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Students from Benson High School are working to bring a school-based health clinic to their Northeast Portland High School. L-r: Katie Darke, junior, Grace Buxman, junior, Jazmin McKenzie, senior, and Sony Doan, freshman.

(Casey Parks/The Oregonian)

Multnomah County created its first

30 years ago at Roosevelt High School as a way of slowing teen pregnancy rates. Today, mental health experts say the clinics are crucial in treating young people suffering from depression and more serious mental health issues.

Almost every Portland Public high school has one, as do a few middle schools. The county runs clinics at Centennial, Parkrose and David Douglas high schools as well.

does not have a clinic, though students and teachers are trying all they can think of to create one. County health officials and Portland Public Schools leaders say there are plenty of reasons a clinic doesn't make sense at Benson. But to supporters and students, it's yet another example of district leaders devaluing and disenfranchising the Northeast Portland campus.

“I feel like they’re trying to break Benson down,” said Jasmin McKenzie, a senior and this year’s Benson Rose Princess. “They capped the enrollment, tried to

, and they don’t want us to have a school-based health clinic. We need to rebuild Benson. Having a clinic will help.”

Benson has always been a little different. The school opened in 1908 as the Portland School of Trades for boys. Today, a mix of male and female students major in health science, engineering or communications technology. They build cars and houses, run a radio station and intern with medical professionals.

The school has high poverty rates compared to the rest of the city’s high schools, but its students consistently perform above average on standardized test scores. More than 85 percent of its students graduate on time, compared to 67 percent district-wide.

Still, Benson historically hasn't enjoyed the same kind of community support as a typical neighborhood school. Students travel from all across the city to attend. Working-class parents couldn’t travel across town for meetings, so PTA meetings suffered from poor attendance. The alumni club was nonexistent.

That lack of parental and alumni support is one reason Benson does not have a clinic.

When Multnomah County first began building school health clinics, they depended on robust communities to make them work, said program manager Jill Daniels. Involved parents at neighborhood schools fought for the money to establish and staff them.

As the county steadily expanded its clinic system in the 1990s, only Benson said no.

“They could not find enough space in the school for a clinic,” Daniels said.

Students say they have plenty of room now. A few years ago, the

voted to cap enrollment at Benson to 850 students as a way to help smaller, struggling neighborhood schools such as Roosevelt High grow. The goal was to ensure students at every neighborhood school had the same access to a broad array of classes and extracurricular activities.

Benson students still are officially tied to their neighborhood schools. When district staff discussed cutting sports at Benson earlier this year, for example, they suggested student athletes could play for their neighborhood teams. District staff

but plan to evaluate Benson’s athletic program before signing off on the 2015 - 16 seasons.

Students who want to use the school-based clinics can, district officials say, use the one at their neighborhood school. District policy allows students to travel to the clinics during class time. But students say that’s more stressful and time-consuming than adult administrators might realize.

When Amy Henry became a Benson counselor two years ago, students shared horror stories of traveling back to their neighborhoods for therapy appointments. They had to tell teachers why they missed class. And when they ran into old friends in the neighborhood, they had to explain why they were there, instead of Benson.

Many of Henry’s students say they need mental health help. But nearly 65 percent of Benson students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and some say they can’t afford therapy. Others say they’re too nervous to tell their parents they need mental health help.

“I know a lot of people here who have a lot of problems at home, and they can’t talk to mom or dad because they’re part of the problem,” said McKenzie, the school’s Rose Princess.

Henry went to the district office last year seeking help to create a Benson clinic. PPS administrators sent her to Multnomah County, she said.

Jill Daniels has run the county’s clinic program since its inception.

She said the county doesn’t have money or staff to create another clinic now. If money suddenly appears, she plans to advocate for opening more school-based clinics in east Multnomah County.

“It’s hard for me to have to make hard choices,” Daniels said. “But the reality is, if somebody said, ‘Where is the greatest need?’ I would still have to answer, ‘It’s in East County.”

Undeterred, Henry and students say they have something going for them that no Benson community has had in 10 years -- a network of engaged parents, students and alumni. The adversity students felt because of enrollment caps, looming sports cuts and the lack of a clinic has united them and inspired parents and alumni.

"We just didn't have the advocates for Benson before," said junior Katie Darke. "But now we do."

This year, 30 percent of Benson students reported in a survey that they needed access to mental health care. Henry helped broker a deal that brings a therapist from the child services nonprofit

in one day a week. The set-up has its drawbacks -- Morrison Center only takes Oregon Health Plan insurance, and Henry has to notify parents any time a child visits the therapist -- but it’s the only work-around she can find for now. Fourteen kids are on a waiting list to see the therapist.

Meanwhile, Benson students traveled to Salem to talk to

, who is running for a seat on the county board, about getting a clinic. And Henry started looking for ways Benson could pay for its own facility. When she learned

was offering $40,000 grants for Oregon and Washington schools to build or expand school-based health clinics, she asked the district’s grant writer to help her apply for the grant.

PPS administrators turned her down, she said. They told her the district’s lone grant officer needs to focus on bigger projects. A parent volunteered to write the grant proposal instead.

Benson alumni chairman Rob Johns said graduates are happy to chip in, but they want some show of collaboration from the district.

“Why is it we have to go around the system to get the services?” Johns said.

Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Christine Miles said district officials are excited about the grant because it can help staff determine if a clinic is possible.

“This grant would help us map it out: What does it look like, what does it cost?” Miles said. “It's wonderful for us to be able to bring a clinic into a school, but what would it cost to maintain? We want to make sure we're not over promising something we can't deliver. We want to be able to put something in the school that we can keep going.”

Kaiser officials will announce their grant decisions in July. Even if Henry raises the money, a clinic could be a long way off. The lines outside her office, she said, suggest kids need help now.

-- Casey Parks