School Climate & Safety News in Brief

New York and Virginia Now Requiring Schools to Teach About Mental Health

By Sasha Jones — August 28, 2018 1 min read
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Students returning to Virginia and New York classrooms in the coming weeks will be required to participate in mental-health education as part of their health and physical education courses.

A new law in Virginia requires a mental-health curriculum for 9th and 10th graders.

A similar measure took effect in New York on July 1. The first-of-its-kind law requires schools to address mental health in health education programs for grades K-12.

Other states have responded to an increase in mental-illness rates with increased funding for school counseling and training teachers to recognize the symptoms of mental illness in order to better refer students to mental-health resources.

A version of this article appeared in the August 29, 2018 edition of Education Week as New York and Virginia Now Requiring Schools to Teach About Mental Health

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