DeKalb school officials vote 'no' to including mental health initiatives on agenda

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - One DeKalb County school board member says she’s concerned about the future of mental health resources in school.

This comes after members of the board voted earlier this month to remove mental health initiatives from its list of legislative priorities.

"We’ve done things differently this year," board chairman Dijon DaCosta said during January’s school board meeting.

Streamlining the process for retired teachers to return to work, expediting the permitting process for school building projects, and a bump in pay for board members all topped the Board of Education’s new legislative priorities.

"Speed cameras, you had school safety and security, you had mental health … those priorities seem to have gone aside," District 7 school board member Dr. Joyce Morely told FOX 5.

Discussion at the board’s first meeting of the year came with questions from some about speeding up the county’s permitting process to build new schools or repair current ones.

"I’m wondering if there’s a precedence for asking for something to be automatically approved because a deadline wasn’t met … is there currently no state standard," Morely asked.

It also came with a tense debate that led to a no-vote on mental health resources for students and staff.

"But y’all took mental health off, you took some of the other important things…there are more important things that we need to look at than the board’s raise," Morely said while addressing board members.

"We should have mental health on there, we should have early literacy on there, but we can only have so many asks," District 4 school board member Allyson Gevertz responded.

Morley told FOX 5 that, as a licensed therapist, she was disappointed by the decision.

"Mental health has to always be a priority. When we look at, as I said at the meeting, we look at the suicides we’ve had, the attempts — not only by students, but adults," she explained.

With the vote now passed, the board will submit the list of priorities to the county’s legislative delegation.

You can view the full list of 2024 legislative priorities here.