A pilot program that is on the chopping block in the city budget next year could have prevented the trauma Violet and other students have experienced being shipped off to a hospital during an emotional crisis.
Advocates have been pushing to get the city to invest more in equipping schools with alternatives to law enforcement involvement and hospital trips for kids — and got a big boost last year when the city allocated $5 million in the budget to pilot a new initiative called the “mental health continuum.”
The program, a partnership between the city’s Education Department, public hospital system, and health department, trains teachers in de-escalation, puts school staff in contact with mental health professionals who can talk them through how to handle the situation, and, as a last resort, sends a “mobile child crisis” team to the school, avoiding a trip to the hospital.
