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Locals discuss benefits of school mental health days

Tahlequah Daily Press - 10/31/2019

Oct. 31--With mental health receiving more attention across the country than ever before, states are considering whether students should be allowed days off to address their cognitive, behavioral, and social well-being.

States like Oregon and Utah already have laws in place to give students mental health days. The law in Oregon allows students five mental health days in a three-month period, while the definition of a student's valid excuse to miss school was changed in Utah to include mental or physical illness. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Florida and New York are considering similar measures.

Oklahoma legislators have not indicated any future bills to allow students to miss days for mental health, but schools in Cherokee County still make students emotional well-being a priority. It's a focus and conversation that Heritage Elementary School Principal Amanda Vance said wasn't heard of years ago.

"What we've seen in schools has been this increase of suicidal thoughts and talking more about it, much more so than when I started 20-plus years ago," she said. "It's really kind of shocking, to be honest with you, that we've had [students] as young as first grade actually be admitted to mental institutions for those types of thoughts and behavior."

The area schools have tried to proactive in dealing with behavioral health, as well. For instance, fifth-grade students at Heritage participate in a Lifeline Prevention program.

"It's a fabulous program that really incorporates how students can help other students if they have mentioned suicide or talked about it," said Liza Warren, school counselor. "It's a way that advocates can get their friends and people they know to the right, trusted adult."

In 2017, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among those ages 10 to 24.

Warren said with more suicides occurring, granting mental health days away from school could benefit students from middle school to high school.

"I think it's just as important as your physical health, especially in education," she said. "Kids aren't going to be able to learn academically, until they socially and emotionally have a good well-being."

Heritage also uses a program called Every Monday Matters, which is a free curriculum that talks to kids about having positive self-esteem and making positive life choices.

At Tahlequah Middle School, arrangements are frequently made for agencies to send representatives to visit students who need to speak with someone. Principal David Bookout said the school tries to help its students with mental health on site, so they won't have to miss too much of class time. However, they also don't stop students from getting the help they need outside of campus.

"Kids are gone for all kinds of reasons from school," he said. "It could be a personal thing or they may go on a trip, so every absence is not due to illness."

Residents of states that are currently mulling the idea of mental health days have expressed concern over abuse of the system. Bookout doesn't think kids would take advantage of the situation, but said documentation of mental health days would help ensure students use the hypothetical policy appropriately.

"If a mental health service documented it, that would be an easy way of tracking it," said Bookout. "That way you can make sure where they're going and why they're going. It's just like how we have people who go to a doctor and bring a note, or people who go to the orthodontist and bring in a note. If we have people go to a funeral, they'll bring in a copy of the memorial."

Hulbert Public Schools brings in an outside counselor every day to address mental health issues.

While the school board has not addressed the implementation of mental health days, Superintendent Scott Kempenich said resources are in place.

Noticing someone who has a cold or appears to be sick is easier than noticing someone with behavioral or emotional problems. For that reason, Kempenich said mental health problems are "scarier" than physical issues.

"There's a stigma in this country probably on mental health versus physical health," he said. "You can see physical health, but you can't visually observe the mental health. So I think there are some of those concerns from a nationwide standpoint. You can't see what's going on. Obviously, we've had school shootings and issues, but that's not because of physical health; that's because of mental health."

The Daily Press asked readers in a Facebook Saturday Forum for their opinion on mental health days. The majority of respondents said they believe allowing students to be excused from school for mental health reasons is a good idea, but a few weren't so sure.

Elizabeth Wulf wrote that it's an "amazing idea."

"Mental health is just as important as physical health," Wulf wrote. "Mental health needs to be taken seriously, but it is often pushed aside. Anxiety and depression are quickly increasing in [children] with an uptake in children taking medications to control symptoms. I encourage anyone concerned about their children (or their own) mental health to seek counseling."

Karen Dodge-Kelso said she already gives her kids mental health days away from school.

"Sorry, but you know your kids. You know when they start to feel overwhelmed," she wrote. "Let them stay home a day, sleep in late, grab a coffee on the way to a picnic on the river somewhere. And if you have more than one kid, let them do it by themselves. Kids are allowed a certain number of absences, executed and unexcused; use them wisely."

One respondent said he had to go to school unless he was ill and contagious. Another commented that states "have legalized skipping school."

In an online poll, readers were asked if allowing mental health days as excused absences is a good idea. Out of the 84 respondents, 45 said they "absolutely agree," 16 said they "somewhat agree," three said they "somewhat disagree," 19 said they "absolutely disagree," and one person was undecided.

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(c)2019 the Tahlequah Daily Press (Tahlequah, Okla.)

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