NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — After filing a formal complaint to the district superintendent, a West Jessamine High School student-athlete is making a public plea for change to help kids like her battling mental health.
Sarah Johnson has looked forward to her senior year of basketball.
"I love playing. I love the competition and just the like adrenaline rush you get especially after scoring," said Johnson.
This year, Johnson says she hasn't gotten to experience that joy because she spent most of her time on the West Jessamine girls' basketball team on the bench, she believes as a result of her mental health-related absences.
"Four games he (her coach) didn't play me at all," said Johnson. "He was like you wasn't here and I was like but you told me to take the break and now it feels like you're using my mental health against me," said Johnson.
Johnson transferred from East Jessamine at the start of the school year to try to improve her mental health after experiencing bullying that sent her into severe depression.
Her family thought her new school, West Jessamine, would be a fresh start. Months into the school year, she struggled to fit in, especially on her new team.
"I feel like once you're labeled as you have bad mental health, people look at you differently," said Johnson. "Especially like in sports you get labeled weak and a liability."
It's why even though her mental health break worked, she regrets taking it.
In Johnson's complaint to the district superintendent, she expressed facing discrimination, isolation, and exclusion in athletics.
Superintendent Matt Moore and WJHS Principal Brady Thornton didn't directly comment on her claims. However, they did send this joint statement:
"Jessamine County Schools is committed to developing and supporting the physical, social-emotional, and academic well-being of all students. Our entire staff, including extracurricular personnel, receives annual training on recognizing the need for support and our protocol around providing it. Our district consistently follows this protocol to provide assistance to students and student-athletes when it is needed, relying on mental health and counseling professionals to guide our decisions and identify a support plan. This process includes collaboration with a number of partners including parents, counselors, school staff, coaches, and when appropriate, the student. In order to protect their privacy, we cannot comment on situations involving individual students. We do have concerns about incomplete and/or inaccurate information being shared publicly and caution that it may harm the very students that we are striving to support."
LEX 18 asked Jessamine County Schools (JCS) what was inaccurate and received this response in an email:
"As this inquiry involves a confidential matter, we are unfortunately unable to share any additional details that might help to provide clarity regarding this specific student's situation. Pertinent information that we can share is that Jessamine County Schools attendance policy and practice is that students are not penalized for excused absences, including those for mental health reasons, extending also to not impacting playing time for student-athletes. We reiterate our concern for the potential harm that may be inflicted on those students who struggle with their mental health."
JCS says they have invested in prevention and treatment-based approaches to support student mental health. They shared some of their investments. They include hiring six additional counselors and two licensed social workers. JCS also says they've invested two $2.25 million grants in suicide prevention efforts.
Johnson's mother, LaToya Richardson, feels like a lot of school support and investments look good on paper but need to do better with students who need them. She says communication breakdowns are a big challenge, and there needs to be better integration with outside mental health systems.
"I'm not targeting one school I'm targeting all schools," said Richardson.
They are hoping Sarah's experience can shine a light on a greater problem, which they say is a lack of accountability and support for athletes battling mental health issues.
"I'm very disappointed in how my daughter has been treated over the past several months," said Richardson.
Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA), the state association that creates rules for high school sports, has no official policies for how sports should handle mental health.
"Like with any other student in a classroom setting, a student who has a mental health issue can have certain protection under the law and could possibly have that issue considered a 'disability' for all school-run activities. However, this would be managed at the local level," said Connor Link, media relations and publications director.
KHSAA and the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) assured that mental health is a focal point, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, and pointed to local guidance within individual schools.
KDE advised us to talk to KHSAA about how high schools were being held accountable for protecting student athletes' mental health.
As for codified rules, KDE says they worked with the Kentucky School Board Association to create model policies for districts. It's up to the districts whether they will implement those model policies.
House Bill 44, passed in 2022, also allows school districts to add mental health to excused absence policies.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFS) says that beyond education and sometimes getting involved in legal challenges, no state has rules for how sports should address mental health.
"I greatly appreciate the interest from the media community in investigating and supporting the conversation around mental wellness for young people. the more that we can talk about these issues, learn about the resources we have available and identify the gaps in the experiences that our young people have with respect to their needs the better. I applaud you for taking an issue in this issue and I can assure you the NFHSA state ass are deeply concerned about well-being of our young people and the efforts we can all make together to provide resources for kids, families schools and the larger communities that can help support the mental wellness of our kids," said Dr. Karissa Nehoff, CEO NFHS.
Johnson hopes her story will encourage others with similar struggles to keep playing.
"As an athlete, you have all these responsibilities, all this pressure, all these accountabilities, and you have a lot going on. You're trying to juggle school, basketball, mental health, family things, and it's hard, but you just gotta remember you're not alone," she said.
