U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that a team of mental health experts specializing in trauma and disaster response is meeting in New York with key staff of the New York City Board of Education to create a plan to help the city's students and teachers in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

"We have pledged our continuing support to the students and teachers of New York City," Paige said. "I am pleased that in addition to financial assistance, we can offer them the knowledge and experience of these outstanding mental health professionals. Their guidance will help the New York City Board of Education address the needs of the students, families and teachers who are a part of their school community."

The experts sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education include a pediatric psychiatrist, professor of child psychoanalysis and director of school district crisis response activities for one of the largest school districts in the country. Each of these experts has worked with the department to address the needs of schools and communities that have been severely impacted by traumatic events such as the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colo.

Their goal is to offer information on the psychological, behavioral and educational consequences that result from exposure to the trauma, loss and danger that New York's students, teachers and families have experienced. They will work to coordinate the training and use of local mental health professionals who will work with teachers, parents and students to help the New York community with their recovery.

They are:

• Marleen Li Chen Wong, L.C.S.W., director of mental health, Los Angeles Unified School District;

• Steven Marans, Ph D., Harris associate professor of child psychoanalysis and director of child development for the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence at the Yale University School of Medicine Child Study Center;

• Robert S. Pynoos, M.D., professor, UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry.

The expert advisors will be supported by the U.S. Department of Education through its Safe and Drug Free Schools Program and the $4 million grant it provided to the New York City Board of Education last week as part of the department's Project SERV. Their advice will be used in creating a structure and plan for the effective use of those Project SERV funds http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/september11/index.html.

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