WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Parents and professionals are reacting after the Palm Beach County School District on Wednesday made routine revisions to its Baker Act and two weeks after a $440,000 federal judgment in favor of nine students with disabilities.
WPTV met Tamara Gayle three years while our Contact 5 team was investigating Baker Act use in Palm Beach County schools.
Gayle said it happened to her then-5-year-old son in 2017 while he was at school dealing with behavioral and anger issues.
“Oh my God it was so traumatizing for me as a mom as much as my son. It was hard to cope for a while because he was having nightmares going through the whole scenario when you experience a traumatic situation,” Gayle said.
The Baker Act lets courts, law enforcement and some medical workers to order people who could harm themselves or others to be taken to mental health facilities for up to three days.
“It was hard,” Gayle said, “because the cops are there to protect your kids and when you just show up to the school and they Baker Act my son, without me being notified and sneaking him out to the back of the school.”
Since that time, a federal judge ordered the money to paid for students with disabilities who were allegedly removed from campus or given psychiatric exams involuntarily.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon in Fort Pierce did not order the district to make changes, and the district said the policy changes were made routinely because of legislative changes and minor adjustments.
Gayle was not part of that settlement.
Since changes after the lawsuit in 2021, Baker Act usage had dropped by more than 80% on campuses.
The district updated Policy 5.20, entitled "Student Mental Health Crisis Response," which includes the Florida Mental Health Law, also known as the Baker Act.
"If a student is in crisis, the reality is we have lost students here in Palm Beach County that have taken you know their own life," Keith Oswald, chief of equity and wellness with the district, told WPTV's Joel Lopez. "This is a very serious serious situation. We're talking about life and death.
"So with this particular policy we want to do everything in the front end to prevent it from happening to make sure the child is supported but if it comes to a situation where the power is possibility we've got to make sure we make that call to preserve life."
In the new policy, school police officers shall be required to participate in training to address the Baker Act. A sworn law enforcement officer shall complete mental health crisis intervention training using a curriculum developed by a national organization with expertise in mental health crisis intervention.
Mental health professionals say with training it’s important for everyone to be on the same page.
Dr. Marlene Sotelo of The Els for Autism said, “It’s critical, especially in working with individuals who have mental health issues and developmental disabilities because at the time of crisis is not the time to figure out what to do here we should know it should be an automatic response.”
Those like Gayle and her family said the proposed training are welcome.
“I’m happy now,” Gayle said, “that other kids go get justice and in the future of the kids won’t have to go through this and their mom because it’s not only the kid but whatever your kid goes through. It affects the mom just as well.”
The U.S. District Court held that parental consent was constitutionally required before an involuntary examination, except in the event of a “true emergency.”
