A bill being considered in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives would require mental health training for high school sports coaches.
of invoice It would require the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Department of Education to review mental health resources and create a curriculum for school personnel. Pennsylvania schools will also be required to send a list of mental health resources to students, parents and staff twice a year. However, no mechanism is provided to fund these efforts.
“We want school professionals to be there for our kids,” state Rep. Mary Jo Daley (D-Montgomery), the bill’s lead sponsor, said at a news conference Monday in Harrisburg. I look forward to that.” “As such, with the concerns of our time confronting us, it is imperative that we continue to connect teachers and coaches with the resources to provide them with the ability to do their jobs.”
The House Education Committee approved the bill on May 7 by a vote of 15-10, with all Democrats and one Republican voting yes. House Democrats plan to bring the bill to the floor for a vote in the “near future,” said House Democratic Party spokeswoman Elizabeth Rementer.
State Rep. Jesse Topper (R-Bedford), the committee’s top Republican and opponent of the bill, said that while there is a mental health crisis among students, the requirement for coaches to undergo training is redundant. He said it would be.
“I think what we always have to be careful about is adding more requirements when we already have a shortage of coaches, teachers and counselors,” said the high school football coach himself at Bedford High School. Topper, who served for many years, told the Capital Star. “These are people who are already passionate about the mental health and well-being of our students and student-athletes.”
Another Republican lawmaker also participated in the panel discussion. express concern The bill would give the Secretary of Health broad authority to decide whether parents should provide unspecified additional information about their children’s mental health to the Department of Health. Topper also objected to the law being used to require Pennsylvania health and education departments to provide mental health resources.
“These are very powerful bureaucracies that already have a significant amount of resources at their disposal,” Topper said. “If there is a need, they can do it.”
The original version of Daley’s bill was drafted by one of her summer interns, Mekkai Williams, a rising junior and former student-athlete at Temple University. Williams suffered an injury to her knee while playing football during her senior year of high school, which she said caused her to experience emotional distress.
“The physical pain was immeasurable, but the emotional pain was even greater,” Williams said at a news conference. “It wasn’t just the injury, it was the loss of my identity, my team and everything I had worked so hard for.”
This was a sentiment echoed by other current and former student-athletes who attended the press conference who have been sidelined with injuries.
williams Based on the original version of the bill to 2012 Act This requires coaches to complete a training course on sudden cardiac arrest. Kevin Lawrence, a public teacher and baseball coach at Susquehannock High School, expressed support for the bill at a press conference and compared providing mental health training to providing AED training. He has made himself and other coaches “first responders” to mental health issues facing youth.
“A lot of times I know things before the kids’ parents do because they don’t want to tell mom and dad, but they will tell their coach,” Lawrence said in a press conference. He spoke later.
The bill is the latest in a series of mental health bills approved by the House Education Committee this year.in partisan vote At the January committee meeting approved the bill it is Allow students to take up to three days of mental health leave without a doctor’s note during the school year.panel again Democratic only votewas also approved invoice One report says that in March, “schools will be required to have robust and comprehensive school counseling plans in place.” memo Introduce measures.
