Baldwin helps secure mental health funding for Mount Horeb schools after shooting | The Wisconsin Independent
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Law enforcement personnel respond to a report of a person armed with a rifle at Mount Horeb Middle School in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

The Mount Horeb School District in Dane County will receive $118,000 in federal funding for mental health support, Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin announced in a press release issued on Aug. 20.

The money will allow the school district, the site of a school shooting in May, to hire a social worker at Mount Horeb Middle School and pay for trauma-informed education literature, training, and conferences for staff as the school and community recovers.

On May 1, police responded to reports of a male student outside Mount Horeb Middle School with a long gun, which turned out to be a pellet rifle. Students across the district were on lockdown for hours while others fled the school. Officers shot and killed the student after he didn’t comply with demands to drop the weapon and pointed it at the officers.

“We are incredibly grateful for the Department of Education’s help in bolstering our district’s support systems for both staff and students. This funding will further enable us to invest in professional development and a dedicated social worker position, fostering an even greater sense of community and belonging within Mount Horeb Area School District,” Superintendent Steve Salerno said in a statement included in Baldwin’s press release.

Baldwin helped connect the school district to federal resources; the funding is coming from the U.S. Department of Education School Emergency Response to Violence program, also known as Project SERV. The program provides short-term funding to help educational institutions recover from violent or traumatic events that disrupt learning.

“We can and must do more to prevent these senseless acts of gun violence, but, if one of our communities is struck by tragedy, we also need to be there to support our children, teachers, and families recover afterward,” Baldwin said in her statement. “I am proud to have worked with the Mt. Horeb community to ensure they have access to the mental health and trauma-informed recovery services needed to respond and move forward.”

After the May shooting incident, the Mount Horeb community said it was worried about the worsening mental health crisis in Wisconsin schools and about the traumatic impact the incident would have on the community.

Ahead of the start of the 2024-25 school year, the district has detailed a number of initiatives and resources for students and families, including an information session with the U.S. Department of Education on the emotional needs of children, a new task force to review the district’s safety protocols, and a support dog named Crumble who will be available to interact with students.

A report released by the Wisconsin Department of Justice on Aug. 12 said the three officers involved in the May 1 shooting won’t be charged. The report also included details from the student’s plan to attack the middle school.

“The purpose of the document’s release is to help all understand what occurred and aid in our collective healing. It is a difficult, heartbreaking read; however, it repeatedly emphasizes the heroism of so many – most especially the very first responding law enforcement professionals,” Superintendent Salerno said in a Facebook post.

Schools have received funding from Project SERV since at least 2001, according to the program’s website. In 2023, more than $6.7 million was awarded to 24 schools across the country, including $1.5 million to the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District in Texas, the site of a mass shooting in 2022.

The last time a Wisconsin school district received funding through Project SERV was in 2011 when the Marinette School District received $50,000 following a shooting, in which a 15-year-old student held his teacher and classmates hostage before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot. In 2008, the Crandon School District received $49,986 after a mass shooting in which seven high school students and recent graduates were killed after a homecoming football game.

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