Fredonia High School Principal Darrin Paschke is working on some interesting items for students — asnd one area he wants to emphasize in the coming months is mental health care for those in the school.

Because of that, Paschke has been working with school Business Administrator Margie Wright on addressing the mental health needs of students with a tentative two-day program where they’d have people come in to work with the youth. “Nothing is set in stone yet,” Paschke said. “It wouldn’t be just a bunch of cool music and some lights and neat things to talk about, but it would actually give them some strategies to address their mental health needs and coping mechanisms. It’s quite a menu of things we could address.”

Paschke said they’ve had Zoom meetings with a group to try and get these things in the school, and in the process of trying to set this up, he also wanted to stress that this would not be a one-time thing.

“I don’t want this to be a one and done thing where we do this cool thing then go off to something else,” Paschke said. “It’s something I want to commit to for a few years where these people come in and work with our kids on a regular basis.”

Before doing this with the students, Paschke pointed to an upcoming staff in-service day in February, when he can get this group in to work with the staff, which would get the staff used to the new potential program.

Paschke said it’s obvious when looking around the world to see how the mental health of students is struggling, and he wants to make sure the students at Fredonia High School get the best possible experience they can.

“I think it’s something that our kids need and are asking for,” Paschke said. “And I think we need to deliver on it.”

While nothing is set in stone yet, Paschke said he’s excited at the premise of the program and he’s excited for the prospects it would bring to the students and staff of the school.