Gilbert Grape Case

Part A: The Background

The Student Support Act, H.R. 320 is influenced by two prior bills that address education - President Lyndon Johnson's Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965, and President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. In the Elementary and Secondary Act, the bill provides federal assistance to school aged students who are effected by poverty. As years went on, the bill was amended to include students of all economic background to allow even distribution of educational support and assistance. With the No Child Left Behind Act, the bill provided federal funding to school aged students and established standardized objectives to empower each individuals' educational experience (Hannah, J., 2005).

The additional effort made in The Student Support Act provides federal funding in order to improve professional mental health services in schools, from kindergarten through 12th grade in high school. Supported by the Senate and House of Representatives, this bill requires funding of a minimum of $1 million to hire on-site mental health professionals, which include school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists. According to this amended bill, it is recommended that the minimum ratio of school professionals to students are "250 students to 1 school counselor; 1,000 students to 1 school psychologist; and 250 students to 1 school social worker" (Student Support Act of 2013, H.R. 320). By implementing this bill, schools are guaranteeing trained mental health professionals to be readily available for all public school students of the school's student body.

There are various reasons as to why The Student Support Act is an issue of extreme importance. The scope of the bill targets a select population, which includes all school aged students between the ages of 5 and 17. According to H.R. 320 (2013), "1 in 10 children and adolescents suffer from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment however, fewer than 1 in 3 receive needed treatment." Due to this lack of treatment, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (2014) reports that there has been an increase in school drop outs, school failure, depression, anxiety, juvenile and criminal involvement, health care use, and suicide. Two major issues impact the availability of mental health services, include the lack of school clinicians available on-site, and as the lack of funding to support the necessary number of school clinicians.

With this lack of mental health services in schools, The Student Support Act works to address each and every concern. By shifting the recommended maximum to the recommended minimum, each school will be able to have enough trained mental health clinicians on campus, readily available for students. This change also makes the case load for each mental health clinician more specific, and reasonable. Mental health professionals will be able to exclusively address individual students at a more personal level. Secondly, in regards to the lack of clinicians, the Student Support Act focuses on specializing, and compartmentalizing mental health into the categories of counseling, therapy, and guidance. Finally, H.R. 320 addresses the issue of funding by requiring the Secretary of Education to provide federal assistance of a minimum of $1 million that will explicitly cover mental health services for students.

Although The Student Support Act focuses on ensuring on-site mental health services to students, the bill also places large emphasis on the overall improvement of the educational environment. By providing necessary mental health care, The Student Support Act works for reduced "school suspensions, reduced referrals to the principal's office, reduced the use of weapons, force, and threats, and increased students' feelings of safety" (Student Support Act of 22013, H.R. 320). In doing so, students are more apt to work more successfully in schools, and make better life choices in and out of school hours.

The most recently noted status of the law occurred in April 2013, with The Student Support Act being referred to the subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education (MapLight, n.d.). Since 2013, there has been no other noted progression in The Student Support Act's status.

Part B: The (Appropriate) Media Outlet

The media outlet that was chosen for this editorial submission is "The Fresno Bee" of Fresno, California. For this newspaper, geographical boundaries in which the media outlet serves are within California Central Valley includes cities such as Fresno, Clovis, Madera, Sanger, Squaw Valley, Kerman, Fowler, Selma, Parlier, Dinuba, Caruthers, Orange Cove, Reedley, Kingsburg, London, Riverdale, Laton, Orosi, Cutler, and Del Rey. In regards to the circulation the newspaper ranges between 141 thousand people, to 173 thousand people per day. However, because this media outlet is also available online, there is no record for circulation through the worldwide web. This newspaper was chosen as the media outlet for this editorial because it is the major newspapers of the county where the writer of the editorial piece resides.

In processing the editorial submission, there were number of steps that the writer underwent. First, the editorial was completed and a phone call was placed to The Fresno Bee inquiring about the submission process. Through the directory of the phone call operator, the writer was instructed to email the submission to the "letters" department, the "metro" department, and the administrative assistant. The phone call operator also explained that only one editorial per writer will be considered by the editorial department per month, and that there was no specific department for editorial submissions. Immediately after submitting the email, the writer received an automatic confirmation email notifying that the email was received.

Part C: The Editorial

Progressive Steps toward Improving Mental Health in Schools

After national tragedies such as the Sandy Hook incident, there has been a push towards improving the environment in schools to create preventative and educational care, specifically focused towards mental health services. Although professional mental health services should be a high priority for our thriving youth, there are currently minimal services available on school campuses.

Mental health research reveals