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A Southeast Texas school district is seeking staff to assist students with mental health needs.
Lumberton ISD recently made the announcement to hire a “significant number” of new staff members dedicated to assisting students with behavior issues, social-emotional learning, and mental health needs, according to a press release.
Lumberton ISD stated the additional staff was recommended after a Comprehensive Needs Assessment Review including a wide variety of LISD campus and district stakeholders, according to Assistant Superintendent Dr. Igor Gusyakov.
“Lumberton ISD has seen a net gain of 96 special needs students in our district in the past two school years. Plus, we’ve been experiencing a steady increase in the number of referrals for special education services and other behavioral mental health needs,” stated Gusyakov in the press release.
Director for Specialized Programs Brandi Stapleton said the additional 96 students were a combination of transfers and new student identified as special needs.
“A big reason for that is state law changed in how we classify students with dyslexia and there has been new screening procedures that have been required at kindergarten and first grade,” said Stapleton.
She noted in the past, dyslexia students were not evaluated through special education, but now are required.
Stapleton said what district officials are seeing in their school district is not unique compared to what other school districts are seeing.
She said it’s hard to “pin-point” one cause of the increased need but thinks COVID is a piece.
“I think students are having more of a difficult time just in general and in everything they have gone through,” she said.
Stapleton said LISD has seen an increase in suicide protocols and threat assessments.
“I feel like the biggest area we’re seeing is students are having a hard time coping, coping with everyday life,” she said. “In the past, we were not seeing the difficulties we are seeing now. It’s in many areas and is individualized depending on the student.”
Stapleton said an unknown number of students lost parent, grandparents and relatives.”
“That’s traumatizing at any age,” she added.
According to the press release, LISD is creating a dedicated program — Behavior Excellence Advancement Model (BEAM) — designed to address the increased number of students and severity of their needs. It will encompass many facets of support for the students.
Several existing programs will fall under the BEAM umbrella and all efforts are combined to provide a high level of student support in several areas of social-emotional, behavioral and mental health needs.
LISD will hire a mixture of additional classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, diagnosticians, licensed specialists in school psychology (LSSP) and crisis counselors. These employees and existing staff will receive very specific training to help address student needs, the press release stated.
The breakdown of new hires are three paraprofessionals at the Early Childhood School, three paraprofessionals and two Special Education teachers at Lumberton Primary, one paraprofessional and a Special Education teacher at Lumberton Intermediate and Lumberton Middle, and three Special Education teachers at Lumberton High.
Stapleton added all Special Education teachers in LISD receive an extra “Hard To Fill” stipend.
The district will use a combination of funds for new staff members, according to Superintendent Dr. Tony Tipton, including Title I, Special Education IDEA-B, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) and local money.
“Since we’re starting close to mid-term, the budget issues will be less this year than it will be for the 2023-2024 school year. We have met extensively with a multidisciplinary district team to analyze every budget and how we can cut and combine other expenses,” he said.
Tipton stated with creating BEAM they are hoping to draw in some talented staff members interested to help LISD build the model and develop a unique program.
“We think we have a good plan for now,” Tipton added.
Lumberton ISD, along with all other state public schools, hopes the upcoming Legislative Session will yield more much-needed funding for schools — specifically to help schools address the increasing number and severity of mental health needs being seen across the state.
According to a recent Houston Chronicle article, Texas Children’s Hospital reported an 800% increased in the number of children turning up in the emergency room with mental health crisis since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My superintendent colleagues across the region and state report seeing similar increases in the number and severity of student needs in the last few years. There are many theories about the reasons for the increases in these numbers,” Tipton stated in the press release. “The fact is students are appearing with more frequency and more severe needs than we’ve ever seen so, we’re going to serve them properly.”
Persons who have questions about BEAM or are interested in becoming a staff member, can contact Stapleton at bnstapleton@lumbertonisd.org or call (409) 923-7437. Current job openings can be found at https://tinyurl.com/LISDJobOpenings.