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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 22, 2023 12:40 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Napoleon J. Nelson |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Student Mental Health Days |
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many challenges facing our students in K-12 schools. Few challenges are as urgent or pressing as the lasting impact of stress and emotional duress on our students. According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the pandemic negatively affected the mental health of many children and youth, creating even more public awareness of this pre-existing problem. About one in three high school students reported experiencing poor mental health most of the time or always during the pandemic, and almost 20 percent of students had seriously considered attempting suicide. It is important to acknowledge the importance of taking care of our mental health, which is why I am introducing legislation to allow students to take three excused absences for mental health reasons without requiring a doctor’s note. Providing mental health days would encourage students to take care of their mental health as they would their physical health. Further, this legislation would align Pennsylvania with Oregon and Utah which have already passed bipartisan legislation to provide students with this useful mental health tool. It is time that mental health supports are normalized in schools, allowing for schools to better understand how they can help students who take absences. I hope you will join me in supporting this legislation to show students, and their schools, that mental health needs to be valued just as much as physical health. |
Introduced as HB1519