Augment mental health training with more staff

Kudos to Comptroller Tom DiNapoli for raising awareness of the pressing need for better mental health services in schools (“Mental health training grade: F,” June 9).

Absolutely, school districts must follow the requirements for mental health training of staff outlined in the SAVE Act. Ongoing professional learning not only is important for educators, but districts must also provide the time for them to participate. If they’re failing to do so, they must fix this immediately.

As the Times Union Editorial Board’s editorial on the comptroller’s audit points out, training alone does little good if there aren’t enough mental health providers to help our students (“A mental health stumble,” June 10). Another DiNapoli audit from April found that a staggering 95 percent of school districts aren’t meeting the recommended ratio of one school social worker for every 250 students while 66 percent aren’t meeting the recommended school counselor-tostudent ratio (1:250) and 50 percent aren’t meeting the proper school psychologist ratio (1:500).

Classroom staff are on the front lines of identifying socialemotional needs among students, including the mental health impacts of trauma. But an already overburdened workforce can’t be expected to do critical mental health work with students alone.

Historic state resources are being provided to school districts. Last month, 99 percent of school budgets passed. Districts must put money toward mental health hiring and training.

And while the legislative session ended, bills to enact minimum mental health staffing requirements clearly are ripe for consideration at the soonest possible opportunity. Andy Pallotta

Latham President, New York State

United Teachers