Social and Emotional Learning is the latest fad in public education. SEL is considered Tier 1 in a three-tiered mental health framework for students attending public schools. Money for this initiative came through a federal grant several years ago, but as those funds dried up guess who is left to fund these initiatives? The local taxpayers.
SEL is taking valuable time out of the day to teach children about mental health problems. This might be valuable information for children who experience anxiety, but this is covered by a teacher, not a Child Psychologist. SEL is also causing some children to become anxious at the suggestion. Parents are reporting that their children are coming home believing they are depressed because they learned it in school. SEL doesn’t just target some of the children who need extra support, it’s for all children in the school. Where some children were fine, they are now believing something is wrong with them.
The Multi-Tiered System of Support for Behavior (MTSS-B) has already come under scrutiny because student personal mental health data that has been shared in some New Hampshire schools. These mental health data have been shared without parental knowledge or consent. This is not only a violation of the School Counselor’s Code of Ethics, it violates a child’s right to privacy enshrined in The New Hampshire Constitution. We are uncovering all kinds of problems with SEL and the MTSS-B framework in our public schools.
Parents in Merrimack are now looking at the SEL costs to taxpayers. The cost shift to local communities is staggering, and it will go higher.
The district may be able to bill Medicaid for some of the mental health counseling. But parents should know that President Biden is trying to remove parental consent from Medicaid billing. Biden has claimed that the government needs to streamline the billing process, so they want to cut parents out of it. Schools have been charged with Medicaid fraud in the past. Parental consent is one way to ensure that the billing is accurate.
Parents also need to see what services have been provided to their children. By removing their consent, it’s possible that their children could receive services without their knowledge or consent.
Currently, there is proposed legislation in New Hampshire that would require parental notification for every service provided in schools that are billed to Medicaid. HB1616 .
Schools are implementing health-based clinics for physical and mental health. Manchester has already contracted with Amoskeag Health to provide school based health services for students. I’m still trying to figure out how they managed to adopt the CDC Centers for Disease Control Community School Model without legislative approval.
The way this is going, don’t be surprised when your child receives these services, then bills Medicaid, but you are never notified.
The Vote in Education on HB1616 was 10-10. All of the Democrats on the Committee voted against parental notification on Medicaid billing. HB1616 will soon go before the full house for a vote. It’s critical that everyone contact their elected representatives and ask them to support it when it goes to the House floor.
A child’s mental health is important, but turning local schools into mental health facilities will cost more money, and the results are not always positive. If your child needs extra support, then parents need to seek assistance outside the school system. This can be done with someone who is an expert in the field of child psychology, who understands the importance of involving parents and keeping your child’s personal information private.
When schools bill Medicaid, you should know that there is NO code for normal. Your child will be labeled, and that information will then be sent to the federal govt.
The federal student privacy law (FERPA) was gutted during the Obama administration, which means that government agencies can share personal information without parental knowledge or consent. The change to FERPA included adding EXCEPTIONS so that some people can access your child’s personal data.
When your district uses an SEL tech vendor, they upload your child’s personal mental health information into the database. That SEL VENDOR is considered an EXCEPTION who can avoid obtaining parental consent for accessing your child’s personal information.
Now that the SEL vendor has collected your child’s personal mental health information, that vendor can share this sensitive personal information with anyone else who fits in the EXCEPTION category. In other words, your child has NO privacy protections when it comes to the security of their personal mental health information. Your child’s records can be shared over and over, and you will have no idea it’s happening.
Student personal mental health data has already been shared with Keene State- BHII. The students and parents were never consulted, and they never approved. Keene State-BHII would be considered an EXCEPTION to the FERPA law. Does this violate a child’s right to privacy? I believe so, but that would mean a parent would have to sue their local school for violating their child’s right to privacy. A judge would then have to determine if their constitutional right to privacy was violated.
In this video, you can listen to some of the staff in our local schools talk about how they want to manipulate consent forms to keep parents in the dark when they are administering mental health services to their children,
Everyone should REFUSE SEL for their children. If your children need mental health services, use a private provider who will keep your child’s records secure and private.
