Mental health services coming for Shawano schools

SHAWANO — What started out looking like an easy partnership between the Shawano School District and ThedaCare has hit some bumps along the way, but it looks like the district could provide mental health services to students as soon as September.

Kim Klister, the district’s pupil services director, gave the Shawano School Board an update Monday on the district’s efforts to bring mental health services into the district. The district had been trying to develop an arrangement where ThedaCare behavioral specialists could come to the schools one day per week to help students that normally have to leave school for appointments with such services.

The road to the partnership hit its first bump on Aug. 1, Klister said, when ThedaCare said that, after exploring the issue, such a program would be “outside its wheelhouse.” She said she was informed that ThedaCare was more focused on behavioral health in adults.

“They can’t do behavioral health in children,” Klister said.

Things started to look up in October when Klister was contacted by a representative from Catalpa Health, based in Appleton, who had heard about the district’s efforts to bring in mental health services for students. Since youth mental health was part of Catalpa’s mission, the nonprofit was eager to see what it could do to help Shawano. Catalpa serves over 50 other school districts in Wisconsin.

Catalpa did onsite visits of the schools on Nov. 1, according to Klister, and the company seemed to be onboard. However, the company was having difficulty with the district’s plan to only provide services one day a week.

“People didn’t want to drive this far north,” said Klister, who pointed out to the board that Shawano would be the northern-most school district for Catalpa to serve.

By December, Catalpa’s solution was to utilize a therapist from ThedaCare to provide the needed health services, Klister said. She plans to bring a memorandum of understanding to the district’s executive committee in April and the full board in May, and she said she has submitted a grant application to the Mielke Family Foundation to help pay for startup overhead costs.

The grant proposal caught the attention of board member Chris Gull, who recalled that, when the plan had first come to the board’s attention in May 2019, there was the assurance that there would be no cost to the school district to provide the services.

“What’s the sustainability of this program? Are we guaranteed to have costs every year?” Gull said. “We’re a school, not a mental health facility. We’re supposed to teach kids, not treat medical issues.”

Nick Curran, the district’s business manager, assured Gull that the district would still be able to provide the services even after the grant runs its course because there are indications in the Wisconsin Legislature that mental health funding for schools could be added to the next biennial budget when it comes up in 2021.

“Mental health is here to stay with school districts,” Curran said.

Board member Alysia Pillsbury said the current proposal seemed to be the best-possible option, noting that having therapists on the district’s payroll would be much more expensive than the partnership with Catalpa and ThedaCare.

“The need is certainly there, and when a kid can learn how to process his emotions and everything that’s going on at home, it does help education,” Pillsbury said.

Board member Mart Grams said he felt the district should be providing services now and not waiting until the next school year to help students in need.

“It is beyond serious here, for staff and for students,” Grams said. “My biggest question is, what are we going to do in the interim? These children still need services.”

The Wisconsin Association of School Boards appears to be on board with state funding. Board member Michael Sleeper, the district’s representative at a recent WASB convention, said the group plans to ask the Legislature for categorical aid of $25 per student in the first, $35 for the second year and $50 after that.

“It’s not tomorrow, but it’s a front-burner item,” Sleeper said.

The services would start at Olga Brener Intermediate School and Shawano Community Middle School, according to Klister, but the need is so great district-wide that she envisions it would eventually need to expand to the other two schools in the district, as well.

“I told them, as soon as you are here, we’re going to ask for more,” Klister said. “They’re more than happy and willing, because they know the need is here.”

Klister added that she might reach out to other school districts to see if they are interested, as well, as she was informed by Catalpa that the more support from further-north schools would make it easier for the nonprofit to find therapists and provide more frequent services.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com