By: Marissa Schwartz, Communications Specialist
During the month of May, the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District is recognizing the importance of National Mental Health Awareness Month.
We have continued to emphasize the importance of maintaining a robust student support services program following a federal funding boost after the COVID-19 pandemic through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) plan.
During the 2023-2024 school year, MPUSD invested more than $5.8 million in mental health services for our students through our multi-tiered systems of support. According to our local control accountability plan goal #5, those investments included the following:
- Expand mental health resources by hiring support staff at every school level, focusing on English learners, foster youth, and socio-economically disadvantaged students
- Enhance and sustain Resource Centers and transportation services for homeless and foster youth, implementing tailored strategies like immediate aid and a case management approach
- Elevate district-wide social and emotional health efforts by investing in roles such as a mental health clinician and director of multi-tiered systems of support
- Engage in a contract with the National Center for Youth Law to provide specialized support for students experiencing homelessness and those in foster care
- Forge partnerships with community organizations, including Youth Mental Health First Aid and Village Project, to provide a wide array of mental health services tailored to vulnerable student groups
- Respond to community feedback by allocating funds to hire additional school psychologists, emphasizing support for English learners, foster youth, and socio-economically disadvantaged students
- Tackle attendance challenges through collaboration with Attendance to Attendance and by hiring dedicated attendance clerks, primarily to aid vulnerable student groups
- Fund collaborative efforts with Community Partnership for Youth to deploy supervisory assistants at Title I schools, ensuring safety and enhanced support for students facing socio-economic challenge
To learn more about services offered by MPUSD, visit our mental health resources and support strategies webpage.