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Avoyelles School District focusing on mental health services for students

Avoyelles Journal, Marksville Weekly News, Bunkie Record (LA) - 5/3/2016

It appears the Avoyelles School Board will be addressing students' health needs with providers currently operating in the parish rather than allowing an out-of-parish non-profit to set up school-based clinics.

School Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said that while a proposal from Primary Care Providers for a Healthy Feliciana (PCPHF) to operate school-based health clinics "is not off the table," the board's special committee appointed to consider student health services appears to favor using current providers.

Dauzat said a key reason for backing away from the Feliciana proposal was the recent news that Medicaid would be increasing its reimbursement rate to the district's existing school nurse program. That development removed a financial condition that made it difficult, if not economically impossible, to continue the current level of services.

The Feliciana clinic proposal offered to continue a high level of service while taking over much of the financial cost from the board.

PCPHF owner Ginger Hunt has established nine Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) in the state to benefit under-served rural areas. Those centers provide behavioral health services to 54 schools in five parishes. The Avoyelles project would be funded by a Rapides Foundation grant that would provide $300,000 a year for the school-based clinics.

Hunt said FQHC status allows a clinic to receive a higher Medicaid reimbursement rate. She said the grants would cover any operating deficit in Avoyelles until PCPHF could gain "look alike" status for the local clinics, thus gaining the same reimbursement rates as the East Feliciana clinics.

Mental health focus

A 14-member special committee is currently focusing on mental health services to students. The committee consists of three Central Office staff members, three School Board members, two school nurses, two principals, three parents and a licensed social worker.

At its meeting on April 26, the committee decided that it wanted current mental health agencies to have either a full-time licensed professional counselor or licensed clinical social worker available during the school day to address emergency situations at the schools.

The proposal would not include Avoyelles High, which already has a full-time mental health provider on campus as part of a school-based clinic operated by St. Frances Cabrini.

The committee's request would have one counselor for Plaucheville and Riverside elementary schools, one to serve Cottonport Elementary and LaSAS, one for Bunkie Elementary and Bunkie High, and two assigned to cover Lafargue and Marksville elementaries and Marksville High.

The committee's request will be presented to the providers for a response. If a response is received, the committee will discuss it at its May meeting. If there is no response, it will request a representative of the providers to attend the meeting to discuss the matter.

Committee members said they would like the School Board to require that only licensed personnel be allowed to treat students on school campuses. They said that currently non-licensed providers come to the schools, pull students out of class, see them for five minutes and then leave.

Keep log of sessions

It was suggested that schools require mental health providers to keep a log of the time spent in therapy sessions.

If the "licensed only" provision is adopted by the board, students would still be able to see unlicensed therapists with the company currently providing services to them, but those sessions would have to be done after school hours and off-campus.

Dauzat told committee members, especially board members Chris Lacour, John Gagnard and Lizzie Ned, to expect some "push back" from providers on that issue.

After the committee finalizes a plan for mental health services, it will focus on dental health and health education services for students.

Lacour, the committee chairman, said the committee's action "amounts to presenting to the agencies what the school system wants in terms of service to its students. Now the agencies will respond with what they can provide."

Any differences will then be addressed in negotiations between the district and providers, he said.