Superintendent Herrington to Testify in Support of Assembly Bills on Disasters, Mental Health
03/22/2022 -
Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Steven D. Herrington will testify Wednesday afternoon, March 23, before the California state Assembly’s Education Committee in support of two bills:
- Assembly Bill 2814, introduced by Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, would establish a competitive $1 million grant program to support efforts by school districts and county offices of education to plan responses to large-scale natural disasters.
- Assembly Bill 2072, introduced by Jesse Gabriel, D-Woodland Hills, would require county offices of education to create a plan so that local educational agencies can quickly deploy qualified mental health professionals and other school personnel to schools that have experienced a natural disaster or other traumatic event.
Dr. Herrington is supporting these two pieces of legislation on behalf of students in Sonoma County, who have experienced several large wildfires, severe flooding, a large-scale evacuation, and power shut-offs since the 2017 North Bay wildfires. The Sonoma County Office of Education established its Behavioral Health Department in response to local students’ compound traumas and has become a leader in helping California’s educational agencies prepare for large disasters.
