It was a long discussion, featuring school board members, the public and administrators, but in the end, the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board ended-up taking no vote to reject a $5.7 million mental health grant.

29 people signed-up to speak for up to 2 minutes about the mental health award.  Among the 29, only four spoke against the grant.  Those in favor included students, mental health professionals and parents with children battling mental health issues.

The board conducted a work session and received a presentation from administrators detailing how the grant would work, and board members had questions.

When the public comment period was over during the regular session, there were questions from the board.  Then, board member Tiffany Pascoe tried to make a motion to reject the $5.7 million award.  A point of order was immediately invoked, saying this item was listed on the agenda as an information item, not one subject to a board vote.  Board President Dawn Lang asked for legal counsel, but no school attorney was in the room.

The board did not rule out a possible vote in a future meeting about accepting the mental health grant, but no vote was taken at Wednesday night’s session.