In person counseling will replace telehealth at Socorro Schools

The Socorro School Board has approved a contract with an in person social worker to replace the telehealth contract they had with Tiny Eye at its Nov. 3 meeting.

Director of Student Services, Dawn Apodaca told the board the district initially contracted with Tiny Eye to provide telehealth social worker services for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) due to difficulty in finding in-person social workers.

She said they had several challenges with Tiny Eye’s telehealth service including a lack of relationships between students and providers, logistical difficulties with school site personnel and at least one inappropriate incident via telehealth.

“I reached out to CREC (Central Region Educational Cooperative), and Maria lo and behold, she had a social worker who is available to us in person. And so tonight, I come to you asking that we enter into an agreement with CREC and forgo our contract with Tiny Eyes,” Apodaca said.

She said the 90 day notice required to terminate the agreement with Tiny Eyes will end with the return from Christmas break.

“That will allow the person from CREC to come in, get familiar work alongside our existing telehealth provider and do that warm handoff of services.” Apodaca said.

The board unanimously voted to pursue an agreement with CREC.

Board member Sharon Sessions asked Apodaca if the service was billable to Medicaid.

She said during a Medicaid workshop attended at the beginning of the year district employees learned more about what could be billed to Medicaid.

“We learned that all of the suicide ideation situations that my mental health team enter into with general ed students and threat assessments that we conduct throughout the school year with our general ed population are also billable, and so right now, we’re looking at possibly increasing Medicaid by a nice piece of coin,” Apodaca said.

Student Recognition

During the meeting board members also recognized welding students for their projects and achievements.

Welding Instructor Kenny Gonzales gave a slide presentation of his students’ projects.

He said his students worked on significant hands-on projects for the school, including building new gates for the high and middle school, repairing drain grates and fabricating a memorial bench for a student.

He said the projects were opportunities not only to benefit the school but also to help students develop real-world skills that could lead to future employment. Gonzales said he was proud of his students’ achievements, noting that many have earned professional welding certifications.

“Our CTE program is killing it. We’re doing small engine repairs this semester. We’re doing woodshop. We’re actually doing a computer technology class... and we just purchased a brand-new laser engraver. I’m learning it right now,” Gonzales said, “ Thank you guys very much for everything you do for us.”

In other business, the superintendent announced Thanksgiving break will be from Nov.24 to Nov. 27 with classes resuming on Monday Dec. 1. Christmas break will be from Dec. 22 to Jan.2 with classes resuming on Jan.5.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 17.