That means that as students return to school, some will be greeted by an unprecedented amount of mental health support — although it remains unclear whether this will be enough to address students’ needs in the wake of the pandemic.

”We’ve heard from superintendents saying that students’ mental health — and staff mental health — are of top concern to them,” said Heather Schwartz, a researcher at RAND, which released the results of the survey Monday. “This is districts trying to respond.”

There have been a number of signs that the deadly pandemic, which has disrupted schooling and everyday life, has caused students’ mental health to suffer. In one survey from earlier this year, a majority of teenagers said their stress had spiked and their mental health had deteriorated since the pandemic hit. Another recent poll found that most high school students have felt disconnected from their teachers and classmates. Meanwhile, nearly 120,000 children have lost a parent or primary caregiver to COVID, according to one federal estimate.

The RAND survey of superintendents, conducted in June, confirms that schools are trying to address these challenges. Forty-four percent said they had already added staff focused on mental health, while another 32% said they want to bring on more staff but hadn’t yet.

But just because a school wants to hire, doesn’t mean they’ll be able to — or to sustain the support over the long term.

Read the full article about counselors to support mental health of students by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.