NORTHAMPTON — Along with its announcement this week of a new State Police unit to combat hate crime, the Healey administration awarded $462,000 in hate crime prevention grants to 10 school districts, including Gateway Regional and Granby.

The grants are designed to support or expand programs that help educators, staff, administrators and students reduce incidents of bias in schools, according to the governor’s office.

Gateway Regional School District, which was awarded $50,000, plans to spend the money on professional development, teacher stipends, consultants and instructional materials, Superintendent Kristen Smidy said.

Granby received $48,670.

The application process was competitive, and Gateway’s success is in some ways a tribute to the work it has already done.

“We try to take a proactive approach,” Smidy said, establishing partnerships with local police forces and organizations including the Hilltown Community Health Center, which has a clinic at the school, and the Southern Hilltown Domestic Violence Task Force.

Though rural and small, with 239 students in Grades 8-12, Gateway is not immune to the challenges of bullying and harassment.

The Huntington school participates in the annual Prevention Needs Assessment Survey, which gauges the degree to which youngsters in eighth, 10th and 12th grades feel bullied, anxious or lonely, as well as their consumption of tobacco, cannabis and alcohol.

The 2023 survey, administered by the Coalition for Educational Services’  SPIFFY Coalition, reveals some startling information, with 52% of all youth reporting that they felt anxious or nervous most days during the past year, and 41% saying they felt sad or depressed most days.

Eighth-graders report the highest rates of bullying, with one-third experiencing verbal harassment at least once during the year. Students of color and gay and trans students reported higher rates of bullying on average, though their experiences varied widely from district to district.

Smidy said it’s hard for schools to cope with students’ mental health challenges. Even at Gateway, which she noted has its own dedicated mental health counselor from an outside organization, the waiting list for a therapist is a year long.

“We really focused on professional development for staff, and having strong reporting systems in place,” Smidy said.

Bias crimes are on the rise in Massachusetts. There were 440 reports of hate crime incidents statewide in 2022, up from 406 in 2021 and the highest number reported since 2002, according to the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s 2022 Hate Crime Report.

As in years past, prejudice against race and ethnicity or national origin was the most widely reported bias motivation, representing 53.2% of the total, down from 59.3% in 2021. Bias against religious groups surpassed bias against sexual orientation with 21.1%, up from 18.2% in 2021.

The governor’s office said a second round of prevention grant funding is now available and districts are encouraged to apply.

James Pentland can be reached at jpentland@gazettenet.com.