the increase in gun violence and concerns around school safety are among reasons students have been in need of increased mental health care so it surprised a lot of parents this week when the Ramapo Indian Hills Board of Education voted to cancel all mental health programs for the coming school year a senior correspondent Joanna gagas reports the fight is on to reverse the controversial decision just shock and anger it was gut-wrenching it was shock parents are still reeling over a vote earlier this week by the Ramapo Indian Hills School Board that did not renew the contracts for two long-standing Mental Health Services provided by the district one of them called Thrive the Thrive program is amazing it is a program that helps students with disabilities that have deficits in mental health issues like anxiety and depression like Carrie Thorne's daughter who has an IEP and was referred to the Thrive program for her anxiety they go to the regular classes but when any point they're having stress or they need a break they go to 103 it's a separate classroom that's housed by a teacher they can bring their work there and work on their academic work in that supportive environment and then return back to their classes Thorne says her daughter went from missing school about a third of each month to hardly missing a day thanks to thrive the other program on the chopping block called care Solace care Solace is a program that gives parents access via a website to mental health professionals should they find themselves in a situation where their student and or family member is in crisis but in a vote that ended in a four to four tie with one board member absent the contracts for these programs were not renewed one opposing board member Kim ansh saying the district is just too focused on Mental Health I feel that our main focus should be on student achievement and helping all of our students be graduation ready as such I cannot support the care solace the two Thrive initiatives on tonight's agenda these types of programs actually remove parents to some degree in being involved in and supervising their children's mental health this is overreach and I feel that we are becoming a psychiatric institution at this point on referencing a familiar theme in school board meetings lately parental choice I support mental health the same way I support the Whole Health of our students and that is that parents are more appropriately suited to guide and support their children's mental health parents are responsible for their children's Whole Health and it needs to stay that way how would providing Mental Health Services take away from parental rights it doesn't it's as simple as that in order for anyone to participate in this program the Thrive program or the care Solace program there must be parental consent Janelle fogundo believes more parents want the option available to their students she just lost her 19 year old brother to suicide last year he graduated only two years ago from Ramapo high school and he's not alone his funeral was attended by hundreds of people from this community and so many parents approached my family and said my teen is going through this so if we have a school that has a program in place that's working for so many students that helps navigate the mental health care system for students and parents why take that away plus parents say there'd be no Financial savings because the district could be on the hook for failing to provide services these students all have IEPs that have Services listed that the district is mandated to provide and if they cannot be provided in the school they need to go to an out disreplacement and your talking about 50 students what would it cost to send a student out of District the superintendent said at the meeting it would likely be a hundred thousand dollars per student the board is holding a special session that will be open to public discussion all board members are expected to be there and many are hopeful that this decision will be overturned and the Ramapo Indian Hill School District I'm Joanna Gagis NJ Spotlight News