Warden’s new student assistance professional addresses mental health

WARDEN — The Warden School District welcomed a new staff member earlier this month. Araceli Flores joined Warden High School as its new student assistance professional, a position intended to help students’ behavioral and mental health. Warden High School Principal Katie Phipps said the position is fully funded by a grant through the North Central Educational Service District. Warden joins other schools in Grant County, including Soap Lake, Quincy and Moses Lake, that have hired a student assistance professional. “This is grant-funded, which is nice for us because our resources are fairly limited, of course,” Phipps said. “So the ESD wrote a grant and then that allowed for a salaried position to bring in somebody that has more of a background in mental health, because that's definitely a need that we have, and it's a harder one to fill. It's especially a harder one to fill when you don't have the funding for it.”