A Mental Shift: House Bill 2420 would mandate parental consent for a student to receive school mental health services

House Bill 2420 has been recommended to the Kansas House of Representatives after being amended by the Kansas House Committee on Education on Feb. 16. If passed in both branches, it would require written consent from a parent before their child receives mental health services from their school district.

The term “mental health services” includes programs or strategies applied in a school setting that address a student’s emotions, social interactions and behavior. At SM East, this would include meeting with a counselor to talk about personal issues.

Senator Megan Steele, the senator who introduced the bill, did not respond to a request for comment, but in her supporting testimony, she stated that parental consent is already required for some school surveys, educational evaluations and medical care, so it would make sense to require consent for mental health services. 

Dr. Michael Schumacher, the Shawnee Mission School District superintendent, does not fully agree. According to Schumacher, the district values the trust that parents put in the schools and understands the need to communicate with them. However, he is also concerned about the risk of creating roadblocks to school counselors providing support. 

As a parent, Schumacher understands why parents may support the bill and feels that parents need to be kept “in the loop” with their child, which comes from communication from everyone and the district trying to be as transparent as possible.

“We always will communicate with family members around the counseling that we're giving children,” Schumacher said. “But our concern would relate to our professional ability to make in-time, appropriate decisions for children, that they're completely and appropriately trained to make those decisions and taking into account that we have a responsibility to share our work with kids with their parents or their guardians.”

The original version of the bill placed a $5,000 fine on school districts for any violations. However, the amended version struck that specific section.

A possible fine concerns Schumacher because he worries it may make counselors hesitant to help students.

Though the SMSD has set money aside in their budget for possible fines like this, they have finite resources, and it would still impact the services the district can provide. 

SMSD would rely heavily on the guidance of the Kansas State Department of Education when discerning what a mental health service is and how to avoid a violation of the bill.

Sophomore Rachel Smith* expressed her concern for the bill after SM East’s counseling services helped her work through personal issues she had been having. The speed of SM East’s counseling team is part of the reason why the support is so beneficial, according to Smith.

“When I'm feeling stressed or if I feel like there's something that I do want to talk about that is impacting my mental health, it's great that I can go in there, I can email [my counselor],” Smith said. “I can just go down and see her later that day or later that week and it's really fast and you're not sitting on it for a while.”

Smith said her mom was the first to encourage her to use SM East’s counseling services. However, if she were to have had to get a signature from both her parents, it would have taken much longer and resulted in having to work out issues with her dad before she was prepared.

Pam August, a school psychologist in Kansas City, Missouri, expressed that her biggest concern as a counselor is not being able to help a student who is at risk of harming themselves.

“A student doesn't always [come to] your door and say, ‘Hey, I'm thinking about hurting myself or someone else,’” August said. “We really need that flexibility to be able to talk to them and explore what's going on. I think this bill could really make people scared to do that because there's a fine involved.”

The bill also includes an exception for students at risk for suicide or other mental health crises. School districts are allowed one-time emergency interventions to address an emergency mental health concern with a student, and if a school becomes aware that a student is at risk for suicide, then an employee is authorized to administer a suicide risk assessment/screening.

In the SMSD’s opposing testimony to the bill, they said they appreciate the exception for suicide risk, but circumstances like that would require continuous follow-up and ongoing mental health support for students who are experiencing it.

“I just want us to be really wide-eyed about potential laws like this and how it could have a potentially unforeseen negative impact on the services that we can provide and frankly should be providing,” Schumacher said.