Navigating Behavioral Health Screenings in Hall County School System: A Parent's Guide to Opting Out of DSG and Other Treatments

The Hall County School System administers mental and behavioral health screenings across elementary, middle, and high schools. These assessments operate on a passive permission model, meaning your child is automatically opted in unless you pro-actively submit a refusal.

The school district uses these screeners to flag students for Tier 2 interventions, specifically the proprietary Dialectical Skills Groups (DSG) program. The school does not have autonomy over your children, their lives, healthcare, or mental health. As a parent, you have full authority over your child's mental health care. Here is exactly what these screeners evaluate, the official school records confirming how they work, and the concrete steps you can take to opt your child out completely.

The Hall County School System keeps claiming this is not therapy, but all the documents we have from Open Record Requests (ORR) have it described as therapy.

Grade-Level Breakdown of Screeners

The school district utilizes different behavioral tracking tools depending on your child's age group. According to records fulfilled by the school's Open Records Request (ORR) coordinator, the system functions as follows:

🏫 Elementary School: SRSS-IE Screener

• Method: Homeroom teachers score students based on daily observation. All items are rated on a four-point Likert-type scale: 0 = never, 1 = occasionally, 2 = sometimes, 3 = frequently.
• Behaviors Rated: The tool tracks both externalizing risks (stealing; lying, cheating, sneaking; behavior problems; peer rejection; low academic achievement; negative attitude; aggressive behavior) and internalizing risks (emotionally flat; shy, withdrawn; sad, depressed; anxious; lonely).
• Alerts: A notice is sent home to parents via communications platforms two weeks prior to the screening window.

🚨 Chestnut Mountain Creative School of Inquiry: Uncertified Counselor Internships

An official letter sent home to parents at Chestnut Mountain Creative School of Inquiry (CMCSI) reveals another layer of how student services are expanding without explicit parent "Opt-In" consent. The school announced that a Speech Aid will be conducting individual and small-group counseling activities as part of a Piedmont University internship to acquire a Master's Degree in Clinical Counseling.

While the letter notes the intern will operate under the supervision of a university professor and the school counselor, it underscores a major concern for parents: unlicensed, uncertified student interns are being integrated into the school's mental health apparatus to conduct counseling activities with children.

Just like the behavioral health screeners, these counseling initiatives operate under the assumption that the school has the autonomy to utilize your child for training purposes unless you formally object. If your child attends Chestnut Mountain, it is highly recommended to submit a written refusal ensuring your child is not placed into any individual or small-group counseling sessions conducted by interns or non-staff members.

Deconstructing the School's Wording: The letter wraps up by calling this internship a 'valuable opportunity for a dedicated staff member to continue developing their counseling skills.' Parents should look closely at this wording. The 'staff member' being referenced is not the school's long-time counselor; it is the Speech Aide who is acting as the intern. By framing a student-level training program as 'staff development,' the school is attempting to sanitize the fact that an uncertified individual will be practicing counseling methods on public school children.

🗂️ Chestnut Mountain Warriors Counseling Internship Letter

🥉 2 Week Notice - REMIND Script PBIS Middle School

• Method: A 25-item behavioral screening questionnaire tracking psychological traits over the last six months or current school year.
• Behaviors Rated: Tracks attributes across five scales: emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems, and prosocial behavior.
• Alerts: Parents receive a two-week warning notification. The district notes that these reminders will now route through ParentSquare instead of older apps like Remind.

🎒 Middle School: Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

🥈 Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire P or T

Proof of Passive Consent Rules: An official ParentSquare notice sent out by a local Hall County middle school administration on August 26 explicitly confirms how the district places the entire clerical burden on the parent to stop these assessments. The notice states:

"If it is your desire that your student NOT participate in the upcoming screener, it is your responsibility to communicate with your child’s School Counselor directly."

This official alert proves that the school district considers your child completely enrolled in behavioral health data collection by default. If a parent is busy, doesn't check the app, or misses the notification window, the tracking moves forward automatically.

🎓 High School: 26-27 Behavioral Health Screener

• Method: High schools are officially transitioning away from the SDQ to a digital, high-school-specific behavioral health screener administered directly to students via Google Forms.
• Behaviors Rated: Students self-report how often they have been bothered by specific issues over the past two weeks, including nervousness, uncontrollable worry, trouble relaxing, severe irritability, trouble concentrating, and feelings of depression or hopelessness.
• Critical Questions: The screener explicitly asks students about "thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way" and provides a direct checklist asking if they would like an automatic follow-up meeting with a school counselor.

The Connection to DSG (Tier 2 Therapy)

Screening data functions as a direct funnel to push flagged students into the DSG program. While the school system may refer to these as general student services or resilience coaching, DSG is classified as a Tier 2 therapeutic intervention.

