The February CTE Partner of the Month is the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office for their involvement with the Health Science program at Glenn High School.
Williamson County has a stand alone unit, unique to the Austin area and Texas, solely dedicated to mental health. Members of the unit, known as the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), frequently come to Glenn to share more about the program as well as the importance of mental health.
“WCSO has been a great partner to bring into the classroom,” GHS Human Services teacher Courtnie Gattis said. “The Crisis Intervention Team is always willing to come and speak with GHS students, partner through any training, questions or examples that students ask while also helping to shed light on the importance of mental health, erase stigmas and fear around openly speaking about mental health issues.”
One member of the team who has been a guest speaker at Glenn is Sargent Andy Perez. During his times speaking with students, Perez has explained the importance of mental health, gone over statistics in Williamson County, talked about situations that might occur on shift. He’s also offered insight to students on the extensive training the Crisis Intervention Team goes through and how it is different from typical mental health officer training.
Leander CTE values the investment Andy Perez and other members of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office have made in our CTE students and programs.
Each month of the 2023-24 school year, the Career and Technical Education department of Leander ISD is recognizing a community partner that has made an exceptional impact on the district’s CTE students or programs. These partnerships are at the core of CTE’s mission to give students valuable, hands-on learning experiences with industry professionals.
