Cliffside Park School District reinstates Care Plus mental-health clinicians at no cost to district

The Cliffside Park Board of Education announced the reinstatement of a partnership with Care Plus to place clinicians on school campuses who will assess students and provide mental-health resources, the superintendent said.

"Care Plus was with us for a number of years, and we are going to bring them back, and they are going to have clinicians on-site to help students with any type of mental health concerns," a district leader said (summary attribution: Superintendent, voice S3). The district said teachers, administrators and counselors can make referrals; Care Plus will assess students and provide resources both at school and at home. The district characterized the arrangement as being offered at no cost to the schools and said no student will be denied access because of insurance status.

The announcement was made as part of the committee reports and resolutions portion of the July 21 meeting (Resolution 39). Board members did not add substantive changes to the description during the discussion. The district did not provide details in the meeting about the contract terms, expected start date, clinician staffing levels, or whether parental consent procedures will change; those details were not specified in the transcript.

The board will consider Resolution 39 as part of the consent items covered in tonight's vote. The superintendent said the program aims to build a bridge between school and home to provide necessary supports to students who need them.