Need a day off from school per semester? What does one need? A mental health day.

Mental health days would be helpful because students really do need a few days off from school to reset their mind and perform well in class.

Of course, there would need to be a few rules if students are allowed to take mental health days. Some of these rules would be: mental health days cannot be taken on days of tests, the student would need to let their teacher know a day in advance that they are going to take their mental health day the next day and mental health days may not be taken on back to back days.

Mental health days would improve how the school performs as a whole. Students will take their Mental Health Days as time off from school, with nothing to worry about regarding their classes. Students would not need to think about making up their work, because they will not be required to do so when they take their mental health day. Instead of getting a zero for a missed assignment, the student’s teacher would just put an “X” in that student’s grade for that assignment because the work that was assigned that day is not expected to be made up from taking a mental health day.

Teachers need to understand how tough it is for their students to perform well in and out of the classroom, when they do not get time off from school. This is year, we have had no snow days up to this point, so we are relying only on days off of school from holidays or professional days. On these previous scheduled days off from school, students can still have work that is to be turned in when they get back to school, which is the total opposite of when a student would take a Mental Health Day.

To get better grades and do well in school, having a break from school is a smart idea. The break would allow for students to clear their minds and perform better.

Some activities that students could do on the days that they take their Mental Health Day would be: sleep in, relax at home by doing something that they enjoy or watching Netflix as a way to clear their mind.

Sleeping in would allow for students to feel well rested for when they come back to school. Doing what students enjoy in their free time is a way to relax for a day, just as watching Netflix is a way for a student to clear their mind and forget about school, because they are on their mental health day.
Students should share out this idea to put it in the minds of MCPS.

Jill Geline

Commons Editor