CECILIA, Ky. (AP) 鈥� For fourth-grader Leah Rainey, the school day now begins with what her teacher calls an 鈥渆motional check-in.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to see you. How are you feeling?鈥� chirps a cheery voice on her laptop screen. It asks her to click an emoji matching her state of mind: Happy. Sad. Worried. Angry. Frustrated. Calm. Silly. Tired.
Depending on the answer, Leah, 9, gets advice from a cartoon avatar on managing her mood and a few more questions: Have you eaten breakfast? Are you hurt or sick? Is everything OK at home? Is someone at school being unkind? Today, Leah chooses 鈥渟illy,鈥� but says she struggled with sadness during online learning.
At Lakewood Elementary School, all 420 students will start their days the same way this year. The rural Kentucky school is one of thousands across the country using the technology to screen students鈥� state of mind and alert teachers to anyone struggling.
In some ways, this year's will restore a degree of pre-pandemic normalcy: Most districts have lifted mask mandates, dropped COVID vaccine requirements and .
But many of the pandemic鈥檚 longer-lasting impacts remain a troubling reality for schools. Among them: the harmful effects of isolation and remote learning on children鈥檚 emotional well-being.
Student mental health , and the pressure on schools to figure out solutions has never been greater. Districts across the country are using federal pandemic money to hire more mental health specialists, rolling out new coping tools and expanding curriculum that prioritizes emotional health.
Still, some parents don鈥檛 believe schools should be involved in mental health at all. So-called social-emotional learning, or SEL, has become the latest political flashpoint, with conservatives saying schools use it to promote progressive ideas about race, , or that a focus on well-being takes attention from academics.
But at schools like Lakewood, educators say helping students manage emotions and stress will benefit them in the classroom and throughout life.
The school, in a farming community an hour鈥檚 drive south of Louisville, has used federal money to create 鈥渢ake-a-break鈥� corners in each classroom. Students can rifle through a 鈥渟elf-regulation kit鈥� with tips on deep breathing, squishy stress balls and acupuncture rings, said school counselor Shelly Kerr. The school plans to build a 鈥淩eset Room鈥� this fall, part of an emerging national trend to create campus sanctuaries where students can go to decompress and speak with a counselor.
The online student screener Lakewood uses, called Closegap, helps teachers identify shy, quiet kids who might need to talk and would have otherwise gone unnoticed.
Closegap founder Rachel Miller launched the online platform in 2019 with a few schools and saw interest explode after the pandemic hit. This year, she said, more than 3,600 U.S schools will be using the technology, which has free and premium versions.
鈥淲e are finally beginning to recognize that school is more than just teaching the kids reading, writing and arithmetic,鈥� said Dan Domenech, executive director of the national School Superintendents Association. Just as free lunch programs are based on the idea that a hungry child can鈥檛 learn, more and more schools are embracing the idea that a cluttered or troubled mind cannot focus on schoolwork, he said.
The pandemic magnified the fragility of mental health among American youth, who had been experiencing a rise in depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts for years, experts say. A recent report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 44% of high school students said they experienced 鈥� 鈥� during the pandemic, with girls and LGBTQ youth reporting the highest levels of poor mental health and suicide attempts.
If a silver lining exists, the pandemic raised awareness of the crisis and helped de-stigmatize talking about mental health, while also bringing attention to schools鈥� shortcomings in handling it. President Joe Biden鈥檚 administration recently announced over $500 million to expand mental health services in the country鈥檚 schools, adding to federal and state money that has poured into schools to cope with pandemic-era needs.
Still, many are skeptical schools鈥� responses are enough.
鈥淎ll of these opportunities and resources are temporary,鈥� said junior Claire Chi, who attends State College Area High School in central Pennsylvania. Last year, her school added emergency counseling and therapy dogs, among other supports, but most of that help lasted a day or two, Chi said. And that鈥檚 鈥渘ot really a mental health investment for students.鈥� This year, the school says it has added more counselors and plans mental health training for all 10th graders.
