Final Reading: Vermont school officials say students’ mental health is at ‘a breaking point’

On Thursday morning, lawmakers in the House Committee on Education were shown an image of a raw egg, caught between the jaws of a vise and just beginning to crack. 

That egg, part of a PowerPoint presentation by Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union Superintendent Lynn Cota, was a metaphor for the state of mental health in Vermont schools.

“There comes a point — a breaking point — where things start to break,” Cota told lawmakers. “And I think that we are dangerously close to a breaking point with all that we’re trying to hold in public education.”

The testimony came in a hearing about children’s mental health and staffing shortages in schools and Vermont’s designated agencies, nonprofits tasked with providing mental health treatment to communities across the state. 

Over the past five years, schools and agencies have faced a two-pronged challenge: increased mental health needs from children, and a lack of resources to provide treatment. Like an egg caught between the jaws of the vise, the system is showing cracks, officials said.  Read more…

Final Reading: Vermont school officials say students’ mental health is at ‘a breaking point’