Long Beach Unified said it will make cuts to student mental health support at its campuses next school year, dramatically reducing staffing of wellness centers in K-8, middle and high schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The district said it plans to decrease social workers by almost half, from 38 to 21, expected to save $2.8 million. While comprehensive high schools will keep one social worker full time, thematic high schools, Title 1 middle schools and Title 1 TK-8 schools will be allocated a social worker half time, the district said. Middle schools and TK-8 schools that don\u2019t receive Title 1 funding will see their wellness centers close next school year.<\/p>\n
LBUSD has significantly expanded student mental health services, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, using temporary funds to address \u201cheightened student needs,\u201d a district spokesperson said. As those funds expire, and in light of enrollment declines, the district is \u201crealigning services to reflect ongoing funding while maintaining strong mental health supports for students,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Parents, students and social workers told the Long Beach Post that this support is critical to student success and safety, especially when many researchers are sounding the alarm<\/a> on an adolescent mental health crisis that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said<\/a> was worsening even before the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schools play a key role in addressing youth mental health, the CDC said; in LBUSD, data show<\/a> high utilization of mental health resources. Students and social workers painted a grim picture of what reductions will mean.\u00a0<\/p>\n One social worker said that the district is essentially telling the remaining social workers to take on a burning problem with half the resources. \u201cBut in reality, what are you supposed to tell a kid? \u2018Go save your crisis for the next two days because you don\u2019t have a social worker here?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2021, the district opened wellness centers at all high school site<\/a>s. Staffed by social workers with master\u2019s of social work and pupil services credentials, the wellness centers provide space for students to drop in briefly, seek deeper support, connect to external resources, meet basic needs and build social-emotional skills through workshops and activities \u2014 free support that might otherwise cost families thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n The next school year, LBUSD expanded wellness centers to all middle and K-8 schools, responding to concern over the \u201cprofound academic and mental health effects on students from school closures,\u201d according to the Local Control Accountability Plan<\/a>. That year, wellness centers recorded more than 275,000 walk-ins<\/a>. Demand remains high, with 196,000 walk-ins recorded in the 2024-25 school year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Social workers who spoke with the Post requested anonymity over fears that speaking out could impact their employment as they wait for clarity on their jobs. One social worker reported seeing 50 to 100 students in the wellness center daily. \u201cOur kids are scared,\u201d the social worker said, and many students are carrying \u201cthe weight of the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As an example, the social worker reported doing numerous suicide assessments over two weeks, which resulted in multiple hospitalizations. Another social worker said that even if school psychologists and counselors remain, they may not have the clinical expertise to catch subtle signs of suicidal ideation. \u201cA lot of these kids are going to be missed,\u201d the social worker said.<\/p>\n When social workers are present every day, students have \u201cthe opportunity to build that relationship and that sense of trust with us,\u201d one social worker said. \u201cThis is what we\u2019re taking away from our students.\u201d<\/p>\n One parent, Kisha Champion, said her daughter was \u201ctormented\u201d by peers in middle school and that the wellness center offered respite, especially at lunch. Champion, who works at a community college, sees firsthand the importance of emotional support that starts early. Losing that means the district is sacrificing a prevention approach and must now rely on crisis intervention, said Emily Farrier, a Renaissance High School teacher.<\/p>\n Presley Cadiz, a ninth grader at Millikan High School, said the wellness center at Stanford Middle School eased her transition back into the classroom after pandemic closures. Cadiz, who has anxiety and ADHD, said she had a panic attack in eighth grade that caused her to hyperventilate and break out in hives, but she was able to calm down in the wellness center.\u00a0<\/p>\n She \u201conly made it through middle school\u201d because of that support, her mom, Laurel Cadiz, said, adding that Presley now wants to become a social worker and one day support students in the district.\u00a0<\/p>\n Social workers said the cuts were creating division between those who expect to remain employed and those who fear being cut. Social workers are not protected by a union; some are on special contracts, which must be renewed annually, while others are on regular contracts with somewhat more stability, social workers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though some schools will keep a full-time social worker, it may not be the person currently employed at that site. When social workers build multi-year relationships with students, that work must begin from zero when new staff comes in, social workers said.<\/p>\n Schools may be able to retain social workers with some discretionary funds, but parents, teachers and social workers expressed frustration that they haven\u2019t seen alternatives proposed by the district when the need for mental health support is still there. \u201cKids can\u2019t learn when their brain is on fire,\u201d one social worker said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach Unified said it will make cuts to student mental health support at its campuses next school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":100235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-100234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}