CCBOE approves mental health services updates

The Cullman County Board of Education approved several policy revisions on Thursday, Oct. 16, including those related to mental health services for students, to be in line with recent legislative changes to Alabama’s age of medical consent.

The primary focus of SB101 from Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscambia) — which went into effect Oct. 1 — is to raise the age of medical consent in the state of Alabama from 14 to 16. However, included within the law is an amendment that prevents educators or school counselors from providing mental health services to students if a parent or guardian does not complete a newly revised opt-in form. These services include: “education relating to mental health, suicide prevention or bullying prevention.”

The law does provide some exceptions for occasions where a student poses an imminent threat to themselves or others, when immediate grief counseling is deemed necessary or if there is suspected abuse, neglect or exploitation. Minors who are pregnant, emancipated or living apart from their parents are also considered exempt from the restrictions.

Conservative “parental rights” organizations such as Moms for Liberty championed the bill after saying statewide standards provided workarounds to the existing opt-in policies for counseling services, which they believe used national standards to “indoctrinate students.”

The Alabama Department of Education has also released a 50-page draft for an updated counseling model which it says gives parents a larger role in how their students are guided. Following the board meeting on Thursday, CCBOE Mental Health Services Coordinator Karen Pinion said parents should receive a new opt-in form vie email on Friday, Oct. 17, and would need to return the completed form for their child to continue receiving services.