Lakeland approves Heritage Health agreement - again
From left, Jodie DeVore and Amanda Leach watch in suspense as the Lakeland Joint School District Board of Trustees discuss approving or denying an agreement that allows Heritage Health to meet with patients who are students of the district on campuses.
JOSA SNOW/Press
Around 25 people attended a Lakeland School District Board of Trustees meeting Thursday to support an agreement between the district and Heritage Health that allows counseling appointments to be held on campus.
The Lakeland Joint School District board of trustees will continue to allow Heritage Health counselors to meet with students on campus.
Trustees voted on an agreement with Heritage Health for a third time Thursday after the board determined that an April 20 vote constituted an open meeting violation. The Heritage Health agreement was on that meeting agenda for discussion only, not for action by the board.
During an earlier meeting, the trustees voted against renewing the agreement but reconsidered it April 20 after parents and other school community members reacted to the decision.
Thursday's vote came with a caveat that the school district provides a policy for the process, so it's clear to parents.
“We need to get policies and procedures in place,” said Vice Chair Ramona Grissom. “We don’t have any of that written.”
The board voted 3-2 Thursday to renew the agreement with Grissom and Board Chair Michelle Thompson voting against, as they did April 20.
While the approval is conditional on the policy being written for the agreement, there is no timeline to complete the policy.
The agreement allows Heritage Health counselors to meet with students of Lakeland schools on campuses, to reduce the burden on parents for arranging travel time, and to reduce the amount of missed class time for students.
Thompson and Grissom asked several questions about the district’s role in the counseling service, like insurance liability for Heritage Health employees on school grounds, with many of those details in the agreement. They also advocated keeping the district out of areas that don’t have to do with educating or allowing parents to have control of parenting.
“We have a situation where we have resources available,” said Trustee Bob Jones. “We’ve chosen to use them for the last three or four years, and it’s done with the understanding through the agreement. We’re accepting the service, they’re offering the service.”
The school district doesn’t provide counseling services on campuses through its staff psychologists or counselors, said Superintendent Lisa Arnold. Those positions are designed to be supportive or for testing students, and not to be a form of clinical counseling, like the Heritage Health services.
The agreement with Heritage Health does not prevent the district from providing building space to other counseling providers in the future.
