NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Talk of the Sound recently obtained several reports and other documents related to School Safety and Security in the New Rochelle school system from the period 2009 to 2012. Some are low quality photocopies. We will present several of them over the coming weeks.
In 2009, 2010 and 2011 there were comprehensive reports on 5 Elements: (1) Safe School Environments and Violence Prevention Activities; (2) Alcohol and Drug Prevention Activities; (3) Student Behavioral, Social, and Emotional Supports; (4) Mental Health Services; (5) Early Childhood Social and Emotional Learning Programs.
To the best of our knowledge these annual reports were never shared with the public. We are publishing 5 articles based on the 5 Elements contained in the the 2012 report that covers 2009, 2010 and 2011.
This is the fourth of the five:
Element 4: Mental Health Services
Goal 4: To create an enhanced, integrated and coordinated system of mental health services in New Rochelle for children, youth and families that will result in an increase in access, capacity and quality.
Objective 1: There will be a 20% increase in the number of referrals which result in mental health services being provided by community service agency from the baseline year (2008) to fourth year (2012).
Objective 2: There will be a 100% increase in the number of students receiving school-based mental health services from baseline school year (2007-2008) to end of the fourth year (2011-2012).
Data for Objective I are collected by The Guidance Center (TOC). During 2010-2011
school year, there were 125 referrals ofNew Rochelle students which resulted in mental health services conducted by TGC. This was a decrease of 19% from the baseline school year (2008-09) of 155, but an increase from 2009-10 school year (123). The majority (60%) of the sources of referrals came from the school which is an increase over the past two years. Other sources of referrals were the following: 25% from family,. 10% from Child Protective Services, 4% from Comprehensive Outpatient Provider Services, and 1% from Department of Social Services. During the 2011-2012 school year, there were 88 referrals with 49% of the sources of referrals
coming from school, 45% from family, 3% from Child Protective Services, and 3% from
Comprehensive Outpatient Provider Services. To achieve Objective 1, the total number of referrals of New Rochelle School students which result in mental health services being provided needs to increase to 186.
Data for Objective 2 is collected by the school district’s Director of Pupil Services. During the 2010-2011 school year, there were 19 students seen by the School Psychiatrist for a psychiatric evaluation which is a slight decrease from the baseline school year of2007-08 (21). Of the students seen, 42% were in elementary school, 21% in middle school, and 37% in high school; 74% were male; 53% were African American, 32% Caucasian, 10% Hispanic and 5% Asian. During the 2011-2012 school year, there have already been 16 students seen by the school psychiatrists through January 31, 2012. or the students seen, 31% were in elementary school, 50% in middle school, and 19% in high school; 44% were male; 38% were African American, 56% Caucasian, 0% Hispanic and 6% Asian.
The activities that are being funded by the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) grant initiative under this element are the School Psychiatrist, Family Service Coordinator, Multiple Family Group (MFG), and the CAST program.
School Psychiatrist
A school psychiatrist works one morning a week and sees students who are referred for psychiatric evaluation and consultations. The Director of Pupil Services receives referrals from school support staff and her office coordinates the school psychiatrist schedule of assessment/consultation of the student. The school psychiatrist meets with the student at his/her school.
Multiple Family Groups
During the 2010-2011 school year, there were four groups of the Multiple Family Group (MFG) conducted with 12 families completing the groups at The Guidance Center. There were 22 children between the ages of 6 and 16 participating along with 13 parents (one couple and the rest were mothers who were single-heads of household). All groups were held in English; two groups were 10 sessions, one group nine sessions, and the last group was five sessions. Four families returned to complete five additional sessions in June. The ethnicity of the families was 50% African-American, 33% Hispanic, and 27% White. During the spring 2011, there were ten family participants who completed the pretest and nine who completed the posttest. Results demonstrated that the mean from pretest to posttest increased on 88% of the questions (14 out of the 16 questions). Despite outreach efforts for families to attend MFG, there were no groups conducted during in the fall of 2011. In January 2012, one MFG group began with nine families in English. Numerous referrals were received for children 5-7 years of age, which is under the age limited originally planned. However, TUC is considering conducting a group for this age range.
Family Service Coordinator
A bi-lingual Family Service Coordinator (FSC) from TGC acts as the liaison between the family/school and TGC as well as provides direct services to students. Unfortunately the previous FSC resigned from her position to accept a long-term position serving the New Rochelle community through a private school. In August 2011, a new Family Services Coordinator was hired and trained by the out-going FSC at The Guidance Center. The new FSC has attended New Rochelle Network meetings and presented information about the SS/HS mental health component to orient individuals to programming and elicit referrals. She has also made presentations to the New Rochelle District Pupil Personnel Staff to elicit referrals. During this reporting period, 48 youth have received therapeutic services from the FSC. She maintains a
consistent caseload of ten clients but also conducted a number of intakes and assessments of New Rochelle children and adolescents to facilitate and expedite the admission and treatment of appropriate referrals. During the 2010-11 school year, the previous FSC served 20 youths.
CAST Program
Through a program change approved during the summer of 2011, the services of a .5 FTE social worker was added to provide mental health support to students ages 17-21 enrolled in Project CREATE as well as the implementation of the evidence-based CAST (Coping and Support Training) program for these students. Project CREATE is a school district designed alternative education program that has successfully served a high-risk student population within their community since 2000. The program was relocated during the 2010-2011 school year which led to some confusion about the availability of the program and consequently low enrollment. During the fall of 20 11, the Project CREATE team, composed of the social worker, a special education teacher, a vocational rehabilitation counselor, worked to update the referral
process and met with high school administrators and pupil support staff to review the current program, the success of previous students, and the criteria for enrollment. In October 2011, two copies of the complete CAST curriculum were: ordered and received. In November 2011, a decision was made to order the Program Administrator on-line tutorial training for CAST Program in lieu of the recommended 4-day CAST Leader Training as the provider, Reconnecting Youth, did not anticipate a training east of the Mississippi in the foreseeable future. The social worker at Project CREATE completed the CAST training in December and organized the curriculum kick-off for the first week of February 2012. Work with the students has focused on
group dynamics, listening and respecting each other, focusing on the task at hand, and building trusting relationships with the staff. Students are communicating about their substance abuse issues. On January 12,2012, the Project SUCCESS Counselors from New Rochelle High School provided a presentation to the students on Drinking and Driving/Alcohol Poisoning. Project CREATE staff are working with youth to reduce marijuana and alcohol use. Staff met with the Lexington Recovery Center to discuss their program and learn about the referral process for both youth and their family members with substance abuse issues.