MERIDIAN, Idaho — Parents of students in the West Ada School District are being asked to fill out a survey about the effect COVID-19 has had on their kids' mental health.
The newly-formed West Ada Parent/Patron and Educator Coalition (WAPEC) is group of parents, patrons, and educators working together for common goals. They created the survey hoping to use the data to increase mental health services in the schools.
The COVID pandemic has taken its toll on teachers, parents and students while bringing attention to the lack of support systems dealing with mental health issues, particularly a lack of counselors.
The current counselor-to-student ratio in the West Ada School District is 476 to one.
"As a society we need to remove the stigma of requiring mental health services and provide easy access to it in the schools," said WAPEC member Grant Blankenship. "Until we make that happen, we will only exacerbate the problem, and our children will carry their declining mental health into adulthood."
The group feels the first step in this crisis is to identify the scope of mental health concerns within our schools. They believe this survey can give that baseline analysis. It plans to compile the information and share the results with the community and school district so they can start to combat the issue together.
All parents in the West Ada School District are urged to complete the confidential survey.
