“I’m proud of our students for speaking up about their needs,” White said during a recent school board meeting. “One of the topics that kept coming up had to do with students’ mental health, and support for student mental health.”

So as of Nov. 6, the school division is partnered with Hazel Health, a national leader in school-based telehealth services. Students can now sign up for free counseling sessions with licensed therapists.

“Services are available at school and at home, and are available at no cost to our families,” White said. “We’re really proud to be able to offer this service for our students that they specifically asked for during student advisory council meetings.”

The school division is paying Hazel Health $210,000, or $15 per student per year, using emergency coronavirus funding, according to an email from a school spokesperson. 

Parents and students who want to learn more and sign up for sessions can go online to my.hazel.co/rcps, White said.

Hazel Health will also start providing pediatric telehealth services for students in January. 

Roanoke is the third Virginia school district, along with Alexandria and Fairfax, listed as a partner on Hazel Health’s website. The company launched in 2015, serves 3,000 schools nationwide, and expanded into Virginia this May, according to its website.

“We build a circle of support to help children feel better so they can get back to learning,” the website reads. 

Supporting education is the name of the game not just for the school system’s students, but also for its parents and family members, said Kelly Sandridge, chief communications & community engagement officer for the Roanoke schools.

That attitude set into motion plans to create a Center for Community Empowerment and Education, which will be located at the current central office space off Orange Avenue Northwest.

The center is set to open in summer 2025, and will be named after Booker T. Washington, Sandridge said during an update to the school board.

“We are seeking to bring community resources to one location, where our community has easy access to all of those services,” Sandridge said. “Adult education, a parent and guardian university, computer labs, classrooms and flexible spaces for both the community and RCPS will also be located at the center.”

It’s a more than $11 million project to renovate the building, which needs some costly boiler and electrical upgrades, Sandridge said.

Once reopened, the building will serve among other uses as a welcome center for new students, and include non-native English services for newcomers to the school system.

School board member Mark Cathey said the center will serve an important role for Roanoke. 

“The school system is part of the community,” Cathey said. “We have an obligation to the community to do what’s right, and to help all of our community, not just our students.”

Both the mental health services and the empowerment center are part of a larger focus on achieving equity for Roanoke schools, according to school board updates heard Monday night.

Schwanda Jackson, director of equity and organizational diversity, talked about her work with a task force looking to further improve the school system.

“We have achieved our goal when we are unable to predict student outcomes based on their race, gender, zip code, ability, socioeconomic status or languages spoken at home,” Jackson said. “We know that to see systemic change in any organization, we need to build capacity in our leaders, including our teacher leaders.”

One example of equity in action, Roanoke students are increasingly enrolling in career and technical education courses — often abbreviated as CTE — to learn about a variety of professional and trade skills they might pursue in life.

Total CTE enrollment for the school system is grown to more than 5,400 students as of Nov. 1, said Chief Academic Officer Archie Freeman. Some are taking multiple classes. 

“We do believe if we continue to build it, the numbers are going to steadily increase,” Freeman said. “Earlier today in the barbering class, I looked at some of the mannequins, and… I think I can make my appointment to get a haircut, because the line was just right on the mannequins.”

Jackson said “equity is not an independent idea, but an interdependent practice,” that is “not done to people, but with people.” 

School board member Franny Apel asked Jackson what would be a sign that schools’ equity work is moving the needle forward.

“Student achievement, an improvement in those numbers,” Jackson said. “Closing the gaps where they are, that is ultimately our purpose in this work. Making sure that our student outcomes give our students choices for later on in life.”

Roanoke schools have employed equity policies since 2009, and it’s an ongoing, ever-evolving process, Jackson said.

School board member Diane Casola thanked Jackson for keeping students at the heart of her work.

“All these other things support our students being out there, being educated, and being the citizens that we need for our city, state, country and world,” Casola said.

White said thanks to the school board for its commitment “in a time where sometimes the term equity is kind of misused.”

“We have many more children even today who are able to take advantage of CTE courses that they may not otherwise have had the opportunity,” White said. “It’s really heartwarming to know that the teachers, staff and particularly this board has a commitment to equity.”