Valley Board Hears Valley Connects Update
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews
MENTONE — The Tippecanoe Valley School Board has received an update on what is being done to address mental health needs in the Valley community.
At its regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 19, at Mentone Elementary School, the board heard an update on Valley Connects from its chair Meagan Wilks, who also serves as the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. director of special services.
Wilks gave a quick overview of the organization, which was started in 2013 by then-TVSC Superintendent Brett Boggs as a response to some suicides within the school corporation and area. It was called the Tippecanoe Valley Mental Health Task Force then.
Wilks took over the organization following Boggs’ retirement.
“We changed the name to Valley Connects and we really wanted to just focus not only on the school but also the community, so our mission is to promote, educate and advocate for positive mental health in the Tippecanoe Valley Community,” Wilks shared.
The organization has a number of goals, which were listed on a slide in the presentation Wilks did. Those include to “develop awareness and decrease stigma about mental health in the Tippecanoe Valley Community (TVC),” “identify and organize training opportunities regarding mental health needs throughout the TVC,” “conduct a mental health needs assessment for all TVC,” “collect and analyze data to determine continued needs and the effectiveness of Valley Connects efforts,” “identify the available community mental health resources,” develop and increase access to the available mental health resources,” and “identify and pursue funding sources for future efforts.”
The group’s members include corporation and community representatives as well as those from the Bowen Center, Four County Counseling Center, Kosciusko C.A.R.E.S., Akron United Methodist Church, K21 Health Foundation and Fulton County H.O.P.E.
Wilks also shared with the TVSC Board the results of a survey Valley Connects conducted in October 2020, which 154 people completed.
The biggest mental health issues people see the community experiencing include anxiety, depression and family conflict/disfunction, said Wilks. She shared via another presentation slide what Valley Connects is planning as a result of that knowledge.
They seek to “develop, implement and support programs to strengthen the family,” “support student needs in the school through a mentor program,” and “provide universal support for positive mental health to reduce the stigma.”
TVSC Board Member David Lash asked what programs would be implemented for families.
“There is a program that we have in mind that we’re kind of putting together a plan for where families would come into and learn skills together, like they would all be working on the same skill but the kids would work on it in this way and the parents would work on it this way and bring them back together and have a meal and just bring that family unit together,” said Wilks.
The community is welcome to join Valley Connects, which has meetings monthly via Zoom. To learn how to join, people may reach out via the group’s Facebook page or email Wilks at [email protected] or [email protected].
2022 budget
At Tuesday’s meeting, the board also adopted the corporation’s 2022 budget. That was following a public hearing on it at the board’s regular meeting on Sept. 20.
The budget breaks down to $13,248,077 in the education fund; $2,986,424 in the debt service fund; and $8,555,245 in the operations fund. Overall the budget has decreased slightly from 2021’s budget of $25,564,063.
Child care
The board also heard an update from Wilks and TVSC Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Inga Omondi on plans for a child care center for TVSC employees.
Wilks said the corporation did a survey amongst staff to learn about child care needs, with staff displaying that a child care center in the corporation would be welcomed.
The Valley Board accepted a $200,000 grant last year to establish the center. The funds were part of a more than $4.3 million grant the Kosciusko County Community Foundation received from Lilly Endowment Inc.
TVSC Superintendent Blaine Conley noted that leaders have been working on developing a budget for the center. Leaders hope that the center can open for the 2022-2023 school year.
In other business, the board:
- Approved the hiring of Tippecanoe Valley Middle School teacher Joshua Stephenson and TVSC transportation specialist Tom Craig.
- Accepted the resignations of Evan Boggs as TVMS assistant track coach and TVMS instructional assistant Jurnee Willard and Mentone instructional assistant Shannon Samuels and cooks Aireeal Warner and Anna Shepherd.
- Accepted a $38 donation of apples from Creation Celebration in Mentone, $254 from DonorsChoose and $200 from the Akron Las Donas Club. The first is for TVMS special education teacher Cathy Olson’s class to make pies, apple butter and applesauce, the second is for leg bands for her class to use for exercise and the third will be used to purchase supplies for the Akron School Nurse Fund.
- Accepted a $24,000 donation raised via the 2021 Sweet Sassy Golf Classic. The classic is in memory of former Tippecanoe Valley High School teacher, counselor and football coach Scott Bibler who passed away in a plane crash in 2015. The funds go into Bib’s Billfold, also in honor of Bibler, which helps TVSC students and staff.
- Heard an update on TVHS activities from senior representative Jaeda Carpenter and junior representative Abby Bowers. Among them was that seniors did a job shadow day before fall break.
The board’s next regular meeting is 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15, at Mentone.