Some critics, including many conservative parents, don鈥檛 want to see mental health support in schools in the first place. Asra Nomani, a mom from Fairfax County, Virginia, says schools are using the mental health crisis as a 鈥淭rojan horse鈥� to introduce liberal ideas about sexual and racial identity. She also worries schools lack the expertise to deal with student mental illness.
鈥淪ocial-emotional well-being has become an excuse to intervene in the lives of children in the most intimate of ways that are both dangerous and irresponsible,鈥� Nomani said, 鈥渂ecause they鈥檙e in the hands of people who are not trained professionals.鈥�
Despite the unprecedented funding, schools are having trouble hiring counselors, mirroring the shortages in other American industries.
Goshen Junior High School in northwest Indiana has been struggling to fill a vacancy of a counselor who left last year, when student anxiety and other behavioral problems were 鈥渙ff the charts,鈥� said Jan Desmarais-Morse, one of two counselors left at the school, with caseloads of 500 students each.
鈥淥ne person trying to meet the needs of 500 students?鈥� said Desmarais-Morse said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 impossible.鈥�
The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students per school counselor, which few states come close to meeting.
For the 2020-21 school year only two states 鈥� New Hampshire and Vermont 鈥� achieved that goal, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Some states face staggeringly high ratios: Arizona averages one counselor to 716 students; in Michigan, 1 to 638; and in Minnesota, 1 to 592.
Also in Indiana, the School City of Hammond won a grant to hire clinical therapists at all 17 of its schools but has not been able to fill most of the new jobs, said Superintendent Scott Miller. 鈥淪chools are stealing from other schools. There just aren鈥檛 enough workers to go around.鈥� And despite more funding, school salaries can鈥檛 compete with private counseling practices, and trying to hire more staff.
Another challenge for schools: identifying struggling children before they鈥檙e in emotional crisis. At the Houston Independent School District, one of the largest in the country with 277 schools and nearly 200,000 students, students are asked each morning to hold up fingers showing how they feel. One finger means a child is hurting deeply; five means she or he feels great.
鈥淚t鈥檚 identifying your brush fires early in the day,鈥� said Sean Ricks, the district鈥檚 senior manager of crisis intervention.
Houston teachers now give mindfulness lessons, with ocean sounds played via YouTube, and a Chihuahua named Luci and a cockapoo named Omi have joined the district鈥檚 crisis team.
Grant-funding helped Houston build relaxation rooms, known as Thinkeries, at 10 schools last year, costing about $5,000 each. District data show campuses with Thinkeries, which sport bean bag chairs and warmly colored walls, saw a 62% decrease in calls to a crisis line last year, Ricks said. The district is building more this year.
But the rooms themselves are not a panacea. For the calming rooms to work, schools must teach students to recognize they feel angry or frustrated. Then they can use the space to decompress before their emotions erupt, said Kevin Dahill-Fuchel, executive director of Counseling in Schools, a nonprofit that helps schools bolster mental health services.
In the last days of summer vacation, a 鈥淲ell Space鈥� at University High School in Irvine, California, was getting finishing touches from an artist who painted a mural of a giant moon over mountains. Potted succulents, jute rugs, Buddha-like statuettes and a hanging egg chair brought an un-school-like feel. When school starts this week, the room is to be staffed full-time with a counselor or mental health specialist.
The goal is to normalize the idea of asking for help and give students a place to reset. 鈥淚f they can re-center and refocus,鈥� said Tammy Blakely, the district鈥檚 director of student support services, 鈥渢hey can then, after a short break, go back into their classrooms and be prepared for deeper learning.鈥�
___
This story has been updated to restore first name and title of Tammy Blakely, the Irvine, California, director of support services.
___
For more back-to-school coverage, visit:
___
Gecker reported from San Francisco. Associated Press reporters Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Arleigh Rodgers in Indianapolis; Brooke Schultz in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Kavish Harjai in Los Angeles contributed.
Rodgers, Schultz and Harjai are corps members for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Jocelyn Gecker And Dylan Lovan, The Associated Press
