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Olga Hugelmeyer
Superintendent of Schools
September 16, 2022
Dear Elizabeth Public Schools Families,
Elizabeth Public Schools is committed to creating safe and caring learning environment through the promotion of mental, physical, and social emotional wellness.
During the past couple years in which we have faced unprecedented and extremely challenging circumstances that have affected our daily lives, mental health has become a greater area of focus throughout our society. The emphasis on mental health and its importance has touched all areas of our lives, including in our schools, at our workplaces, and in our homes. Here at Elizabeth Public Schools, recent policies and resources have been put in place to support our learning community.
The New Jersey legislature passed a law, beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, that requires public schools that include any of the grades seven through 12 and that issues student identification cards to have the telephone number for the New Jersey Suicide Prevention Hopeline (NJ Hopeline) and contact information for a crisis text line to be printed on the back the student identification cards.
In the interest of providing our students with a broader spectrum of mental health resources, we have provided the following crisis contact information on the back of the identification cards of our grades seven through 12 students:
- School Name
- School Phone Number
- If you are experiencing an emergency,
call 911 - Addiction Hotline: 800-238-2333
- DCP&P: 877-652-2873
- Domestic Violence: 800-572-SAFE (7233)/
908-355-4357 - Elizabeth Police Department: 908-558-2000
- NJ Homeless Hotline: 1-877-746-5211
- NJ/National Suicide Prevention:
1-855-654-6735 / 988 (Call/Text) - Poison Control: 973-972-9280
- Union County Crisis: 908-351-6684
Our school counselors and social workers will be speaking to students over the next couple weeks to support their physical and mental health, including to discuss the new resources they have been provided on their ID cards.
Additionally, we have created a mental health initiatives webpage on the Elizabeth Public Schools website that offers details on some of the partnerships we have with other organizations pertaining to mental health as well as various programs and resources offered by the district.
The mental health initiatives page can be found here or by visiting www.epsnj.org, clicking on the “Students and Families” dropdown menu tab, and selecting “Mental Health Initiatives”.
I encourage you to take advantage of these resources and to maintain your own mental health wellness by having regular check-ins and ongoing conversations with family members, friends, mentors, and all those in whom you confide.
Thank you for your continued support and rest assured we will continue to provide programs and resources that enhance mental, physical, and social emotional wellness to ensure the members of our learning community can all feel at their best to achieve excellence.
Sincerely,
Olga Hugelmeyer
