessons required under Senate Bill 238 into advisory curricula and supplemental lessons.

Kerry outlined staffing changes reflected in the plan, saying the district recorded reductions this year that include a full-time student engagement specialist, a part‑time health and wellness TOSA, and one mental health care coordinator. "We expanded school-based mental health intern programming to help address some of the direct service needs that were impacted by those reductions," Kerry said.

The presentation emphasized the district’s middle-school screening program, which Kerry described as a classroom-administered screen that gauges risk and protective factors and connects students to counselors. As of the end of February, Kerry said the district had 1,119 submissions and 929 completed screeners across all four middle schools. She summarized screening results: about 63% of students reported doing well, roughly 27% showed some risk factors (anxiety, substance use, harassment or bullying), and about 10% met tier‑three safety-risk criteria, including suicide ideation or self‑harm.

Kerry said the program’s reach is identifying students who had not previously been on staff radars: "Fifty‑five percent of the students screened with risk factors were not on our radar for those needs already," she said, arguing the universal approach improves equitable identification and earlier intervention.

She described referral pathways through school-based health centers and the district mental health care coordination team, and named community partners used for treatment and prevention work, including Washington County Behavioral Health, Latino-network partners, Youth Contact and Northwest Counseling Associates. Kerry acknowledged the district had ended a contract this year with LifeStance Health and said internship programming was part of the strategy to mitigate service loss.

Board members asked clarifying questions about screener counts, consent procedures and how sites for partnerships are chosen. Kerry explained that some students opted out or left surveys incomplete, that families are provided opt‑out/consent communications for in‑school screening, and that site selection combines referral data and local barriers to outside care.

The plan remains at first reading; Kerry said the board will have the opportunity to act next month. "This gives us a chance to review the plan, ask questions, and then move it into an action item next month," she said.

The presentation concluded with board appreciation for the district’s preventative and data‑driven approach.