High school students say mental health and wellness care centers are less confidential
At the moment, it’s unclear how much confidentiality students have when they ask for help with mental-health issues in Burbank public schools.
Three members from the Student Advisory Mental Health Board, a group led by students from Burbank and John Burroughs high schools, spoke to school officials during a Burbank Unified school board meeting last week.
Burroughs senior Alina Padilla raised a concern about how students’ mental health and wellness care center visits are recorded in the district’s online student information system, called Aeries.
In the past two years, parents weren’t notified if students sought the center’s services, according to Padilla.
Aeries previously marked “O” for a visit to an on-campus office such as the attendance office. Now, it specifically marks “K” for care center, which parents and guardians can view through the online information system.
“While it is very important to keep track of students and make sure that we know exactly where they are, we believe that this should be changed,” Padilla said.
“One of the key parts of the care center is confidentiality. While there is confidentiality regarding what the students say in the care center, there is a strong implication that parents will not be aware that the students visited the center,” she added.
She said many of her peers have stopped going to the care center and it could be for a variety of reasons, including parents being the cause of mental-health issues, parents taking an unsupportive stance regarding the care center or students being uncomfortable sharing that they sought mental-health services.
“As a student, coming forward to admit you have an issue with mental health is incredibly hard,” said Ariana Kretz, founder and chair of the student board.
“The nerve and vulnerability necessary to take that step is tremendous and each student should be given the space, time and resources possible to take that step,” she added.
Daria Clark, student board vice chair, later asked, “If even I who thought I knew so much about the care center was unaware of this issue, how many of these students are currently just as unaware as I was?”
Padilla proposed school officials allow teachers and administrators view the “K” mark for care centers, but change the mark for the parents’ online view so that they wouldn’t be able to recognize it as the care center.
Supt. Matt Hill said in a phone interview that while he understands student privacy, guardian rights need to also be considered because most students are younger than 18 years old.
“It is a complicated issue. We are consulting with [Los Angeles] County and lawyers to determine the appropriate protocols,” Hill later stated in an email.
Although the concern required further discussion and research into policies, another related issue brought up during the board meeting was resolved.
This year, Burbank Unified started sending out truancy voicemails to parents.
There was a lag in communication between the care centers and teachers. If students were in one of the care centers, teachers marked their attendance as a class absence prompting a truancy phone call.
“One of the biggest issues in this district is the lack of communication between school board members and administrators to our students and it’s a very necessary step that needs to be addressed,” Kretz said.
According to its website, the student advisory board was created to increase communication among students, parents, teachers and administrators regarding mental-health programs.
The student advisory board is planning events for mental-health wellness week in March and invited school board members to attend.
