In the News: Schools Focusing on Student Mental Health in San Mateo County

Body image issues, academic pressures, social anxieties — students are continuing to face a mountain of stress as they flood back into their school communities and district staff across San Mateo County are looking for ways to be of assistance.

 

Concerns are largely the same among education professionals. Students cannot learn if their focus is being pulled away and while distractions from mental health struggles have existed for decades, many officials worry an array of issues are being amplified by cellphones and other electronic devices.

 

“In some ways, our kids have the ability to communicate with more people than ever but, at the same time, the in-person interactions might be lower than in the past. Even though they’re connected, they can still be very lonely. It’s a dual-edged sword,” John Baker, president of the South San Francisco Unified School District Board of Trustees, said.

On the one hand, electronics have been an invaluable tool for the education system, allowing teachers and students to continue connecting virtually during the pandemic and, in some cases, can still be of use in classrooms today, Craig Childress, a science teacher and president of the San Mateo Union High School District Teachers Association, said.

 

On the other hand, they can foster a space where online bullying and body image issues can fester by bombarding children with overwhelming messaging about how they should look while opening them up to criticism of how they currently present, Baker said.

 

 

The San Mateo-Foster City School District adopted a new approach to address that issue this year by taking a note from San Mateo High School and going phoneless on its middle school campuses this school year, a move San Mateo High School made in 2019. At the start of the school day, students are expected to put their cellphones in an electronically locked pouch by the company Yondr, which keeps kids from accessing their phones unless they’re in a designated area.

 

Issues like bullying, the development of poor self-image, and social isolation are not necessarily a product of phone use and social media but Superintendent Diego Ochoa said divides have exacerbated those areas of concern which he said are most acutely seen on middle school campuses. The goal, he said, is for middle school students to spend less time behind their screens and more time engaging with each other and their teachers.

 

“We took stock and implemented the program at all our middle schools here and our expectation, based on the level of anxiety and stress and bullying related to kids using cellphones, is to see a huge decrease in incidents of student reported bullying and absences related to online social media bullying,” Ochoa said. “Our approach was to use this resource to address something we knew was a problem. These phones have a very negative effect on campus culture because they lead to so much bullying and gossiping.”

Childress said his members who teach at San Mateo High School have lauded the program. The campus courtyard has become noisy again, he said, relaying what he described as a “really powerful” shift.

 

Many districts are focusing on more traditional approaches as well and are looking to bulk up their mental health staff and services. The South San Francisco Unified School District just recently renewed a contract with the YMCA’s Youth Service Bureaus, a community mental health provider and district partner.

 

More than 500 students accessed services provided last year, Baker said, but the number of students receiving support in more casual settings from staff is likely higher, he said.

 

Students appear to be more open to accessing support services than in the past, Baker said, while acknowledging the district could do more to inform students of what programs are available.

 

“We’ve seen need come up so much — depression, anxiety, traumas within families — that are now being talked about but never used to be. … One silver lining is people are more willing to talk about what is ailing them and that’s the first step in getting treatment,” Baker said. “But there’s a lack of awareness of what’s accessible to them. We’ve done a decent job but we need to do better. … Sometimes we have to let the kids know that the water is there for them to drink.”

 

San Mateo Union High School District leaders have long invested in wellness services across its campuses, Childress and Superintendent Randall Booker both highlighted. The issue is a “huge conviction” for Booker, he said, stressing the importance of being proactive when supporting students and their mental health so they can perform their best in and outside of the classroom.

“It’s just really important that we continue to do our best to make school as normal as possible and familiar as possible while recognizing that students need more,” Booker said. “Students can’t learn if they’re not feeling included or don’t feel like they belong or don’t feel like people understand them.”

 

As students return to campus, Childress said the atmosphere has been positive overall though many as still making adjustments.

 

“The first part of the year is always a mixed bag of anxiousness and excitement both on the students’ and teachers’ part with the transition back from summer and getting back into the swing of things,” Childress said. “But for the most part kids are excited to be back.”

 

Key to the district’s safety net is ensuring there is enough staff on campus who can keep an eye out for students, Booker said. One-on-one interactions between teachers and students can sometimes be hard to achieve but Booker said he’s proud of the district’s staffing levels and that he intends to continue dedicating resources toward student mental health support.

 

 

But attracting staff to fill out a mental health team can be a difficult task, Baker said. The district has been searching for nine mental health professionals to add to its team but, by the start of the new school year, had only hired two.

 

Burlingame School District Superintendent Chris Mount-Benites said former iterations of administrative teams and school boards have built up the district’s mental health services but he acknowledged that many districts are likely struggling right now to recruit as more emphasis is placed on building up support staff.

Dan Deguara, superintendent of Belmont-Redwood Shores School District, said he was also fortunate former leaders have focused on mental health as a priority. The emphasis is part of what pulled Deguara to the district three years ago, he said, and it’s one it intends to continue.

 

Both Deguara and Mount-Benites acknowledged that being away from in-person learning has exacerbated issues. What happens in the virtual world often leaks into the world of school campuses, underscoring their appreciation for having mental health services in place long before COVID-19 struck the region.

 

“I am again really fortunate that we’ve invested in those resources and have those teams that have been up and running since prior to the pandemic and they have only become more robust since the pandemic,” Deguara said.

 

Greater detail on how the pandemic affected student mental health and performance is still being analyzed but Mount-Benites said he anticipates data will show students are worse off despite concerted efforts by those in the profession to make the transition to distance learning and back as seamless as possible.

 

“There’s a lot of depression, bullying, cyberbullying and it’s tough for parents to deal with and it blends into education obviously,” Mount-Benites said, arguing school districts often face increasing pressure to help amend what issues students face in and out of the classroom. “People were at a high coming back to school and feeling more connected and now it seems there’s this distance coming back and we’ve lost the ability to connect in a positive supportive way after being isolated for 18 months.”