Since 2009, (click here) at least 177 of America’s schools experienced a shooting. These tragedies are as diverse as our nation, but the depth of trauma is hard to convey. There is no standard definition for what qualifies as a school shooting in the US. Nor is there a universally accepted database. So CNN built our own. We examined 10 years of shootings on K-12 campuses and found two sobering truths: School shootings are increasing, and no type of community is spared....
July 24, 2019
By Celina Tabor
A new piece of legislation will allow Oregon students (click here) to take “mental health days” off from school, in the same way they can take physical sick days. It will expand the definition of excused absences in schools, and the high school students who propelled the bill through the legislature hope it will take steps toward improving mental health in Oregon.
House Bill 2191 was born out of a brainstorming workshop at the Oregon Association of Student Councils. It’s the first legislation of its kind in the United States. Before HB 2191, students could only have an excused absence for their own or a family member’s physical illness, doctor or dentist appointments, or an emergency. Students in Oregon are allowed up to five excused absences within a three-month period.
Hailey Hardcastle, a Sherwood High School graduate and incoming freshman at the University of Oregon, was one of the students who helped transform the idea into a piece of legislation. She told OPB’s “Think Out Loud” she was partly inspired by mental health issues she saw at her own high school and the impact of suicide in Oregon schools.
“There’s not a single one of my peers that I know that haven’t been affected by mental health,” Hardcastle said....
