TAMPA, Florida — Hillsborough County Schools Interim Superintendent Van Ayres and other district staff held a back-to-school news conference on Friday to discuss initiatives such as mental health and staff vacancies.
“There is nothing like the beginning of the school year, and we are just so excited to welcome back our students next Thursday, August the 10th," the superintendent said. "Which is going to be our best school year yet.”
Mental health services
K-12th-grade students will have access, with parent permission, to free virtual mental health services at home and at school.
The district has contracted with Hazel Health to provide these services. According to Hazel Health's website, the company works with school districts "to help students feel better and get back to learning."
“We are going to meet our students where they’re at on that first day and every other day to follow,” Brittany Hamilton, the district’s mental health clinician, said during the news conference.
“As part of that support, we have many different mental health initiatives in our county and the newest one being our partnership with Hazel Health. Being able to offer those telehealth services from home for those students is a game changer.”
Students will have access to those telehealth services from home for mental and physical care. A plan for mental health telehealth services to be provided by schools is expected to be complete by the end of the first quarter, according to Hamilton.
Staff vacancies
The superintendent said there has been “tremendous growth” in filling vacancies compared to last year.
As of Friday, the district had 203 vacancies for bus drivers, which is about one hundred fewer than the district had last year, the superintendent said. Back in April, the county held a job fair looking to hire more than 100 bus drivers.
Jim Beekman, the general manager of transportation for the school district, said back in April that the event is necessary because officials are still trying to find ways to deal with the ongoing shortage issue.
“We have drivers making multiple runs on buses in order to try and compensate,” he said.
Neighboring school districts, such as Pinellas County, recently approved new bell times for the 2023-24 school year to try and tackle their driver shortages. In Hillsborough County, Beekman said there are currently 75,000 students relying on bus transportation.
“We don’t want the kids being late to school they have to be there for those hours,” he said.
As for teachers in Hillsborough County, there are 455 vacancies, which earlier this summer was around one thousand, the superintendent said. In May, the district raised teacher salaries, but many teachers argued that more needs to be done.
