After four meetings of the recently-formed Wright City R-II Behavior Task Force Group, Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Hecktor shared the need for increased special services in the district during the monthly school board meeting May 19.Hecktor, who serves as chairwoman for the committee, provided details on the group’s findings and offered a list of recommendations to address the growing behavioral concerns.What the group discovered is that a particular demographic of students is not having their specific needs met due to a lack of resources in the district.“What we realized pretty quickly was that because Warren County doesn’t have the mental health tax, we are not able to access community resources like Lincoln and St. Charles County can,” said Hecktor.The Behavior Task Force was formed as a response to an alarmingly high number of referrals in the district during the first semester, with 999 issued during that time, a 10 percent increase from the previous term.In response to its findings, the group ranked possible inventions — preventative and proactive measures — making recommendations to the board.Hecktor said the No. 1 suggestion would be to hire a high school psychologist, behavior specialist or crisis counselor.“We need specific services like a behavioral specialist,” she said. “We don’t have a position in our district that can serve those kids, and a school counselor doesn’t have specialization in behavior.”The task force’s second consideration would be for the board to hire an administrative intern at Wright City East Elementary.Additionally, the task force suggested the need for an additional counselor to be hired to serve both elementary schools in the district.Hecktor also addressed the importance of supplying trauma-informed training to the staff so they are better equipped to handle the growing amount of students coming from backgrounds of abuse and neglect.Superintendent David Buck said he will review the group’s requests and relay more information to the board regarding standards and costs.“We’re going to work on it during our budget workshop with the board,” said Hecktor. “We’ll look at where we’re at once all the numbers come through in June. When we start to project, we’ll take a look at what, if any, of those ideas are feasible.”Concerning the addition of another elementary counselor, Buck said R-II is already in the high level tier of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s staff ratio standards.“DESE has guidelines for what they consider to be acceptable staff to student ratio numbers, and we are already in that higher level, so hiring another counselor could raise some questions,” said Buck.Presently, Hecktor says children who do not qualify for special education services but still exceed the needs of typical-functioning students do not have enough resources in the district.“Because of that we have some kids with significant needs that aren’t being met,” said Hecktor.Wright City R-II School District