School safety and behavioral health at the Mat-Su School District

The 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre was Saturday. There are events in our lives that we will never forget where we were when we heard the news. Among them are 9-11, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Challenger explosion and Columbine, the school shooting in the Denver, Colorado, area high school. These are the news stories that stopped us in our tracks.

It has been a transition these 20 years for us to begin to get serious about school security nationwide. Arguably it can be said that Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018 finally pushed us over the edge. School security is tightening. School Resource Officers are now available to all of the area high schools.

But what about behavioral health initiatives?

The Mat-Su Borough School District has received 10 grants from the Mat-Su Health Foundation according to MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Monica Goyette for behavioral health. Seven schools have mental health providers provided by the Mat-Su Health Foundation. The schools general and guidance counselors don’t provide therapy. The mental health providers from Mat-Su Health Foundation fill in some of the gaps. Providing services on site saves families time away from work and helps those who don’t have the resources to provide their children the help they need.

But are we doing enough?

Goyette had this to say in a recent interview with the Frontiersman:

“We do an assessment that we have been doing for over a decade that measures adequate progress. It’s a nationally normed assessment. In second grade we are at the 20th percentile in reading and math. We’re low in the second grade. Our kids are coming in below grade level but by the time they get into 10th grade they’re in the eightieth percentile so we do make a tremendous amount of progress.”

“If you believe we have an opioid crisis in our valley, if you believe we have a real crime problem and that poverty has gone up. Those homes have kids and we’re getting them.”

“I think of education as a marathon. A marathon is 26 miles and public education is 13 years. Every year is two miles. But the assumption that everybody gets dropped off at the starting line is inaccurate. We have kids dropped off five miles from the starting line. They have a long ways to go before they can start where they should be.”

A child doesn’t get to choose their parents. They are born into a situation they obviously have no control over. The majority have parents who do their best. Some have parents who excel at preparing their child for school. Then there are those who grow up with parents that have other priorities or addictions. A child born into this disadvantage who doesn’t keep up can develop feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness.

What do we do with the children who the odds are stacked against?

Do we teach them and hope they catch up or do we invest in them? Give them a fighting chance to change the cycle in their own family.

We stand up at town halls and talk about crime reform. Repeal SB91. Hire more troopers and prosecutors.

But what if we invested into the problem at its earliest stages?

Crime was an issue in the valley before SB91. And yes, more does need to be invested in the criminal justice system. But if we want true crime prevention, we need to change behavior at the earliest stages.

Education should be the first priority of our school district, but helping our children discern right from wrong is a fundamental culture change. Those who have more contact with our community’s youth should have funds to invest toward this fight. A good mental foundation is just as important as a good physical foundation.

Goyette and her staff have endured several critics who point to Alaska being ranked last in the nation for education.

“We are last in the nation in reading and math. We are. People will criticize that assessment test but the reality is everyone else is taking that assessment as well. But we’re also the highest in domestic violence, highest in sexual abuse, highest suicide rates. Our state is in crisis. The children in the villages are living in crisis. I would never compare our district with rural districts. That wouldn’t be fair. But our district is better than it was five years ago and I’m confident it will be better five years from now,” Goyette said.

Capturing Kid’s Hearts is a program that helps with social and emotional growth. The staff shakes every kid’s hand in the morning more as a check in on how they are doing. Another tactic is not embarrassing a kid who wasn’t prepared for class that day by grilling them about their assignment once the teacher realizes the student wasn’t prepared.

According to the CDC, schools nationwide do not spend enough funds on behavioral health for students who maybe having a crisis. Where does the school district fall in with spending on behavioral health?

Other than the grants from Mat-Su Health Foundation and school curriculum for K-8 that deals specifically with social and emotional learning the school districts counselors are there for general guidance.

“We have a list of local services we provide but there is not enough services for all kids out there. We would love to see our partnership with Mat-Su Health Foundation expand. We have school phycologists but they have two and three schools. Sometimes they can run some groups but individual? No. That is not a service we can provide. I wish we did,” Goyette explained.

Over the past 20 years there has been improvements to school safety in valley schools.

“For the board we did a white paper to show them the improvements we have made. From mental health, social emotional learning to physical structures within the buildings and safety personnel. Then we developed a five-year plan. At the elementary schools we don’t have the school safety coordinators or SRO’s. Locking the door with remote access is something we wanted to pilot. Finger Lake was the pilot and it’s gone very well. Over the next two years we are going to phase in all of our elementary schools,” Goyette stated.

Investing in school safety personnel and structures is important. But we could be missing a key ingredient to lifting kids out of bad situations if we do not invest in the best behavioral health plan for our school district.

Dennis Anderson is a group publisher for Wick Alaska, Colorado.