Ryan Schorle hated fifth grade last year. Then the Bensalem boy was diagnosed with ADD and a learning disability. He's getting help for both. Schools must educate these students and many others with varying mental health disorders and other disabilities. That has put a new focus on the role that schools play in the lives of children.
Teachers often are the first to notice behavioral or learning problems.
School social workers help parents access mental health services. Administrators forge agreements with outside social service agencies to provide treatment. And school nurses oversee medicine cabinets filled with valuable and powerful psychotropic drugs and other medications. Neshaminy social worker Joe Kelly says he spends most of his day helping parents access outside resources for their children. The only agency that has a drop-dead obligation to do anything is a school district.