In January 2014 the Stephanie Goetz Mental Wellness Initiative funded a pilot program in Fargo Public Schools to provide a student wellness facilitator trained to support students and families with mental health concerns.
On Sept. 4, the initiative announced that the Otto Bremer Foundation has awarded the Stephanie Goetz Mental Wellness Initiative $95,000 to work with the Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo school districts to provide additional resources to support students’ mental wellness.
This funding will provide a student wellness facilitator for Moorhead Area Public Schools and a second facilitator for Fargo Public Schools. Funding for a facilitator position in West Fargo Public Schools is anticipated soon. Funding also will provide early intervention and proactive mental health training for teachers and other professionals in all three districts.
During the grant announcement media conference, Dr. David Flowers, superintendent of West Fargo Public Schools offered a statement about the needs of not only West Fargo students but also of Moorhead and Fargo students.
“We have lofty goals for our students,” Flowers said. “Not all of our students are prepared to succeed in school. Student pressures in our community on youth are tremendous.”
Flowers cited statistics from the 2013 North Dakota Youth Risk Behavior Survey to support his statements.
Dr. Lynne Kovash, superintendent of Moorhead Area Public Schools, noted that similar statistics are reflected in the Minnesota Student Survey results and that the funding from the Stephanie Goetz Mental Wellness Initiative will help broaden the work the district does to support students in need.
Kovash indicated that work on dropout prevention among the metro school districts began conversations between the three districts in supporting all students in the community.
“I am excited to see the conversations unfold and the results,” she said.
According to Dr. Jeff Schatz, superintendent of Fargo Public Schools, the collaboration between the three schools has been tremendous. “This is one more example of what we’re doing to help students in the metro area.”
