Six Washington School Districts Have Unequal Mental Health Care; All Fail To Meet Legal Minimum

Different school districts in Washington state have widely differing mental health care resources, from counselor proficiencies and workload to relationships with community mental health care centers. A look at six districts in the southeastern corner of the state shows the gap in resources available to schools less than an hour drive from each other.
Six counselors for Pullman School District, the region’s largest district, serve a total of roughly 2800 students. That’s a caseload of 467 students per counselor, more than twice that of counselors in Colton School District, the region’s smallest district. Colton School District has a single part-time counselor to serve 148 students.

Washington ranked 42nd in the country for counselor-to-student ratios according to a 2013 report by the National Center for Education Statistics. The state had an average of 516 students per counselor in 2013, according to the report.

Though the district’s counselors have doubled caseloads, Pullman School District is one of only two districts in the region—the other being Clarkston School District—with counselors meant to also act as psychologists. With job titles like “academic advisor,” and “career counselor,” counselors hired by other districts are not expected to be able to act in that capacity.

With two counselors each, Dayton and Pomeroy School Districts are tied for the second-highest counselor-to-student ratio in the region, at one-per-200.

However, Dayton School District hired their second counselors only within the last year. Dayton School District has not yet determined the full job-description of its newest counselor, said district Superintendent Doug Johnson, but they currently act as a general school counselor for all of the roughly 400 students in the district. The second counselor works specifically in substance-abuse prevention and intervention.

Pomeroy School District’s two counselors are similarly spread across approximately 400 students. One full-time counselor is assigned to the district’s K-6 students, but serves grades 7-12 when the need arises, said district Superintendent Rachel Gwinn.

The second counselor is assigned to the joint Jr. Sr. High School, but also works as the special education director, said Superintendent Gwinn. According to the district’s website, that counselor also works as the district’s “6th-8th grade Athletic Director, Homeless liaison, 504 coordinator, and Traffic Safety Education coordinator.”

Clarkston School District, which serves 2625 students, retains eight full-time counselors and has an about 328 students per counselor.

Asotin-Anatone School District serves roughly 600 students. It has a part-time counselor for grades k-6, and a full-time counselor for grades 6-12. Both serve as academic advisors, and have neither the time nor the skills to do “in-depth counseling,” said district Superintendent Dale Bonfield. The district usually requests the parents seek outside counseling, Bonfield said.

State legislators recognize the disparity of resources between rural and urban sections of the state, and there are practically no statewide standards of mental health care, said Nathan Olson, Communications Manager for the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
One of the few requirements for school districts is a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with a local mental health care center, which formalizes what the center commits to provide to a district’s students.
Most Asotin-Anatone students are referred to Quality Behavioral Health, but the district does not have a formal Memorandum of Understanding agreement with any community mental health care center as is required by state law (NOTE TO EDITOR: RCW 28A.320.127).

Superintendent Bonfield appeared to not be aware of that requirement.
“I called [Quality Behavioral Health] yesterday and asked them whether we needed something like [an MOU],” Superintedent Bonfield said Dec. 8. “It didn’t seem like they were aware of anything like that, but they suggested we get something in place.”

Dayton School District Superintendent Johnson said that he had never been told before that an MOU was a requirement.

Though MOUs with mental health care centers were required by state law beginning in the 2014-15 school year, none of the six districts—Asotin-Anatone, Clarkston, Colton, Dayton, Pomeroy or Pullman—have these agreements.

Dierk Meierbachtol, chief legal officer for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, said that the lack of compliance was “odd,” and that a planned bulletin on the subject was being sent to school districts in the coming months. Meierbachtol referred all further questions to Nathan Olson, the OSPI’s communications director.

Olson could not comment on whether the lack of compliance was the fault of districts or that of state agencies failing to communicate the law’s existence.

“I don’t have a definite answer to that question,” Olson said. “If I had to guess, I would blame a lack of resources.”

Sources:
Superintendent Dale Bonfield 509-243-1100
Superintendent Bob Maxwell 509-332-3581
Superintendent Rachel Gwinn 509-843-1651
Superintendent Doug Johnson 509-382-2543
Superintendent Tim Winter 509-769-6106
Superintendent Nathan Smith 509-229-3385
OSPI Chief Legal Officer Dierk Meierbachtol 360-725-6000
OSPI Communications Director Nathan Olson 360-725-6015
http://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=28A.320.127

Media, Money and Matthew: When Young Adults Run For Congress

 

One Must Imagine Sutherland Happy
TO EDITOR, THIS IS A GREAT CAMUS REFERENCE BUT COULD BE REPLACED WITH THE 8TH GRADE READING LEVEL FRIENDLY: The WSU Dream Team On Swimming Upstream

Ever since Matthew Sutherland entered the race for Washington’s 5th Congressional District, which stretches across the entire eastern border of the state, the media’s muted reaction has consternated the candidate and the team working for him.

