South suburban Chicago school district makes kids’ mental health a focus

BLUE ISLAND, Ill. (CBS) — A school district in Chicago’s south suburbs makes mental health a priority — even for the youngest of students.

It all comes thanks to a federal grant to Cook County School District 130, which includes schools in Blue Island, Crestwood, and Alsip. Those schools have now added mental health staff, and new programming.

Rain, shine, or freeze, social worker Violet Salgado helps kids start the day on the right foot at Lincoln Elementary School in Blue Island.

“I love that I’m able to get a pulse of, you know, is there a kid that I need to check in with in the morning?” Salgado said.

Cracking smiles is part of the job for social workers like Salgado, and like Dan Ligon, who works at nearby Veterans Memorial Middle School.

“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” Ligon said. “Personally, I’ve been feeling an increased need for support services for students dealing with childhood mental health struggles or challenges.”

Specifically, Salgado said, more anxiety and depression is appearing in kids lately.

At District 130, they are addressing the issue with a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant boosts mental health support for the district’s dozen schools.

The district has added interactive programs for social-emotional learning, like the platform Peekapak.

“Our teachers have a lot on their plates, and so this is an actual tool,” said Salgado. “It’s a hands-on tool that they’re able to log on and use.”

Thanks to the grant, the district was able to more than double the size of its mental health team from 15 staff members to 33 — including someone Salgado describes as a “wonderful lead clinician.”

“Two social workers and a counselor in every school is the goal,” Ligon said. “When you have extra hands, you can spend more time at the individual level with students who need it.”

The work starts first thing in the morning with a warm welcome from the social workers, no matter how cold the day.

The district said the funding will be distributed over five years. It is unclear how efforts to freeze federal funding by the Trump administration will affect the district’s grant money.