First look at Modesto schools planned mental health policy gets some parent backlash

Several Modesto City Schools parents showed up to Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting to contest a first reading of the district’s proposed mental health policy. They expressed concerns including how the policy might exclude parents in the process of mental health counseling.

A first reading of any planned policy is done to receive feedback from trustees and the community prior to further refining it and then voting on its implementation. No policy was approved Tuesday night, though staff were given instructions on what verbiage to change for the upcoming second reading.

“Revisions include updates to the changes in California Education Code and memorializes several changes in Education Code and Family Code requirements which pertain to student mental health,” Tony Lomeli, senior director of student support services, said at the meeting.

The district is updating its mental health policy to be in accordance with new California laws and Education Code. Assembly Bill 665, which was passed in 2023, states the following:

“This bill would also align the existing laws by requiring the professional person treating or counseling the minor to consult with the minor before determining whether involvement of the minor’s parent or guardian would be inappropriate.”

To the list of who would be considered a professional person for these purposes, the bill also adds registered psychologists, registered psychological assistants, psychological trainees, associate clinical social workers, social work interns, clinical counselor trainees working under the supervision of licensed professionals, and board-certified psychiatrists.

The proposed policy also includes building skills to teach students how to address bullying or mental health impacts from social media. It adds substance abuse to health education instruction and provides students with training to recognize early signs of mental health conditions or behavioral health disorders.

“This includes updates in staff training and how we provide information on accessing mental health services in our schools and community. It also includes information on referral protocols and the use of telehealth if necessary to support our student population,” Lomeli said. “This revised board policy is an update and follows both Education Code and the recommended language from the California School Boards Association.”

About seven parents spoke during public comment and presented concerns over part of the district’s policy that, in accordance with AB 665, states: “A student of 12 years of age or older may consent to mental health treatment or counseling if the student, in the opinion of the attending mental health professional, is mature enough to participate intelligently in the services. Additionally, the student’s parent/guardian shall consent to the student’s treatment, unless the mental health professional determines, after consulting with the student, that the involvement of the parent/guardian would be inappropriate.”

In revision suggestions, trustees and Superintendent Vanessa Buitrago asked that the language be amended to say “unless there’s reasonable cause to believe that notification to the parent can cause harm to the student,” instead of “would be inappropriate.”

Student Trustee Sabrina Toor, addressing concerns that a parent might not be a consenting party to a student’s participation in counseling in certain circumstances, said children of divorce, many of whom are asked by their parents to take a side, might struggle with having them involved in the decision to get counseling for the turmoil at home.

Toor added that the situations in which a parent/guardian might not be a consenting party should be more specifically outlined in the policy.

“Sometimes the root of the mental health issues can be issues with family dynamics. Sometimes it can be divorce and other issues like that. And so confronting parents about those issues can be difficult. And sometimes students may feel like they need to choose sides in times of divorce,” Toor said.

“There’s also that perspective where it would be contentious to tell parents about that issue. Even as I’m saying it, I do feel like it’s important to tell parents. But in some issues, that may just cause the rift to be even stronger and the mental health issues to be even worse with students,” she continued.

In addition to contentions with the outlined verbiage on parental consent, some parents voiced grievances about how trans identities would be affirmed by credentialed mental health professionals.

Wesley Campbell said during public comment that when a boy with gender dysphoria says, “I’m a girl,” responding, “Yes, you are,” reinforces that instead of encouraging the youth “to move away from that.” What the youth should be told, according to Campbell, is “No, you’re not. You need to change your perception of what is healthy.”

“It really needs to be the parents who are in charge of making sure that their children are healthy, not the schools. So the parents need to be included at every step,” he said.

This policy would allow access to mental health care but not to other gender-affirming care like hormones or surgery.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, transgender “is not a psychiatric diagnosis,” though “some people who identify as transgender do experience ‘gender dysphoria,’ a psychiatric diagnosis that refers to the psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and one’s gender identity.”

The APA includes treatment that involves “open-ended exploration of their feelings and experiences of gender identity and expression, without the therapist having any pre-defined gender identity or expression outcome defined as preferable to another.”

The final major point of contention was over a poster that shares mental health resources and coping strategies, including yoga, meditation, mindfulness, breathing exercises, grounding skills, journaling, acceptance and seeking therapy. Some parents and Trustee Jolene Daly said they feel yoga is a religious practice and can infringe on parents’ religious values.

“It is ludicrous to imagine a school has any business presenting yoga-type meditation, or any psychological evaluation, especially without parental or guardianship knowledge. The Constitution allows for families to exercise their chosen faith in their families as stated previously, and these things being suggested go against many faiths,” Sandy Van Vliet wrote in for public comment.

Several medical and mental health organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, National Institute of Health and the American Psychological Association, list yoga and meditation as effective coping mechanisms for mental health.

A second reading of the policy with several revisions will be put forward during a February Board of Education meeting.

This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 5:00 AM.