At a recent meeting, the Mars Area School Board conducted a thorough discussion about setting up a “wellness check-in tool” for students.

The Rhithm app, suggested for a trial run in grades one through five and with special education students in grades six through 12, is described as a social-emotional learning check-in app, or a “wellness check-in tool.” The app invites students to check in on their mood and well-being with an “emoji-based” survey.

“Based on their answers, our algorithm presents each student with a short activity to teach them essential life skills and/or to get them ready to learn,” according to the description of Rhithm from the app’s website. “Leaders can also create and deploy custom surveys and assessments to get a unique pulse on culture, climate, and more.”

We’ve stressed the importance of student mental health in the past, so a program such as this seems, on the surface, a valiant effort by administrators to make sure students are alright beneath the surface.

The ensuing discussions, however, gave rise to valid points for and against the implementation, as they should have.

We are pondering the wellness of students still navigating some very formative years, as well as the scope of the work required to get the results of check-ins across the appropriate desks.

One board member worried that the app opens up a “Pandora’s box” of concerns around “responsibility, liability, parental rights, student rights, and teachers’ rights,” which is an incredibly valid point.

She asked whether the coping mechanisms and lessons suggested by the app would all align with parental decisions, and others at the meeting were concerned that the program would present an additional workload for teachers.

Teachers endure an amount of pressure that would cripple most of us under its weight. While the students are top priority, the adults in charge of them for eight hours a day also should be factored in here.

We commend the school board for hearing and discussing all facets of an extremely important issue. On balance, some things have the potential to replace some problems with others.

We look forward to hearing how the vote goes at next week’s board meeting, as well as how valid concerns are addressed if the program is implemented.

—CM