How Well Does Your Child's School Support Student Mental Health?
Last updated: May 4, 2023

P.S. 298 Dr. Betty Shabazz

85 Watkins Street, Brooklyn |
District 23 |
Grades K - 5 |
310 students
14 child-in-crisis calls since 2016

After a 2015 law, schools are not supposed to call the police in response to a child in crisis except as a last resort.

2

2016

2

2017

1

2018

8

2019

2020

2021

1

2022

Note: NYPD data incomplete in 2016.

4.5 calls per 100 students

citywide: 1.3 district 23: 3.6
0 guidance counselors
While some counselors address mental health, they also focus on academic readiness and college applications for graduating students. Experts recommend a ratio of 250 students per counselor. Note: Some schools have specially funded academic counselors who are not counted in the DOE's data.
citywide: 277 district 23: 180
310 students per social worker
(equivalent of one social worker, working 4.5 days per week)
Social workers are trained to help students with emotional or behavioral needs. Experts recommend no less than one social worker for every 250 students.
citywide: 456 district 23: 177

How to Get Help

The system is complex but resources do exist. Here's where to start:

You can connect with staffers from Partnership with Children, Green Generations (21 C), which partners with P.S. 298 Dr. Betty Shabazz to provide additional services. You can find contact info on the school’s education department homepage.

This school’s social worker works part time at P.S. 298 Dr. Betty Shabazz and might not be on-site daily.

Many schools in District 23 have more intensive support under the city’s Single Shepherd program, providing a dedicated counselor or social worker to 6-12 students through graduation and college enrollment.

If your child’s school has called 911 on them because of emotional distress, and you’re concerned about the response, reach out to Advocates for Children’s Education Helpline at 866-427-6033. You can also reach out to your district’s superintendent.

If your child is in distress, you can text "WELL" to 65173 or call 888-NYC-WELL (888-692-9355), NYC’s free confidential helpline.

You can reach suicide prevention and substance use disorder counselors by dialing 988.

Several local organizations provide telehealth services using health insurance, Medicaid, or a sliding scale for billing. The education department compiled a list of providers here.

Read more

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School Details

22% students with IEPs
Individualized education programs for children with disabilities. Read more
citywide: 22%
93% students below poverty level
citywide: 61%
97% Black and Hispanic students
citywide: 63%
See demographic details
64.2% Black
32.6% Hispanic
1.6% White
1% Asian
0.3% Multiracial
0.3% Native
53% students missing 10% or more school days
Chronic absenteeism is often a key metric of school performance since missed school means missed learning.
citywide: 42%
25% students in temporary housing
citywide: 11%

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How to Get Help

The system is complex but resources do exist. Here's where to start:

You can connect with staffers from Partnership with Children, Green Generations (21 C), which partners with P.S. 298 Dr. Betty Shabazz to provide additional services. You can find contact info on the school’s education department homepage.

This school’s social worker works part time at P.S. 298 Dr. Betty Shabazz and might not be on-site daily.

Many schools in District 23 have more intensive support under the city’s Single Shepherd program, providing a dedicated counselor or social worker to 6-12 students through graduation and college enrollment.

If your child’s school has called 911 on them because of emotional distress, and you’re concerned about the response, reach out to Advocates for Children’s Education Helpline at 866-427-6033. You can also reach out to your district’s superintendent.

If your child is in distress, you can text "WELL" to 65173 or call 888-NYC-WELL (888-692-9355), NYC’s free confidential helpline.

You can reach suicide prevention and substance use disorder counselors by dialing 988.

Several local organizations provide telehealth services using health insurance, Medicaid, or a sliding scale for billing. The education department compiled a list of providers here.

Read more

This Tool Helped Me!

We build tools like this one to help New Yorkers navigate life in the city. If this project helped you, let us know how.

Nearby Schools

Child-In-Crisis Calls
Guidance Counselors
Social Workers
17
1
1.4
0
0.4
1

About the Data

Data current as of the 2021-2022 school year except for NYPD "child in crisis" calls, which are from 2016 through 2022.

This tool includes information on 1,575 public schools about which we could determine both location and guidance counselor information. We do not include charter schools because there is less data available.

2021-22 Guidance Counselor data, 2021-22 Demographic data, 2021 Temporary Housing data, 2020-21 Attendance data, and School Location Information are from the NYC Open Data web portal.

2022 NYC School Survey data is from the Department of Education website. We only show School Survey data when schools reported a survey response rate above 25%.

Child-In-Crisis Calls data is from the New York Police Department. We cleaned the data and matched each NYPD-reported school campus name to the school district-borough-number (DBN) identifier assigned by NYC Public Schools. Some NYPD Child-In-Crisis reports were not identifiable with an existing school or pointed to school buildings that contain several schools. Those numbers have been excluded from this analysis. All data, including a crosswalk between the NYPD school name and DBN, are available on Github.

During the first two quarters of 2016, the NYPD reported child-in-crisis calls only in cases where students were restrained with handcuffs. Data for those quarters may therefore be lower than it would be if reporting was the same as in later time periods.

If you spot an error, please let us know at data@thecity.nyc.