Gopal, Education Committee to Discuss Bills to Address Students’ Mental Health Absences

TRENTON – Senator Vin Gopal, Chairman of the Education Committee, who has taken a proactive role in addressing a variety of mental and behavioral health issues and guidelines concerning students, will lead the committee in hearing testimony and engaging in discussion on three different pieces of legislation and issues related to school absences because of mental or behavioral health reasons.

“Data show that student absences can often be tied to mental or behavioral health issues. These can be concerning not only for the student and their families, but for classmates, teachers and school administrators,” said Senator Gopal (D-Monmouth). “Hopefully, through robust discussion, and hearing from a variety of experts, we can steer toward coming up with safe, practical and effective guidelines regarding these and other matters when it comes to students’ health.”

The committee will meet on Monday, February 13th, at 1 p.m., in Committee Room 1, 1^st Floor, in the State House Annex in Trenton.