• Structure: It is a 10-week curriculum pulling heavily from modified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) frameworks.
• Scheduling: To minimize missing the same class repeatedly, participating students rotate through a different class period each week to attend the 10-week session.
• AUTONOMY: These programs are ran locally by school counselors, social workers, or teachers rather than external medical or psychological entities. Parents should not be forced into a system where enrollment is automatic unless they say "no."

🗂️ DSG Skills Group Permission Form Letter

Step-by-Step Instructions to Opt Out

If you want to ensure your student does not participate in behavioral tracking, data collection, or automatic placement into therapy groups, execute these actions immediately. Do not leave any doubt about where you stand:

1. Update Your Parent Portal
   Log into your Infinite Campus Parent Portal. Locate the Student Services Acknowledgement form within the back-to-school forms section. Explicitly mark your refusal and opt out of behavioral screenings and non-academic surveys. Note that the district sometimes leaves these sections unhighlighted or unlinked, so read the portal text carefully.
2. Monitor School Communications
   Keep a close watch on ParentSquare alerts. The school is required to issue alerts approximately two weeks prior to administering screeners like the SDQ or SRSS-IE. Use this window to re-verify your refusal.
3. Submit a Formal Written Refusal Letter
   Do not rely solely on digital portal checkboxes. Send a physical letter or a direct email to your child's homeroom teacher, school principal, and school counselor. State clearly, plainly, and in writing that your child is completely opted out of all non-academic surveys, behavioral screenings, questionnaires, or mental health evaluations.
4. Demand Written Confirmation
   Explicitly request a written reply or email confirmation from the school administration stating that your opt-out status has been successfully updated and noted in your child’s permanent file. Get it in writing so you have an official record.

UPDATE (Sept 17, 2026): PARENT INFORMATIONAL ALERT: Upcoming Behavioral Screeners & Suicide Prevention Programming

The Hall County School District is preparing to roll out new mandatory health and safety modules across its 19 secondary campuses, including Erika's Lighthouse (suicide awareness and prevention) and the Sandy Hook Promise (violence prevention framework). Please don't wait for the email. Login to your portals and opt out of this stuff.

Recent district-wide notifications distributed via Remind, ParentSquare, and Infinite Campus outline the standard procedures for student participation. Parents should be aware of how student enrollment is currently processed through the digital portal system:

• The Consent Structure: According to the district's notification, if you completed standard back-to-school paperwork within the Parent Portal, your student is automatically enrolled in these upcoming lessons.
• The Responsibility to Opt-Out: If you do not wish for your child to participate in these specific screening modules or lessons, the district requires you to take direct action. You must manually contact your student's individual School Counselor to submit a formal refusal.
• Isolated Campus Google Forms: On certain local campuses, an alternative external digital link has been distributed to process these requests. If your school utilized this track, you must complete the form titled "Erika's Lighthouse & Behavioral Health Screener - Opt Out Form" to halt enrollment. The district's text explicitly states: "If you don't return the form, your child will automatically participate."

To ensure your family’s privacy elections are accurately logged before the programming begins on your campus, please check your Infinite Campus portal or contact your building’s guidance office immediately to verify your student's current enrollment status.

💡 BUSTING THE MYTHS: Setting the Record Straight on School Pushback

As this documentation circulates through the North Georgia community, institutional defenders, former educators, and system employees are pushing back with several common arguments. Here is the direct truth behind the talking points they are using to quiet concerned parents:

• Myth 1: "Parents have to sign a form to Opt-In at the beginning of the year; enrollment isn't automatic."
  The Reality: This is completely false. The official Hall County School District Parent/Guardian Signature Page (Section 2) explicitly states: "It is my responsibility to contact my child’s school if I do not want my child to participate." Signing the document simply logs that you acknowledged reading it; it automatically opts your child IN unless you execute a manual, secondary follow-up with a counselor.
• Myth 2: "Teachers treat their students like 'their own kids' and are just trying to help, not pull one over on anyone."
  The Reality: This isn't about attacking dedicated, hardworking classroom teachers or counselors who are stretched thin. This is a top-down administrative policy mandated by the Board of Education and led by the Superintendent and his wife. Frontline employees are being forced to execute these behavioral health matrices under internal professional guidelines. More importantly, loving a student does not grant a government employee the legal authority to make mental health, behavioral tracking, or therapeutic routing decisions for a child behind a parent's back.
• Myth 3: "Why would any parent want LESS information about how their child is feeling?"
  The Reality: Parents don't want less information; they want qualified professionals. Public school personnel, paraprincipals, and uncertified university student interns are not clinically licensed or medically qualified to diagnose or administer Tier 2 behavioral therapies. If a school believes a child is in distress, the ethical action is to call the parent immediately and let the family seek certified medical care—not quietly log them into an internal, non-certified experimental therapy program.
• Myth 4: "If this program is so safe and helpful, why are you making it a boogeyman?"
  The Reality: As local parents have pointed out, if these screeners and the DSG curriculum are so beneficial, why are they hidden? Why must parents submit formal Open Records Requests (ORRs) and pay out of pocket just to see the exact grading sheets and digital questionnaires their children are handed? If it is true, transparent, and good, it will stand on its own in the daylight. It shouldn't require jumping through bureaucratic hoops just to look at the paperwork.

