“To keep someone healthy, to keep someone alive is about more than just funding education.”
Cardona was joined by Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten, Congresswoman Cori Bush, and St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Keisha Scarlett at Compton Drew Middle School for a discussion on mental health support.
“Good learning is good health. It is important to treat learning as part of what makes us healthy,” Cardona said.
He explained his department and the Biden administration will press for legislation that would allow schools to apply to be health care centers.
“To be funded, you would not have to be a health care provider,” he said.
Becerra said the end of automatic re-enrollment for Medicaid recipients means “a whole lot of kids might lose their Medicaid.”
In Missouri, since the re-enrollment process began earlier this summer, around 40,000 of the roughly 54,000 Missourians who lost Medicaid coverage lost it for procedural reasons. Of that number, more than half are children.
The roundtable was part of the “Raising the Bar” tour which is traveling throughout America. Cardona, Becerra, and other administration officials are visiting public schools to hear from teachers, students, and counselors.
“We want to raise the bar on mental health support,” Cardona said.
Marten said that “raising the bar means delivering on equity.”
“It’s giving students what they need when they need it. It means investing in ways that make measurable differences.”
The roundtable also included Desiree Speed, SLPS head counselor, Dwight Cato, a Froebel Elementary counselor, Tracey Moore, Compton-Drew social worker, and Christian Cofield, a Pamoja Prep Academy counselor.
Cato said having a full-time nurse on staff and an in-house therapist are making a positive difference at his school.
He said he no longer must split his day between two SLPS schools, adding “when I’m there full time it makes a difference.”
Moore said social workers and counselors are rethinking education.
“We push into classrooms with curriculum we created ourselves,” she said.
“I want kids to get out of thinking that it’s not safe to talk about things [like mental health.]”
After Cardona invited responses to the inquiry, “How are the children?” the representatives agreed almost in unison “They are not doing well.’
“Social media is a nightmare,” said Moore.
“Kids are raising themselves. There is gun violence, many of our students has lost close relatives. They don’t know how to process that. Our kids are hurting – but they are trying.’
Cato said “[the students] aren’t well. But they are resilient. They are strong.”
“That’s 100% of why I keep showing up.’
Cofield said finding resources for parenting classes would help young students – and their parents.
Scarlett said sustained funding for SLPS, and the nation’s public schools is imperative.
“We have to fund our values, and that is our children,” she said. “We also must remove the stigma of mental health. That is essential for us to move forward.”
Moore also told the secretaries she favors the elimination of standardized testing.
“[Testing] needs to disappear. A test does not define who they are. It doesn’t tell what that scholar is capable of."
Becerra closed the session by calling this discussion “very grounding.” “If you’re going to learn, you have to be healthy,” he said.