BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS -- The directors of a new cooperative school program want to help students deal with mental health issues that often prevent them from being able to take advantage of educational opportunities. The program is a joint effort among nine school districts to serve students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders and is expected to start this fall.
The school districts are working through the Northern Kentucky Association Cooperative for Educational Services.
Mollie Douglass and Steve Silcox have been hired as directors. Ms. Douglass, 38, a behavioral specialist with the cooperative for six years, will be in charge of the educational component.
Mr. Silcox, 44, will direct the mental health programs. He is a licensed clinical social worker with 20 years experience.
"It's just going to be an excellent opportunity for us to be able to combine both the mental health approach and the educational approach with children, where you can't really separate the two," Mr. Silcox said.
The Bellevue, Erlanger-Elsmere, Fort Thomas, Kenton County, Ludlow, Newport, Silver Grove, Southgate and Walton-Verona districts are working to lease space in the older part of Cold Spring Elementary for the program. Nine students have been identified for the specialized services, but criteria must still be determined.
For now, Ms. Douglass and Mr. Silcox are working at the cooperative's office in Highland Heights on plans, hiring, curriculum and goals. The two hope to hire two teachers and two assistants, and envision the need to hire additional staff as the program grows.
"The big push is that we are going to have a very strong mental health component," Ms. Douglass said.
The new school will target students with "low-incident" handicaps -- conditions not very prevalent in the overall population. These students might have emotional disruptions that interfere with learning in a normal setting, they may need more one-on-one attention and they may require unique environments for learning. The directors and superintendents involved said the program is not an alternative school for problem students, but more of a day-treatment facility for students with special needs.
"This is not an alternative to expulsion," Fort Thomas Superintendent Larry Stinson said. "This is the place we can send students who need full-time placement."
For small districts like Silver Grove, the program will mean better instruction for students and a more efficient way of providing it.
"I think it's going to be a real nice program," Silver Grove Superintendent Bill Brown said. "It will help us out."
Initial costs could total $15,000 per student, but the cooperative expects that to decrease to about $7,000 per pupil as the program expands and state and federal grants are applied for.
