Hamilton County School Board tables vote on Centerstone mental health contract
UPDATE: Centerstone will yet again be on the agenda for the Hamilton County School Board's Oct. 9 meeting. Board member Ben Connor said he made an email motion to bring Centerstone's MOU, which the board tabled Thursday night, back to the next agenda.
Vice Chair Karitsa Jones seconded the motion.
UPDATE: In a 7–4 vote, the Hamilton County School Board chose to table the renewal of the Centerstone mental health contract.
The program was a free service for nearly 10 years.
Ahead of Thursday's meetings, those in support of renewing Centerstone's contract gathered in front of the meeting hall. Supporters shared that they will not all have time to speak before board members due to time constraints, and wanted to express their concerns.
"Our kids need help now. They need services now, that is reflected again and again not only in the number of suicides in Hamilton County... but also in personal reports that we will be sharing today with photos of students in Hamilton County that have committed suicide last year," said Elizabeth Haley, the Executive Director for Seed Theatre and a parent.
"When we remove mental health services, we force teachers, administration, and police officers to manage situations they are not equipped to handle alone," said Victoria Flores with the Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia Indivisible.
More than a hundred people packed the board room and dozens shared their thoughts with the board ahead of that vote.
Gail Greene, who is the chair of the Hamilton County Republican Party said, "Centerstone and similar organizations promote ideological content that extends beyond basic mental health. Matters of identity, sexuality, and gender should be guided by parents and families – not introduced in school by outside providers."
Following her comments, chair of the Hamilton County High School Democrats, Reed Hampton said, "Centerstone's therapists have one ideology. To protect and to serve all their patients, and to ensure their mental health and safety. That should also be the school board's ideology."
Another Centerstone advocate, Shae Connor added, "When the next preventable tragedy occurs, and it inevitably will, the blood will figuratively be on your hands, but it is me and my colleagues who will literally have to wash it off of ours."
When it came time to the vote, District 7 board member, Jodi Schaffer made a motion to table the vote. Board members Steve Slater (District 1), Ben Daugherty (District 2), Joe Smith (District 3), Jodi Schaffer (District 7), Larry Grohn (District 8), Gary Kuehn (District 9) and Felice Hadden (District 10) voted in favor of tabling the vote.
We asked Schaffer why she made the motion and she responded, "No comment."
District 11 member, Jill Black left the meeting in an explosive moment as she expressed her frustration with her fellow board members who tabled the vote.
"Blood on your hands, blood on your hands, all of you, who.. I swear to God, I'm sick of this," she said before exiting the meeting.
Ben Connor, who proposed reinstating the service called the board's move "sad".
"We are failing children today, we failed children today, and we continue to fail them at least until next month."
"It is a valid point to say that we have invested money into the resources that we need, but they are not the same thing. We have awesome S.E.A.D coaches. We have amazing counselors, all who do wonderful work. However, they are not licensed clinical therapist specialized in mental health therapy," added Connor.