The Calgary Board of Education has created a three-tiered response for student mental health, but has not detailed which schools will receive targeted support.
Under the new model, all students will have access to high-quality supports under tier one. A smaller, targeted group, specifically focused on middle schools with specific needs, will have targeted interventions in tier two and a few schools requiring individualized resources will have intensive supports, according to the March 17 CBE Board of Trustees meeting agenda.
When detailing the plan during the March 17 meeting, CBE Education Director David Dick said, bottom line, the district should tier supports, not students.
Specifically, 18 middle schools targeted for tier two intervention will appoint a social-emotional lead teacher, while four full-time psychologists will provide supports across eight designated schools, among other resources, in tier three.
“For individualized or intensive school-based supports, we have suicide prevention, intervention and postvention, lead psychologist to coordinate community services, four full-time school-based psychologists deployed as half-time across eight priority schools plus an area-based mental health psychologist,” Dick said.
“This alignment ensures the right support at the right time across tiers.”
Which 26 schools have been tagged in tier two and tier three are not publicly available. While the district says supports are allocated based on indicators like attendance, behaviour and student surveys, it has not outlined specific criteria or thresholds used to determine which schools qualify for additional resources.
Dick said that no matter the school or student, support pathways should be barrier-free and movement across tiers is fluid as needs change. The new tiers will integrate promotion, prevention and intervention into everyday school practice.
“This is how we reduce crises, increase safety, belonging, inclusion and engagement in learning. Our model is built to deliver the right level of support at the right time with an equity lens for early identification and barrier-free access, especially in the middle years, where timely, developmentally responsive support is critical,” Dick said.
“Targeted supports may occupy the space between universal practice and intensive individualized intervention. We emphasize early identification using multiple sources like universal screeners, teacher observation, attendance and engagement, behaviour tracking, perception surveys and student self-assessments.”
According to Dick, support cycles are meant to be short. Small group, skills-based, weekly or biweekly monitoring will provide insight on when to fade, intensify or transition the supports.
For students needing complex and persistent support, the district will rely on individualized plans, often integrated and coordinated with community partners.
“Psychology resources are risk-based and strategically deployed to schools and regions with the highest identified needs. Suicide prevention, intervention and postvention staff coordinate pathways, ensuring smooth transitions into and out of services,” Dick said.
