The Movement to Consider Mental Health an Excused Absences is Growing

Published May 23, 2022

At the start of the school year, students learn the difference between excused and unexcused absences. An excused absence is most likely due to a physical illness or a school activity. An unexcused absence covers almost anything else – including missed days because of mental health. Some states and districts are looking to change that.

On January 18, the Kentucky House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that would recognize mental health as a reason for an excused absence. A similar bill is working its way through the Florida house.

Learn more about how these excused absences work – and why educators and lawmakers are starting to think of the mental health of students.

Kentucky House Bill 44: an act relating to student mental health

Kentucky House Bill 44 covers excused absences for 4-H clubs and military training. However, there is also a provision at the bottom for mental health.

“A local school district's student attendance policy shall include provisions for excused absences due to a student's mental or behavioral health status.”

This bill was brought to the house by students, as a strong example of how young people can also have a voice in government. Teens from three respective communities (Cole Butcher of Johnson County, Kameron Julian of Jefferson County, and Amira Bowman of Marion County) approached their legislatures on the value of mental health days and the importance of offering them as excused absences.

“I'm so proud of the students from across Kentucky who brought the idea forward to allow excused absences for student mental health days," says Lisa Willner of Louisville, who co-sponsored the bill. “This is their bill, and it makes explicit that mental health is health.”

The bill will now move on to the Senate for another vote.

Florida House Bill 289: school absence due to sickness or injury

Lawmakers in Florida are hoping to amend the existing HB 289 to include mental health. Students who have an unexcused absence are not allowed to make up work for the day, resulting in zeros for their grades, therefore hurting their school performance. By including mental health in the list of excused absences, students would be able to take time off to see a pediatric psychiatrist, mental health therapist, or social worker.

"Mental and physical health are really one,” says Dr. Jennifer Katzenstein, co-director of the Center for Behavioral Health at Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital. “We can't have one without the other. And so it's important to be able to excuse those absences when our kids or children or teenagers are experiencing mental health concerns, and certainly when they're seeking treatment,"

Nine other states have already passed bills protecting student mental health as an excused absence. These include Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Virginia.

Mental health needs the same respect as physical medical care

These two bills (and others like them) reflect a growing awareness of the importance of mental health. For generations, mental health issues were overlooked or ignored – especially in youth. Kids were told to toughen up or push through depression and anxiety, rather than having their experiences validated and recognized. Today, more education leaders are starting to call for greater awareness of the mental health needs of students.

One California state senator highlighted how school districts would never question a student who missed class because of a broken ankle or the flu. However, students with depression or anxiety are not allowed to stay home and their illness isn’t treated the same way.

Additionally, these mental health days can protect the psyches of students who may be at risk of mental or emotional trauma. They can benefit any student, regardless of whether they have a disability or not.

“Not all of us have a diagnosed mental illness, like anxiety or schizophrenia, but all of us have mental health, just like physical health,” says Mike Winder, a Utah state representative who sponsored his state’s bill on mental health and excused absences. “Even the healthiest among us sometimes have days where our mental health is just not well. Rather than push kids beyond the breaking point, this allows them to better manage their mental health.”

School is meant to be a place to prepare children for adulthood. The availability of mental health days teaches students how to recognize when they are not functioning at their best while giving them the resources to take a step back and regroup outside of the classroom environment.

Students are stressed and lack mental health resources

Few people realize the sheer amount of stress that students are under. They attend school throughout the day and bring home several hours of homework each night. They are expected to juggle various clubs and activities to make them well-rounded humans. Their futures are uncertain, where each class, test, or essay could make or break their college opportunities.

Even outside of the academic world, the teenage years are incredibly volatile. Friend groups form and break, seemingly overnight. Hormones flare as students learn more about their gender identities and sexualities. This is a developmental time socially and mentally.

Then you add a pandemic to all of this stress.

According to a Spring 2021 survey by the national nonprofit YouthTruth, 49 percent of students say feeling depressed, stressed, or anxious is an obstacle to learning – a significant increase from 39 percent in the Spring of 2020. However, the perceived resources available to these students are dropping. Before the pandemic, 46 percent of students felt they had access to an adult from school to discuss these feelings with. By Spring 2021, this number dropped to 39 percent.  

Today’s students are smart and capable, but they are under a significant amount of pressure. They need to learn how to build healthy habits for their mental health. By normalizing talking about mental health and treating it with the same legitimacy as physical health, school districts can create a positive space for students. It is less likely that a student will have untreated mental health concerns or get pushed past the point of functioning.

Learn more about invisible disabilities

Anxiety and depression are two examples of invisible (or hidden) disabilities. These are disabilities or illnesses that don’t manifest in ways that are visible to others. Someone might look healthy and happy on the outside while struggling with severe anxiety internally.

Learn more about invisible disabilities and how you can advocate for students, coworkers, friends, and family members who have them. If your state doesn’t currently have a law providing excused absences for students, consider reaching out to your state senator and representative to advocate for the creation of a bill. Even a simple email or phone call can make a difference.

 

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