Grand Junction school board rejects campus-based health center

To help cope with her grief after losing both a close friend and then her father to suicide two years ago, 16-year-old Karami Lyle began seeing therapist Steven Martinez at Central High School’s Warrior Wellness Center in Grand Junction. Lyle, who doesn’t drive, has also sought care at the school-based clinic for other health care needs, and said having access to such services at school is helpful for her mom’s schedule.

Yet at another high school nearby, other students won’t be gaining access to the same health care services as Lyle anytime soon.

A proposed school-based health center (SBHC) at the new Grand Junction High School campus was voted down 3-2 by the Mesa County Valley School District 51 Board of Education during its March 7 business meeting. Concerns…