Leechburg Area gets $38K grant for additional social, emotional and mental health services

Leechburg Area School District Superintendent Tiffany Nix is fully aware of the challenges facing students in this era of the covid pandemic. At a school board meeting last week, she related the story of a student having a mental and emotional breakdown during class.

“It is real, and it is a crisis,” she said.

At the April 13 meeting, Nix cited that episode when announcing new services to meet the social, emotional and mental health needs of students. The school district is using a $38,000 grant from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund for the effort.

Part of the federal government’s coronavirus relief effort, ESSER addresses “the impact that covid-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the nation,” as described on its website.

“Since the full-time return from covid, a significant portion of our students are struggling with social/emotional issues which are causing disruptions in the classroom. This cannot continue to happen,” Nix said.

She emphasized that the social and emotional issues students are going through is not just exclusive to Leechburg — it is a global problem.

“Nothing could have prepared us for the amount of student mental health issues we are dealing with this year. It is time to revamp to better serve all of our students,” she said.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights published a report last June, Education in a Pandemic: The Disparate Impacts of COVID-19 on America’s Students. The report looked at the impact learning in a pandemic had on various demographics including school grades, race, sexuality and disabilities.

Last May, nearly 3 in 10 parents surveyed in a Gallup poll said their child was “experiencing harm to [their] emotional or mental health,” with 45% citing the separation from teachers and classmates as a “major challenge,” according to the report.

In the report, it said nearly 70% of school principals who participated in a study done in early 2021 said they were unable to meet the needs of their students’ mental health with the staff they had.

Nix said the school has seen students from kindergarten to eighth grade be the most affected by the pandemic. The committee will look for curriculums to help students process what they are feeling and find healthier ways to express their emotions.

Teachers will go through an accelerated learning program to adjust to the new era of education and the pandemic’s effects.