By adding more than 200 school social workers, the City is taking an important step to focus urgently needed resources on the social-emotional needs of students. Too often, we see schools resort to classroom removals, school suspensions, arrests, handcuffing, or EMS transports, instead of providing students with the behavioral support they need to stay and succeed in school. The funding announced today will allow thousands of students to get necessary support in school from mental health professionals. We thank the Mayor and the City Council for their leadership on this important issue.

We are also pleased that the Council is committed to ensuring that at least 31 of the 216 new social workers are targeted toward schools with high numbers of students living in shelter, increasing the number of Bridging the Gap social workers to 100. Given the record numbers of students who are homeless, increasing the number of Bridging the Gap social workers is critical.