Perhaps most frustrating for Andaya Sugayan, Sutherland’s deputy campaign manager, is the fact that what little reporting Sutherland has received has largely glommed onto a singular detail. If elected Nov. 2018, Sutherland at 26-years-old would be the youngest person to be elected to the U.S. Congress since 2001. His campaign is almost entirely staffed by WSU students and young volunteers.

Lost in this skin-deep first look, Sugayan said, is Sutherland’s experience with the Whitman County Democrats and as a member of the Army reserves, as well as the level of involvement Sutherland has had with voters.

Though Sugayan is a student herself, with just one semester left before graduating from Washington State University’s College of Communication, this isn’t the first campaign she has worked on. During the 2016 presidential primaries, Sugayan traveled as far as Michigan to campaign for Clinton and to provide aid during the Flint water crisis. Sutherland, who represents a more progressive wing of the party, appealed to Sugayan through his work to connect with the average voter of the 5th.

When the candidate she supports faces condescension for his age and inexperience, it’s disappointing, Sugayan said. The perennial claim that Sutherland is on the cusp of dropping out of the race has been a particularly insulting write off.

The campaign declined to respond to the most recent wave of rumors. Sutherland’s next scheduled campaign event is Nov. 12, though it is not uncommon for candidates to wait to clear their calendar until they officially drop out.

Josh Maasberg, Director for Social Media with the Whitman County Democrats and ex-opinion columnist for WSU’s student newspaper, is Sutherland’s campaign manager.

“As a campaign that is being run and operated younger people and college students,” Maasberg said, “we have run into a lot of pushback in some ways from people who may not be ready to see young people take up the gauntlet and run a candidate in an area that has historically not had successful Democratic elections.”

In response to this, the campaign strives to present itself as professional as any seasoned politician by learning from industry consultants and adopting best policies from the ground up, Maasberg said, but Sutherland’s outsider status might actually be advantage.

“Here in eastern Washington we have not had good democratic candidates in the legislative districts, the congressional districts, in commissioner seats,” Maasberg said. “Having that fresh face gives us a chance to appeal to those voters who may be in the middle, or moderate republicans who are looking for some different options, but are wary to vote for someone who is entrenched in the Democratic Party.”

Having Sutherland meet constituents through parades, fairs and other community events gives the candidate an opportunity to present himself as accessible, in contrast with cloistered establishment democrats, Maasberg said.

Boosting name recognition boils down to getting the candidate face-to-face with 5th District voters, Sugayan said, by attending community events like Sheet Caking and Ice Tea with the Whitman County Democrats or August’s Palouse Pride March.

These events are the campaign’s best way to combat chronic underreporting, Sugayan said.

Sutherland canceled an interview shortly before press time and failed to respond to questions.

 

All The King’s Horses (Seemingly) Can’t Flip The 5th For Democrats Again

While Democratic candidates for the 5th district who spend more tend to narrow the vote gap with Rodgers, there is an apparent floor for Democrats of roughly 33% during the party’s worst performing years.

The Spokesman-Review reported in December that Joe Pakootas, the 5th District’s Democratic nominee in the last two elections, had no plans to run for a third term. Without a mainstream Democrat competitor in the race that could fundraise hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Sutherland campaign might have pulled off what former reporter and outdoorsman Daryl Romeyn pulled off in 2010, securing more than 35% of the vote while spending under $15,000.

Romeyn campaigned on his outsider status in politics and won a higher percentage of votes than the Democratic nominee two years ago, despite having raised more than $100,000. Rodgers’ opponent in 2004 spent more than $1.5 million and only received an additional 4% of the vote.

A third of voters in a statewide race might be a sizable prize for a first-time, 24-year-old candidate. Sutherland’s only primary opponent at the time, Ben Stuckart, dropped out in June citing family health issues.

Yet even as Stuckart left Sutherland as the sole Democrat running for office, long-time Washington politician Lisa Brown made it clear she was considering entering the race. Having served for 20 years first as state legislator and then as state senator for the Spokane-area 3rd District, Brown comes with political clout and the money to match. Before she had even announced her candidacy in at the end of August, Brown had raised roughly $225,000, putting her on track to raise more money than any Democratic candidate running for the 5th District since 2006.

By June 30, the last time the FEC has public records of Sutherland’s campaign funds, the underdog candidate had raised just over $8,000. Though that money had come from hundreds of individual donors, the campaign struggled to fundraise from otherwise reliable donors to mainstream Democrats due to an “old boy’s club” culture that caused barriers to entry, Maasberg said.

“Our campaign has been and will continue to be funded primarily by grassroots individual contributions from constituents right here and across eastern Washington,” Maasberg said. “We’ve raised a sizable amount for the background that we have and what we’re trying to do here.”

One of the most important election-swaying assets of a long time politician that the Sutherland campaign lacks is the fundraising networks a politician can build up over time, Maasberg said. Much of the build up to the primaries has consisted of laying down the foundation for fundraising that might carry them into 2018.

