Additionally, last fall, the U.S. Department of Education released Supporting Child and Student Social, Emotional, Behavioral Health, a resource that includes information and guidance to enhance and promote mental health and social and emotional well-being among children and students.
“Amid the pandemic, we know that our students have experienced so much. We can’t unlock students’ potential unless we also address the needs they bring with them to the classroom each day,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in an October 2021 statement. “As educators, it’s our responsibility to ensure that we are helping to provide students with a strong social and emotional foundation so that they also can excel academically.”
Starting January 2022, students who attend public schools in Illinois between the ages of seven and 17 are allowed five mental health days throughout the school year thanks to Senate Bill 1577, sponsored by Sen. Robert Martwick (D-10th). It was signed by Pritzker last August and went into effect last month.
Under the new law, students can take up to five mental or behavioral health days each school year without a doctor’s note. The mental health days are classified as excused absences. Students will be allowed to make up their schoolwork during or after their mental health absence.
To take the time off, parents or caregivers need to call their student’s school and let them know that the student is taking a mental health day. According to the bill, after the second missed health day, schools will connect the student to school support personnel such as a school counselor, social worker, psychologist, nurse, and then that person would reach out to the student’s family.