District 304 Prevention Coordinator's Work Helps Lead to Fewer Students Hospitalized: School Officials

GENEVA, IL - The addition of a "prevention coordinator" for the Geneva Community Unit School District 304 is partially to thank for the reduction in the number of student hospitalizations over the past year, school officials said during a recent school board meeting.

Last school year, 39 students were hospitalized. Most of the students were hospitalized for depression (24 cases) while others were hospitalized for anxiety (13 cases) and 10 were hospitalized for substance abuse issues, according to a presentation at a July 25 school board by Student Services Director Anne Giarrante. More than 38 percent of the students spent over four weeks in the hospital and 27 percent spent three to four weeks.

The number of hospitalizations is down significantly from previous years, according to school officials

" The reduction is partly attributed to the introduction of a district Prevention Coordinator who is able to focus on providing the best support and accommodations for at-risk students," according to District 304 recap from the July 25 meeting.

Giarrante said the school district will be piloting a new program with Mid-Valley this school year to provide additional instruction and support to students who are hospitalized.

Here are some facts Giarrante shared during a slideshow presentation at the school board meeting:

• Students who are hospitalized receive approximately one hour of academic instruction per day.
• Therefore, if a student is hospitalized for oneweek, he or she misses approximately 30 hours of instruction.
• The school is responsible for providing all work and instructional materials to the hospital or homebound tutor.
• If 20 students require this level of service per semester, the school is responsible for gathering this for approximately 140 classes. Additionally, the school staff need to ensure that this work is turned in and graded.
• School staff work diligently to re-integrate students after hospitalization. Often, students feel overwhelmed because of the amount of work and class time they have missed.

Because of this, some students will "medically withdraw" from a class or will end up failing classes, according to the slideshow presentation given during the recent school board meeting.

The prevention coordinator position was introduced in 2013 and is meant to "continue and expand prevention efforts to include a wider array of adolescent mental health issues including suicide, depression, violence, and bullying," school officials said in 2013.

"In partnership with our parents, we have an obligation to shield our students when necessary from destructive influences and empower our students when appropriate to make healthy and informed life choices," Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Craig Collins said during a May 2013 meeting.

MORE ON PATCH: School District 304 Gets OK to Hire Prevention Coordinator

The full July 25 school board meeting can be viewed here: