Mountain View Los Altos High School District

This notice describes how Mountain View Los Altos High School District ("MVLA" or "District") will keep school-based mental health and support services information about students private, and tells students and parents/legal guardians how staff will enter limited and particular information into a confidential wellness support record. If students or parents/guardians have any questions about the District’s privacy practices, please ask the District Clinical Services Coordinator.  

The MVLA School-Based Mental Health and Support Team consist of specialists from different organizations and includes:  a District Clinical Services Coordinator, a District Community Services Liaison, Site Student Services Coordinators, Licensed Therapists employed by the District, and providers employed by outside agencies including Community Health Awareness Council ("CHAC") interns, a Stanford psychiatric fellow, therapists from the Children’s Health Council, and therapists from Preventative Early Intervention.  Relevant people from this group may share student health information with each other as well as other site staff for the purpose of supporting students at school. For instance, a therapist may send a note to a teacher asking that a student be excused from class and sent to her/his office to meet; a teacher may verify that a referral has been received from her/him and that a wellness support team member has followed-up; upon agreement from a student and parent, an Assistant Principal may request immediate short term accommodations to address a “medical issue.”  Limited general information might also be shared about a student at an SST meeting, 504, or attendance meeting. When a safety plan or safety contract is created with a student, the plan will be shared with the parent if applicable, and with the named members of the school team that are a part of that student’s circle of care. In all cases, only a minimum amount of information necessary to accomplish the purpose will be shared with non-medical school officials.

Before records are shared for other reasons, except as required or allowed by law, students and parents/guardians will be asked for their written permission on an "authorization" form.   The District may make changes in its Privacy Practices from time to time. A copy of the current Notice will always be posted in therapists’, site Student Services Coordinators’, and the Clinical Services Coordinators’ offices.

The School understands that health information about students is personal and the school will protect it and keep it confidential.  The school will create a record of the School-Based Mental Health and Support services students receive so that relevant staff may provide students with quality care and comply with certain legal requirements. As appropriate the record may include:  service start and end dates, type of service, releases, and dates of phone conversations with parents/guardians. Student health records will be maintained in a locked and secure place and unless there is an emergency, will only be accessed by the School-Based Mental Health and Support Team members and school administrators.  The school will destroy these health information records a reasonable amount of time subsequent to a student no longer being enrolled, unless there is a foreseeable need to maintain the information.

The District may use and disclose macro mental health and support information about students to understand and improve the quality of School-Based Mental Health and Support Team "operations.”  Outcome data may be reported to administrators, Board members, and companies providing grants to MVLA. Examples of types of metric data that may be shared include: volume, frequency, types and cumulative hours of service.  Again, these uses and disclosures are necessary to run the School-Based Mental Health and Support Team service and to make sure that students receive good care. Information disclosed in this manner will not include personally identifiable information for any students.

School staff or therapists will disclose information about students when required to do so by federal, state, or local law. For example, if a teacher, counselor, or therapist reasonably suspects child abuse, this person is required by law to report it to the Child Protective Services Agency.  A School-Based Mental Health and Support Team member or other school staff may also disclose information about students when necessary to prevent a serious threat to a student’s health and safety, or to the health and safety of the public or another person. The disclosure would be to someone the District believes would be able to prevent the threat or harm from happening. COMPLAINTS If a student or parent/guardian is unhappy about how the school has kept a student’s information private, or think that School-Based Mental Health and Support Team members have not done a good job keeping student information confidential, please advise the site Student Services Coordinator or the District Clinical Services Coordinator right away.  

 

MVLA High School District Board Meeting: March 26, 2018

 

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