The Montgomery County school board will examine whether students should receive excused absences for taking days off from school to care for their mental health.
The board on Tuesday passed a resolution, introduced by student member Nick Asante, to look into the idea. The Policy Management Committee will review the school district’s attendance policy and determine whether students should be able to take “mental health days.”
“I know mental health is an issue a lot of students care about, and it’s always been at the forefront, but I think now more than ever it’s a big concern for a lot of students,” Asante said.
The resolution does not change any attendance policies but allows for the policies to be reviewed. It passed 7-1.
Vice President Brenda Wolff was the lone vote in opposition of the resolution. Wolff argued that parents can already excuse their children for a mental health day if they call in and report the student is sick.
“I don’t mean to be insensitive in any shape or form, but it seems like busy work for the policy committee because, as a parent, I can write in and say this already,” Wolff said. “I also have to wonder if the disability community will take exception to students having to identify mental illness as a reason for being out ill.”
Asante’s resolution says students are “facing daily competing demands and stress, that have been particularly heightened for many students during the COVID-19 pandemic.” During Tuesday’s meeting, he elaborated and said it would be beneficial for some students to explicitly say they are taking a day off to care for their mental health, rather than having to generalize and say they are ill.
“As a policy, it’s a statement piece and would mean a lot to a lot of students,” Asante said.
School board member Pat O’Neill said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, she has occasionally had to take a mental health day of her own and avoid checking emails. But, she said, state law “drives what’s permissible for us to do.”
“I don’t have any objection to taking a look at it again,” said O’Neill, who chairs the Policy Management Committee.
Both Asante and school board member Jeanette Dixon said the goal would not be to limit the ability to take off days to students who have a diagnosed mental illness.
“I do think everything has just changed in the country with this pandemic, and I do think that having these mental health days don’t necessarily mean you have a mental illness, but it’s a time you need for yourself to decompress,” Dixon said.
The Policy Management Committee will make a recommendation to the school board about any proposed policy changes “no later than winter 2021,” according to the passed resolution.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
