The Digital Education Center is a virtual program, however meals will be available at the student’s home school. More information on school meals is forthcoming.

SBMHS staff are only one of many mental health and student services staff in schools.  School Counselors, School Psychologists, School Nurses, Alternative Educators and Pupil Personnel Workers work together to support students and families.

SBMHS builds on a continuum of school programs, services and strategies provided by teachers and Student Services staff.

School social workers and agency clinicians support schools in a variety of ways such as:

SBMHS in HCPSS is a one-agency-per-school model. This means that only the assigned agency for that school is able to provide mental health services to students within that building. SBMH partner agencies cannot provide services to students in schools for which they are not the assigned partner.  

Every school has a Student Support Team (SST). Even if a school does not have a social worker or school-based mental health services, all students may access their school counselor and may receive referrals for outside services, as deemed appropriate by the SST. Please contact your student’s school counselor or school psychologist if you have concerns about your student.

HCPSS and participating community mental health agencies follow strict guidelines on sharing private information about students. Records are kept confidential. Just like other student records, these health and educational records and information are protected by the HIPPA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act) and FERPA (Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act) privacy laws. Written parental permission is required for therapy information to be shared with school staff. 

SBMHS are therapeutic services that are provided to students at the school building during the instructional day.

Update: Dec. 31, 2021

The Howard County Health Department (HCHD) treats positive cases in the prekindergarten program as it would a daycare setting, closing the affected classrooms for a minimum of 5 days.