The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have released Supporting Students at Risk of Self-Harm in the Era of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused more than a year of loss, isolation, and uncertainty for many people, including students, across the country. For some students, these stressors may have caused a mental health disability to worsen. Others may be experiencing mental health disabilities for the first time. In some situations, there may be a risk that a student will engage in self-harm or consider suicide. A student with a condition such as anxiety, depression, or a substance use disorder can have a mental health disability. Students with mental health disabilities are protected by Federal civil rights laws, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). These laws require K-12 schools and postsecondary institutions to provide students with an equal opportunity to learn, free from discrimination, including during public health crises. Section 504 and the ADA require schools and postsecondary institutions to make decisions about how to respond to students at risk of self-harm based on an assessment of each student’s circumstances rather than on fears, generalizations, or stereotypes about mental illness. In making these decisions, schools and postsecondary institutions generally must provide students who have mental health disabilities with reasonable modifications to school policies, practices, and procedures, as appropriate for an individual student. Public elementary and secondary schools must also provide students with disabilities a free appropriate public education, also known as FAPE, after an evaluation, as described in the Section 504 regulations. When schools and postsecondary institutions do not meet these responsibilities, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (CRT) can help by enforcing these Federal laws that protect students from discrimination based on disability.

Examples of the kinds of incidents OCR and CRT can investigate are:
-A middle school student with autism has been experiencing bullying related to her disabilities by classmates at school. The student’s homeroom teacher has noticed the student seems depressed and withdrawn, and the student confides in the teacher that she can’t take it anymore and is considering ending her life. Instead of calling the student’s parents and contacting the school counselor, the teacher calls the school resource officer, who handcuffs the student and takes her to the hospital.
-A public school student has developed severe depression for the first time during the pandemic. Their parent tells the school principal. Despite the school’s Section 504 FAPE obligation to evaluate any student who needs or is believed to need special education or related services because of a disability, the principal does not refer the student for evaluation. Instead, the principal says that all students are struggling because of the pandemic and suggests that the parent should hire a private tutor and find a psychologist for the student.

To access the government website on this topic, click here.