SB336 By Senator Smitherman RFD Education Policy Rd 1 04-MAY-20

SYNOPSIS: This bill would require the State Department of Education to develop a program to specifically address the mental health of that population of public K-12 students (Tier II students) who are considered at-risk for developing inadequate social-behavioral skills, such as ADHD or anger management issues, in the classroom.

This bill would provide that the program include developing and providing professional development training, providing one-on-one consultations with students and behavioral specialists, and developing curricula for those at-risk students to learn appropriate social-behavioral skills.

This bill would require the department to provide guidance for each school district in establishing a safe and supportive school framework to support schools in fostering a positive and healthy learning environment and improve student outcomes.

This bill would require the department to provide support to each school district in adopting a supportive school framework and developing an action plan to improve the learning environment throughout the school system.

This bill would establish and provide for the qualifications and duties of a mental health service coordinator and would require each local board of education in the state, subject to appropriations by the Legislature, to employ a mental health service coordinator to serve those schools under the jurisdiction of the board.

This bill would provide for the responsibilities of the State Department of Education and the Alabama Department of Mental Health in providing continuing evaluation and support of mental health services provided to students through local boards of education.

This bill would also provide for the responsibilities of the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the Alabama Department of Mental Health relating to the program.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

Relating to public K-12 education, to require the State Department of Education to develop a program to address the mental health of students (Tier II students) who are considered at-risk for developing inadequate social-behavioral skills, such as ADHD or anger management issues, in the classroom; to require the department to provide guidance for school districts in establishing safe and supportive school frameworks to support schools in fostering a positive and healthy learning environment and improve student outcomes; to require the department to provide support to school districts in adopting supportive school frameworks and developing an action plan to improve the learning, emotional, and socially appropriate environment in schools throughout the district; to require each local board of education in the state, subject to appropriations by the Legislature, to employ a mental health service coordinator; to provide for the qualifications and duties of the mental health service coordinator; to require each local board of education to complete and submit a needs assessment relating to the provision of mental health resources to students; and to provide for the responsibilities of the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:

Section 1. The Legislature finds all of the following:

(1) The State Department of Education and the public K-12 schools of the state provide effective targeted intensive intervention strategies for the population of high risk students and proactive strategies that promote the mental health of the general student population, with no specific intervention strategies for students considered at-risk for developing inadequate social-behavioral skills.

(2) There is a prevalence of students in public K-12 schools who lack age-appropriate social, emotional, and behavioral skills including, but not limited to, students with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and students who lack the ability to appropriately manage anger and other emotions, often causing chronic disability and disadvantage in children and directly interfering with the intellectual, social, and emotionally appropriate development of students.

(3) Students living in poverty are more than twice as likely to have social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties.

(4) Poverty increases the likelihood that children will be exposed to multiple adverse childhood experiences such as experiencing or witnessing violence, and children who have been exposed are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD or other behavior problems.

(5) When teachers are unable to manage disruptive behavior in the classroom, learning for all students is diminished because teachers spend more instructional time on behavior management.

(6) It is essential that students, teachers, and school staff receive consistent and continuing instruction on appropriate methods of addressing the root of perceived disruptive behavior and the means of correcting those behaviors in a manner that does not hinder the educational progress of the student or the social, emotional, or behavioral growth and development of the student.

(7) The most likely outcomes for students who have inadequate or inappropriate social, emotional, or behavioral skills are being retained in a grade, receiving services and supports through Individual Education Plans or 504 Plans, being suspended or expelled from school, or the development of additional or worsening of social, emotional, or behavioral issues or challenges, all of which are costly to families, schools, and the larger community.

(8) Discipline policies that emphasize the exclusionary practices of suspension or expulsion from the classroom negatively affect a student's academic success and behavioral health, increasing the likelihood of his or her involvement in the criminal justice system, and decreasing the student's likelihood of completing high school, which all come with substantial social and economic costs.

(9) Discipline policies, among other factors, set the school culture and climate for all students. Research indicates that the implementation of alternative, restorative disciplinary practices can positively affect school climate and individual connectedness, thus affecting school quality, especially among lower-performing schools.

(10) Teachers often lack the training and resources needed to appropriately address, assist, and effectively teach disruptive students who lack age-appropriate social, emotional, and behavioral skills.

(11) There is evidence that providing teachers training on positive classroom management strategies, integrating a student's social and emotional skills training into instruction, and providing mental health consultations, healthy expression and processing emotions and conflict resolution skills, increased healthy physical movement, effective communication between students, teachers, and staff, and independent and small group learning experiences, and implementing policies emphasizing restorative approaches to school discipline may reduce disruptive behaviors and improve academic achievement.

Section 2. For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(1) DEPARTMENT. The State Department of Education.

(2) SOCIAL-BEHAVIORAL SKILLS. Non-cognitive skills and executive functioning including, but not limited to, the ability to attend to tasks; shift attention in response to expectations; inhibit socially inappropriate responses; process, remember, and use information; and manage emotions such as frustration, anger, and stress. Examples of inadequate social-behavioral skills include, but are not limited to, the inability to self-identify emotions, express thoughts and emotions, perform healthy conflict resolution, manage anger, and a diagnosis of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

(3) TIER II STUDENTS. That population of public K-12 students who are considered at-risk for developing inadequate social-behavioral skills, such as ADHD or anger management issues, in the classroom

Section 3. (a) The department shall develop and implement a comprehensive program to address the mental health of Tier II students. The program shall provide for all of the following:

(1) Ongoing support for teachers to positively and effectively manage the behavioral problems of the student in the classroom through formal professional development and inservice training of all public K-12 teachers that includes, but is not limited to, recognizing signs of inadequate social-behavioral skills in a student and best practices for schools and classrooms in managing inadequate social-behavioral skills, including using multi-tiered systems of support. The department may allow teachers to receive credit in continuing professional education for participation in a training course.

