Manatee School District 'Wellness Wednesday' Program Overview
November 19, 2025
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The Frame
The program standardizes how Manatee County students in grades 6-12 receive state-required mental health and resiliency instruction, replacing previous, more cumbersome training methods.
Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.
Manatee County Students
Students in grades 6-12 are required to receive five hours of resiliency and mental health instruction.
Manatee County Teachers
Teachers are responsible for delivering the standardized Wellness Wednesday curriculum.
Parents
Parents are the primary audience for information regarding the content and purpose of the district's mental health instruction.
Last recorded activity November 19, 2025.
Next step not available in the current record.
Summary
Key Facts
- Florida state law requires 5 hours of mental health and resiliency instruction for students in grades 6-12.
- The 'Wellness Wednesday' program was created to standardize instruction across all district schools.
- The program aims to simplify delivery compared to the previous Monique Burr Foundation curriculum, which required specialized training.
- The district is required to track student access to this instruction to comply with state reporting standards.
- The program aligns with updated state resiliency standards rewritten in the 2022-2023 school year.
- Lissa Bennett oversees the program as part of her role managing school counseling, school climate, MTSS, and drug prevention units.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was the Wellness Wednesday program created?
Who is responsible for this program in the district?
How does this differ from previous mental health lessons?
Why It Matters
The program standardizes how Manatee County students in grades 6-12 receive state-required mental health and resiliency instruction, replacing previous, more cumbersome training methods.
News Coverage
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Curriculum Consolidation
The district moved away from the Monique Burr Foundation program toward an internally developed model to reduce administrative burden and improve tracking compliance.
Connected Entities
Sources
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Analysis Score
0–100- Significance40How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy20Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz15Current news / social attention level
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