Results are rolling in from Baltimore County’s newest efforts to improve school safety and climate — but some data isn’t available.
At a board meeting Tuesday, district leaders highlighted outcomes of two programs started last winter: TalkSpace, a messaging app that connects high schoolers with certified therapists, and Omnilert, a camera system that scans for concealed and unconcealed guns in school buildings.
Executive Director of School Safety Eric Knox said there are currently around 7,000 Omnilert cameras across the county.
“I had one alert that came in tonight,” he said at Tuesday’s meeting. “So it is very active, and we’re very aware of what’s going on.”
But when board member Maggie Domanowski asked for evidence of what the cameras found, Superintendent Myriam Rogers said the system mainly serves as a deterrent.
“The purpose of Omnilert and leveraging technology is to provide that extra set of safety without changing the school climate in such a way where students and staff members are feeling the safety threats that's out there,” Rogers said. “I don't know that there's a way to quantify people that perhaps would have made a different choice if cameras weren't watching.”
Rogers did offer to share a report on the number of false alarms the cameras have picked up, like water guns on school campuses.
District leaders also shared some data from student use of TalkSpace. Since the app’s rollout in December, over 2,800 messaging sessions occurred between county high schoolers and certified therapists.
“The exciting part about this, in what we have learned from pre-and-post surveys, is that 44% of those who took advantage of TalkSpace are brand new to therapy,” said Director of Student Support Services Patricia Mustipher. “We created a pathway for our students to be engaged in taking care of themselves.”
Just over 350 students provided feedback on the app. But other than that, Rogers said, TalkSpace does not provide the number of actual students who turned to the virtual services because of confidentiality policies.
“If we can reach one student that, in and of itself, justifies this initiative,” said board member Julie Henn.
Mustipher said the district is still planning ways to boost awareness of the teletherapy option at back-to-school events and at sports events. She also said the app is part of a “continuum” of in-person school and community partner mental health resources available to students.
Student Member of Board Ugonma Chike-Kalu raised concern about students who express extreme distress in the TalkSpace app, but haven’t connected with an in-person support system.
“Is there any direct link or pathway for students to be referred to their school psychologists if they don't have the privilege of having additional referrals, especially if they don't have the strongest home support?” she asked.
Mustipher said that TalkSpace can alert 911 or contact the school system, with student permission. From there, the rest of the district’s mental health network would kick into gear.
The county district has nearly 30 community mental health partners, Mustipher said, with 8 new ones added this past year.
“We have more services that are leveraged at the elementary school level, and we know that that needs to be a focus in our future, to make sure that…we are seeing more services at the secondary level as well,” she said.
A wider network of support also exists for physical school safety, Knox said at Tuesday’s meeting. For example, the county’s athletics office received funding for open-gate metal detectors that can be moved to different sporting events throughout the school year.
Knox also shared that office referrals and alternative consequences for student behavioral issues have decreased from the 2022-23 school year, by 11,000 cases in both.
According to the student handbook, alternative consequences range from community service to developing a behavioral intervention plan.
Rogers added that last school year, 20% of students received alternative consequences for “Category III” offenses — which refers to the most serious student behavior violations, like physically attacking a staff member or possessing illegal drugs.
“Most of those were dictated by law, like preschool age law precludes us from certain consequences,” she said. “Students where the IEP team comes together, students receiving special services, and they determine as a team that it's the manifestation of the disability, that also precludes us from moving forward with a board suspension.”
Knox also said the district suspension rate is up from 7.3% to 7.5%.
