Requestor
Josephine Johnson
Organization/Agency
Capital News Service
Requested Information
Pursuant to the state open records law Va. Code Ann. Secs. 2.2-3700 to 2.2-3715., I write to request access to and a copy of:
• The number of FTE employees who worked as social workers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals at the school district for each school year between the 2014-15 school year and the 2024- 25 school year.
• Hours worked and cost of contracting with any non-employee mental health professionals for each of those school years.
• The number of students seeking or receiving mental health services, broken down by grade, for each of those school years.
• The number of unique mental health crises, broken down by grade, for each of those school years. Also, if possible, please include data on the outcome of those crises(such as the number resolved by school personnel, use of county crisis system, hospitalizations and involvement of law enforcement using the Emergency Petition process)
• The total number of students enrolled at the school district, broken down by grade, for each of those school years.
• The aggregate results of any mental health screenings or surveys that your district has done between the 2014-15 school year and the 2024-25 school year. If your agency does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian's name and address.
• The number of FTE employees who worked as social workers, psychologists, and other mental health professionals at the school district for each school year between the 2014-15 school year and the 2024- 25 school year.
• Hours worked and cost of contracting with any non-employee mental health professionals for each of those school years.
• The number of students seeking or receiving mental health services, broken down by grade, for each of those school years.
• The number of unique mental health crises, broken down by grade, for each of those school years. Also, if possible, please include data on the outcome of those crises(such as the number resolved by school personnel, use of county crisis system, hospitalizations and involvement of law enforcement using the Emergency Petition process)
• The total number of students enrolled at the school district, broken down by grade, for each of those school years.
• The aggregate results of any mental health screenings or surveys that your district has done between the 2014-15 school year and the 2024-25 school year. If your agency does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian's name and address.
Date Received
Status
Complete
Response Notes
Responsive to this request, in addition to the records below, per clarification that for “unique mental health crises” you are seeking data on situations “in which school officials needed to call 911 to deal with a crisis situation involving a student,” HCPSS does not track incidents identified as such per year, nor the outcomes. Please note, under the MPIA process, and as advised in the Eighteenth Edition of the Maryland Public Information Act Manual created by Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General, an agency is only obligated to produce existing records and is not required to generate new data or summarize data. Additionally, while 911 may be used in an emergency, a student/family may be referred to 988 (the new nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline) and other resources dependent on the individual circumstances: https://www.hcpss.org/supports/mental-health-wellness/crisis-resources/.
Responsive Documents
Please note, in Maryland “official enrollment” is the count taken and verified by the Maryland State Department of Education on September 30 of each school year that is then used for funding purposes.
(see PC-29). This Bids and Contracts report includes details of the current use of outside contractors for mental health services.
(see PC-9). This Bids and Contracts report includes details of the initial contract for the above services. An amendment report can also be found in 2019 (see PC-54): https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/files/BA3HPE5FFE1C/$file/03%2014%202019%20Bids%20and%20Contracts%20BR.pdf. In relation to both School-Based Mental Health Services RFPs above, the total costs to the school system for contracting are included in the Board reports. It is important to note, however, these amounts are only for a portion of students served. If students are uninsured, the contractor may bill the school system and the agency would be paid through grant funds. If students have Medicaid or insurance that the provider accepts, then the provider is paid by the insurer directly, not by the school system. While individual invoices received by the school system will include billing codes for service, no compilation of the hours worked exists nor does the school system have billing information for those services paid directly by private insurers. Please note, under the MPIA process, and as advised in the Eighteenth Edition of the Maryland Public Information Act Manual created by Maryland’s Office of the Attorney General, an agency is only obligated to produce existing records and is not required to generate new data or summarize data. A modification of the total expected cost to the most recent contract (009.22.B1) for school years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 was also presented/approved at an October 9, 2024, Board meeting: https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/hcpssmd/Board.nsf/files/D9NPLX645A60/$file/10%2010%2024%20Bids%20and%20Contracts%20BR.pdf.
This graph shows data on both by grade and total annual students accessing services by the current school-based mental health model utilized by HCPSS. Please note, the current model and tracking did not exist until school year 2018-2019, therefore no prior data exists. Prior to school year 2020-2021, data was collected by school level (elementary, middle, and high school) rather than individual grade level. Data from the last quarter of school year 2023-2024 is in the process of being finalized at this time, and the first quarter of school year 2024-2025 has not yet been collected. HCPSS has made substantial efforts to ensure the accuracy of this information; however, data collection and reporting is consistently subject to change. Please be mindful when comparing data as many variances can occur between reports based on date pulled, parameters used, categories included, etc.
Per clarification the personnel data you are seeking is counts of full and part time positions to include “psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health nurses, mental health physician's assistants, licensed professional counselors, and licensed clinical social workers,” please find attached annual staff lists by title/position and FTE/PTE. This data is only available after 2016 when our current human resources database was implemented. Please note, prior to school year 2021 some social worker positions were identified as mental health therapists. Additionally, while nurses and school counselors are employed by the school system, none are identified/licensed specifically as therapists/mental health professionals. In addition to psychologists and social workers, we have included all positions with mental health in their title and categorized as a therapist. HCPSS has made substantial efforts to ensure the accuracy of this information; however, data collection and reporting is consistently subject to change. Please be mindful when comparing data as many variances can occur between reports based on date pulled, parameters used, categories included, etc.
This survey is done statewide, and available publicly broken down by county and grade level. It is described as a “survey of students in Maryland middle and high schools, focusing on tobacco-use prevalence and other health-related behaviors among Maryland youth. The survey started in 2013 and is conducted every two years.”
The attached data is system-wide results of a well-being survey used to gauge school system climate and assist with the development of social-emotional learning lessons and administered within the following parameters by HCPSS:
o January 2023 - 7th grade students
o Fall 2023 - 7th and 8th grade students
o Spring 2024 - 6th and 7th grade students
Please note, to date HCPSS has not conducted mental health screenings that would be used to identify individual mental health needs of students.
o January 2023 - 7th grade students
o Fall 2023 - 7th and 8th grade students
o Spring 2024 - 6th and 7th grade students
Please note, to date HCPSS has not conducted mental health screenings that would be used to identify individual mental health needs of students.