Needing a break from school because your mental capacity can’t take it anymore and you just need a break. West Ottawa High School needs to implement mental health days for their students. 

   Right now, WOHS does not let students take the day off for “mental health reasons,” but this needs to change now. “Whenever I was stressed to the point of crying while at school, being there made things ten times worse with people staring, giggling, etc. and it really ruined my ability to deal with stress healthily since I would just try to bottle everything in myself.” Sr. Jaelyn Symoungkhoune said. School is stressing students out to where being at school makes their mental health worse.

   Recently, Illinois passed a law that states, “with absence for cause by illness being required to include the mental or behavioral health of the child for up to 5 days for which the child need not provide a medical note.” This law  makes students who have absences because of mental health able to excuse their absences and not have them count because of no need for a doctor’s note. Other states, including Arizona, Virginia, Kentucky and several more, have also passed bills for students to have mental health days. 

   These mental health days are not to be used for a student just to miss a class and skip out on school work for a day. “It’s not the same for everyone since they have their own way of managing themselves but sometimes it’s hard to cope with stress when you are bombarded with assignments or literally anything else.” Sr. Hayley Schumaker said. A mental health day does not for a fact fit every student’s criteria, but some things to look out for are the signs of stress, which include headaches, stomachaches, and a shift in behavior of the student. If the student is finding joy or is motivated to do their normal day activities, they might experience a decline in their mental health. 

   The only truly way to find out if a student needs to have a mental health day is to communicate with them. WOHS has exemplary counselors and now mental health advisors that connect with kids daily to help them with what they are going through. A child needs to be respected when asked if they are experiencing stressful situations. A parent or advisor can’t just ask the student straight up. They need to let it be known that it is the students choice when deciding to share that information with them. Often when the student doesn’t feel comfortable when asked in that situation, they will lie or change the true story that might be happening. 

   West Ottawa High School needs to take into consideration mental health days to better the students’ lives who are going through hard times. Assistant Principal Audra Bolhuis explains, “We encourage students to attend on a regular basis which is why we have such a strict attendance policy at WOHS. However, we also recognize that life happens. Students are going to encounter situations outside of their control where they absolutely need to miss school.” Yes, WOHS has a strict attendance policy and not saying that it needs to change but the five mental health days should count for not needing a doctor’s note. Listed below are the reasons for an excused absence at WOHS. 

• Illness
• Family Obligations
• Vacations and Hunting Trips
• School-related absence:  Students miss a class and are out of the building because of school-generated activities (sports events, field trips, etc.).
• Suspension: A student has been denied attendance by the administration for disciplinary reasons.
• Verified absence): Students miss a class, but are on campus for school-related activities (scheduling for classes, mentoring other students, counseling meetings, etc.) 

   An easy way WOHS can implement the mental health days into the attendance policy as if a parent or guardian notifies the school within 48 hours of the intended absence, and they tell the school that the student is taking a mental health day, the school is then to mark that student as an excused absence with no requirement of a doctors note. “I think a limited amount of mental health days are nice because not all people are the same. People are bound to have rough days and need a break, and if they don’t prioritize this break, it’ll bring down their work ethic and grades with them.” Schumaker said. 

   “I think of it as resting and recharging. I feel like when it comes to school, it’s easy to feel burnt out. It’s not the same for everyone since they have their own way of managing themselves but sometimes it’s hard to cope with stress when you are bombarded with assignments or literally anything else.” Symoungkhoune said. A student should spend their mental health day as a day to relax and take time for themselves. They shouldn’t have to worry about what they are missing in school or the homework they have to complete for that night. Parents and guardians should understand that the child needs a day to recharge. 

   “Maybe for a mental health day, doing specific activities would help make our WO students have a better mindset just so that we actually do something besides nothing, something that will help us relax, reflect, and work on oneself.” Schumaker said. WO implements mental health “talks” into their seminars, but they usually just slides going through and talking about what mental health is, and students don’t really pay attention to it. If WOHS did more activities throughout the school year to better the students’ mental health, more students would actually understand the toll that stress takes on them.