A host of new laws go into effect in 2023 that will affect education in Illinois.
In the wake of school shootings across the country, there are measures to address trauma. One law mandates school board members to receive training on trauma-informed practices.
Practices include “the effects of implicit or explicit bias on recognizing trauma among various students in connection with race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation,” among other things.
State Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, said there is also training for students, but they can’t include more graphic exercises involving police and weapons.
“Children are really having a lot of trauma, being fearful about going to school and having to go through one of these drills,” Villa said.
A new law will revise school teaching about mental health, while creating a mental health council that is designed to develop solutions on how to help children in school to find a mental health provider and how to access the mental health system.
Another law requires the state of Illinois to create a “Safe2Help” hotline where students, school staff and other members of the public can confidentially report information regarding “potential self-harm and criminal acts directed at students” and school employees.
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