Students still aren't Thrive-ing

Outrage as $30M produces no results

First Lady Chirlane McCray’s $1 billion ThriveNYC mentalhealth program has failed to keep city students out of psych wards — as advocates are demanding a plan that works, The Post has learned.

The nearly $30 million that McCray’s controversial initiative has pumped into the education system during the 2018-2019 school year did nothing to reduce the number of incidents for which cops were called and students were sent for psych evaluations, official school-safety data shows

The number — 3,547 — was unchanged from 2017-2018, even though Thrive boosted its annual spending in city schools from $21.6 million to $29.2 million, according to a City Council document.

The nonresults have led a coalition of 41 organizations — including Advocates for Children of New York, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society — to complain that Thrive programs

“do not provide direct, ongoing support to students in school.”

“They’re not working directly with students to help address the behavior. They’re not working directly with school staff, either,” said Dawn Yuster of Advocates for Children of New York.

The coalition is calling on Mayor de Blasio to come up with $15 million in funding for a new program to provide one-on-one counseling for emotionally troubled students when they return to school in the fall.

The money, Yuster said, could come from “inefficiencies” in Thrive’s budget, which critics have accused of failing to produce measurable results in helping New Yorkers cope with serious mental illness.

In addition to individual long-term counseling for the most troubled students, the coalition’s proposed “Mental Health Continuum” would provide coaching for teachers, family support and referrals to hospitalbased mental-health clinics.

Yuster said the plan was “ready to go” and would “meet the needs of students who need help the most.”

It would also help end the DOE’s practice of “continuing to call on the NYPD to remove thousands of them from class each year — who sometimes even handcuff them as young as 5 years old,” she said.

Last week, de Blasio said his wife’s initiative would lead the effort to help students traumatized by the coronavirus pandemic when they return to school in September.

But Liz Haela, a special-education teacher at a Bronx middle school, said she wasn’t even aware that McCray’s program was in schools.

“Students will thrive if there are more service providers who can address their needs and develop relationships with them,” she said.

McCray spokeswoman Siobhan Dingwall defended Thrive’s work with city students and said additional assistance was planned.

“This administration has made historic investments in mental health and increased support in schools,” Dingwall said.

“We agree that we need to build upon this already significant work to ensure we are meeting the greater needs of students as they return to school.”