Order for a hearing on Establishing a Mental Health Curriculum in Boston Public Schools. Referred to the Committee on Education.
Thank you. Thank you, Counsel Royal. Mr. Clerk, please read docket 04680468. Council on Me. He offered the following in order for a hearing on establishing a mental health curriculum in Boston Public Schools. The chair recognizes. Counsel me here. Counsel me here. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. And I would like to add my colleague, Counselor Erin Murphy, as a co-sponsor in this hearing order. Councilor Murphy also added. Thank you. Since even before the COVID 19 pandemic, we've been dealing with a pandemic in our Boston public schools around mental health and wellness. It's gotten so bad that the American Academy of Pediatrics and Adolescent Psychiatry and Children's Hospital Association have declared a national emergency in children's mental health, citing a serious toll of the COVID 19 pandemic . On top of existing challenges. Every day, students are being asked to leave their backpacks full of trauma at the door so that they can focus on their studies. And recently, we have seen how that untreated trauma has spilled over in our schools, out into the streets from the shooting outside of Boston Academy to the loaded gun found at young achievers of science and math in school, to several tombstones of our lost and loved ones being defaced and even stolen. It is clear that we need to be doing a lot more to address mental health and wellness in our schools. In school, we teach students how to read, how to write, how to run and even how to eat. But we do not do or we do not do is give them the tools and resources to unpack their trauma in a nonviolent and productive way. This is why we're following this hearing order in terms of the data. The numbers are pretty clear. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emergency departments, visits for suspected suicide attempts among adolescents jumped 31% in 2020 compared to 2019. In February and March of this year, emergency department visits for suspected suicide attempts were 51% higher among girls ages 12 to 17. During the same period in 2019. I get choked up because I have a 12 year old daughter. So this is hard. And I also have in my own experience with this issue. So I'm going up. You already know my story. So this clearly indicates that we need to be moving beyond the conventional plans of providing school psychologists and social workers when needed. They do great work, but we need to be doing more. In California, a bill which recently passed requires each school district, county office of Education, state special school and charter school that offers one or more courses in health education to pupils in middle school or high school to include those courses. Some form of instructional mental health. And way back in 1999. Massachusetts Commissioner of Education David Driscoll released a comprehensive health curriculum framework which seeks to introduce mental health into the classroom. But it's clear that we're not doing enough or being intentional around mental health education in our schools. So I'm hoping to use this hearing as an opportunity to look at what we what more we can be doing to uplift mental health and wellness in our schools. And before I finish, I also just want to give a shout out to Councilor Murphy, who has made youth mental health a cornerstone of our office's work. And I'm hoping that as the chair and vice chair of the Committee of Education, we will be able to work collaboratively on this issue together. Our success as legislators is measured by the quality of the world we leave behind for the next generation. And we need to ensure that we have all the resources they need to be set up for success. And that very much includes mental health and wellness. Thank you. And I just wanted to say really quickly, because you know me, I always got a riff at the top and speak from my heart because that's just the way I know how. You know, we have as parents oftentimes passed on our own trauma to our children because we weren't taught how to deal with it. You know, I talk about the fact that when I was a teen, I also attempted suicide. But my mom was so afraid that I would be taken away from her that she never did anything about it. And I grew up believing that she didn't love me. And I think that if we're tackling mental health, we have an opportunity to destigmatize it in a way that will help our the little ones understand that it's okay not to be okay and that they need to be able to seek the support services that they need. And I think that this conversation is not just about a moment of of of political theater. It really is looking at the the violence that's spilling over into our streets. There is a deep connection here. And we need to center mental health and wellness as part of that conversation. Otherwise, we're not getting to the root. So my hope is, is that as we continue to lean into this conversation, we recognize the responsibility and the opportunity that we have to change doing business as usual. Thank you. Thank you. Councilman. Here, the chair recognizes Councilman Murphy. Councilor Murphy, you have the floor. Thank you. So we know our children are suffering with mental health issues and we cannot expect them to properly address their stress and mental health struggles if we don't teach them the tools they need to work through this. Teaching mental health will lead to better outcomes for our children. I know council here has mentioned some of them, but we know the statistics are scary. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for children ages 10 to 24 in many or most of mental health conditions dark during adolescence. Knowledge is power. So I think Council on Me here for being the lead sponsor on this important issue, and I look forward to working with her and my other colleagues to make sure that this happens for our students in the. Boston public schools. And across the city. So thank you. Thank you, Counsel Murphy. The chair recognizes Counsel Fernandez innocent. Counsel Fernandez innocent. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman. Here for your courage to open up to such a vulnerable state with us. And to be so beautiful and so pure, to be able to share yourself with us in a way that really exemplifies what a leader should conduct herself as. And I really appreciate the way you took us through that and. I'm just I'm just humbled to hear you, to be able to have so much courage to be that vulnerable with us, because a lot of us speak about mental health and it's become a political jargon that I think everyone now it's a catch phrase that we know that we all must support and we all. It's an issue. It's an issue. It's an issue. So we all talk about it. But the way that I've seen yourself and comes from Murphy can guide us through this, or at least the way I've watched you do it. I really I just really appreciate you for that. In terms of what you file today, I really look forward to the work. I would love to please add my name, Mr. President. I would love to work with you on it. I think that one of the issues is not just, you know, the problem. The problem is not adding one social worker per school or, as you say, bringing the homeschool connection or creating that platform. The Child Behavioral CBT. So Children Behavioral Health Initiative through MassHealth covers only medical necessities. So this means that the service, the clinician, will then go in and have to diagnose in order for the service to be rendered. The issue with that is fee for service then perpetuates this cyclical effect of this prison pipeline because you have to diagnose or sometimes misdiagnose or harshly diagnose a child. So I question and I really want us to talk about how are we diagnosing our black and brown children and how many fee, how many fees do you have to take in order to render that service? Sometimes the issues are, as you are putting it in your here in your request for the hearing in the order, is that you sometimes the issue is circumstantial, it's situational. So it deserves a temporary an OS just to get that three months service to figure out why that kid is in the shelter or why that kid's acting up. Well, why what's the problem? Circumstantially, we've temporarily for that moment. But what happens is once they get the diagnosis, it follows them throughout their lives and then they end up going, you know, not getting a job or not or whatever, you know, how does that cookie crumbles? But I can't say enough how passionate I am about it. I am a strong advocate and I look forward to the work with you. Thank you. Thank you. Council Fernandez Andersson and Mr. Kirklees. Council Fernando Sanderson. Her name. What? Everyone else like to speak on this matter? Would anyone else like to wear their new outside to add the name Mr. Clarke, please? Out. Councilor Arroyo. Council Board Councilor Brading. Councilor Edwards Council Fernandez. Innocent Council of Florida. Council of La Mara Constitution. Councilor Rowland pulls out the chair. Docket 0468 will be referred to the Committee on Education. Mr. Kirk, please read. Dawkins 04690469 councilors were earlier in the year, offered the following order for a hearing regarding barriers to business.