Empowering Minds: How Chandler Unified School District is Integrating Mental Health and Learning

AASA | JED District Comprehensive Approach District Spotlight

Chandler Unified School District, Arizona

In March 2024, The Jed Foundation (JED) and AASA, The School Superintendents Association, announced the selection of 15 school districts to participate in the District Comprehensive Approach (DCA) pilot, a transformative program that guides districts in improving systems of support for pre-K–12 students’ emotional well-being. 

This is the first in a series of posts that will explore each of the 15 districts and their work learning and leading powerful mental health and suicide prevention practices that will benefit students around the country. 

District at a Glance:

District: Chandler Unified School District in Arizona
Number of Schools: 51
Number of Students: Over 44,000
About the District: The Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) serves the southeastern part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. The district’s mission is to empower all students with the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary to excel in college, career, and life. 
Superintendent: Franklin R. Narducci

JED and AASA asked Franklin R. Narducci, superintendent of CUSD, about what the district hopes to accomplish during its time in the DCA program. (Responses have been edited lightly for length and clarity.)

What is your primary reason for participating in the DCA inaugural cohort?

It’s a unique opportunity to re-examine models that better integrate behavioral health and learning, while also unifying our school-based mental health services. CUSD wants to define a comprehensive school-based mental health system that is mutually reinforcing with academics.

How does the CUSD community prioritize student emotional well-being, and how will the DCA program support those efforts?

The CUSD community recognizes that there is no health without mental health and that inadequately treated or untreated mental health issues can negatively impact students’ ability to learn and grow. We want to prioritize early identification and treatment of mental health issues. Participating in the DCA program ensures that our students have learning environments that are emotionally and physically safe and healthy.

How can student and their families and caregivers benefit from your district participating in this program?

Participating in this program helps us ensure that support and behavioral health-care services become more accessible to our entire CUSD community. That is key to minimizing future trauma, supporting families, and building an infrastructure of health.

Where do you hope to move the needle in your district as it relates to mental health over the next year?

We hope that continuing to promote mental health awareness in all grade levels will foster a greater sense of connectedness and support among our CUSD community. Minimizing gaps in services will help CUSD identify and respond more readily to the mental health needs of our students. Including integrated, best-practice models that enhance learning and promote health will also help CUSD become an even more effective leader in school-based mental health services.

Tell us about the event CUSD hosted this year that focused on students’ emotional well-being.

On Sept. 12, about 200 secondary school students attended CUSD’s second annual Student Mental Health Conference. Students listened to keynote speaker Denise Waters of Only7Seconds, a nonprofit organization focused on youth loneliness. Waters emphasized that it takes only seven seconds to impact someone’s day and remind them they are not alone.

Students also participated in mental-health-focused workshops led by local agencies. Breakout sessions included conversations about the impacts of bullying, strategies for maintaining academic excellence while excelling in sports, the dangers of substance use, the importance of sleep, strategies for stress reduction, how to nurture self-esteem, and how the mind-body connection impacts overall well-being.

Learn more about the District Comprehensive Approach