Premont ISD offers mental health resource

Aug. 07--PREMONT -- Steve Bain gets high-fives and hugs when he walks the halls of Premont ISD's elementary school.

The affection toward Bain, a Texas A&M University-Kingsville associate professor and chair of the university's educational leadership and counseling department, stems from his time spent listening. From deaths in a student's family to coping with testing anxiety, Bain has been the closest mental health resource for the rural school district of about 500.

He's made himself available on a weekly basis. He soon realized that while his presence was helpful it wasn't enough.

That's going to change this coming school year. The district will have a full-time licensed professional counselor available for students at the elementary campus. Bain, who will oversee counselor Bonnie Cavazos, said the district is addressing a deficiency seen throughout rural districts in Texas.

"Of 254 counties in Texas, 185 are underserved in terms of mental health," Bain said. "We are plowing new ground."

Cavazos will be paid an about $55,000 salary to work with students at the elementary campus, superintendent Eric Ramos said.

Bain has been counseling a select group of students for about two years on a contractual basis. Unlike the school's counselors who tends to students' administrative needs, Bain meets with children whose mental health is on the brink of escalating to a crisis.

"School counselors are a disservice when the majority of the work is administrative," Bain said. "Much of what we are doing right now is cutting edge."

A "high priority" list of names doubled in length within one school year, which is worrisome, he said.

Ramos said he hopes the new position will help create a more stable environment for students who lack the latter at home.

"We hope to get to a point of being more proactive than reactive (to mental health issues)," Ramos said.

The nearest outpatient facility available as a resource for mental health problems is about 10 miles from Premont in Falfurrias.

A lack of mental health resources in the state is compounded in rural areas and even more for students who attend Premont ISD, which in December weathered its second closure threat from the Texas Education Agency in the past four years.

Some needs are compounded by a steady stream of growing pressures, said the primary school's principal Anna Recio.

"Some of the problems here are deep. The kids have been through a lot," Recio said. "The kids need somebody. We (as administrators) talk to them, but the problems go beyond being solved with (in school suspension)."

The Texas Education Agency gave Premont ISD a reprieve from closure in 2013, and the district formed a partnership with A&M-Kingsville to improve academics.

The first partnership of its kind in the state provided guidance for Premont to win a nearly $2 million grant in 2014, and this year Premont won a 5-year, $5 million grant to continue initiatives the 2014 grant started. The newest state grant will fund staff for the first PreK-3 program in Premont, an after-school program and the new licensed professional counselor position.

"As an education institution we have a responsibility to this community," Bain said. "I'm excited about the future of this school and the future of these kids."

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