TAUNTON — Superintendent John Cabral is pleased to announce that Taunton Public Schools has once again been awarded a grant to support students’ social-emotional learning (SEL), behavioral and mental health, and wellness.
Taunton Public Schools received a $212,500 FY23 Supporting Students’ Social Emotional Learning, Behavioral & Mental Health, and Wellness through Multi-Tiered Systems of Support grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). The purpose of this competitive grant program is to adapt, expand or strengthen multi-tiered systems of support to respond to the social-emotional and behavioral health needs of students, families and educators, and to build strong partnerships with community-based mental health agencies and/or providers.
With the use of grant funds, Taunton Public Schools will continue to develop multi-tiered systems of social-emotional, behavioral and mental health, and well-being support; and create more connections within the community for mental health support utilizing community facilitators.
“This grant provides an amazing opportunity for the district to supply students with resources that will allow them to develop and grow both in and outside of the classroom,” said Superintendent Cabral. “We hope to continue the meaningful work that we have started and use the grant funds to ensure accessible and equitable avenues for our students and their families to access counseling, mental health screening and other supports.”
The grant will allow the district to continue to offer professional development in the areas of mental health and social-emotional learning for both staff and parents. Additionally, the grant will support the continuation of the district’s newly implemented Universal Screening for mental health, along with supporting the social-emotional screening that has been implemented within the district for the last three years. Funds will also go towards monitoring the progress of the interventions and screenings through data collection.
With the grant’s funds, Taunton Public Schools will continue to support the newly developed District Mental Health Team and work to develop school-based mental health teams as well. The district will also continue to purchase and renew Tier One, Two and Three curricula and interventions to support mental health and social-emotional learning across the district.
Additionally, the district will continue to grow and foster its community partnerships that were forged during the first grant cycle to further provide increased mental health support for students in the school buildings with a lens for equity related to the provisions of services.
###