Once again, false information is being posted in the media and on social media pages. It’s important to stick to the facts.
Fact: The Ramapo Indian Hills school district has approved $3.6 Million Dollars in Mental Health services/resources since January. Does that look like a district that is Defunding Mental Health?
The Liberal media has an interesting way of reporting news about the Ramapo Indian Hills (RIH). Here is a video of Judy Sullivan publicly stating facts versus the falsehoods reported by NJ. com’s Marsha Stoltz. It was a powerful moment and clearly illustrates what’s really happening. This is appears to be the continuation of a series of orchestrated attacks against the new Board Members since they were elected. In politics, this is called a “smear“.
The media and now Dr. Dionisio are misrepresenting the mental health vote from a few weeks ago by reporting and suggesting that the district “canceled mental health,” meaning all of it. They wrote, “In a 4-4 vote, the Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education decided Monday to cancel all mental health programs for the coming school year.”
This is a lie.
Everyone in the Ramapo Indian Hills School District should know the truth. Our school district provides robust mental health resources and support, including a well-selected team of highly qualified Guidance Counselors, Student Assistance Counselors who offer individual and group counseling, Social Workers who provide emotional support and mental health needs, and Special Services who address students’ needs for education and psychological services plus RIH Special Education department.
NONE OF THIS WAS CANCELLED.
The former Superintendent’s comments after that meeting and in this article appears to be purposefully fanning the flame by insinuating board members voted no to all mental health. This article seeks to defame our district and our new board members for political reasons, in our opinion.
The members of the Board who voted no told the public that they had questions and concerns that were not answered prior to the vote. They wanted to know:
- Why the district wanted to replace the not-for-profit Care Plus with the for-profit Thrive Alliance.
- About Care Solace, a start-up company that refers mental health services but also documents user usage by collecting data about students’ interactions with mental health providers. Students should not be tracked.
- Why isn’t the district concerned about Care Solace generating an “Impact Report” that could be outside of US law on surveying? And why was it not included in the contract?
- They also noted that board counsel had not reviewed a “parental release” document from a service provider prior to the vote.
All great questions, given that the new additional programs/services were $437K plus another $100K in office furnishes required by Thrive Alliance. It’s their job to ask questions and protect the best interest of the students and their rights to privacy, which was also in question. It was Dr. Dioniso’s duty to answer those questions, like it or not.
Please stop the lies that are defaming and harming our district.
Lastly, it’s curious that Dr. Dionisio would not provide the new services and programs as a separate agenda item, knowing the board members had questions and that last year’s program was approved unanimously. Food for thought.