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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Delaware students needing more mental health support could soon see it in their schools under legislation signed into law by Gov. John Carney on Wednesday.

The two new laws are aimed at providing more mental and behavioral health professionals in K–12 schools. Children and youth are experiencing soaring rates of anxiety, depression, trauma, loneliness and suicide, according to Inseparable, a national mental health advocacy group.

House Speaker Valerie Longhurst (D-Bear) sponsored the bills. She said she’s concerned about the youth suicide rate — suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth aged 10–14 in the U.S. and the third leading cause for those aged 15–24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Kids have been struggling with suicide and anxiety, ADHD, and we really didn’t have the staffing in our schools,” Longhurst said. “Delaware ranked at the bottom in the country for the amount of counselors and behavioral health professionals in the schools.”

Suicide rates are up in Delaware no matter the age. According to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science’s 2023 annual report, 145 people died by suicide last year, the highest number since before 2019. The Division of Forensic Sciences only has its most recent annual report on its website. The majority of suicides occurred with a firearm.

The first piece of legislation adds a full-time social worker or counselor to high schools at a ratio of one per 250 students, to be phased in over three years. It also establishes a ratio of 700 high school students per psychologist.

It’s the third consecutive measure by Longhurst to add more mental health support to public schools. She sponsored a bill signed into law in 2021 that put the ratio of elementary school students and counselors at 250 to one, as well as legislation in 2022 that created the same ratio in middle schools.

The other bill signed by Carney on Wednesday requires the Department of Health and Social Services to change the state’s Medicaid plan so it covers services in school-based health centers for all Medicaid-eligible students. The deadline to submit the state’s amended plan to the federal government for approval is Jan. 1, 2025.

Delaware State Police and the Division of Health Care Quality are investigating an assault at The Summit retirement community in North Star that left a resident critically injured on Tuesday.

Police said a resident in The Summit’s memory care unit attacked another resident, leaving them in critical condition. Officials said they could not provide any additional information, as the investigation is active and ongoing.

The Summit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Delaware’s struggles to investigate nursing homes, assisted living facilities

The Division of Health Care Quality, which is involved in investigating Tuesday’s incident, has struggled for about a decade to investigate complaints – particularly for assisted living facilities, a Delaware Online/News Journal investigation found. 

Assisted living facilities have no federal oversight, which means it is up to states to serve as a watchdog. Oftentimes, complaints by residents and their families are the only tool Delawareans have to keep long-term care facilities accountable.

And due to staffing and funding issues, many of these complaints went uninvestigated for years.

As of February, the division had almost cleared its backlog in inspections of long-term care facilities.

MORE: Delaware struggles to investigate nursing homes, assisted living facilities. What to know

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on X at @h_edelman.

In August 2020, Longfellow sent Latif, the Tarbiyah school director, a letter telling her to stop charging the school district for services.

“We have every reason to believe that Tristate Health Consulting Inc … is operated by Naveed Baqir, with whom you share an address and to whom you are or were married,” the letter obtained by WHYY News states. “As required by law, we invite you to consult with us on the lack of independence between Tarbiyah and the Tristate entities, and in the interim will immediately fund services to be rendered by companies independent of you and your family.”

The letter said Silber had reported the situation to the auditor and the district was waiting on the auditor to take action. Longfellow, now a consultant, said he never heard back from the auditor’s office.

The school district began to be billed for professional development services for the Tarbiyah School later that year by a vendor named AVM Solutions LLC. That company is registered by Antonio Adams, who is shown on the Tarbiyah School’s 2015 webpage to be the director of finance. The owners of the Wilmington address listed for the shell company are Antonio and Monica Adams. Monica is listed on the Tarbiyah School 2015 webpage as school board president.

AVM Solutions billed the Christina School District from December 2020 to June 2022 for a total of $59,000 for professional development services.

“It wouldn’t have been obvious to us that AVM was another company of Naveed’s if that’s the case,” Longfellow said. “At the time, it must have seemed like a legitimate expense.”

Christina School Board members Monica Moriak and Doug Manley said they’re concerned about the grand jury investigation and shell companies connected to Baqir billing the school district.

Manley said he believes Baqir has lived out of the state since January which would already preclude him from board membership, but if he is a member, he argued he could be removed for certain illegal activity.

“If I recall correctly, there are basically two categories of crime that can get you removed from a school board,” Manley said. “One of them is any kind of abuse or things related to children, but the other is financial. And, you know, given the school board’s position with regard to lots and lots of public money, financial stuff is super serious.”

The next Christina School Board meeting is on August 13th. The General Assembly mandated that the Delaware Department of Justice monitor the board over the next year because of the board’s violation of the Freedom of Information Act in public meetings.