The Sioux Falls School District announced a new partnership Sept. 3 during a school board work session that will bring more mental health therapists into five different schools.

Kim Sharping, coordinator of student support services for the district, said an anonymous donor came forward this spring from the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation with a “passion and a heart” for providing mental health services to students.

Five different schools − Washington High School, Whittier Middle School, and Cleveland, Rosa Parks and Terry Redlin elementary schools − will each get one full-time therapist employed by Avera Family Wellness and Avera Behavioral Health for a three-year pilot.

Sharping said those five schools were chosen because “we sometimes see an increased need out of varying schools

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