Important News

A growing number of New Jersey schools are requiring students to get mental health evaluations in order to return to class after discipline incidents. Parents and advocates report that more schools are requiring these assessments after in person instruction resumed. SPAN has seen a huge uptick of calls from families since in-person learning has resumed.

New Jersey has almost no rules about how "psychiatric clearances" can be used in schools. Questions include:

• Who does the evaluation?
• Who pays for it?
• How long can a student be removed from school?
• Does tutoring or virtual learning need to be provided?



Some school districts send students to evaluators they use and they pay for it. Others leave families on their own to go to the emergency room and pay for the evaluation.

Requests for psychiatric evaluations is one way to remove students from class. It is referred to as an "informal removal" because it is not recorded in any way by the state or federal government.

New Jersey Senate bill S3027 would require schools to report how often they are requiring psychiatric clearances for students to return to school. It was passed unanimously by the education committee and is awaiting a hearing before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

SPAN is hopeful that the legislation will be strengthened and/or additional legislation will be developed to provide clarity about the questions from above: who pays, what criteria is used, documentation required and provision of instruction during the period of removal.

Read a comprehensive article by Kelly Heyboer about this issue here

Read and follow progress of S3027 here