News Release: Murphy Administration Unveils New, First in the Nation Statewide Student Mental Wellness Support Infrastructure Proposal
"In response to the sharp increase in rates of depression, anxiety, and stress facing New Jersey's teens and young adults, Governor Phil Murphy and members of his administration announced today a new infrastructure for student and family support, the New Jersey Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S) network, operated by the Department of Children and Families."
Read the statement at: https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562022/20221003a.shtml
News Article:
Educators skeptical of New Jersey's plan to 're engineer' student mental health program
"New Jersey is attempting to revamp a pillar of the state's student mental health system, but some school leaders and mental health providers say they feel "ambushed" by the plan and lack faith in Gov. Phil Murphy's administration's ability to carry it out."
Read the article at:
https://news.yahoo.com/educators-skeptical-jerseys-plan-engineer-181718345.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall
Related to all this are findings reported by the New Jersey Policy Perspective that
“Over the past decade, access to mental health staff for Black students decreased, while white students’ access increased.”
In reporting these findings, the New Jersey Policy Perspective emphasizes that “greater access to school staff of all sorts is directly influenced by school funding policies. Yet New Jersey’s students of color are much more likely to attend schools that are underfunded, according to the state’s own law, than white students. While the short-term infusion of federal school funds tied to the pandemic could help schools reverse trends in mental health staffing for students of color over a short period, longer-term funding solutions are necessary. Such funding, however, should be guided by analyses like the one above. Lawmakers will not be able to address staffing trends that are racially unequal unless and until they are aware of them. Monitoring the deployment of school personnel of all types by student race—and by other student characteristics—should be the regular and ongoing work of policymakers.”
Read: New Jersey’s Black Students Suffer a Decline in Access to School Mental Health Staff
https://www.njpp.org/publications/report/new-jerseys-black-students-suffer-a-decline-in-access-to-school-mental-health-staff/ "
New Jersey is just the latest indicator of the backlash to prevailing approaches to student services.
The U.S. Department of Education recently released a document entitled:
>Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health
https://www2.ed.gov/documents/students/supporting-child-student-social-emotional-behavioral-mental-health.pdf
It's message was: The current system is not working for many children, students, families, and staff, with notable problems that existed before the pandemic made much worse during the pandemic.
Our Center has urged those at school, district, regional, and state levels to move quickly to rethink student and learning supports and implement changes that reach more students and address a wider range of problems interfering with learning and teaching. See:
What are your thoughts about this hot issue?
Send your
responses to Ltaylor@ucla.edu
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For a range of resources related to this matter, Previously highlighted hot issues
see:
National Initiative for Transforming Student and Learning Supports in 2016
In addition, see the list of Emerging Issues identified over the years by the Center and used as a stimulus for discussion on our
Net Exchange -
https://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/newnetexchange.htm
WebMaster: Perry Nelson
(smhp@ucla.edu)
