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Providence committee plans May mental-health fair and forms student safety committee under new law
Summary
The Health & Wellness Committee set a May 19 student-led mental health fair and reported formation of a new student safety and behavioral health committee required by statute H5165SO235; staff will circulate the current wellness policy and convene subgroups to pursue a tight revision timeline ahead of May policy review.
At the March 3 Health & Wellness Committee meeting, Jenny McCarter, the committee27s new chair, outlined two near-term items: a student-run mental health fair in May and the creation of a separate student safety and behavioral health committee under a newly referenced state statute.
Viviana Nava, who presented the mental-health fair update, said the event will be held on May 19 from about 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., usually timed to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week. "What I want to accomplish this year is get better attendance," Viviana said, describing past attendance of about 500 to 600 participants and a goal to collect better participation data via a QR-code registration and in-person check-in system.
The fair is student run and features live performances, vendors providing services (therapy dogs, virtual-reality mental-health demonstrations), and food trucks; Viviana asked committee members to recruit vendors, help publicize the Google Form vendor sign-up and coordinate logistics like transportation and interpretation support for families.
Separately, the committee reviewed a recently enacted requirement that districts establish a student safety and behavioral health committee. The statute was cited in the meeting as "H5165SO235." Jenny McCarter said the district formed the required committee and named two co-chairs: Dr. Onye (chief of equity) and Julie Lombardi (executive director of special education). The committee had not yet met but its first meeting was provisionally scheduled for April 1.
Policy timeline and next steps: committee members agreed to split the wellness policy into subcommittee-lenses (nutrition/physical activity, SEL/mental health, relationship support) to review sections by mid-March. The group discussed a schedule that would permit a policy committee first read in May, a second read in June and possible school-board action later in the spring; staff said they would circulate the current policy to committee members and set up working meetings, including remote options.
No formal votes were taken; members asked staff to circulate materials, recruit vendor and outreach partners for the fair, and share the student-safety committee meeting date when confirmed.
