EXETER, N.H. – Teachers, counselors and administrators are “tag-teaming” students at Exeter High School with an vamped up mental health services program this school year, which is raising a lot of questions from parents.

The high school and two others in the area are launching “individualized support” programs to administer mental health services to students through school guidance departments and various programs catered to struggling students, the Portsmouth Herald reports.

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Exeter High School Principal Jim Tremblay told the site the number of students who suffer from issues like depression and anxiety are on the rise, and he believes it’s his job to address it to keep kids from dropping out of school or becoming hoodlums.

“They might just not want to get out of bed in the morning,” Tremblay said. “Maybe we can set up a meeting outside of school, maybe it’s a matter of having them come in at 10 rather than seven. Maybe it’s a particular class they’re having trouble with.”

Exeter and other schools are hiring more mental health clinicians, case managers, psychologists, behavioral interventionists, social workers and others to analyze student behavior and refer outliers to in-school mental health services.

One such program, called “Options,” basically caters the school to the student’s “needs.” That could include shifting schedules, or finding other similar “sensitive and effective ways” of attempting to change bad behavior.

And there’s “Options” for everyone.

“It’s not just for mental health issues, but for students with any kind of struggles in high school,” said Superintendent Steve Zadravec. “It’s called ‘Options’ to kind of think about different, flexible options for kids that need them … they may find more success in a very personalized environment.”

Exeter also offers “Best Education for Students in Transition” and Bridges programs, among others.

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Exeter high’s new mental health clinician Brianne Lewis said teachers are on the front lines selecting which students in their classes need more mental evaluation. School officials and mental health workers will then be “tag-teaming” students with services, Tremblay told the news site.

“Our educators are getting better at addressing it,” Lewis said. “Instead of looking at a kid with their head down in class and saying ‘That’s a bad kid,’ we’re ,more aware that there’s probably something deeper going on … there might be an underlying issue we can provide some support for.”

And when students act out, they’ll be less likely to be sent home, but instead will receive special behavioral treatments at school, such as “grounding,” or taking a walk without talking, Lewis told the Herald.

“It used to be you’d almost cast the kids aside with detentions, in-school or out-of-school suspensions,” said Exeter’s new case worker, Mike Maltagliati. “Now we’re looking at how in-house we can best meet the kids’ needs …”

That’s a scary prospect to some parents, especially locals engaged in opposition to federal Common Core education standards taking root in public schools. Those standards require the collection of a lot of student data – right down to students’ favorite colors – that’s forwarded to the federal government.

Parents are concerned about what kinds of information will be collected on their children through the new mental health services in Exeter and elsewhere, as well as the prospect of teachers playing a role in diagnosing such issues.

From parents group Stop the Common Core New Hampshire:

It’s important to note that a few local activists have been attempting to stop this radical transformation. For instance Michelle Levell wrote this article in 2013 when the New Hampshire Board of Ed mandated psychological services to students without parental consent.

Levell highlights the problems in the proposed rules calling attention to psychological services that can be administered without parental consent, no “opt-out” provision, and no fiscal note identifying the costs involved.

Parents need to begin the process of figuring out if their children can be treated without their knowledge or consent.
If their children are evaluated and treated, what kind of privacy protections are in place?
Where does the information gathered on their student go?
Can a parent notify the school and request that their child NOT be evaluated or treated?
In other words, can you opt your children out of any kind of psychological evaluation?
What will this cost the local taxpayers?

The blog points out that the American Psychological Association imposes a strict code of ethics for licensed medical professionals treating patients, and questions whether those providing mental health services in schools are bound by similar protections for students.

The blog raised a lot of other questions, as well.

We know that our schools are administering psychometric assessments without parental permission and currently ignoring the APA code of ethics. If school administrators are willing to ignore the code of ethics when testing your children, would they ignore the code of ethics when treating your children for mental illness?

Should our public schools now become the hub for social services? Or should they go back to focusing on educating our children?

We understand that there are going to be children who need social services who may not have access to needed treatment. Schools can certainly guide families to those services if needed. However changing the make-up of public education in such a radical way will only further dilute the academic foundation our children need and deserve.

If your child breaks their arm the parent is notified and the child is then taken by the parent to seek medical attention from licensed medical professionals. The local school is not in the business of administering medical treatment to children. That is not their mission.
So why are we allowing our local schools to become mental health facilities for our children?