Danielle Esquivel, the district’s director of mental health services, told the board on Tuesday that the district administered a universal mental‑health screener at secondary sites in October and received 6,650 responses. "Seventy‑nine percent of students scored as likely to benefit from some sort of lightweight intervention, and 20 percent showed signs of needing some sort of therapeutic intervention," Esquivel said.

Esquivel said the brief, confidential survey covered eight domains — mood, anxiety, trauma, ADHD/executive-functioning, relationships, anger management, development and stress — and produced both overall and category scores. "Our top needs are relationships, anxiety and stress," she said, adding that results largely mirror national patterns but show modest improvements since last year: anxiety responses declined from 41% to 34% and stress from 57% to 52%.

The district divides responses into no‑intervention, lightweight and therapeutic categories and uses the data with campus teams to plan tiered supports. "We meet with each campus to review individual and school‑level results," Esquivel said. Teams use that information to direct Tier 1 universal prevention efforts, Tier 2 targeted groups and Tier 3 individualized supports including therapy and case management.

Esquivel described several program and funding supports: a School‑Based Health Incentive Program award of $5,200,000 for wellness centers and substance‑use counseling; a Department of Health Care Access Grant of $540,000 to fund six certificated wellness coaches and supervision; a school‑based mental‑health grant of $400,000 for three therapists and internships; a $785,000 capacity grant for wellness coaches, billing specialists and an electronic health record; and a specialty contract with Riverside University Health that supports six district therapists and about $1 million in billable services annually.

The district currently operates wellness centers on 12 campuses and plans centers in 2026 at Rio Vista Elementary School, Painted Hills Middle School and Cathedral City High School, Esquivel said. She also described a pilot of an elementary screener at Della Lindley Elementary and said the district is working with vendors and partners to identify clinically validated measures for younger grades.

Board members asked about documentation, parental access and consent. Esquivel said staff record services in a new electronic health record that supports collaboration and insurance billing; parents may request records through student services but clinical protections and student privacy rules apply. She added that students age 12 and older can consent to services but staff encourage family involvement.

The district said it met its participation target for secondary sites (about 75 percent) and will continue to monitor response rates and extend the pilot for younger students. Board President Espiritueta thanked Esquivel and staff for the presentation; no formal board action was taken on the report.