FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – The Florence School District One Board met for a budget workshop on Thursday.

The district’s Behavioral Health Program was among the items that were discussed.

During the nearly five hour meeting, Behavioral Health Counselor Supervisors, Lisa Spears, gave a presentation on a proposed program that would add the counselors into the general fund.

“What we’d like to do is maintain as many counselors as we can,” said Spears. 

Spears’ presentation listed these costs:

  • The current cost of the Behavioral Health Program is $1,349,722
  • The projected cost of the proposed program is $649,288
  • The total cost savings of the proposed program is $700,434

The proposed program is as follows:

  • Full-Time Behavioral Health Counselors at:
    • RUSH, WFHS, SFHS, Wilson, CC, Williams, Sneed, and Emotionally Disabled programs at Timrod, Delmae, and SSMS
  • 12 Elementary Schools covered by three or four off-site BHCs and five Pee Dee Mental Health Counselors

The current program is as follows:

  • Behavioral Health Counselors are at:
    • RUSH, WFHS, SFHS, Wilson, CC, Williams, SSMS, Briggs, LTD, Delmae, DLC, Greenwood, Lester, McLaurin, NV, Royall, SG, Timrod, and WG
  • Behavioral Health Counselors are not at:
    • Carver, Moore, Sneed, Wilson, and Poyner

School Board Chairman, Barry Townsend, said the importance of the counselors has never been in question.

“The thing that I’d really like folks to understand is that this is not about, has never been about eliminating these positions,” Townsend told News13. “Yes, we had a budget issue that we had to overcome, but the board understands the importance of the behavioral health specialists, and the role they play.”

Currently, the district has 18 behavioral health counselors, but the proposed plan would only allow 14 positions in the general fund.

Southside Middle School Teacher, Jessica Moore, said more behavioral health counselors are needed in today’s day and age.

“The things our adolescents are facing today are just so much more than what we faced,” Moore said. “The suicide rates are increasing, we’ve got school shootings every other week, and substance abuse is at an all-time high, so I think that it’s a time that students need someone,” she continued. ” An advocate.”

Moore said she was impressed by the board’s concern.

I’m really excited that the board is taking mental health so seriously,” she told News13 after the meeting. “They’re very concerned about it. I am concerned that we don’t have a mental health professional at every school with this plan, but I believe that’s something they’re wanting to look towards.”

Townsend said the current behavioral health counselors will have to re-apply for their jobs, which was not mentioned in the presentation.

“The way their [Behavioral Health Counselors] contracts are set up, is that they were always, their contracts end at the end of this year,” he explained. “So that was the way it had been set up, and so yeah, it would require that they would have to re-apply for the jobs.”

Townsend said the next budget work session will be held Wed. May 30.