Half of all Texas school districts have no mental health services. Uvalde was one of them.

After eight college students and two academics have been murdered in 2018 at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, Governor Greg Abbott vowed to seek out options for the dearth of mental health assets in faculties. 

“We need to do more than just pray for the victims and their families,” mentioned the Texas governor. 

Four years later and on the heels of one other lethal Texas school capturing, a CBS News investigation discovered most of the state’s public faculties nonetheless supply little to no direct entry to mental health companies for his or her college students.

“No one listened to us, students,” mentioned Zach Muehe, who 4 years in the past ran out of his sophomore artwork class at Santa Fe High School when a gunman opened hearth. “The mental health problem, I believe, is the root of it all. It is just never talked about and I don’t know why.” 

Survivors of school shootings mentioned they’ve tried sounding the alarm in regards to the lack of pupil mental health companies for years, however usually felt their issues have been ignored. 

In Texas, 593 school districts have no school psychologist on workers and don’t supply a telehealth possibility, in keeping with CBS News’ evaluation of information from the Texas Education Agency (TEA). This leaves greater than half one million Texas youngsters with none mental health companies in school.  

This contains Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), the place there are no school psychologists on workers, CBS News’ evaluation confirmed. The grieving district additionally was not enrolled within the statewide telehealth mental health program that was arrange in response to the Santa Fe High School capturing. 

The suspect within the Santa Fe capturing, a 17-year-old pupil, was judged to be mentally ailing and was discovered unfit to face trial.   

After Santa Fe, Texas officers authorized almost $100 million to extend baby mental health companies throughout the state. Among the initiatives was a telehealth program known as Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT).  

TCHATT, which is now arrange in almost 400 school districts statewide, connects troubled college students with licensed school psychologists by stay video conversations. 

Dr. David Lakey, the Chief Medical Officer for the University of Texas System, mentioned TCHATT has already helped greater than 12,000 college students who’ve obtained counseling by this system. 

“The other reason I think it’s working is because we asked the parents: ‘Is it working?'” Lakey mentioned. “And when we do that kind of analysis, we get overwhelming feedback that the parents and the kids are satisfied and believe they are significantly better or better because of that TCHATT service.” 

But Lakey acknowledged the telehealth program has a protracted technique to go. 

This school 12 months, TCHATT shall be in as many as 417 school districts in Texas, masking about 59% of the scholar inhabitants, in keeping with a CBS News evaluation of information from TCHATT and the Texas Education Agency. 

But that also leaves greater than 800 districts with out TCHATT entry — together with the Uvalde CISD. 

When requested if having the TCHATT program might have flagged the Uvalde gunman, Lakey mentioned, “If five years ago we could have had that program there, when he was in 7th grade or so, and figured out that things weren’t going well, and then linked him to the services he needed, I think that’s a situation where it would have been much less likely that that individual would have done what he did.”

The problem with getting the TCHATT program in all Texas faculties hasn’t been resulting from a scarcity of funding. Millions of {dollars} budgeted for this system went unspent in its first two years. 

Lakey mentioned one problem has been getting faculties on board; some have been hesitant a couple of new program. The different problem is discovering sufficient mental health professionals to do the job. 

“We have a major challenge related to the mental health workforce in the state of Texas, so one of our barriers that our institutions have is just hiring the people we need to provide the service to all the schools across the state of Texas,” Lakey defined. 

To work as a school psychologist in Texas, an individual should have a particular license certifying that they’ve obtained coaching associated to school psychology. School psychologists are totally different from steering counselors, who needn’t have any formal psychology coaching. 

The National Association of School Psychologists recommends faculties have a minimum of one such psychologist for each 500-700 college students, however most college students in Texas go to school districts with ratios far above that: one psychologist to greater than 1,200 college students on common, in keeping with CBS News’ evaluation. 

Almost no faculties in Texas make use of sufficient psychologists, CBS News discovered. Of the greater than 1,200 districts throughout the state, simply 39 meet that really useful ratio. Those districts serve lower than 1% of all Texas college students.

For the remainder of Texas faculties to fulfill that minimal normal, they’d have to rent about 5,600 extra psychologists. Texas has incentive packages to lure folks into mental health professions, however they nonetheless have not managed to fill the hole. 

Texas is not alone. A May report by the National Center for Education Statistics discovered solely about half of public faculties nationwide mentioned they might successfully present mental health companies to college students. 

That information confirmed solely about 50% of all public faculties offered mental health evaluation companies, and simply over 40% offered mental health therapy. For rural districts, these charges have been even decrease. 

According to Lakey, it is significantly troublesome to seek out sufficient mental health professionals to work in rural districts like Uvalde, the place the necessity is usually biggest. 

“I’ve told the Legislature just that point,” Lakey mentioned. “They can give me a bucketful of money but if I can’t hire enough people to provide these services, I can’t spend those dollars.” 

Sanger ISD, about 60 miles north of Dallas, is one of the 39 districts that meets the really useful ratio for mental health professionals. 

Faced with related funding challenges as most Texas faculties, the small rural district has used neighborhood partnerships and creativity to deal with the mental health wants of its college students. 

“Mental health is a priority for this community and this school district,” mentioned Ann Hughes, Sanger ISD’s director of pupil emotional conduct and pupil intervention. “We teach behavior the way other individuals teach math. We don’t give up when someone is having behavior problems. We get to the bottom of it.” 

To get across the lack of state funding, Sanger ISD companions with church buildings, charities and the town to bridge gaps in pupil companies.
Hughes has additionally utilized for and obtained grants to assist with mental health funding. 

However, it is what the district has executed with the cash that units it aside. 

In three of Sanger ISD’s faculties, there are devoted “movement rooms” and “chill rooms” the place college students be taught to handle their feelings.   

Inside Linda Tutt High School, the place youngsters who battle probably the most are despatched, there is a free grocery retailer.

The retailer not solely meets a necessity for a lot of of these college students however, since it is also run by college students, it offers them a way of function.

“It’s about contributing,” Hughes defined.  “It’s seeing maybe somebody has a need like your own or somebody has a bigger need, so it builds connection.”

For each behavioral program, Sanger ISD collects information, so the district is aware of what’s working and what’s not.

But success is not simply measured by numbers.

“I probably wouldn’t be here without Ann,” mentioned former Linda Tutt High School pupil Preston Westbrook, 18.

By the time Westbrook began excessive school, he mentioned he had bounced between 26 totally different foster properties. At a dozen properties, Westbrook mentioned he was abused each mentally and bodily.

Westbrook had a extreme anger problem when he bought to Linda Tutt High School. He usually ran onto the roof of the school to flee.

“That’s how I would get away from people when I was mad,” he mentioned. “I’ve ripped off door hinges when I was 9. I’ve punched holes through doors. … Without Ann, I wouldn’t be here. I think there should be more schools like this.”

“He is one of our true success stories,” Hughes mentioned.

Hughes mentioned she too will get annoyed with the dearth of devoted funding from the state for mental health however mentioned faculties mustn’t enable that to maintain them from attempting.

“The energy that I put to throw my hands into the air and carry it on, let’s use that and take a little step. And then little steps become big steps and before you know it, you are on a journey, and you are impacting lives.”

Editor’s be aware: The headline on this story has been up to date.