(2) Providing for one-on-one or small group mental health consultations for students, including consultation with counselors, mental health specialists, behavior specialists, and family focused interventions.

(3) Developing curricula on age-appropriate social skills provided directly to students in the classroom.

(4) Strengthening parenting capacities through parenting programs to support a student's social-behavioral competence and create parent, school, student partnerships that promote the development of the whole student and family structure.

(b) The program shall be designed in a manner that allows flexibility among schools and school districts to tailor the elements of the program that best works for the school and community and reflects current best practices in addressing behavioral problems in the classroom.

(c) The department shall create a self-assessment tool for schools and school districts to determine whether the program is effectively helping Tier II students learn age-appropriate social-behavioral skills, to assist teachers and other professionals in managing Tier II students' behavioral problems in a classroom setting, and to prevent or minimize class disruptions.

Section 4. (a) In order to improve education outcomes for all students, the department shall develop a safe and supportive schools framework. The framework shall provide guidance and support to schools to assist with the fostering of a safe, positive, healthy, and inclusive whole-school learning environment that does both of the following:

(1) Enables students to develop positive relationships with adults and peers, regulates the emotions and behavior of students, achieves academic and non-academic success in school, and maintains physical and psychological health and well-being.

(2) Integrates services and aligns initiatives that promote the behavioral health of students, including social and emotional learning, bullying prevention, trauma sensitivity, dropout prevention, truancy reduction, nutrition, mental health, foster care and homeless youth education, inclusion of students with disabilities, positive behavioral approaches that reduce suspensions and expulsions, and other similar initiatives.

(b)(1) Subject to appropriations, each local board of education shall implement the safe and supportive schools framework developed under subsection (a) in order to organize, integrate, and sustain school and district-wide efforts to create safe and supportive school environments and coordinate and align student prevention and support initiatives.

(2) Each school implementing the safe and supportive schools framework shall also develop an action plan as further provided in subsection (d). The local superintendent of education may appoint a team to develop this action plan, provided a team shall include a broad representation of the school and local community, and the superintendent shall include teachers and other school personnel, parents, students, and representatives from community-based agencies and providers.

(c) The department shall create a self-assessment tool organized according to the elements of the framework established under subsection (a) for schools to use when developing their action plan. The self-assessment tool shall be used by schools to do all of the following:

(1) Assess the capacity of the school to create and sustain safe and supportive school environments for all students.

(2) Identify areas where additional school-based action, efforts, guidance, and support are needed to create and maintain safe and supportive school environments.

(3) Create action plans to address the areas of need identified by the assessment with timed, specific, realistic, and measurable goals.

(d) School action plans shall be designed to address the areas of need identified through the use of the self-assessment tool described in subsection (c), shall be published on the website of the school district, and shall include all of the following:

(1) Strategies and initiatives for addressing the areas of need identified by the assessment.

(2) A timeline for implementing the strategies and initiatives.

(3) Outcome goals and indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies and initiatives set forth in the action plan, which may include attendance and graduation rates; bullying incidences; number of student suspensions and expulsions; emotional, behavioral, and mental unbiased assessment tools; number of office referrals; truancy and tardiness rates; time spent on learning; and other measures of school success.

(4) A process and schedule for reviewing the plan annually or biannually and updating it at least once every three years.

(e) The department shall facilitate and oversee the implementation of the safe and supportive schools framework in schools developing and implementing the framework and action plan by providing technical psychosocial assistance to schools and developing and disseminating model protocols and best practices.

(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the ability of the department to contract with individuals, external partners, or other entities to support the functions established under this section. The department shall consider opportunities for education collaboratives or other regional service organizations to provide technical assistance and information to school districts on the implementation of the framework and action plan.

Section 5. (a) Commencing with the 2021-2022 school year, each local board of education in the state shall employ a mental health service coordinator. The coordinator shall be responsible for coordinating student mental health services throughout the local school system with specific focus on Tier II students.

(b) An individual hired as a coordinator shall possess at least one of the following qualifications:

(1) Have a bachelor's degree in social work.

(2) Satisfy department qualifications for a school counselor.

(3) Satisfy department qualifications for a school nurse.

(4) Have professional mental health experience, or have been licensed in a mental health occupation including, but not limited to, licensure as a licensed professional counselor or marriage and family therapist.

(5) Other qualifications as determined by the department and the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

(c) Within one year after being hired as a mental health service coordinator, an individual shall earn a school-based mental health certificate by successfully completing a certification program developed by the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

(d) On or before the last day of the 2021 fiscal year, and as requested thereafter, each local board of education shall complete and submit to the Alabama Department of Mental Health a needs assessment and resource map for the schools under the jurisdiction of the board. The assessment shall document the status of mental health for the entire school system and allow the local board of education to engage in a quality improvement process to improve the provision of mental health resources to Tier II students within the school system.

(e) The administration of this section shall be subject to appropriations made by the Legislature.

Section 6. The State Board of Education and the Alabama Department of Mental Health shall adopt rules and policies as applicable, appropriate, and necessary to implement this act.

Section 7. This act shall become effective on the first day of the third month following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.

Education

Education Department

Mental Health

Students