The Sioux Falls School District has suspended the use of its campuses by outside organizations, including media, at least through Oct. 28 while the global coronavirus pandemic continues.
For at least one area though – counseling services – that rule won't apply, according to the district's Return to Learn plan.
The rules are meant to help students and staff establish new routines after the district implemented various safety measures to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 once school starts in a matter of days.
More: Limited visitation during pandemic will change how mentors help Sioux Falls students
The district will re-evaluate pandemic conditions after the first quarter, but when it comes to mental health support, the district relies on several community partners to deliver things like 1:1 counseling and group counseling services for students in need.
"Our kids just need to see familiar faces, they need to get back in the building," said Patti Lake-Torbert, the district's senior coordinator of student support services. "They need to feel excited and happy about starting the school year."
The pandemic left counselors playing detective
Before school buildings closed in mid-March and students went to remote learning, Sioux Falls schools were already relying on local partnerships with nonprofits to get students mental health support without missing class.
When the pandemic hit, counselors were also pushed to working from home to reach students, and the need to lean on nonprofits intensified.
They'd have daily phone calls, emails and video chats with students, but not every student had access to technology and not every child returned home to somewhere considered safe, Lake-Torbert said.
That left counselors and outside support services sometimes playing detective to contact anyone to find out if they've seen or heard from a student and their family, she said in May.
School counselors were making calls as they would in any circumstance when a parent or student reaches out for help, but they then connected those parents and students to services at places like Avera Behavioral Health, Southeastern Behavioral Health or Lutheran Social Services if an issue needs to be taken to the next level.
More: How school counselors, nonprofits are providing virtual mental health care to kids
With Sioux Falls schools returning to in-person learning Aug. 27, the focus will be more on establishing essential bonds early in the year with counselors and outside mental health support partners in the event that learning becomes remote again, Lake-Torbert said.
There will be more check-ins, especially for students counselors were concerned about when they were learning remotely. They'll also be wearing masks and making sure their offices are as clean as can be, yet still inviting, she said.
"All of our counselors are looking so forward to coming back, seeing the students, being able to talk to them one-on-one or in the classrooms, with their curriculum they go into," Lake-Torbert said. "In that way, I don't think very many things will have changed up."
In-person counseling creates a safe place
Sioux Falls school counselors manage high caseloads. In spring 2019, the Sioux Falls School District had one counselor for every 320 students on average at its three high schools. And at the elementary level, most campuses have 1 to 1.5 counselors, running the gamut of knowing all of the students in that school.
Today, the district has more than 70 school counselors and at least 10 social workers waiting to offer their help, Lake-Torbert said.
But there's a lot at stake, state officials said.
In July, Gov. Kristi Noem estimated the state had seen a "dramatic decline" in the number of child abuse and neglect reports while schools were closed. And at least 30% of South Dakota students, most of whom live in high poverty areas or without a stable home life, did not participate in remote learning at all.
More: Noem: $47 million going to SD schools to help them re-open safely this fall
That's why allowing those support services the chance to see students face-to-face is essential, Lake-Torbert said.
"It's huge for kids to know they are surrounded by a whole community of people they can connect with, especially in this time, when maybe some of these students had been in situations that weren't as safe as being in school," Lake-Torbert said. "They're coming back to where, hopefully, they can feel that safety again."
It's about seeing the full person, from the tone of their voice, to how they dress, to their body posture, she said. A lot can change for a person in a matter of months, she said.
"Schools are on the front lines for a lot of things," Lake-Torbert said. "We feed our students, we help clothe our students. We help families get the needed resources. That's why it's so key for counselors and social workers to be able to have those personal contacts as much as possible."
Lake-Torbert hopes that the time students had at home has given some families time to bond and that the district won't see a surge in reports as children return, but it's too early to tell, and counselors know stress caused by the pandemic is real, she said.
What happens if learning becomes remote again?
Regardless, outside counseling and support services like LSS will still have their challenges, said Rebecca Kiesow-Knudsen, LSS's vice president of community services.
That's where LSS's mental health program PATH, or Providing Access to Healing, played a significant role at a time when support had been mostly converted to telehealth.
But the spring school closures happened abruptly, and LSS wasn't prepped for the way it would have to increase its ability to rapidly switch to those services with families, she said.
"We did quite a lot of work in the spring, reaching out to the families that we were serving and trying to connect with them," Kiesow-Knudsen said. "But because we hadn't laid that foundation for here's what telehealth might look like, here's the platform we'll use, here's the instructions about how to download it, we didn't get 100% of our families converted."
As LSS officials head into the fall, they'll be focused on preparing their students for the possibility of converting to telehealth to continue services during the school year in a more seamless way, she said.
LSS is expected to serve about 500 kids across 35 schools this fall, and LSS officials are hoping to maintain that, Kiesow-Knudsen said.
"Not being in school is hard on some students, and just the pressures on families related to COVID are definitely there," she said. "So (the district) anticipates there will be a need and continued demand for those services, so we want to be ready to do that."
Kiesow-Knudsen also praised the district for anticipating some of the barriers students may face when it comes to access to telehealth.
More: Sioux Falls School District accelerates technology plan during pandemic by spending millions
The district is expected to spend millions during the next three years to improve its technology across the board, and that includes thousands expected to be spent on things like internet hotspots.
"That will only make it easier for us to continue to serve those families," she said.
'Our children need routines.'
Overall though, having access to those counseling support services in-person at least for a while will provide a sense of relief to students and staff, Lake-Torbert said.
"We all remember when we were kids, and how much we loved summer and having that break, having fun with our friends or maybe just having fun being home and not having to wake up so early," she said. "But we know that our children need routines. And for most of them, they've been out of a routine for quite some time now. They're excited to come back."
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