“I'm so pleased that the foundation was able to make this happen,” he said, adding that the program is “just another example of the district really trying to help kids in this way with their outreach workers.”
The district's four contract support workers were funded through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER), which was distributed due to the pandemic. Fairfield Schools used the funds in a variety of ways, including mental health supports. The district applied for and received other grants to support the program, but those expired at the end of the last school year and could not be renewed.
Crapo said Fairfield students need daily mental health care, and while private insurance covers some of that care, many parents can't afford the copays and are limited in the number of visits they can get. School-based support workers get around those insurance barriers because they are contracted by Fairfield schools and don't go through insurance companies.
“They will be one of many adults supporting students throughout the day and meeting students' mental health support needs,” Crapo said.
As the district looked for other fundraising opportunities to continue the program, Fairfield Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Hamilton Community Foundation, was able to donate. Katie Braswell, vice president of the Hamilton Community Foundation, said the Fairfield Foundation is trying to grow its unrestricted fund so it can provide more funding to support these types of programs in the community.
It remains to be seen whether Fairfield's foundation will be able to provide ongoing support, but she said, “We're happy to help where we can.”
“We fund needs in the community, but we felt this was a really important need for the district and we wanted to be part of the solution,” Braswell said. “It's a service that's really needed, but kids have had it so hard lately that we don't really think about it. This service has been a huge asset to our school families.”
For the 2023-24 school year, four school-based support workers (two at the high school, one at Fairfield Academy and one at Creekside) had met with 279 students and completed 45 suicide assessments as of March 19, 13 of which were deemed high risk. Eight of the 13 were hospitalized.
“The data shows the work they did and the lives they may have saved,” Crapo said. “They are a vital resource for our students, their families and our community.”
Services are limited to just three school buildings, but the district would like to add more support staff, but that would require additional funding, he said.
