The Issue With DESSA

It’s now been three weeks, and DESSA is still very much in place; among many advisory teachers, still very much enforced; and for nearly every student in the school, still very much a hindrance on possibly the only free time we are granted in the school day. The administration has declined to comment on any decision regarding the petition. Here’s what we do know.

The DESSA is, quite frankly, a game. It trivializes mental health, regarding it as something that can be solved by clicking a few checkboxes and earning points. Good intentions aside, the DESSA is a harmful and performative excuse for true mental health resources at LHS, and students are not happy about it.

Cali Gumuchian in the class of 2023 wrote, “It feels corporate, prepackaged, and cold. The fact that the school would rather buy a program instead of just talking to us or laying off on schoolwork and academic pressure is sad and builds a greater disconnect between us students and our teachers and administration.”

Of the students we surveyed, 88% said that homework was a main stressor in their life, 88% said that grades were a main stressor, and 76% said that tests were a main stressor. These are all things that can be addressed directly by the school. To attempt to mitigate the school’s mental health crisis with such a superficial solution while neglecting to address the ways the school itself contributes to this issue is no less than disappointing. Furthermore, many students find the program itself harmful, such that it not only fails to solve the issue but contributes to it.

Abby Nordhausen in the class of 2024 wrote, “Seeing the “star ratings” on DESSA actually made me really sad. I thought I was doing pretty good, and then this program is giving me one star in every category. How is a star rating going to benefit me? If anything it made me feel worse about myself and lowered my self esteem.”

For many people who don’t have a study period, flex block is the only available time to see teachers, do homework, or even just relax.While mental health care is important, students feel their time would be much better spent in other ways.

One student writes, “When we have tests on Mondays, due to DESSA I am unable to leave my flex to go ask some last minute questions before my test.”

According to another, “Advisory is the only time where I can [get] work done on Mondays because I don’t have study - but with DESSA I can’t.”

“I am lucky that I am able to eat at home, but I truly do miss the freedom of flex block prior to the use of the Dessa program. I am well aware that it is being used to benefit the students, and I am very grateful for that. However, filling out questions and pressing buttons does not lead to improvement in mental health,” says another.

The freedom of flex block has been beneficial, and has been lowering students’ stress levels. We applaud the school for creating a space that allows students to have more freedom and responsibility to manage their own time. One student says, “I don't see [DESSA] as beneficial at all, it honestly makes me not look forward to Advisory at all,”

While DESSA may not be the solution LHS is looking for, students have their own ideas of what the school could be doing to help.

“There are many things the school could do to benefit my mental health, other than a computer program. One thing could be having a no homework weekend every month, or some sort of mental health day where every class is somewhat relaxed.”

If the administration simply were to ask students what we need and how to help, they’d make a lot more progress. Mental health breaks, lower workloads and greater flexibility are all easy-to-implement changes that actually address the cause of our stress, unlike DESSA.

It’s great that the school is making an effort to help students, but clearly that effort is only making problems worse. We, as students, understand that our stress and mental health does reflect on the school. We understand that state standards require the school to teach social and emotional skills in some way, and we understand that this is not always an easy task. Yet, DESSA seems only to gloss over our struggles, not address them at all. LHS administration, if you’re reading this, know that we will continue to fight for informed, productive mental health resources. We will continue to fight as long as we need to in order to get rid of this flawed system and find an approach truly beneficial to LHS students. Fight with us.