MARIETTA, Ga. — Marietta school officials are responding to rumors about the Student Life Center in Marietta High School shutting down therapeutic services for students.
School board member Angela Orange said she has received calls from community members ahead of Tuesday night’s vote on funding for the center.
"I was hearing from some folks who have concerns because they've seen the direct impact of the center," she said. "They've seen our graduation rates go up, they've seen students take advantage of a wide variety of post-secondary opportunities and they didn't want any of that to recede or fail."
The center provides students with therapeutic services, a clothing closet, a food pantry, addiction and abuse recovery services, mentoring, and more.
In an email to Marietta High School families, Superintendent Grant Rivera wrote that he’s also heard of the "worries about the future of the Student Life Center."
Orange said she wants to put those rumors to rest.
"We have a very engaged community in Marietta and I love that," she said. "Our community cares and when a rumor mill starts, it doesn’t follow schedule. I am here to put those rumors at rest. We support our students and the activities of the center will move forward."
Orange explained that Tuesday night’s vote is to approve $36,000 in funding for orientation programs, and reiterates that no matter the outcome, the therapeutic services will continue.
"We do not directly provide therapeutic services," she explained. "We partner with community organizations to provide it. So it’s to coordinate that, and routine summer program. It’s going to pass. I’m confident in that.”
However, students can expect to see a slight change.
In the same email, Rivera wrote, "let me assure you, the heart and soul of the center remain unchanged." Later on, he added that the district is adjusting the timing of some of its therapeutic services, offering them before school, after school, during lunch, and non-academic classes, instead of during academic classes.
Exceptions will be made for urgent matters.
"We wanted to make sure that we were not interrupting instructional time which our students need with these services," Orange added. "We know we do have a very limited number of students who are in crisis, so whenever they need those services during school hours they will get those services. But for students not in crisis, they will get those services scheduled before school, after school, during lunch and during elective and P.E. times."
Since students will now have access to the services mostly outside of school hours, the district said they will be providing transportation, if needed, to get students to the center.
Orange added the Student Life Center has played an important role in the community for many years.
"The Student Life Center is an innovation that Principal Leigh Colburn came up with while she was principal in Marietta High School in the 2000's," Orange explained. "Leigh was a visionary and she noticed that when she was principal, students were getting the academic services that they needed but there were things going on outside of the classroom they needed help with so that they could graduate on time. Leigh was the first in the country to develop this concept and because of her, various centers have proliferated throughout the nation."