- November 18, 2024
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The number of students who have been escorted from Flagler Schools this year for potentially dangerous mental health episodes — that is, episodes that qualify for the Baker Act — has tripled from last year, according to data presented April 1 to the School Board.
“It’s more surprising and shocking than I was anticipating,” School Board member Colleen Conklin said.
Director of Student Services Katrina Townsend said neighboring school districts, including St. Johns County, have also seen increases.
How the Baker Act works
When a student makes a threat to harm himself or others at a school, an administrator and a guidance counselor are notified, and a worksheet is completed to assign a threat assessment score to the student. Criteria such as previous discipline record, history of previous threats, and family support are all considered in the score. If the Baker Act is considered appropriate, law enforcement is called, and the student is brought in a deputy’s vehicle to Halifax Hospital. Handcuffs are used only if the student is combative.
Townsend clarified that the Baker Act is not a disciplinary tool, but it’s an intervention to aid a student with mental health concerns. It’s also not used in response to a tantrum, but what could be described as a “psychotic episode,” according to Dr. Tracy Umpenhour, director of exceptional student education.
Asthma analogy
Townsend said she recently heard mental health compared to asthma, and that helped to put it in context better.
Like asthma, she said, “a mental health condition is a health condition, but you can’t see it. You can’t say when it will manifest or at what age it will be diagnosed. It can be cared for, but it can have an event that requires emergency care. As with asthma, we wouldn’t send them home and tell them to sort it out — we would give them emergency care.”
School Board member Sue Dickinson also found the analogy useful. “Asthma has a treatment, and mental health has a treatment, once it’s identified. Once it’s treated, perhaps the child can move on to a normal lifestyle.”
She added: “I don’t understand why the press seems to think it’s such a big headline when a child has mental health situation and is in need of support.”
Conklin, however, pointed out that asthma treatment is much different from mental health episodes, considering only the latter results law enforcement getting involved.
“The reason you have the media — and you have some become so outraged is because it goes against all of our sense, at the thought of a child receiving help by being placed in handcuffs and being put in the back of a patrol car,” she said. “There has just got to be a better way so that we don’t increase the trauma that is happening in a child’s life. ... How do we reach kids who need help?”
She also expressed concern that two females are Baker Acted for every male in Flagler Schools. “Is something happening with our female students?” she asked.
No action was taken at the workshop, but School Board Chairman Andy Dance indicated that there would be more discussion. He said, “This is an opening dialogue.”
BOX: A DRAMATIC INCREASE
Katrina Townsend, director of student services for Flagler Schools, said the 2012-13 numbers are for the full school year, but the reporting system was not as complete as it is today, so the numbers could be low. The reporting for 2013-14 are up-to-date for the partial school year. Regardless of the changes in reporting, however, the increase has been dramatic, she said.
About two thirds of those who are Baker Acted are females. Townsend speculated, “Females tend to be more forthcoming and talk about details that lead to identification.”
BAKER ACT INCIDENTS
| School | 2012-13 | 2013-14 |
|---|---|---|
| Bunnell Elementary | 1 | 0 |
| Belle Terre Elementary | 0 | 6 |
| Old Kings Elementary | 2 | 3 |
| Rymfire Elementary | 0 | 0 |
| Wadsworth Elementary | 2 | 3 |
| Indian Trails Middle | 4 | 7 |
| Buddy Taylor Middle | 0 | 3 |
| Flagler Palm Coast High | 0 | 4 |
| Matanzas High | 0 | 3 |
| Phoenix Academy | 1 | 0 |
| Imagine School | 1 | 2 |
| Total | 11 | 31 |
