Pubdate: Thu, 13 Nov 2014
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Yesenia Robles

SCHOOLS GET PERCENTAGE OF POT REVENUE

After taking applications for about a month from school districts 
looking to hire health workers with funds from marijuana revenue, the 
state on Wednesday awarded more than $975,000 of grants.

The legislature set aside $2.5 million from marijuana tax revenue for 
schools to hire more health professionals including nurses, 
counselors, social workers and psychologists.

Of the 12 applications that were submitted, 11 were funded. To use 
the rest of the funds, the state opened a second application period, 
which closed last week.

Officials from some school districts told the state that the 
turnaround period to submit the grant application was too short.

The Colorado Department of Education, which is overseeing the grants, 
received an additional 16 applications in the second round.

"We're confident we will get very close to using the funds," said 
Lynn Jenkins-Nygren, a school nurse and the department's coordinator 
for the School Health Professional grant. "The second round has a lot 
of larger districts."

Among the first round of grant winners were online and charter 
schools, including New America School, Hope Online Learning Academy 
and the GOAL Academy, as well as smaller districts like the Alamosa 
School District. Nearby, the St. Vrain School District was awarded a 
$96,650 grant.

David Rein, director of development at the New America School, said 
they will use the $169,232 grant to hire three full-time nurses or 
social workers - one for each campus - to focus on programs to 
prevent substance abuse.

Counselors at New America surveyed students in September, and results 
show that 32 percent reported marijuana use of more than 10 times in a month.

"Our student population is over 95 percent at-risk," Rein said. 
"Given the population, I would say our counselors are overburdened 
with all these challenges. And if you add on the additional problems 
of substance abuse, there's a great need for having this kind of 
additional staff."

In recent years, most schools have seen a decrease in health 
professionals because of budget constraints, and the ratios of 
students to available counselors or nurses often are far from the 
recommended guidelines.

The National Association of State Boards of Education compiles 
recommendations from each profession's association, suggesting 
staffing ratios of 250 students to one counselor, 1,000 students for 
every psychologist and 400 students per every social worker.

John Simmons, director of student services for Denver Public Schools, 
said he wasn't aware of this grant opportunity. He said it might have 
been too small for the district but said health care has been a recent focus.

Jenkins-Nygren said the department will track the work schools do 
with the grant, and the DOE intends to request additional funding 
from the legislature to continue awarding grants next year.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom