When Franklin Community Schools hired its first-ever mental health director in September, it started down the path toward providing more mental health services to students using new money from a property tax increase.
School officials want to make sure students at all eight Franklin schools have access to the mental healthcare they need. At the elementary level, that will come in the form of therapy dogs. School officials also plan to hire four social workers to address mental health needs at the upper grade levels, and relieve pressure on guidance counselors, whose focus is on academics.
Franklin schools successfully passed a referendum in May; 63% of voters approved a property tax hike that allowed the district to raise teacher salaries and provide these additional mental health services. It is expected to bring in about $3.5 million per year over the course of eight years, starting this year.
Money from the referendum will pay for the therapy dogs, which cost about $3,900 each, not including training costs, spokesperson Robin Betts said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Starting in April, a pair of therapy dogs will call Northwood and Webb elementary schools home, although students at all Franklin schools will have access to them, especially following a tragedy or during a time of anxiety, such as before a major exam, said Kimberly Spurling, the new mental health director for Franklin schools.
The decision to add therapy dogs was partially inspired by the amount of positive feedback from other schools that already had the dogs, Spurling said.
“The administrative team went around to some schools in Indiana that had therapy dogs and we listened to stories of how much the dogs enriched the lives of students and improved behavior,” Spurling said. “They decreased anxiety.”
The dogs come from Ultimate Canine, a dog training business in Westfield. Spurling also spoke with administrators at David Bacon School in Tallmadge, Ohio, one of whom said the effect of the therapy dogs on students was magical, Spurling said.
“The person I spoke to raved about how it changes the whole culture of the building and used the word ‘magical,’” Spurling said. “The kids come in, they’re excited, they get to pet the dog. Overall, it changes the demeanor of everyone for the better.”
The therapy dogs will stay at Northwood and Webb elementary schools the majority of the time, but can be called upon to travel to other schools as a means to help students who have anxiety or depression, Spurling said.
The therapy dogs are considered a pilot program, meaning Franklin schools could buy more in the future if the program is successful and demand is high, Spurling said.
Franklin schools also plans to hire four social workers with the money — two at the high school, one at the middle school and one at Custer Baker Intermediate School. The salaries of those positions have not been determined yet, Spurling said.
School social workers in Indiana make about $50,000 per year on average, according to Indeed, a job-finding website.
The social workers would be the first in the district.
The new social workers will help take some pressure off guidance counselors, who are already tasked with helping students decide what college to go to and how to navigate course requirements and the workforce. Now, counselors won’t have to provide therapy to students; the social workers can do that, she said.
“As of right now, at the high school level, we want to ensure students have time to work with social workers as individuals or a group-type setting to address needs from anxiety to depression to stress. Our school counselors do an excellent job working with students, but they have a lot on their plates that has to do with employment and graduation.”
A start date for the social workers has not been finalized, although initial referendum plans list that as the school’s next step.
The referendum also covers Spurling’s salary as mental health director, she said.
In that role, Spurling is in charge of implementing a strategic plan to address mental health and behavioral support programming at Franklin schools. She acts as the mental health liaison for the district when talking to mental health providers and local groups such as Franklin police and fire, Franklin city government and Johnson Memorial Hospital, according to her job description.
In addition to hiring Spurling, adding social workers and buying therapy dogs, Franklin schools is also raising starting teacher salaries to $40,000 from $37,500 in the fall. And more mental health professionals may be added, on an as-needed basis, plans said.
The Franklin schools referendum is part of a county and statewide-push for schools to provide more mental health services.
In Nov. 2018, 57% of voters in Clark and Pleasant townships passed a referendum that raised property taxes for added security and mental health services at Clark-Pleasant schools. Center Grove Community Schools tried to pass a similar measure in November, but failed.
Last February, the Indiana School Mental Health Initiative hosted its first Indiana’s Educating the Whole Child Summit at Indiana University, according to a news release from Indiana University The summit focused on the social, emotion, physical and cognitive well-being of students.
