Members of the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners discussed funding from the National Opioids Settlement and how it is impacting local schools at a meeting last week.
The National Opioids Settlement is a fund created after pharmaceutical companies settled multiple lawsuits regarding how opioids were marketed in local communities and how that contributed to a national addiction crisis.
Mitchell County is one of the plaintiffs in these lawsuits, and has access to money from the fund in order to combat addiction.
A team from Mitchell County Schools, including Associate Superintendent Jennifer Gregory, school social worker Angela Atkins and Erik Buchanan, the district’s federal programs and career and technical education director, gave a presentation on how Opioid Settlement funding is being used in local schools.
“In 2023, the Community Opioid Settlement Needs Assessment determined that 54 percent of our population … were severely impacted by opioid use,” Atkins said.
Atkins noted that 54 percent of the student population in MCS equals 939 students.
“The school system was able to hire two … licensed clinical mental health professionals,” Atkins said.
Atkins spoke about how the two new hires have impacted local students.
Gregory said that the two new hires have been highly involved with students since they started this school year.
“One Mitchell High school student was referred for support following several substance-related suspensions, high absences and failing grades in all classes,” Gregory said. “Following work with mental health support, no further suspensions for the semester, attendance increased significantly, substance use steeply dropped, and the student earned three credits to stay on track for graduation. The student started asking for help when things felt overwhelming, and they felt empowered to improve relationships with peers and adults throughout the building.”
Gregory said that this is also helpful to parents, who often are not able to leave work to take the children to mental health appointments.
Atkins said that the district has also been training teachers on how to help students better deal with mental-health issues.