15th Annual Bragging Rights Issue of Texas School Business Magazine

Page 41

▲ Weatherford ISD’s BESST program serves to identify and respond to students in need of emotional and social support.

WEATHERFORD ISD Weatherford ISD

Mental health Is the BESST place to start

County: Parker

by Leila Kalmbach

2020 enrollment: 8,074

F

our years ago, if a student missed a week of school in Weatherford ISD, it’s possible no one in the district would’ve known why. After all, students miss school all the time: they get sick, they have family emergencies, they go on vacation. But there was another reason that students were sometimes missing several days of class in a row,

ESC region: 11 Superintendent: Dr. Beau Rees Number of schools: 10 says Racheal Rife, coordinator of social-emotional supports and former executive director of instructional support for the district — days spent at an inpatient mental health facility following a suicidal outcry or other mental health crisis. “There’s still quite a stigma around mental health issues, and so sometimes nobody knew,” Rife says. After returning to school, those students would BRAGGING RIGHTS 2021-2022 Texas School Business

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