Kalispell Public Schools has hired four social workers through a five-year Project Aware grant.

A $3.5 million grant was initially awarded to the Office of Public Instruction in the fall by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to improve school culture, address mental health needs of children, families and caregivers.

Kalispell Public Schools will receive approximately $450,000.

The social workers will serve all the schools in the district. Social workers have been assigned to the following schools: Camille Deitz, Kalispell Middle School and Russell Elementary; Robin Graham, Flathead High School and Edgerton Elementary; Devera Haegele, Hedges, Elrod and Peterson elementary schools; and Allison Metzler, Glacier High School and Linderman Education Center.

The social workers will serve as the link between school, home and the community by working directly with students, families and staff, according to Chris Bilant Kalispell Public Schools Federal Projects director. Social workers will complement other school support staffers such as psychologists and counselors.

Former district homeless education liaison Ronda Stevens has been reassigned as the grant coordinator. Nichole Heyer replaces Stevens as homeless liaison. Heyer has a bachelor’s degree in education and experience working with at-risk students, according to Bilant.

Bilant said there are many students who could benefit from social worker support.

“I was at Montana Tech participating in an all-day workshop on trauma in children and the presenter just talked about understanding children who will throw up a lot of difficult behaviors. They do that because these children are in crisis. So when we have kids who lie, steal, have lots of absenteeism, truancy, defiance, depression, anxiety — those are some indicators of mental health challenges,” Bilant said.

Glacier High School Principal Callie Langohr said the social workers’ responsiblities are different than those of high school counselors.

“A school counselor wears multiple hats. One of the hats has to do with the academic side of school — helping students with education plans, scheduling, selecting the right courses for college entrance or work entrance,” Langohr said. “They also do some counseling but it’s on a limited basis where the social worker, her focus 100 percent is bent on the social worker piece. She will not have any additional duties. This is another layer of support we have not had.”

Langohr said having the social workers is the missing piece in mental health support in schools.

“Some of these kids have experienced significant amounts of trauma in their childhood,” Langohr said. “School administrators are not trained to deal with that. I was just so happy to get a social worker. I’ve wanted this for years.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.