The Oasis Charter School Mental Health Assistance Allocation Plan for the upcoming school year was approved Tuesday, which will help fund school counselors and social workers.<\/p>\n
Jacqueline Collins, superintendent of the city of Cape Coral\u2019s municipal school system, said the Florida Department of Education requires every charter and traditional school to have a Youth Mental Health Assistance Allocation Plan, which was created to provide funding to assist in implementing the school-based mental health assistance program.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach school has to develop a program that includes training classroom teachers and other staff to detect and respond to mental health concerns,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
The multi-tiered system of support is designed to deliver assistance and assessment diagnosis, prevention and recovery services to students and families, she said.<\/p>\n
There is a strict time frame when responding to issues \u2014 15 days to initiate the assistance, and 30 calendar days to refer someone to a community-based provider if something additional is needed.<\/p>\n
Collins said they also make sure they have a school resource officer on all four campuses to assist in providing services in case a Baker Act \u2014\u00a0an involuntary commitment for someone in danger of harming themselves or others \u2014\u00a0or family visits are needed.<\/p>\n
Every school has the same plan and the funding allocation, based on enrollment, is in the neighborhood of $57,000 per school, she said. The money is spent on social workers and counselors.<\/p>\n
Although the allocation does not cover the full cost of the employees, it helps, officials with the four-school municipal school system said.<\/p>\n