COLUMBUS, Ohio (WLIO) — As the school bell rings for many local students over the next few weeks, a Dayton-area lawmaker is pushing to give students something extra when they head back to class: mental health days.
Democratic State Sen. Willis Blackshear Jr. has introduced a bill that would require schools to allow students up to three excused absences each school year, specifically for mental health reasons. If passed, Blackshear hopes the law will help remove the stigma surrounding taking time off for mental wellness and place mental health on the same level of importance as physical health.
“Besides being reactive, this is something that we need to be proactive and address head on because what we don’t want to see happen is, is that kids continue to go through some of their struggles and they’re not being addressed, but then we see it in test scores, we see it in their attitudes. We see it in different ways and then we’re wondering why they’re acting like this, or why they’re performing like this,” said Blackshear…