Council Denies Additional Funding for G-SHARP

The Gaithersburg City Council denied a request from Gaithersburg High School Principal Dr. Christine Handy-Collins to reallocate city funding from the Guide Youth Services program at the school equally between the school's G-SHARP and Identity programs Monday night.

The decision came after city staff read a statement from Community Advisory Committee Chairman J. Persensky, who was on business travel at the time of the meeting. Persensky recommended maintaining the funds as originally proposed in the Fiscal Year 2012 city budget after the CAC conducted interviews, and evaluated the budget and the performance of the programs, according to the statement.

"There is unprecedented need for mental health services for youth," Persensky said. "From the interviews and reports, the CAC determined that Guide and Identity each offer unique services along the mental health continuum to best serve City of Gaithersburg youth."

The Guide Youth Services program is an independent non-profit organization that provides, among other services, mental health counseling to students. According to Persensky, "Guide has two bilingual mental health professionals who provide counseling on-site at Gaithersburg High School three days a week." The program is currently serving 47 students at the school.

Handy-Collins, who was not present at the meeting because she was speaking at Strawberry Knoll Elementary School, made the request in early May at a special work session for the FY12 budget. Part of the reasoning for the request was that while Guide serves many different schools throughout Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, and receives funds from these counties, G-SHARP is a program specific to Gaithersburg.

"That was part of the impetus with regard to Dr. Handy-Collins when looking at the distribution of funds, and the amounts of the different programs and what they got and what she needed," G-SHARP Director Eileen Shea said. "And she looks at, very strongly, the B.R.O.T.H.E.R.S. program and the G-SHARP program as programs in the school. And the city's percentage of contribution to G-SHARP is extremely low."

"That was a piece of what she's concerned about is, without the city stepping up then the G-SHARP program could go the way of non-existence," Shea said.

G-SHARP is an out-of-school suspension program that helps students keep up with their assignments while they are suspended. This year the program ran on a budget of about $60,000, according to Shea. She was hoping to get $30,000 from the city. Instead, the city will contribute $11,600.

"I am very disappointed," Shea said. "That's part of where my frustration is coming from ... [the problems] were pointed out last year and I had hope they could have gotten a result by now. So we're in a very precarious position." The organization will have to cut hours and not be open on Fridays," she said.

"To be blunt ... [Shea] is the only paid staff person," former Gaithersburg Mayor Bruce Goldensohn said. "And I'm sorry but you can't run an official organization with one paid staff person. She needs an assistant ... we can't just keep using volunteers for this."

Goldensohn, who served as mayor from 1978 to 1986 and now volunteers for G-SHARP, said a paid assistant to do the necessary "grunt work" would cost around $25,000 a year. "That's more than a third of our budget," he said.

A large part of the CAC's recommendation stemmed from its feeling that mental health services should be a top priority, especially in the face of declining rates of out-of-school suspensions.

"Over the last three years, there has been a decline in the rate of out-of-school suspensions as MCPS has focused on the use of in-school suspensions," Persensky said.

The CAC also found that there was some miscommunication, or lack thereof, between Guide and Gaithersburg's administration.

"One of the challenges we uncovered during the proposal review process was a lack of communication between Gaithersburg High School administration and Guide Youth Services," Persensky said.

"There was some question in [Handy-Collins]'s mind as to how many referrals were going to these other programs," CAC member Rev. Tim Warner said. "We think there was probably just some miscommunication" between Guide and the administration stemming from the retirement of Vice Principal Mike Ridge.

Warner also said that mental health needs of youth were largely being unmet and so to cut funding to Guide "wouldn't make any sense," and he reiterated Persensky's point that most suspensions in the county are now in-school.

Handy-Collins declined to comment on Perensky's statement regarding communication issues. "I accept the council's decision," Handy-Collins said on Tuesday. "Anything the city gives us is a bonus. ... We are very appreciative of what the city gives us."