Printable Parent Opt-Out Letter Template

Copy, paste, and customize the text below to send to your child's school administration:

[Date]

To: [Principal Name] and [School Counselor Name]
[Name of School]
Hall County School District

RE: Explicit Opt-Out of All Non-Academic Screenings, Surveys, and Evaluations

Dear Administration,

As the parent/legal guardian of [Student Full Name], currently enrolled in grade [Grade Level], I am writing to formally establish my directives regarding my child's participation in school-administered screenings. 

Pursuant to my parental rights and authority over my child’s healthcare and mental health, I hereby explicitly OPT OUT of, and withhold consent for, my child’s participation in any and all non-academic behavioral health screeners, mental health surveys, questionnaires, or evaluations administered by the school district or individual school staff. 

This directive specifically applies to, but is not limited to:
- The Student Risk Screening Scale (SRSS-IE) evaluation or scoring by teachers.
- The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ / SDQ-IE).
- High School digital Behavioral Health Screeners (including Google Form screeners).
- Any evaluations used to identify or funnel students into Tier 2 interventions, such as Dialectical Skills Groups (DSG).
 - Individual, small-group, or classroom counseling activities conducted by student interns, clinical counseling students, university trainees, or any uncertified personnel.


Please ensure that my child is not presented with these screeners, is not evaluated via behavioral tracking matrices by instructional staff, and is not pulled from academic time for these purposes. Please place a copy of this formal written refusal into my child's permanent file. 

Kindly respond to this letter via email at your earliest convenience to confirm that this opt-out directive has been successfully received, acknowledged, and implemented for the current school year.

Thank you for your cooperation and respect for my family's privacy and parental authority.

Sincerely,

[Parent/Guardian Signature]
[Parent/Guardian Printed Name]
[Phone Number]
[Email Address]

Escalation Letter if the Hall County School District Gives You Pushback

[Date]

To: [Principal Name] and [School Counselor Name]
[Name of School]
Hall County School District

RE: FORMAL LEGAL DIRECTIVE – Explicit Withholding of Consent for Non-Academic Services, Screenings, and Trainee Counseling

Dear Administration,

As the parent/legal guardian of [Student Full Name], currently enrolled in grade [Grade Level], I am writing to establish an immutable, written directive regarding my child’s participation in non-academic student services, behavioral data collection, and clinical counseling frameworks.

Pursuant to my fundamental rights under the Georgia Parents' Bill of Rights (O.C.G.A. § 20-2-786), I hold absolute and final authority over the education, upbringing, and mental/physical healthcare decisions of my minor child.

Furthermore, please be advised that under the federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) and recent U.S. Department of Education enforcement directives (issued August 26, 2026), local educational agencies are strictly prohibited from using passive portal notifications or "opt-out" assumptions to enroll students in psychological evaluations or mental health tracking. The federal government has explicitly mandated that passive, blanket portal agreements are legally insufficient, and that prior written, explicit OPT-IN parental consent is required.

Therefore, effective immediately, I am formally WITHHOLDING CONSENT and enacting a complete, unyielding refusal for my child to participate in the following:

• Any and all non-academic behavioral health screeners, surveys, or questionnaires (including, but not limited to, the teacher-scored SRSS-IE scale, the middle school SDQ, and high school digital Google Forms).
• The proprietary Dialectical Skills Groups (DSG) curriculum, or any related Tier 2 or Tier 3 behavioral intervention frameworks.
• Any individual, small-group, classroom, or "check-in" counseling activities conducted by uncertified personnel, Caring Adult Skills Instructors (CASIs), student interns, university clinical trainees, or non-licensed staff members.

This directive explicitly includes a total ban on any individual or small-group meetings, behavioral check-ins, or therapeutic conversations between my child and the school counselor or any student trainees, unless I am physically present or have provided explicit, session-specific written consent in advance.

Regardless of any local administrative procedures, portal defaults, or the lack of an official internal school board document, this formal letter serves as my binding legal notification. Please upload a digital copy of this directive into my child’s permanent student services file immediately.Kindly respond to this notice via email within 24 hours to confirm that this directive has been successfully received, acknowledged, and applied to my child’s record for the current academic school year.

Sincerely,

[Parent/Guardian Signature]
[Parent/Guardian Printed Name]
[Phone Number]
[Email Address]

👉 🚨 THE REVENUE & COMPLIANCE PIPELINE: Click here to read our full investigative feature on the federal U.S. Department of Education warning targeting Hall County School District's passive portal protocols.

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