Of the $8000, the campaign had spent roughly $2500. With 11 months to go before the August primaries, it’s not uncommon to keep a reserve of funds for the heat of the race. Brown had only spent a tenth of her total funds as of her last Federal Election Committee filings in August.

If at any point Sutherland were to drop out, any unused campaign funds could be donated to charity and up to $2000 could be donated directly to the campaign of another candidate. While Sutherland could not spend the funds for personal expenses according to FEC rules, he could also do nothing with it, sitting on the cash for a potential future campaign or donation.

Distinguishing Himself From Brown
NOTE TO EDITOR, I RAN OUT OF CLEVER TITLES

When asked what policies Sutherland could bring to the left and middle that Brown wouldn’t, Maasberg didn’t draw any distinction.

“We have to offer someone that, just like Lisa, really feels strongly about progressive change and turning Eastern Washington blue,” Maasberg said. “Where our strengths lie is having that fresh faced opportunity to reach out to people who haven’t seen Democrats in decades, and an opportunity to rebrand the Democratic Party in this area.

Linda Meyer, a retired auto worker who lives in Pullman and has volunteered for the Sutherland campaign, agrees that Sutherland is the superior candidate despite Brown’s indistinguishable progressive ideals. Meyer said that she has seen Sutherland’s activism for years, and that while Brown might appeal to her hometown of Spokane, it takes the groundwork Sutherland has been putting in to win over rural voters who might already feel disconnected with urban Democrats.

“[Brown] doesn’t know how to appeal to rural areas of the 5th Congressional District,” Meyer said. “The majority of voters are outside of Spokane, and if she wins the nomination she’ll lose the election.”

Susan Bruner, a psychiatric nurse practitioner for Spokane Resource Group, has her doubts. Even if Sutherland had a distinct political agenda from Brown, the money and political clout that Brown comes pre-equipped with could make all the difference.

“I’m going to vote for the person I think can beat [Rodgers],” Bruner said. “Matthew doesn’t have the money to win an election, and right now I can’t say I know anything about him but that he’s a student.”

Matthew is in fact no longer a student, having graduated from WSU in 2016 with a B.A. in Political Science Pre-Law.

Contacts

Linda Meyer: @prettymeadow (I know, I know, I wasn’t happy to be given a twitter handle as contact information either, and I forgot to get something more conventional when I met with her/haven’t heard back since we spoke)

Susan Bruner: 509-389-1494

Andaya Sugayan: andaya.sugayan@wsu.edu

Josh Maasberg: 509-619-6844

Undocumented WSU Students Brace For Impact

Undocumented students in Washington may lose access to some or all of their state and institutional financial aid as a result of the Trump administration’s decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, potentially ending deportation protections for 800,000 young immigrants across the U.S. The U.S. Congress has less than 6 months to pass legislative fix before DACA will expire.

“If DACA goes away, most of the state scholarships and financial aid programs would no longer be available to students who are living in the country without legal permission,” said Rachelle Sharpe, deputy executive director of the Washington Student Achievement Council, as reported Tuesday by The News Tribune.

Without action from Congress or the Washington State Legislature, students currently protected by DACA would have no more access to state financial aid than any other undocumented student, who generally can’t apply for a College Bound Scholarship, State Work Study and other programs.

“If DACA students residency status were to change, these students would not qualify for this funding in the future,” said Joy Scourey, senior associate director of the Office of Student Financial Services at Washington State University. If DACA status lapses for students who have already received financial aid for the current year, however, Scourey does not “foresee this funding being reversed.”

Students stripped of their DACA status would also no longer be eligible for institutional aid from WSU, such as the Cougar Commitment Grant, Scourey said. The Budget Office and the Provost’s Office oversee institutional funds and would be involved in any policy changes.

The State Need Grant is the largest source of state financial aid, making up 87 percent of total state financial aid expenditures for fiscal year 2017 according to the WSAC, and would still be available to undocumented students under certain conditions. Both the grant and in-state tuition are currently available to DACA recipients who have lived in Washington for at least a year, Sharpe said.

If DACA were to lapse, the REAL Hope Act, passed in 2014 by the Washington State Legislature, would provide State Need Grants only to those undocumented students who have lived in Washington at least three years and either graduated from a Washington high school or earned a GED. With the passage of HB 1079 in 2003, undocumented students who satisfy the same criteria would be provided in-state tuition. For the 2017-2018 school year at WSU, in-state tuition cost 60 percent less than out of state tuition.

Jesus Flores is a 19-year-old sophomore at WSU and a DACA recipient. He worries that he won’t be able to afford more than doubling tuition costs.

“I already work odd jobs to maintain what I have, sometimes I’ll work and go to school all day long without eating,” Flores said. “Where am I supposed to find the time; where am I supposed to come up with the money?”

The Trump administration Wednesday signaled an interest to compromise with Democrats on a legislative fix to DACA, a presidential memorandum from the Obama administration, but has since reneged, tweeting Thursday, “No deal was made last night on DACA. Massive border security would have to be agreed to in exchange for consent. Would be subject to vote.”